http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/football/pro/dolphins/sfl-flspdolnotes01sbdec01,0,403928.story By Craig Barnes | South Florida Sun-Sentinel December 1, 2007 Article tools E-mail Share Digg Del.icio.us Facebook Fark Google Newsvine Reddit Yahoo Print Single page view Reprints Post Comment Text size: DAVIE - Defensive coordinator Dom Capers said on Friday the defense has been able to move away from its "vanilla" play because players are more comfortable. "If you have a couple of new guys who aren't ready to handle the variations, you have to stay a little vanilla," Capers said. "We have more guys who are confident with what we are trying to do. Therefore, we have done a few more things." Capers pointed to the improved player of Joey Porter as an example and said the strongside linebacker is finally comfortable playing the base, nickel and dime positions he was signed to play.
Let's see what we will do. Dom sayed we will try new things, with the guys being comfortable. That means we will be doing something nobody has seen on film.
This is something that I had stated in another post. I thought that this might be the case but wasn't completely sure. However, it doesn't change my opinion of Capers being cut.
Why do you think Capers should be cut? What'd you think is the cause of the problem here? What, did his toupee suddenly eat his brain, as opposed to having to run a defensive that has suffered massive injuries at key positions after having its biggest strength(DL depth) plundered? Capers isnt getting fired. Huizenga didnt make him the highest made assistant coach because didnt have confidence in him.
That's assuming that the defense, prior to injuries was as good physical talent wise as last season, which pretty clearly isnt the case. The DL depth that was pretty inarguably the main strength in the '05-'06 defense has become a weakness. The retaining starters have seemingly broken down, and the younger players replacing Zgonina/Carter/etc have not performed adequately. That's not to mention the idea that some of those players who did so much for us last year that were retained have fallen off. Keith Traylor has lost what mobility he had,and is easy to neutralize unless the play is right at him. Jason Taylor has been shut down by single blockers, and in some cases tight ends. Zach Thomas and Vonnie Holliday cannot stay on the field. Matt Roth has clearly been unable to hold the starters job. The question is, why do YOU think that Dom Capers, whose had a stellar record as a coordinator everywhere he's gone has suddenly and mysteriously fallen off?
"Porter missed training camp rehabilitating from knee surgery, but his play-making ability has been more visible in recent games." I thought Capers was wrong is trying to force a guy that had made All pro playing weakside OLB to the strongside spot. But Joey Porter is showing he can do it all, or at least better then anyone else we have. He is our fastest LB so the more he can do the better. We could move Channing to the middle fulltime and draft a young weakside pass rushing OLB.
Here is the real question about Dom Capers: Is he the DefCord to coach up a Defensive Unit that will populated by mostly rooks, and 1-4 year players? Keep in mind the "book" on this year is mostly written, can Capers be relied on to lead a very young Defense into the top echelon of the NFL, or should we look for a different DefCord who has a simpler scheme for younger players to learn who can teach as well? And we will be in the market for a new Defensive Line Coach if Dom stays.
Capers is fine. He's turned the defense around and considering the turnover year to year, you cant complain about how long it took. He's developing Jason Allen, wright and Moses nicely, scotched taped together a talent poor secondary and got Porter playing well at a new position. Give him another infusion of talent next year and we'll be right back defensively. Just meaner, quicker, younger and hungrier.
the defense has improved to #16... but the question is... did it improve with the help of the weather conditions in the giants, eagles and steelers games or did the play of the team improve due to the cohesiveness of the players... IMO it is BOTH... it is obvious that jason allens play has helped solidify the safety spot he has really improved the deep coverage back there... freeing up the corners to blitz!!! it is also good to see joey porter playing well too... he looks more comfortable out there... he actually doesn't look lost like he did in the earlier part of the season!!! as for the young guys like Wright, Moses and Crowder to a point... they all look like they are gonna be solid players for this team in the comming years... capers has done the best he could with an injury riddled secondary and several NEW players being inserted into the line-up on a weekly basis... IMO the defense needs a better option than Matt Roth @ LDE... he is much better as a rotation guy coming off the bench!!! if miami can get a good LDE prospect in the 2008 draft or perhaps a big DT prospect that would really make the D-line have the depth it has had in the past!!! also Paul Soliai must improve BIG TIME for the defense to take the next step forward!!! therefore IMO capers shouldn't take all of the blame for the defensive mess so far in 2007!!! i want to see how the last 5 games play out for the defense... if they could improve even further than they have i would be convinced defense could wait until the 2nd round of the 2008 draft!!!
First off last year wasn't a stellar year for Dom, Nick was calling the defense. Dom should be held accountable for this defense especially at the beginning of the season when everyone was healthy. No Free rides. Last time I checked Dom has a say in his defenseive players correct? He went into this season with these players, so it cannot all be blamed on the players, these coaches need to be held acccountable as well. Have you noticed that this year Jt is not moving around like last year? Have you noticed until just recently we have been a re-active defense rather then a attacking defense like last year. Did we truly lose our Defensive coordinator when Nick left? I am concerned that the game may have past by Dom. Why has Jason Allen on the bench for most of this year? If was for poor film study, isn't it the Defensive coordinators job to recognize it, and help the work ethic in the area if need be? Did Dom also under estimate his talents? I hear that the reason the defense has turned around is that Cam has gotten more involved in the defense.
Nice post. "IF" we were to take this season and cut it into two halves and look at each unit, in the first half ending at the Giants game, our Offense was the star of this vaudeville production, we looked like we could score on most possessions, it was the defense that stunk. Second half, it's been the opposite, our Defense has been playing pretty strongly (With Jason Allen inserted as a starter and maybe a couple of the Scrap Heap players making plays) it's the Offense that has been pretty weak under Lemon and Beck and minus Ronnie and TGreen. The Steelers game I saw the Miami Defense of last year, I have yet to see the Miami offense from games 1-8 appear in the second half of this year. Dom and Cam both share one flaw in my opinion, they are very cautious in giving young players on the field time, it took a Chambers trade to get Ginn on the field, it took Green being knocked out to get Beck on the field and it took a War of Attrition to get Jason Allen on the field. Point being, for a rebuilding team, we need our youngsters to play more and I don't think Cam and Dom are really allowing that to happen barring extraordinary circumstances.
Um... what? Cameron has actively promoted a youth movement on this team at almost every position on both sides of the ball. Some of that is due to injury, but a lot of that is due to drafting and roster movement.
The youth movement wasn't so much a movement as it was a glacial change in NFL terms Desides. There were only 2 day one Rookie starters, Mauia and Satele, Wright and Allen required injuries to get them into the line up. Holliday went down for 4 games and Wright stepped in and played well, and We went through, Yeremiah Bell, Donovin Darius, Renaldo Hill, Travis Daniels, Cameron Worrel, until the point when everyone had been injured, or was ineffective or released except for Jason Allen. We went from Green to Lemon to Beck, we had to trade Chambers to get Ginn in the lineup etc. And LBook and Solai are both not playing very much etc. Now we are starting to see a nice mix in on Defense with Porter and Allen and Wright all making contributions at a pretty high level along with Will Allen.
This whole issue is a lot more complex, I'm afraid. Remember when Cam made Ronnie earn his starting spot in the preseason and even had him return kickoffs at one point? That paid off big time; and not just for Ronnie but also for Jesse Chatman who is in the best shape of his career. Now, if Cameron is holding his veteran players to these standards, he can't just shrug them off when it comes to rookies. At least not without losing his credibility in the locker room. If Allen didn't beat out Hill, Tillmann or Bell, if Ginn didn't outplay Chambers and if Beck didn't outplay Lemon, how are you going to justify them starting? Locker room chemistry is a fragile thing and considering that the morale is still intact on an 0-11 team, Cameron seems to have handled the matter quite fine. There's no point in playing rookies just for the sake of it. Especially not if it gets you into trouble with your vets. If a starting spot must be earned, everyone must earn it - not just the vets.
Sounds about a normal change of pace to me. Teams do not decide overnight to go from veterans to youth. Players get replaced as necessary, not on whims when the coach says "You're too old." "Glacial?" Hardly. We've gone to youth quickly, both in terms of relative NFL speed and in terms of recent Dolphins roster history. Saban never used his youth, and Wannstedt never drafted youth that could stick on the roster in the first place.
Two rookie starters to begin the season, and 2 more during the year is normal NFL pacing on an 0-11 team? Second year players waiting until midseason to get any playing time is "normal"? I do believe Desides, if I said that the sky was blue, you would post that in fact it is azure, and that is only because.....
Allen didn't beat out Tillman Bell and Hill, he out survived them...LOL! Chambers was a good trade opportunity, it might not have mattered how he was playing as a 2nd for CC is a pretty good deal for us in rebuilding mode. Beck may have not outplayed Lemon, his time simply had arrived, I can remember reading about the flap over Lemon getting the majority of Practice snaps. But I do agree with your premise, Cam won't play anyone unless he is 100% certain that the guy is completely ready to play, and even then in the case of John Beck he does have him on a short leash with a compliance collar. I would like to give Dom the same charity, but he refused to 1. Move Allen from CB when our safeties started going down 2. even when Bell, and Tillman and Hill were injured, he still played Cameron Worrel over Jason Allen at SS. The only two guys who started from Day One were Samson Satele, and Reagen Mauia, and they were both upgrades over the players that they took over for as rookies, Schlesinger was finished after a great career, and Hadnot just was not as good a Center as Samson was even as a Rookie.
You have an odd definition of youth, if it extends only to players who have been in the league under two years. Look at the number of players who are either starting or seeing significant time, or at least have contributed in some way, and you'll note that many of them are still playing under their rookie contracts. Off the top of my head, excluding players from the 2007 draft; Matt Roth, Rod Wright, Vernon Carey, Rex Hadnot, Derek Hagan, Jason Allen, Channing Crowder, Derrick Pope, Ronnie Brown, Yeremiah Bell, Travis Daniels, Quentin Moses. And just for the hell of it, let's go and add in the players from the 2007 draft: Ted Ginn, John Beck, Samson Satele, Reagan Mauia, Brandon Fields. And this doesn't preclude the future growth and potential contributions of Paul Soliai, Abe Wright, Drew Mormino, and Lorenzo Booker. So, 14 significant players on the roster can be categorized as youth, with many of them seeing their playing time and responsibilities increasing significantly this year as compared to 2005 and 2006. That's excluding Ronnie and Bell, who are on IR. Thus, out of 22 major positions--11 offense, 11 defense--14 players can be reliably categorized as youth. Glacial. Yeah, right.
The roster has flipped no doubt, how many of the guys that you listed have actually played for us this season? Mormino? Abe Wright? Q Moses was a late season addition so to speak, and even he is playing over Abe Wright, who AFAIK isn't in our Dline rotation, Mormino has been shut down so far this season and And guys like Crowder and Pope and Ronnie and Y Bell were all already solid NFL players before Cam ever came to the Dolphins. It's the players like Jason Allen and Rod Wright that should have been playing earlier IMO, If Daniels was to be a safety, then why in the world play Worrel over him? It's moves like that are a bit slow IMO.
Uh. Everyone I listed has played in games this season, except Mormino, Booker, and possibly Abe Wright, though I believe Abe Wright saw time early this year. Abe Wright and Drew Mormino are both on IR. Yes, and their roles have been increased under Cameron. The point wasn't that Cameron brought them to this team, the point is that Cameron is giving them more responsibility. Some of that is due to injury, but most of that, especially on offense and the defensive line, was by design. The overall point is, you're wrong yet again about this team and the makeup of its roster.
Actually, on this I am quite correct Desides, merely listing names does not show that they you know, actually played for us or something, the roster was flipped 50% when the season started, yet the majority of the new arrivals were not given much of a chance to play, neither were are 1-3 yr players on Defense. Their roles only increased through Attrition, not design, Jason Allen is a case in point of that fact, we went through 4 or 5 other Safeties before he was given a chance to play, and before that it took all of those injuries to even consider placing JA at safety even as a back up. Same thing with Rod Wright. We have had Ronnie and Rickey and Chatman injured and LBook still has not seen the field, Beck was slated to not play at all this season. "Sorry" Desides, saying that you are "right" doesn't make it so.
... What? The only players you might have a point with are Jason Allen and Rod Wright, except I never claimed that they played by design and not injury. Furthermore, this is getting beyond the point: you were incorrect about the contributions of young players to this team, and did not even know about some of these players' roster status. The fact is, youth is contributing significantly to this team, in direct contradiction to your assertion that they were not, and your attempts to redefine exactly what counts as "youth" in the first place. Long story short, this team is rebuilding, it's doing so through the draft, and it won't be doing so with Darren McFadden.
No, actually I was quite clear about the contributions of 1-3 yr players to this team, I've been completely consistent on that fact. Abe Wright's absence has caused no hole in our playing roster, what does that tell you about Abe Wright's importance to our team? Yes Desides, you will have to use Inference and Deduction to piece that mystery together.. Here is a hint, Rob Ninkovich has seen the field more then Abe Wright has... The players that we drafted this year, and the players from last season, have not seen the field enough, nor soon enough to be considered a classic rebuilding season, we are rebuilding on the fly and only when need makes us insert the young players into the lineup. The only exceptions to that are Satele and Mauia, every other rookie or youngster who has contributed was not simply inserted, there had to be an injury in order for them to play, and that is too slow for a rebuilding. It's all about Glenn Dorsey for you? Why am I not surprised, he did some mean jumping jacks on the side line yesterday, that should be encouraging.../s We will see what Mr. Dorsey does in the BCS title game, if he pulls an invisible man impersonation...again...then we will be reading about how "Glenn Dorsey's stock is dropping".... As Fin Fans link in a different thread stated, "The currency of player's value is directly related to how well they can rush the passer" Too true, a wise statement that one.
Porter is starting to play like Porter. And believe it or not, I was actually sad to see Worrell get hurt. When did we get Schulters? I dont remember signing him?
Let's point the finger at Dom Capers huh? Because it was his fault that Yeremiah Bell got knocked out of the season after 1 game, which BTW is a huge blow as he is our best defensive back. Because it was his fault that Zach Thomas has missed tons of practice and games due to concussions. Because it was his fault that Matt Roth has yet to be effective. We can also blame him for the softest training camp and preseason ever [letting veteran defensive players sit out a bunch of valuable preseason games], but some of us think we can point the finger at Cam for that. These are all the key reasons why our defense hasn't been able to be consitently effective.
I don't know if it is Dom's fault or not, but I do wonder why JT is not playing like he was last year...and why Porter is not being used to take the pressure off of JT so he could get more pressure on the QB??
Jason Taylor has been taking plays off too often this season. Some of it has to be conditioning, and some of it is that the other team is respecting him by double teaming him. You can also factor in that Matt Roth hasn't played as expected; he was suppose to bring a bull rush type of pressure at the other end and free up Taylor at the other end. And Traylor is just old. Porter's pass rush has been very ineffective as well.
No one has mentioned L. Booker, I thought he played good vs. the Jets(he can't block). Why hasn't he played all year? They should put him in the slot. Reminds me of a poor man's Jim Kiick!
