The Miami Dolphin's Problems Start Up Front

Sentinel reporter Omar Kelly came across an interesting stat this week. When Mike Pouncey, Ja'Wuan James, and Branden Albert have all three started and completed games, Ryan Tannehill is 6 and 1. The guard position in Miami is constantly trashed by fans and the media, but reality tells a different story. It's the big guns, the first round draft picks who cannot stay on the field and are having the greatest effect on the win/loss record.

The constant search to find answers at the guard position never works because it’s the wrong problem. The issue is the same since Jeff Ireland became the GM in Miami. Injury prone players unable to get on the field or stay on the field. In two years the three first round picks, Albert, Pouncey and James have played a total of 7 complete games together!

In those games, the Miami Dolphins played elite football.

The lone Miami lost was a last minute defensive collapse to the Green Bay Packers. Dallas Thomas and the-guard-of-the-moment on the other side are continually asked to play out of position or line up next to second and third tier players. It needs to be announced in bold letters...

THE BIG 3 CAN'T STAY ON THE FIELD.

If the Dolphins are going to start winning football games, this needs to be addressed, now.  Fix the dynamic causing losses instead of using scapegoats to disguise the inability to keep high priced talent on the field.

There are certainly other needs on this football team, a corner, a linebacker, a good RB but in the big picture, these are luxuries. GM’s make picks to check little boxes associated with a successful draft.

Starter Box - Check

Need Box – Check

BPA Box – Check

All to say they drafted well, but not fixing the problem. The truth is, the Dolphins brass either doesn’t understand the issue or is unwilling to come to terms with reality.

Pouncey had hip surgery again this off-season, Albert came off his umpteenth surgery last year and is ripe for another injury, and James is coming off a dislocated toe. These are all-pro caliber players, but they can't stay on the field.

(James gets a pass because every NFL player will get injured at some point.)

All this draft talk about CB, LB, RB & DE is missing the reality that Miami needs to finally make the right moves to fix this OL.  The problem is not at the guard position. As outlandish as it sounds, trading both Mike Pouncey and Branden Albert right now when they have 1st or 2nd round value may be the best move the Miami Dolphins could make to fix this team.

Offensive lineman in the NFL must be powerful players who can handle the grind of being pounded for sixteen games. This is the downfall of the zone blocking scheme, it requires athleticism and exposes the legs of large men to defensive linemen trying to hurt them. This was the Philbin scheme and it does not work as well as many, including this author, had thought.

The very first step in solving any problem is a clear understanding of what the problem is. The NFL has a curious dynamic, it repeatedly awards players like Pouncey with pro-bowl selections when the team he plays on underperforms at the very position he is being rewarded for. For this reason, no one is certain whether Ryan Tannehill is a franchise QB. Tannehill is 6-1 with his starting OL intact, this is not the fuzzy logic of pro-bowl selections, these wins and losses are real.

Albert Einstein once said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” It’s time to stop the insanity and wash away the stench of Jeff Ireland from the Miami Dolphins. The place to start is on the offensive line, stop believing Albert and Pouncey will somehow overcome the injury bug.

Sadly, if this is not cured we may never know what Ryan Tannehill could have become and the Dolphins will remain an NFL also-ran.

Approaching the draft with a willingness to trade these two players and selecting their replacements sends the clear message, the Dolphins finally understand the true issue and are committed to fixing it. Acknowledge the simple axiom, availability is an ability and on an NFL offensive line, it may be the most important ability. Move this trait way up on the reasoning scale when selecting linemen and get a group that can grow together and stay together.

Save the EZ’s and the VH3’s for teams that can afford luxuries…

Bring in the big fella’s and stop the insanity!

New Years Miami Dolphins Offensive Additions 2016

One week into the New Years Free Agency period and the Miami Dolphins have acquired four defensive players (with 3 of them for sure being day one starters). Our favorite team came about these players via trade and/or as free agents that we spoke of at the previous piece titled Miami Dolphins 2016 New Year Defensive Additions. Those players include potential starter at safety Isa Abdul-Quddus, as well as definitive starters at Cornerback with Byron Maxwell, Middle Linebacker Kiko Alonso, and perennial star Defensive End Mario Williams.

Now comes the Offensive Additions of which.
Even the media, (haters of most every Miami addition) over the last however many years suggest that the lesser of the two offensive lineman that the Dolphins have signed in this New Year is a vast improvement over what existed at said positions in 2015.

2016's offensive landings thus-far include.

Swing Tackle Sam Young at 6 - 8, 320 pounds as a 6 year veteran Tackle was the Dolphins first offensive acquisition in Free Agency. He ( seen here detouring OV/others ) was acquired as a backup Tackle to fill the role of (Adam Gase' first day cut) of backup Jason Fox who struggled mightily while starting 11 games at one or the other tackle positions in 2015.

Young has been in the league since 2010's two games played with the Cowboys. In 2011 he wound up in Buffalo where he played in four games while in o12 he played in twelve Bills games and started four. He played for both the Bills (4 games) and Jaguars (11 games) in 2013. For Jacksonville in 2014 he started 6 of 9 games played, and in o15 he started 3 of all 16 games played.

Excluding the 2013 season when he played for two different teams, he has started more than a third of the games he played in while at Buffalo and Jacksonville (13 games started of 37 games played). With Miami as a swing tackle (meaning he can play either tackle position), Sam Young can (for the most part) focus on the right tackle backup position.


As The Dolphins second offensive addition in the 2016 Free Agency period was.


Left Tackle Jermon Bushrod who has started at that particular position in 96 of the 108 games he's played in over his 9 year career. He played in just 3 games of his first two years in New Orleans while his 96 starts have come over the last seven seasons with the (o9 - o12 Saints, and o13 - o15 Bears). Dolphin head coach Adam Gase was the Bears o15 Offensive Coordinator.

Miami hasn't had the commodity of a true Left Tackle on their bench for many a year, let alone a player with any starting experience whatsoever at the Left Tackle position. Whenever starting LT Brandon Albert has been out of the lineup for a breather or his annual injury the Dolphins have been filling the void with wanna-be right tackles (Jason Fox etc) and/or guards (Dallas Thomas etc) which suggest that those positions themselves have also been forced into fielding the lesser talents of the offensive line. Let-alone at the quarterbacks blindside protector position of LT.

With a pure Left Tackle behind Brandon Albert now on the roster the Dolphins offensive line has immediately become more stable as the true guards and right tackles can stay focused on the position at which they belong and not become a big fat Bull-Eye when playing out of position. Maybe those guards can even excel when surrounded by a pure right tackle Ju'Waun James/Sam Young, Center Mike Pouncey, and Left Tackle Brandon Albert (and/or Jermon Bushrod) should the occasion arise.

Meanwhile, both Young & (Bushrod who knows the LT position inside-out with his eye's closed) are willing to play the guard position, so that (if need be) they can get on the field before being needed at tackle in place of Ju'Waun James and/or Brandon Albert.

Jermon Bushrod is 6 - 5, 320 pounds as a nine year veteran Left Tackle with (again) 96 NFL starts, Two Pro-Bowl selections (2011/12), and a Super Bowl ring from his tenure with the Saints!


Folks suggest that Miami has done nothing to help the offensive line, and it's the only offensive position that the Dolphins have actually addressed. Well besides the re-signing of backup quarterback Matt Moore. Meanwhile player rates drop with each passing day, free agencies second wave has yet to crest and fresh sets continue rollin-in throughout the season, and the draft is still six weeks away.

Thank You for an open minded read,
and as always, we look forward to your angle of view : )) !!

GOFINS!!!


The Defensive Roundup can be re-viewed here ;
http://www.dolphinshout.com/2016/03/2016-miami-dolphins-new-year-defensive.html

Miami Dolphins Halt Offensive Line Crime Spree

The outlaws had been on a run of numerous assaults to the laws of the land while holding high ranking positions of leadership within the town. During the previous year alone, the corrupt five had allowed the local bank to be sacked of the peoples money fifty-eight times.

Town-Folk as well as admirers were tired of being assaulted and insulted ! They sent word to the Governor Stephen (William J Lepetomane) Ross, and demanded change! Ross obliged with the termination of Mayor Jeff (Hedley Lamarr) Ireland, and the forming of a good character chasing, white hat wearing mob.

The appointed Dolphins Posse Leader Dennis (I'm your Huckleberry) Hickey along with Partners Joe (Earp) Philbin, and Dawn (Kitt) Aponte rode into Miami with the intent of ridding the passionate town folks of the bad boy gang.

With guns a blaze'en, they permanently exiled offenders Richie (Mongo) Incognito, Jonathan (Squeeky) Martin, and John (Marshmallow) Jerry. Other lesser involved suspects that include Bryant McKinnie, and Tyson Clabo are being tracked for potential questioning of future urgency.

Upon the retaking of righteousness in Miami. Hickey brought in hired guns of fortune with the likes of Brandon (Lefty) Albert, interior tough guy Shelly (The Gate Keeper) Smith, and Jason (The Sly T&G) Fox. As the news of good things to come spread throughout the territory, others of high character came along to seek roles of leadership.

Those warriors of good include drafted Volunteer Ja'Wuan (Right Hand Man) James and his 49 consecutive gun fights from the right side.

A drafted consecutive 30 games starting left tackle out of North Dakota State, Billy (The Bison) Turner projects to become an NFL five position trick shooter and/or main attraction.

The durable, interior pivot player Tyler Larsen of Utah State has 51 consecutive games started at Center as a four year offensive line shot-caller.

Arizona States Evan Fickenberg has 44 career starts at left tackle. He can obviously compete as a backup at the left or right tackle positions and/or as an NFL Guard for the bank

Beyond the above mentioned the Dolphins also acquired Arkansas' David Hurd who was a 2012 thru 2013 starting left tackle for the SEC's Razorbacks. During the 2012 season he, his line mates, and team broke twenty Arkansas and/or SEC offensive production records, (for the most part) via the passing game.

Another addition was New Mexico States Davonte Wallace and his 48 consecutive starts over four years, for the most part at left tackle. He stepped in on day one along side established veterans, and almost immediately became the teams best lineman while having to adjust his game for a plethora of Aggie offensive line coaches over the years. Of his college career Davonte said, """First of all, it was very scary, I was a skinny little nothing. Wasn't very strong. Just did things right. Took coaching. Whatever they told me to do, I did it. If I didn't understand it, it's something I'd ask them over and over. I kept doing stuff over and over, until I got it right. That's probably how things turned out the way it did."" Something that ""Squeeky"" might have considered?

Too boot. The Miami Dolphins retained the rights to the NFL elite center Mike Pouncey, and pre-determined 2013 backups of which received invaluable playing and/or starting experience repetitions last year. Those got'your'back guys are Dallas (G/T) Thomas, Nate (G/T) Garner, David (T/G) Arkin, and Sam (C/G) Brenner.

All in all a bunch of shiny new badges have been pinned to chest.
The currently unemployed 34 year old 2013 left tackle McKinnie has been replaced with an All-Pro 29 year old Brandon Albert. Right Tackle/wanna-be Left Tackle Squeeky Martin won't be missed what so ever with the signing of the penciled in studly right tackle Ja'Wuan James. Marshmallow Jerry is easily upgraded with Shelly Smith. A 30 plus Tyson (The Matador) Clabo's roster spot goes to Jason Fox (26) as a starting guard or backup tackle. The self appointed Mongo badge and remaining Offensive Line roster spots will be earned by new comers and homesteaders Billy Turner, Tyler Larsen, Evan Finkenberg, David Hurd, Davonte Wallace, Michael Ola, David Arkin, Sam Brenner, Nate Garner, and Dallas Thomas.

Famous Blazing Saddles/Hedley Lamarr quote; ""My mind is aglow with whirling, transient nodes of thought careening through a cosmic vapor of invention.""
Yea, Yea, Yea, I know what your thinking : ))) !!!

After the smoke clears from the shootout at the JRS corral.
How do you feel about who might remain standing compared to those buried with their boots off ?


Thank You for an Open Minded Read, and we look forward to your angle of view !

GOFINS!!!