One of the many questions concerning the Dolphins in 2008 is what sort of defense will we run. Todd Bowles is seen as the Defensive Co-Ordinator, but that may be misnomer, in looking on Bolwes's track record a few things stand out: 1. When he has coached in the NFL, he has been a Secondary Coach 2. His Cornerbacks and Safeties have shown remarkable improvement in the number of turnovers they have created. 3. The Passing defense has always improved on the yards per game they allow. -In 2000, he was hired by the Jets for his first NFL job, the Jets secondary showed vast improvement going from 24th in the league against the pass to 6th. The jets also tied for 6th in nfl with 21 Int's. -from 2001-2003 Bowles served as the Brown's nickel package coach, the team showed dramatic improvement: in 2001 the Browns had a NFL leading 33 Int's, the most ever in Browns history. in 2003, the Browns finished only allowing 13 TD passes, leading the NFL In 2004, the Browns finished the season allowing only 183 yds per game, good for 5th best in the NFL In 2005 his first year in Dallas they cut down the number of TD's allowed, down from 33 to 18 and added 3 more picks in the secondary. Todd Bowles appears to be a solid teacher of Defensive Backs and Safeties, his teams show alot of improvement, and they also can reverse a slide, and that is a key thing, the list of "one year wonder" Coaches is long, but Bowles does seem to have a knack of going back to the drawing board successfully. INOW, if we run a 3-4 or 4-3 this year, Bowles has shown a talent for making even an average secondary better, and that is some good news indeed. What I don't see from Bowles's resume, is a Full Time Defensive Co-Ordinator responsibility or track record, he is a secondary Guru, but not the X and O guy for a defense.
I can follow your reasoning, but we also have to remember, even the best co-ordinators started off as position coaches. Hopefully, he will be one of those who just continues his progression up the coaching ladder successfully and not be "just" a good DB coach. Apparently Tuna thinks he has the capability of being a good co-ordinator, otherwise, I doubt that he would have been offered the opportunity. All we can do is hope Tuna is as good at finding coaching talent and teaching them up as he is in finding and teaching good football talent.
Nice post. I get the feeling that TB will be a HC sooner rather than later. I hope he sticks round long enough to bring the best out of a guys like Travis Daniels and Jason Allen who, with some better coaching could be our starters for the next decade.
Oops, you are right, I had thought Bowles was given a Assitant to the HC title that meant he was running the Defense and Paul P. was a linebackers coach, when in fact he is the Def Cor. for us. I thought the "D" was going to be run the way it was in Dallas, a collaborative effort. Either way though, Bowles does seem to have a knack for improving Secondary play, every where he has Coached they have improved.
I think TBowles can be, basing that on the drop off in improvement from one year to the next, then out performing that lower level the next season. That tells me he can adjust his schemes as the players change. The increase in INT's also tells me he is a good teacher.
thanks for finding that information. A question: Was there significant roster changes (i.e. FA signings or draft picks) that helped cointribute each time, or did he work almost primarily with the same players?
Lemme see . . . Bill Bellichick, check, Tom Coughlin, check, Eric Mangini, check (well, maybe - jury is still out on this kid), Tony Sparano - unknown so far. I know there are others, just can't remember them all. I don't think you/we have much to worry about on this question. Bowles should make a nice impact on our secondary, but Pasqualoni is definitely our DC last time I checked.
In 2001, cleveland found Anthony Henry in the 4th round, he had 10 Int's that year. In 2005 with Dallas, Roy Williams had 3 int's. In 2003, Earl Little (?) had 6 int's and Robert Griffith could be considered a FA signing..but not a big one In 2002 Earl Little had 4 Int's Griffith had 3. A comment on the Little/Griffith numbers , both were safeties Little was FS. It looks like they signed corey fuller and robert griffith, but for the most part, there was a bunch of no names.. Let me look at the Jets in 2000: Victor Green had 6 int's from the SS position Marcus Coleman had 4 from RCB Aaron Glenn had 4 from the LCB 2005 Cowboys Terrence Newman (a 1st rd pick) had 3 from the LCB R. Williams had 3 ( a1st rd pick as well) from the SS position Aaron Glenn had 4 from RCB And the Cowboys signed Anthony Henry from the Browns and he had 4 picks as well Same squad for the 06 Cowboys. So other then Anthony Henry signing with the Cowboys along with Aaron Glenn, there really wasn't any huge moves made in the Draft or FA, the players just got better especially from the SS position, and I "think" the reason why the FS didn't also show the typical Bowles improvement in Dallas was they just were not that good. An anamoly though, consistently one DE has at least 1 Int ever year... Bowles just squeezes more out of marginal players, especially out of the Safety position, consistently he takes no names or marginal vets like R. Williams, Victor Green and Roy Williams and doubles their INT totals. He also developed Anthony Henry and Earl Little. Todd Bowels could be a boon to Jason Allen's career, I remember Vic Green and Rob Grffith, those guys were hitters, they weren't cover guys, and yet they improved their Int's without Allen's physical talent.
Wow, thanks not only for the reply- but the in depth information that i was too lazy to look up before i post questions. wondeful job on the post, and it does seem to prove bowles does an excellent job with marginal talent. I'm not sure we are up to marginal talent at this point. do you see a pick or so this year being used to boost the secondary?
No problem bro... Things are a bit different "here"... And "yes" I do, there is a bumper crop of very good CB prospects, it would be a shock if we don't use a pick on one of them.
I think this is a timely thread to "bump" back into the discussion simply because we have a "new" secondary with Sean Smith, Gibril Wilson and Vontae Davis, Bowles has a knack for developing defensive backs into ballhawks.
Tood Bowles has a proven track record of developing players, that is without question and one of the reasons why I considered him a good candidate to be a Head Coach this offseason, player development is worth it's weight in gold in the NFL. The guy who should show the most improvement this season is Gibril Wilson, Bowles has the greatest impact on underperforming veterans, even Will Allen had a pick six last season and tied his career high in Int's. Houck came to Miami with that reputation but it just never happened here, Bowles has lived up to his rep at every stop he has made.
Indeed. losing him to the Lions, Denver, or any other team for that matter, especially when considering a DC position would have meant a promotion, could easily have proven our greatest setback this year. Instead, the anticipated improvement in the secondary, is one of few reasons that despite an imposing 09 schedule, allows room for cool optimism. We've been fortunate over the years, to have had such outstanding coaching talent in our secondary, an area that like any other, has undergone its share of flux. Overall, it has consistently served as an anchor of stability, and generally has been a key component in our limited measure of success. All too true. Outside of a rogue season that Wanny once stumbled into, and Ricky once crashed through, a decent running OL has been like an allergy around here, and despite his stellar history, proved to be Houck's lone pothole along a storied road of success.
Well, let's look at the 2007 pass defense stats: We were 23rd overall in defense, with our pass defense being #4 in the NFL allowing 187ypg "but" we were 32nd against the run, teams did not have to throw the ball against us. We had 14 int's in 2007, with J Allen leading us with three picks and our leading tackler in the Secondary was Jason Allen with 55. We were one of the worst scoring defenses in the NFL allowing 467pts In 2008: We went from -7 T/O ratio to +17, the best in the NFL We had 18 int's in 2008, with 2 int's going for Td's compared to 1 in 2007. The leading tackler was Y Bell, who had 100 and led the entire team in 2008 Will Allen tied his career high in Int's at 3, R Hill had 3 int's (career high), Akin A had 2 int's(career high), A Goodman had 5 picks (career high). Akin A is interesting in that he had 2 int's his first season with Bowles in Dallas. But the uncomfortable fact is, we actually backslid a bit last season our pass defense went from #4 in the NFL to #25. Anyone care to take a stab at how we fell back 21 slots in pass defense?
I'm just afraid he won't be with us for the 2010-2011 season. He is gonna be a hot commodity, especially if we do well on defense.
Could be, but notice the huge improvement in run defense between 07 and 08, in 07 teams did not have to pass, in 08 teams could not run the ball as easily against us so they had to throw the ball. That and our pass rush disappeared, 11.5 of Joey Porter's sacks came by week 9, 4 of those sacks came in one game, we had no one else even approach JP's diminshed sack production the rest of the year. Even a JP flameout in weeks 10-17, he still managed 6 sacks, we all should hope JT and Wake are the real deal because JP isn't getting that many sacks this season.
Yeah, we played the Cards...they must have accounted for most all of the passing yards...LOL....it's might be because our run D became more stout as well...
