Dolphins Watch: 11 Days
August 30th, 2017
The Miami D-line leads the league already in 2017
One preseason game remains for the Bucs, but now it’s all about opening day on Sunday, Sept. 10, against Miami at Hard Rock Stadium. Joe regularly will bring you a nugget to two on the Dolphins to prime you for the big day (and the night before) in Miramar.
A little NFL trivia for you: What team has invested the most cash into its defensive line? The Dolphins!
The Miami Herald typed up a piece about that today.
That’s not a huge surprise. Ndamukong Suh and Cameron Wake have been in the league’s upper class for years. The Dolphins used their first-round pick on Charles Harris and traded for veteran William Hayes.
But what made the budget really balloon at that position was Miami’s decision to re-sign Andre Branch to a three-year, $24 million contract in March.
The size of the contract left some scratching their heads, considering Branch has never had more than six sacks in his five-year career.
Branch jumped to Miami from Jacksonville on a one-year deal and the defensive end cashed in after a strong season.
So how good is this Dolphins’ D-line? That’s unclear. But they’re healthy and deep, which scares Joe considering some of the question marks the Bucs might have on the offensive line on opening day. Will Demar Dotson play? Would moving Kevin Pamphile to right tackle and Evan Smith to left guard, with first-time center Ali Marpet, inevitably lead some breakdowns.
Adam Beasley of the Miami Herald notes the way to beat the Fins is on the ground and not up the gut.
Run defenses simply don’t work if backs can scoot around the end, and Miami’s failure to stop that was a big reason the Dolphins allowed 2,247 rushing yards in 2016, third-most in the league.
Hello, Charles Sims!
August 30th, 2017 at 4:45 pm
And hello OJ. Sealing the edge! GO BUCS!!!!
August 30th, 2017 at 4:46 pm
Well last year Dirk LOVED the run up the middle on every first down – something he’s been carrying through to this preseason once they get past the scripted plays. I’m not too worried about preseason since you don’t show much of your playbook but I really really hope every series isn’t like year, run up the middle where Doug is getting hit 3 yards behind the LOS and escapes that for a 1 yard loss – then Joe writes that Doug is awful and needs to be cut so we can trade Matt Forte. LOL!
But seriously Dirk – stop the run up the middle – I could watch that Cleveland game and everytime know when it was a run up the middle. Also Dirk if you punt from the other teams 39 yard line again in the preseason, well, as I said live during the game on this site, watch as Dirk calls a timeout and then punts it, just like Lovie Smith would have done. Well that’s what Dirk did as well. Dirk needs to do better if this team is to live up to the hype – and I have faith he will, not totally down on him by any means, but I want to see it actually happen.
August 30th, 2017 at 4:58 pm
Yup.
No more runs up the gut on 1st AND 2nd down, every single drive.
August 30th, 2017 at 4:59 pm
End-arounds and it seemed in game 2 that they were working a lot of 2 step drops to quick screens!!!! The Bucs have really shown nothing but vanilla so far!!!! Can’t wait to see they will unveil in game 1!!!!! Its the Bucs Defense that will rule the day!!!!!!!!
GO Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
August 30th, 2017 at 5:18 pm
Why does Suh keep getting a pass? He’s earning freaking 20 million A YEAR!!!
That’s more than JJ Watt…seven million more than GMC…and he’s close to earning in one year what Branch is going to earn in 3!!!
And how has Suh panned out for the ‘Fins? 6 sacks his first year and 5 sacks last year 4.5 less than GMC over the same two seasons for 14 million less.
He does have the advantage in tackles. But do NFL teams really sign DT’s to be tackling machines? Apparently not Detroit!!!
This is not to suggest Suh is not a good player or that Miami doesn’t have a strong DL….it is to suggest they’ve spent so much money in that area it’s perhaps costing them on the back end.
August 30th, 2017 at 6:00 pm
@ st pete
Suh is the reason I shake my head at Bucs fans who make a big deal of McCoy making $13-14 million.
McCoy costs 2/3 of Suh’s price despite being rated in a similar class of ability. Even if he was just 2/3’s of Suh’s value; that’s not a bad deal either; and I think most think he’s closer to 75-80% of a Suh at worst.
August 30th, 2017 at 6:21 pm
Lord C
But Suh has stomped on players when they are down. Some folks here just believe you have to be a total asssswhipe to be a good football player.
GMC and Suh were the logical comparisons from the beginning because of their draft positions. This will be the same for #3 and MM going forward.
The Bucs were blessed to have a generational DT in Sapp and sadly for GMC he’s compared to the wrong guy…the HOFer not the guy he was drafted with.
Suh is NO Sapp either!!! But some folks here don’t seem to worry about that.
As long as he kicks folks when they are down and refuses to share his wealth by purchasing ice cream for his teammates…oh the humanity…he’ll get a pass here at JBF.
I think both Suh and GMC have been good players over the years…neither is HOF but that doesn’t negate their value to their respective teams…although I notice Detroit didn’t hesitate to let Suh walk. If he was Sapp he’d still be a Lion.
August 30th, 2017 at 6:27 pm
I am not sure what is going to happen in Miami. The Dolphins are talented but if we can manage to not beat ourselves by costly penalties and turnovers, I think we come out with the Win. Our offense may very well be the best in the league between the 20’s. Red zone success should be better with all of our weapons.
GO BUCS!!
August 30th, 2017 at 6:31 pm
Lions couldn’t sign Suh cuz salary cap neglect. I get comparsion cuz of draft but these are 2 different dts
Gmc is speed rusher
Suh is a power dt
August 30th, 2017 at 6:31 pm
Its going to be interesting what kind of playcaller Koetter is going to be this year
last year , he had a foot fetish with Brian Anger and fascination of field position
I dont think he can rely on Smitty much this year. our defense overall personnel talent is worst than last year
the huge problem is our 2 best playmakers are also rookies and koetter wants to slowly work them in the offense
Kobe sees the same stagnate congested predictable offense except with 3-4 deep shot to djax
“This offense will not be effective until we use the playmaking, rac routs of OJ and Godwin…We need these 2 playmakers short yac skillsets to open up the whole offense”
Kobe Faker
August 30th, 2017 at 6:36 pm
One more time
DTs arent supposed to be your sack leaders. Not their primary job.
A great DT disrupts the play, by getting penetration up the middle that flushes the QB out of the Pocket, into the arms of a waiting Defensive end.
If you have a Defensive end that can get of the line.
Which we dont. And havent had in ages
McCoy is incredible at disrupting plays. Coach Koetter says he Blows up half the offensive plays in camp.
But we dont have anyone that can get off the line, turn turn the corner- and run into the scrambling QB. Just wasting McCoys talent
Dont tell me this team wants to win now!
To win now you gotta have- an above average QB,RB,WR,LT, DT, DE, and CB.
You can win games, but to go anywhere in the playoffs- you gotta have those pieces.
Sapp and Rice used to excell at disrupting the QB. Ussually, Sapp ran him into Rice. Freqently, Rice would chase him back into Sapp.
Thats how you pressure a QB. Blow up the Pocket, dont let him scramble.
Would love to see a 6’5″, 275 pound rabbit fast monster at DE! Then our Defense would be as tough as our Offense should be
August 30th, 2017 at 6:37 pm
One more time
DTs arent supposed to be your sack leaders. Not their primary job.
A great DT disrupts the play, by getting penetration up the middle that flushes the QB out of the Pocket, into the arms of a waiting Defensive end.
If you have a Defensive end that can get of the line.
Which we dont. And havent had in ages
McCoy is incredible at disrupting plays. Coach Koetter says he Blows up half the offensive plays in camp.
But we dont have anyone that can get off the line, turn turn the corner- and run into the scrambling QB. Just wasting McCoys talent
Dont tell me this team wants to win now!
To win now you gotta have- an above average QB,RB,WR,LT, DT, DE, and CB.
You can win games, but to go anywhere in the playoffs- you gotta have those pieces.
Sapp and Rice used to excell at disrupting the QB. Ussually, Sapp ran him into Rice. Freqently, Rice would chase him back into Sapp.
Thats how you pressure a QB. Blow up the Pocket, dont let him scramble.
Would love to see a 6’5″, 275 pound rabbit fast monster at DE! Then our Defense would be as tough as our Offense should be.
Then, we will have the pieces to chase our next Lombardi
August 30th, 2017 at 6:38 pm
Ugh- sorry about the duplicate
August 30th, 2017 at 6:44 pm
I am concerned..real concerned about our Pass Rush. If Mccoy’s all we got? Then we are in trouble. HE gets more tackles/sacks than most and thats not sayin much. We need explosive DE’s. I’m just not feelin it right now. Everybody is excited about the Offense. Fine, We had better be able to get some QB sack and plenty of Qb rushes, We will see come week one. Everybody is talkin we only show vanilla during preseason. Fine there also. But we are showing a tendency to get down in that red zone and stall or get 3 pts. Won’t beat the better teams.
August 30th, 2017 at 6:54 pm
Sounds like we match up nice because our of tackle run scheme is pretty good. If OJ is ready for big time it should look even better.
I look to see the Dolphins feature a lot of rush against us. And all we can do is hope our Line can shut down Ajayi and force Cutler to beat us. That’s a Scarry thought because we have a tendancy to get our azzes handed to us against beefy rush attacks.
Ayers may be the key to winning the battle in the trenches. He talks a big game and I will be expecting him to be a difference maker in Miami
August 30th, 2017 at 6:55 pm
Kobe Fakers Analytics #1
Kobe was crunching numbers and stats…
Djax WILL NOT “open” the field” for Mike Evans
Fact- Since Djax entered the league he is the best deep pattern receiver and equally important as the best decoy reciever
BUT why wont this help Mike Evans?
Because though completely different in size, Djax and ME are the completely the same receiver and run the same routes . ME and Djax actually get in the way of each other
In Wash, Djax created huge openings for Crowder and Jordan Reed. Rac short pattern recievers that create themselves from a dump/short pass
neither ME, Brate, and Hump can create and separate themselves and run after catch
OJ, Godwin,and Sims will be able to utilize the huge space that Djax creates, BUT they are not starters or will get enough targets…
when the offense starts utilizing the skillsets of OJ and Godwin, then we will be able to contend for the playoffs
August 30th, 2017 at 7:00 pm
Mike you’re right. All these silly fans predicting SuperBowls and this team hasn’t shown that type of ability. Without doing any research I can guarantee you that no team has ever won a SuperBowl with a Defensive Front that gets manhandled against contending teams.
Our passrush is our Achilles heel and there isn’t a chance we get through a playoff run without it being exposed. Our Cline has a ton to prove before we can start calling our Bucs a true contender IMO
August 30th, 2017 at 7:12 pm
Spence looks out matched. Idk what the future brings for him. That browns game was a terrible display for him also
August 30th, 2017 at 7:25 pm
JimmyJack- what you said. This team has a LONGGG…… way to go to even think about playoffs.
August 30th, 2017 at 8:12 pm
Bucnut2, can’t you ever post anything positive? What is you’re prediction of our record this season? I’d really like to know.
August 30th, 2017 at 8:13 pm
Bucnut2, to me, a long way to to to be a playoff team would be 6-10. I get that you’re not a Winston fan, but we have a lot more than just him.
August 30th, 2017 at 8:24 pm
JimmyJack, our front 4 hasn’t been manhandled by anyone. The season hasn’t started yet.
August 30th, 2017 at 8:48 pm
SPBF
Didn’t GMC set the market then Suh signed a more lucrative contract bc, you know, he’s better? Asking for a friend.
August 30th, 2017 at 9:20 pm
DB55, you are correct, sir. Same thing we need to to with Evans before Beckham gets his deal.
August 30th, 2017 at 9:21 pm
St.Pete, I agree,but we let Sapp walk too, you know.
August 30th, 2017 at 9:33 pm
@Kobe … “our defense overall personnel talent is worst than last year”. Not sure why you’d think that Kobe. Our DLine lost Akeem Spence, but gained Chris Baker, and McDonald now appears to be healthy. Same DEs, and also healthy at this point. Lost our SAM LB, but gained Beckwith (and hopefully soon Bond) to replace him. Starting CBs are the same … basically we lost Jude (to injury) & Verner but gained McClain. Lost McDougald at safety but replaced him with JJ who’s at least as good IMO. So where is our talent worse? Especially since the players now have 1 yr under their belts in Smitty’s system. Like everyone else, I’d love to see a better pass rush, but it’s not like we were tearing up the league in that area last yr.
August 30th, 2017 at 9:43 pm
Nice post, Defense.
August 30th, 2017 at 9:54 pm
Kobe’s analytics are a joke. Defense has had moderate upgrade in talent, it isn’t worse. You don’t just need to rely on front for pressure, there is this thing called a blitz, and we have some lbs that are good at it.
.
On offense DJax and ME won’t be running the same routes, and quick “RAC type routes” are not the only way to take advantage of DJax taking the top off. Oh, and DJax doesn’t just help the passing game, safeties have to be cautious coming down into the box to load up against the run or he will be behind them on a three step drop.
August 30th, 2017 at 11:07 pm
For anyone new, Kobe’s opinion is literally worth less than nothing. Ignore him.
August 30th, 2017 at 11:21 pm
Blake, and Bucnut2’s are just repetitive negative. If we ever win the Super Bowl with Winston his head will explode. We’ll hear that we were lucky to win with “THAT” QB. He’ll be so upset that he was wrong that he’ll miss the party. He must long for the days of Testaverde and Dilfer. You know what I mean!?
August 31st, 2017 at 12:02 am
The only way we win games this year is Jameis and Koetter. Our defense sure as hell aint gonna do it by themselves on they’re best day. Jameis has to play good ball, and honestly, so far in preseason he has not looked that great.
I’m not sure if it’s just me, but it seems like players are starting to tune Jameis out when watching hard knocks. Then again, that may be the “creative editing”
I just hope he steps up this year. He’s for sure putting the work in, I don’t doubt that. But so far he hasn’t looked that sharp or quick minded in preseason. I hope that was more by design than anything.