IMO the biggest problems with our offense last year was the offensive system and the lack of complementary talents. System: By system I don't mean a west coast offense vs. a Coryell offense. I don't think that makes all that much difference. What I mean is a coherent philosophy that is communicated to the players and puts them in position to succeed. It gives you a base of bread and butter plays and then allows you to create variations off those plays as defenses adjust. In the running game that means using your players strengths and giving them easy reads. Last year it seemed like we ran a plethora of dive plays behind a struggling interior line and a minimal amount of off-tackle plays when the Ts were the strongest part of our line. We ran few called counter plays despite that being RW's best play by far. In the passing game we seemed to run very few combination patterns and instead ran very vanilla individual patterns. The advantage to combination patterns is that it gives the QB a very easy read. For example, against a cover-2 (which gave Henne fits last year) I have always loved to run a curl/sideline or curl/corner combination. That is a simple cover-2 buster that gives the QB an easy read. A QB friendly system is what allows teams like NE and Phi to be successful with different QBs. IMO all but maybe 6 QBs in the league would have failed in Miami's "system". I have many more complaints about Henning and the system, but the point is that he very rarely gave this offense a chance to succeed. Complementary talents: The talent level in the league is fairly close. What separates most teams is how well the talent they have fits together and is used by the coaches. Most fans are looking for upgrades at one position or another, but what matters most is talent that fits well together. That is what lets a player like Woodhead excel. I doubt Woodhead would have made our practice squad last year. The Dolphins had talent that didn't complement each other. MArshall and Bess were their best players and they excelled at attacking the same area of the field. The team did better early on b/c the running game was used more and Hartline was healthy. But when the running game was abandoned and Hartline got hurt, the defense was able to compress the areas where Bess and Marshall operated most. The Dolphins did well this off-season addressing those two issues. First they brought in a new OC who draws from the NE and NYJ offenses. And second, they brought in many players that should be able to attack other areas of the field to complement what they have in Marshall and Bess. Personally, I wasn't thrilled with all of their choices, but at least they attacked what I saw as the major issues. I really liked the additions of Pouncey, Thomas, Gates and Clay. I see them as players who both address areas of weakness and have good (or better) talent. The first three I see as potential pro bowl players. Obviously we'll see what happens and how they develop, but I think they have the talent to reach that lofty standard. Bush addresses our need for a horizontal field stretcher. I prefer a more complete back so I preferred Bradshaw and Sproles, but at least it addressed a need. I feel that the Gs we brought in were correctly directed at shoring up the interior line. Again, I wasn't thrilled with the choices, but fit often matters more than talent especially on the OL. On defense, I see Burnett as a slight upgrade over Crowder. I think he helps our coverage and makes more big plays, but he's not as good of a run defender. I also like JT as a situational pass rusher. I felt he was over-used in NY b/c of their injuries and that he wore down, but that if he were used more judiciously he could still produce a bit for us. I also liked Fields as a back-up NT/DT. Finally, I liked that we didn't over pay to bring in another average QB. I wanted competition at the QB spot, but I saw that as far less important than saving our picks for a potential run at a QB in the upcoming draft. Moore is nothing special in my mind, but he did show some potential prior to his injury a year ago. I didn't like that they again ignored the TE position. A TE with the ability to threaten the seam would help spread the D and break that cover-2 we had so many problems with. I also would have liked to see a S brought in. I think Bell is getting older and that a play making FS may be the difference between a good defense and a great defense. So that's what I liked and didn't like so far this off-season. Time will tell if Daboll and the other players are good choices, but at least they addressed some of my complaints from last season (and before).
