Conu...great write up as per usual.. I was saddened by the neglect of a clear area of advantage for the Dolphins.. The Jags Special Teams coverage unit is just bad, probably worse than the Patriots, and Ginn went for 26.8 on returns on the Pats, I'd bet he matches that against the Jags, I sort of fully expect to see Ginn take 1 more ball to the house in the remaining 4 games. The Jags are a surprisingly balanced team, but schizoid, one week up, the next week down, one of the hallmarks of a younger team, Sparano will have something cooked up for this weekend.
Conserving Williams is an area of concern for me, and I think you might have hit the nail on the head with this one. As much as Williams is being lauded for playing well (at his age), I have noticed how tired he seems to play come the 4th quarter (as opposed to Brown's 3rd wind). I am a little surprised that Hilliard is not used more. Do you think we'll see more of him in the coming weeks (or maybe other backs), or a combination with your Henne theory? Ricky needs his rest. His stamina is OK, but it is obvious he is taking a pounding this year. I think he has it in him to continue to carry the load, but Miami needs to be prudent in trying to conserve him for the long-run without taking too much away from the offensive gameplan.
Well coolmax, if I could offer up an explanation for Lex H: Sparano and Henning don't know what they have with him, they seem to operate on the principle of "go with what you know but do so creatively". Hillard imho, is a slashing, downhill runner who has surprisingly good hands and they tend to throw him the ball more than one would think for a 230 pd plus Running Back, but Sparano and Henning are trying to discover how use Ricky W and Lexxy in roles that Cobbs and Brown used to fill all the while trying to win football games. I love the manner that Hillard is always moving forwards, always trying to run downhill, he falls forwards for an extra half yard, reminds me Earnest Byner a bit. Conu is right though, we will throw the ball more, RW's stamina and Hillard's unknown status will force our hands imho.
I wonder if it is less mysterious than not knowing. I conjured up the possibility of maybe Hilliard is not so good in pass blocking or picking up blitz reads, but he's really not been in there enough to come up with a good "read" on him. Maybe the guy just does not know the playbook? Wasn't he just recently activated (not recently like last week, but recently in NFL terms)? I also have trouble with thinking that Sparano and Henning are having trouble coming up with ways to use him, because at the end of the day, he's a runningback, and he has run for over 4000+ yards in his college career. He knows how to run. And, to simplify the matter, Ricky absolutely needs the rest, therefor, running Hilliard seems like the next best option. There has to be a reason he is not in there, but I do not think it is because of Henning's lack of creativity. It probably has something to do with Hilliard's lack of playbook knowledge or something of the like.
Well, given our depth alone, I would want to limit Ricky's touches. Personally I'd do something where I take him out between the 40's etc. That way, any long drive he can rest in the middle, but also gets Lex into the game so as to get his feet wet. Lex has had some gaffs in pass protection, but that is to be expected from a guy coming in mid season. However, if that continues for 4 weeks or so, then we have a problem. I think Hilliard's running style may leave yards on the field at this level. It is not his fault, but he also be seen as less explosive. But honestly, who knows. I would like to see Henne continue to get more chances, but not like last week. 52 attempts is too much for my liking - something more along the line 32-37 attempts should be enough to allow us to attack through the air and rest the runners. It also depends who we are facing too. During this stretch, I believe we face some of the worst pass defenses in the NFL. I don't know, but he needs to. Anything will help. I just go after that avenue. I have said it before and Ginn has not made a big play. So maybe this time it works.
Hmm...I sort of like Hillard's running style Conu, to me he is a slashing, powerful runner who runs downhill who is unlikely to break a 40 yd run, but will make plenty of 3-9 yd runs. And there is another possibility for resting RW maybe Lousaka Polite? As for our man Teddy Ginn...3 of the next 4 teams ST units are not very good, they have given up TD returns and Ginn tends to feast on those sorts of units. The Bucs bottled him up, he shredded the Pats
He's very much a one cut runner. Unfortunately, we don't really run that type of offense. Grove's presence up front may open up some more holes for us, so we may see something different. Hilliard may be a great fit for a zone blocking team like Shanny's Broncos teams.
Late news from another thread: with Jacksonville WR Sims-Walker downgraded to doubtful, and a newly dinged Mike Thomas (probable) filling in, Thomas should be moved out of the slot. That, in combination with his mild injury, should greatly hamper his effectiveness, IMO.
Football IQ I see. Ginn's 50 yd return led to points, we won by one point, no Ginn, no FG, we lose the game.
We have 4 "can't lose" games remaining.....what are we saving Ricky for? I'd just tell him this your chance to help make history much kinder to you and we're gonna ride your old *** for the next month. This is Ricky Williams we're talking about. He can handle it.....he just has to want to. To me that's the only question there
I have the feeling that RW is a higher mileage car engine, sure the car will run great with normal usage, but don't try to haul the camper with it. I do believe he has one game where he will "turn it on" but he won't do it consistently, not now.
See I don't buy that tho.....sometimes in life you just have to dig deep and tough it out. For RW, this is one of those times. He should have enough in the tank to give us 25-30 touches per game. If we're to give Hilliard more carries, do it early. Ricky is the one we need out there in the 4th quarter.
We've been pretty good against the run for the most part, but we are really going to have to be good this week. Jones-Drew is the kind of guy that burn you and give you headaches. Without Big Ferg, we're really going to need the rest of the guys to step it up and contain MJD. We need to watch out for the screen stuff to him. We sometimes have a tendency to get burned with those type of plays. I think we can do it. I thought we might of had more trouble in games like the one against the Panthers, with guys like D. Williams(I think J. Stewart was hurt in that game), but we shut him down pretty good and I think we can do the same thing with Jones-Drew. I hope.
