Sacrificing coverage ability in your LB corps to get younger or save money might not be the best thing ever, but sacrificing coverage ability in your LB corps to get younger, save money AND increase your pass rush, is not the worst thing ever.
Eh, thing is, even though we run a hybrid D, 4-3 Lb's tend to drop into coverage far more then they blitz, this is why I'm not 100% on board with this change.
LOL, well played. If you're talking about the Colts' first play, Bell shouldn't have been jumping Reggie Wayne so quickly and Gibril Wilson should have made the tackle.
You bring up some valid concerns. CB is up in the air but regardless of what happens we'll be a lot better off. I like Sean Smith but he's as much of a problem as he is a solution, one dimensional as hell, and even that one dimension is closer to good than great. In press coverage he can be very good, but off man or zone, when he can't redirect and trail, he sucks. He doesn't react well to balls thrown in front of him, doesn't give strong run support, can't blitz or play in the slot, all of which handicaps the DC in terms of what he can call. A lot of people bang on Marshall but he can do it all. Press man, off man, zone, he can come up and tackle, turn and run, play in the slot, play FS, play ST, he allows the DC to call anything he wants. If Marshall is healthy he'll be a major asset. Brent Grimes is another guy with a lot of versatility, what I like best about him is that he has tremendous ball skills. Right now those are the starters, and IMO they are light years ahead of what we had starting most of last season (Smith and Carroll). On top of that, no more Jimmy Wilson, Brice McCann or RJ Stanford getting snaps. All three of them are long shots to even make the team. Patterson will have to be a starter (1, 2 or 3 CB) or he's getting cut. Carroll figures to be a 4 or a 5, not a 2 like he was last year. As a group there's more talent, more depth, and more versatility this year. LB is somewhat different b/c the guys we had played pretty damn good last season. I'm not expecting the new guys to top what Dansby and Burnett did, but I'm not expecting Dansby and Burnett (2013) to play as well as they did in 2012 either. They're both getting old (31-32), and on a team full of early-mid 20 somethings they stick out like a sore thumb. Instead of waiting for their play to drop off a cliff, Ireland chose to be proactive about finding replacements. He could easily have brought both of them back this season so I'm inclined to think he feels pretty strongly about Ellerbe and Wheeler. Overall the LB position should be stronger and deeper as a whole. Misi-Ellerbe-Wheeler are probably the starters, but no more Spitler and Trusnik as the first guys off the bench. It'll be Dion Jordan and/or Jelani Jenkins, both of whom can run, cover, hit, etc, very versatile. I can't wait for Johnathan "walk into the EZ instead of down the punt on the 1/ hold on the 1st play of the whole season" Freeney's *** to get cut. The DL returns in tact, with the addition of Dion Jordan, probably the best defensive prospect in the entire draft. When you step back and look at what Coyle accomplished with what he had last year, and then look at what he has to work with this year, it's hard not to think that the D will be much improved. Ditto on offense. If the team gels properly and stays healthy, ah I'm not even going to say it. Just make sure you're not busy on Oct. 27...
Nah, saw it time after time, Dansby for his non playmaking overpriced performance at least stopped it. Can Ellerbe? Dunno, do know the league is going to more WR type Te's and that means coverage ability moreso then blitzing. Not sure if Wheeler or Ellerbe can get it done tbh.
That doesn't mean that's our plan though. After all, its not like Dansby and Burnett's coverage abilities were doing wonders for record or pass defense stats.
I think that's pretty fair, as long as it doesn't represent a playoffs or fired mentality, for me, 9 and 7 on the upswing, for this young of a team, I think is an acceptable third year relative to the GM position, you?
My thought process in supporting this type of move, is the duo of Ellerbe and Wheeler will be better than the duo of Dansby and Burnett, I thought Burnett was average.
IMO Dansby and Burnett benefited from playing behind one of the better DLs in the game, Wheeler and Ellerbe will benefit as well. I think they excelled in covering a lot of ground in pass coverage and that's the area Pads seems concerned about. Its a legit concern but it's only an issue vs a select few teams and it should be mitigated by better coverage from the corners, better pass rush and hopefully more splash plays and TOs.
IMO Ellerbe will be fine in the curl/flat zones and vs short crossing routes. He's an upgrade in the down hill, physical, collapse the pocket, blowup run plays dept. Dansby is better at taking away the the seam throws and vs backs/TE is man coverage though. However, if the CBs do a better job on the outside the safeties won't have to babysit them as much and they'll be able to help out more in the middle of the field.
Watched Ellerbe dropping into coverage against the Broncos in the playoffs last season. Manning went the other way and was picked
After last season ended, my view was that the Dolphins needed to make the playoffs in 2013 for Ireland to be retained as the teams GM. Now I feel that the Dolphins need to only have a winning season to show that they are headed in the right direction. Unless this team develops quickly, I just don't see 2013 being a playoff year for the Dolphins. In looking at their schedule, I think they will probably start the season 1-4, or possibly 2-3, at best. This means they will have to go 8-3 or 7-4 over their last 11 games to have at least a 9-7. Even if they finish with nine wins, I think this will probably not be enough wins to make the playoffs this year. I think it will take at least 10 wins in the AFC to make the playoffs in 2013. If the Dolphins do start out 1-4 or 2-3 and they end up with 9 wins during the 2013 season, this will at least show that they are headed in the right direction and with another draft in 2014 and another free agent or two, they should be legitimate playoff contenders in 2014 and for several years to come. I think having complete control on player personnel decisions for the past three years is plenty of time for Ireland to prove that he is capable of putting a team together that can win more games than it loses. So to me, it is either at least nine wins in 2013 for the Dolphins for Ireland to keep his job or anything less than nine wins would mean that it is time for Ross to look in a different direction at the GM position. Of course if this team fails to win at least nine games and they once again end up having another sub 500 season, this will not only mean Ireland needs to go but it will also call into question if Philbin is the right man for the head coaching job. I just hope you and I are sitting here after the season and writing about how excited we are for this young team going forward. I also hope Ireland and Philbin are with the team in 2014 and for years to come. This will mean that the Dolphins won at least nine games and we actually have a team we can all get excited about for the future. To me, the 2013 season is the most important season for the Dolphin organization in over a decade. If they want to fill the stands, they have to start winning more games and get the South Florida fans excited about this team again. The draft and free agent signings are only part of building excitement. The most important part is actually getting on the field and proving they can be a winning team again. September can't get here fast enough for me.
I disagree that they are coverage liabilities. If we are going man-to-man, they are. But if we are playing zone, they are much better suited for that. I think that's what we'll be doing. I'll be posting an interesting analysis on Wheeler in a separate thread that addresses this. They give much more flexibility and still have room for improvement. Wheeler improved significantly in Oakland over Indy and they both still have upside. Burnett and Dansby really only have downside at this point, imo.
Interestingly, PFF rated Ellerbe #6, Dansby #5 for ILB with Ellerbe better at pass rush, Dansby better in coverage and Wheeler #6, Burnett #4 for OLB with Wheeler better at Pass rush and coverage, Burnett much better vs the run. Pretty much a swap for youth.
