Dolphins coaches ‘handcuffed’ defensive players in 2015, Michael Thomas says

Some of us were talking about how fraudulent our defense was going back two seasons. I was mocked for saying they were highly overrated, our stats were greatly skewed by games like the 40+ point shutout of San Diego and the drubbing we gave the Texans.

 

rememeber coyle saying he was gonna scale down the defense instead of moving forward..prolly not a good sign when you say that.

 

That really sucked. Why do coaches keep up with such losing approaches? Are they really that stubborn to not explore adjustments??

 

This year it was too vanilla.

Next year the excuse will be "too complex" again.

The excuse machine goes 'round and 'round.

 

I remember last off-season that Phlibin was quoted as saying the defense was going to be simplified for the younger players. I felt queasy when I read that at the time,

 

Yeah no doubt. He said he was going to simplify the defense. In reality, he watered it now. Vanilla is far from the right word to describe the defense the past few years.

 

My gosh, with all of these players getting handcuffed, I'm surprised the Miami Dolphins alternate uniforms weren't striped prison garbs.

 

or gimpsuits

 

I love how people want to selectively ignore great games because they skew our stats, but will focus on the crappiest games on the other end of the spectrum that skew them in the opposite direction

 

For whom? The coaches that got fired?

 

I'm not ignoring. But, pointing at a game like San Diego as proof that our defense wasn't garbage, is silly. When a defense gives up 30+ in a bunch of games, and routinely gives up more than 25, it's safe to say they aren't that good, despite shutting out a bad team.

The Dolphins defense has been seemingly unable to stop third downs when it mattered, even in third and more than 10. The defense routinely allowed teams to march down the field in the 4th quarter. These were things that told me the defense was not good. I brought up the San Diego thing because that was a game people pointed to in an effort to contradict me. Further, shutting out a team was such an aberration for our defense that yes, it certainly did skew the points allowed stats, and other stats. Much like the Texans game skewed for the offense.

 

I remember the complaints being that the defense was too complicated or something and that that was the reason why Coyle had to go last year. The players need to get their damn story straight.

 

exactly, thought the players were upset cause they just wanted to play and not have to think....................sigh thinks get twisted to match the excuses.

 

The way I read what Thomas said with this "... It wasn't all our defensive coaches. We had to work with what we had." is that we had bad talent.

 

The logic on this site:

- Players complain about coaches costing us games? They're full of crap and making excuses.
- A player's wife complains about the QB? See, see, see, we told you Thill sucks and everyone hates him.

 

usally they dumb down the defense when you got players you do not trust / believe in. If that is the case I blame the GM down for not getting players to fit the system they were supposed to run.

 

Miko Grimes was one of the most reviled figures on this board. The consensus of that was more than that of global warming. The logic of this site is that she is an idiot.

I love you assigning the thoughts of the fringe to the whole site though.

 

I love that you pretend people didn't use that to say the team lost faith Thill.

 

Right, but there's more than the two categories of just "too complex and "too simple".

 

Pretty sure this is not the case. Painting with a shotgun with those statements.

 

You haven't been paying attention then.

 

Yeah...certain posters certainly seem to have that logic.

 

The overwhelming and VAST majority of posters do not think that way...not even in this very thread as most response tend to be on the side of the players, or at least, Michael Thomas and his comments.

As for Miko...again, the overwhelming majority of people dismissed her and her comments. To classify this board, or any other as anything else than that is just flat out incorrect and wrong.

 

There was a very vocal contingent that did and does tout the fact that the players turned on Thill, and the only place that came from was Miko.

 

Swiss Cheese ?

 

They had to feel handcuffed so Miko would not feel so lonely with hers.

 

I Love it, and man do I agree with you. Funny how that happens, huh? What I notice is that when we play a great game, all 3 units on our team are clicking and in a groove...Ok, say we forget the Tn. Game...We had never beaten the Texans, and they were an up and down team all year that played some very good games against very formidable opponents and beat them. Well, we finally beat them...clobbered them and sent them back to Houston with their tails between their legs.....Oh, wait a sec.......that did not impress some of you enough? OK, How about the last game of the season in which if we lose we end up with the #5 Pick in the draft and New England gets home field advantage throughout with the Victory? Our "D" steps up big time and beats the tar out of Brady all day and Tannehill also played a very good game, the whole offense did, and we spank them for the victory and Denver ends up with homefield advantage. We also had some games where all 3 phases played horribly, along with a completely lost coaching staff who did not and never made in game adjustments because they simply did not know what to do....they were absolutely clueless their whole tenure here coaching the Dolphins. I have been a huge fan of the Dolphins since inception in 66 and have NEVER seen worse "Coaching?" in my life....I really feel that we are on the upswing now and headed in the right direction with Gase, who hopefully is just beginning a long tenure as HC, and I think they have finally learned to go easy on FA's and it's a must to build through the draft. I am looking forward to a very good draft with FO,Coaching Staff, and Scouts all working together to draft the best players that will fit our scheme as well as high character guys that are very hard workers at both learning the playbook asap as well as working very hard at their craft. Guys remember, you have to be even keel,like Ohio said, why is it that you downplay our big victories being negative and over react to terrible losses so vigorously....hang in there and be positive.....I think we are onto a new beginning that will see us become a very good team again, as well as being one of the most respected franchises in the NFL again. It will take 2-3 years of really good drafting,coaching,and player development, but it is coming.

 

Naw...it will melt before mini-camp[emoji3]

 

Oh yeah it's coming and it starts now.

 

The year we drubbed the Chargers we were top ten in scoring defense, top 10 the year before too and we were the only team to not make the playoffs being top 10 both years. I believe this season almost every playoff team had a top 10 scoring D too.

The Chargers game was not an outlier like you are suggesting.

 

Were the Grimes booted from the team because Miko is spreading lies or because she's telling too much of the truth?

I don't see the team refuting any of her claims. Most recently she said the 2014 WR class wanted Tannehill benched. No refutation of that claim. Not only that but we got rid of pretty much the whole group of them right after the season.

 

be careful, you're getting close to the truth

 

Hahaha


Generally top 10 scoring defenses are good all around. The Dolphins defense was weird, in that they were top 10 in scoring, but were generally a bad defense. It really is some revisionist **** to sit here and try to convince people that the defense want a problem the last two or the seasons.

Yes, the San Diego game was a huge aberration.

 

Tannehill's rookie year, the defense was 7th in points allowed. They've gotten worse every year since. They were 8th in 2013. Then 20th in 2014. Then 19th last season. So, as Tannehill improved, the defense consistently got worse.

 

Sam,

See below.
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Yeah, we didn't get rid of Hartline, Bess, Nanee, etc, because they were terrible.

 

Now he's on the derp derpa's, rederpatating list,

 

Nothing she ever said was worth the time it would take to refute. She is a waste of skin... and her husband can't play CB anymore.