When teams play this style of defense, where essentially they are playing 5 defensive linemen in the game, the old high school 5-2, the weakness is to force guys like Matt Roth to cover. But when you allow in your protection schemes to have a back handle this kind of player, than you are asking for sacks. The Dolphins are not a fluke as a team–they are a powerful team with powerful players and have clearly benefited from the weight training and conditioning program of the off season. Roth and Quintan Moses are both former DL that have moved out to backer and give the Dolphins a tough physical style. Finally, after all these years, I love hearing praise like this especially from a guy well respected like Lombardi. This guy is an absolute must read. http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/2008/10/national-football-post-diner-news-34/
Nice to hear, I love how we are playing physical ball on both sides of the LoS. Even if you lose, you know the guys are out there playing hard, and its just fun to watch your guys smack some people around!
He's my favorite sports writer in the world. Provides great insight. Thanks for the link, I completely forgot to read this!
Some more information from Lombardi........ The National Football Post | National Football Post Tavern Talk 1. All the talk about the Miami Wildcat formation helping them win games is really just high light plays. When you study the tape, they used it 11 times and had roughly 50 yards rushing. Miami is winning with their power and strength in the defensive line and front seven. 7. San Diego is going to have to either reduce the role of LT, or sit him down for a few games because right now, he is not the same player. They are better with Darren Sproles in the game. And you could tell from the tape, the Dolphins surprised the Chargers with their power and physical play from the beginning of the game. The bolded part I absolutely love. To be a physical team again that is dominating on the line of scrimmage in both facets of the game is just mind blowing considering I didnt expect it this quickly. After the past debacles, it's finally great to see a Dolphins team that I can be proud of again.
Anytime man, anytime. I was reading through some of the game day thread on a chargers fan site and to see how steamed they were was utterly priceless. Between the comments of "how could we be down to the dolphins of all teams" and "i cant believe we are losing to a college offense" just brought the biggest smile to my face that no dolphin team could do for a long time.
Obviously this gentlemen is well respected, but how are we playing a 5 - 2? Our base package is a 3 - 4, and even if you count Roth as a DL then it's a 4 - 3 personnel package that is running a 3 - 4 scheme. Still the Dolphins coaching staff know that the opposing offense is going to try force Roth to cover in space. And so far the Miami coaching staff has been able to keep that from happening. Plus Roth maybe not as bad in pass coverage as some think. In his interview on Dolphins Tonight he said the thing he was the most proud of was his pass coverage against San Diego. I am not saying Roth is great at pass defense. But I think the coaching staff is aware of it and is not going to ask Roth to cover a back man up for extended periods of time. Roth was in relatively good coverage against Gates in one incompletion to Gates, and that was 10 - 15 yards down the field. Anyone know what he talking about with the 5 - 2? The rest of our LB's are truely LB's. Porter, Crowder, and Adayle (sp?) they aren't DL. EDIT: So we took out one of our true LB's and put in Quentin Moses? Are we doing this on a regular basis?
I think what Lombardi means with the 5-2 is essentially that having the 2 OLB's and the 3 DL mean that we have 5 lineman on the field. Originally both Porter and Roth were ends in college. I think thats what he means but I just woke up so I could be grasping at straws.
I believe he means we are basically playing a 5-2 because Porter is a pass-rusher as well as Roth in some situations. Code: Porter Crowder Ayodele Roth Holliday Ferguson Langford Porter, Roth, Holliday, Ferguson and Langford would be considered five rushers, with Ayodele and Crowder being the two LB's I believe.
I think that makes sense alen. They'd basically be double teaming the C gaps while leaving the As and Bs to be taken by Ferg/Crowder/Ayodele (If I'm thinking correctly). Or just Ferg. That forces the runs to go inside instead of outside. I don't know about you guys but I'd much rather have runs going up the middle where everyone can converge than on the outside where if one or two guys miss he may be gone.
Maybe. I would still consider Porter a LB (one that is a pass rusher), but who knows. I am honestly surprised how well our D has played. I think the D coordinator is making some good calls. I don't THINK, not sure, that we have seen Roth burnt in pass coverage that often. So he must be making some pretty good calls and not exposing the weaknesses of the personnel, or the pressure is getting to the QB so they have to rush or make an inaccurate throw. It's interesting. Our D went from Toast to out greatest strength in the last two games. So I am not sure how we are doing it, but I am just glad we are .
Well he is still considered a 'backer. What I'm thinking is that Lombardi was thinking about us playing a 5-2 on pass downs. It wouldn't make much sense to me if he was talking us playing this as our base defense. I'm also surprised in our defensive play as well as Roth's play at the OLB spot. When he made the transition, I thought he would be a situational pass rusher but that hasn't been the case. Regarding the coverage comment, he's surprised me in that area as well. He has been good in coverage including against SD in which some cases he went up against Gates.
I think part of the reason he had a good game against Gates was the fact that Gates is nursing a sore hip limiting him some. On top of that I dont think he had man coverage alot. I cant back that up though.
