This is some great news: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/other/sfl-dolphins-connor-barth-s08110sbaug12,0,5857111.story When the news of Thomas's pec injury spread the timetable for return could have been either in the middle of the season, or next season, now he is consistently practicing in full contract drills. Donald Thomas coming back means Sean Murphy also has had time to go through the cycle, so not only do we have our Starting RG back, we finally have a young guy coached up to fill in for DTrain or Smiley, both of whom have been injury prone. Thomas coming back, Wake showing some things, these guys are like extra draft picks, if a couple of UDFA like Mark Lewis and Louis Ellis can stick, as well as Chris Williams, next season we will have even more athletes to challenge the current guys next Training Camp.
Yeah, if we can have one or two "Davon Bess'" from each draft class...we're going to continue to be in better and better shape... I'm excited to see how the OL fares with, as you said Padre, not only the starters healthy, but backups that can fill the holes when and if called on....
The way Ireland and Sparano do things is so unlike what JJ/Wanny/Saban/Cameron have done, they set up a system were even the practice squad players have to compete to stay on the roster, everyone is expected to contribute and buy in. Typically cats like Ndukwe and Alleman would be shoe ins to make the roster simply because they have game experience and versatility "oh Alleman, he can play Center and Guard he'll make the team" Not with Sparano, Shawn Murphy has spent an entire calendar year just to beat out Andy Alleman, that is unheard of in Miami heretofore.
It's nice to see our decision makers making the right choice, not nessecarily the most popular choice for a change. I'm really intersted to see this oline. It could be really special this year, and the teams we'll be facing they will need to be for a good season. And finally, finally we have young depth at the position. I never would have thought in under 2 years we could go from an abysmal Oline to having such a young talent filled one. I guess the problem wasn't lack of talent out on the market but the people the phins have evaluating and acquiring that talent.
Oh man, talk about some bad memories, at this time in preseason 07, the talk was about Vern Carey switching to Left Tackle and LJ Shelton "getting down to 305" as well as Liewinski playing Guard, the difference is amazing. Granted they opened up the check book for the Oline, but is there a better investment to help the Qb and Rb's become more productive?
Oh dear god those were dark times Well from what I can tell, investing in the oline has made EVERYONE better on offense. More accurate qb (granted he's known for that), Less sacks, much better all around WR group, better 3rd/4th down conversions on less than a yard, this year we should have a better running game too, which is what i think the emphasis was on spending for grove and retaining Carey. I think the biggest domino effect it had that directly correlated to winning games was, the fewest turnovers in the NFL. It seemed like Beck or Lemon in 2007 fumbled a snap, threw a pick by forcing it or fumbled after a sack, say every 5th play or so . A healthy Oline will keep us competative with playoffs in sight all season long in my opinion.
Categorically, unequivocally, No! There's a reason for the OLD saying: "Games are won and lost in the trenches." And you just hit on it perfectly. A solid OL and solid DL can make up for a LOT of deficiencies and make good players (QB, RB, WR's, LB's, DB's) play even better than they are talent-wise.
First time in quite a few years where we've had people calling the shots who offer more than token effort to give us the OL needed to be on top again. It's like a breath of fresh air.
Donald Thomas has all the skills to go in to HoF after his first preseason game...but he knows that Godell will fine him for being too good, so he has act like he is learning just like everybody else
Lets also not forget Hadnot intentionally letting himself get beat when Beck was in there. Guy blew his FA payday with that crap.
We should always look for the playoffs but hey let's go beyond that.....let's look for the Super Bowl!! Great post.
I don't know that I heard him directly quoted, but there was talk Hadnot said he would not block same for Beck as for Lemon. I think he believed going to Beck was giving up on winning any games that season. If it's true Hadnot said or felt that way and actually did follow through with it, then as for his recent injury...well all I got to say is karma is a *****. The fat tub of goo only needed to focus on blocking, not coaching the team.
Seems like he played hard for Saban, but in 2007 he was just going through the motions. I agree, have no use for babies like that.
