Roth feels good, hopes to rebound

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http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080608/SPORTS/806080324/1002/SPORTS

Roth feels good, hopes to rebound

BY CARL KOTALA
FLORIDA TODAY

It was a routine Matt Roth just couldn't get out of last season.

Go to the trainer's room, head to the field.

Play a game with a debilitating groin injury, get up on Monday morning and hope it would feel well enough by Saturday that it would be possible to play in the next one.

Not exactly a recipe for the breakout season the defensive end was hoping to have in 2007 was it?

"It was brutal," Roth said Saturday. "It was a battle just to get it back to 60-70 percent by Saturday. It was tough. Half the times, I would be going out there and I could barely get through the workouts they were putting me through before I could play the game.

"They were evaluating me every week before the games to see if I could play. I've never been hurt before, so it was definitely something that was really frustrating for me."

Miami's second-round pick in 2005 still doesn't feel 100 percent following offseason surgery to repair the injury, but it hasn't kept him from attending the team's offseason workout program and taking part in all of the team drills.

At times this offseason, he has even lined up at outside linebacker.

"They wanted to see me at that," Roth said. "It's fun, but preferably (I'm a) D-lineman first.

"It's different because you drop back in coverage, and you're rushing and you're playing blocks and standing up. I've got a good wrestling background, so that helps with some of that. But it's different, it's definitely different."

Dolphins defensive coordinator Paul Pasqualoni, who worked with Roth and linebacker Joey Porter individually on pass rush moves on Wednesday, didn't sound like someone who is ready to move him off the defensive line just yet.

But it's no secret the Dolphins like players who can be versatile.

"I see Matt as a guy who's in a role here, playing on the defensive line," Pasqualoni said. "He's a very, very good guy versus the run, and who's developing in his ability to rush the passer. I just see him as a good, solid defensive player right now and we haven't gone beyond that."

After playing behind Kevin Carter for his first two NFL seasons, the 6-foot-4, 272 pound Roth took over the starting left end job in 2007 after the Dolphins cut Carter in a salary cap move.

Teammates said they liked his intensity and his all-out play and couldn't wait to see what he could do with his first opportunity to start.

Instead, Roth tweaked his groin before the season started and by the time it was over, he had pulled it and was also dealing with a hernia.

He finished the season with 44 tackles and was third on the team with three sacks while starting nine games, playing in four others and being inactive for three. When he sat out the team's 10th game at Philadelphia on Nov. 18, it marked the first game he had missed in his Miami career after 41 consecutive appearances.

"Definitely, I think (the injury) hindered some of my ability," Roth said. "It was painful. I was playing . . . a lot of weeks I had to just go through the training room to get out on the field. I feel comfortable this year, it's going to be a big year for me."

It's also going to be a bit of an adjustment. Though the Dolphins have yet to fully commit to playing the 3-4 defense, they've sure set their roster up that way. And playing end in the kind of 3-4 defense Miami will run in 2008 is entirely different than playing end in a 4-3 set up -- or even the 3-4 style the Dolphins employed at times when Nick Saban was here.

"Your technique's got to be solid," Roth said. "It requires a lot of strength to take on those double teams and be a presence, take up those blocks. It's a little different than what we were doing last year as far as the 3-4, it's more of an attack style than just two-gapping.

"That kind of fits me, better suited. But it's going to be tough week in and week out. I've just got to find a way to use my abilities and my tools."

Roth's confidence wasn't shaken when the Dolphins drafted not one, but three defensive ends in the 2008 NFL Draft.

He'll be pushed by second-round pick Phillip Merling (6-4, 275) and third-round pick Kendall Langford (6-6, 287) who are both bigger and could eventually be seen as better fits for what Miami wants to do with its front.

"I'm confident in my ability," Roth said. "Every year, there's people coming in. There's people coming in during the season to take your job. If you don't have thin skin and are willing to work, competition only makes you better.

"That's what they preach around here, there's going to be competition and they'll probably be drafting guys next year and the year after that. You've just got to be ready to play."