Brian Daboll to be named Dolphins offensive coordinator

[MaineDolFan]

I love how people don't know who someone is and automatically assume it's a terrible hire.

The "names" become "names" over time. 

At least see what the guy brings to the table before deciding this is a bad hire.

[Jim Gray]

I thought this was an interesting story on phins.com - http://www.thephinsider.com/2011/1/19/1943467/a-cleveland-perspective-on-new-dolphins-offensive-coordinator-brian?ref=yahoo

This is just one person's opinion of Daboll, but it's interesting to know what a Cleveland fan thought of his coaching ability. 

A Cleveland perspective on new Dolphins offensive coordinator Brian Daboll

The hot topic in Miami right now concerning the Dolphins is obviously the hiring of former Browns offensive coordinator Brian Daboll for the same position with the Dolphins. I do think that yesterday's post sparked some good debate amongst us Dolphins fans regarding the team's new offensive coordinator. But I felt it was important to also get some thoughts from a different perspective - from the point of view of a Cleveland Browns fan.

Daboll spent two seasons in Cleveland as their offensive coordinator. So I figured I'd be crazy not to get some thoughts on the move from Chris Pokorny, the main man at Dawgs By Nature - SBN's Browns blog.

Below is what Chris had to say about his team's former offensive coordinator:

Brian Daboll was the Browns' offensive coordinator for two seasons, each of which were slightly different. In the first year, Daboll seemed lost, although who wouldn't when you have Derek Anderson or Brady Quinn under center. Neither quarterback could complete a pass, so then for the final four games of the season, Daboll deployed a new strategy: basically forget the passing game, and do nothing but run the football and use Joshua Cribbs in the Wildcat. Cleveland won their final four games of 2009 after a 1-11 start.

In 2010, even though the thought of Jake Delhomme doesn't exactly spell"upgrade at quarterback," that is what Daboll treated him as. It was clear the Browns did not have the receivers to support an aerial attack though, and to begin the season, Cleveland failed to run the football very much, costing the team several games. Mid-way through the season, the commitment to the run under Peyton Hillis became a little bit better and fans were warming up to Daboll a little bit.

What happened next cost Daboll dearly: teams began loading the box and run blitzing Hillis right off the line. No adjustments were made. The playcalls would run Hillis right up the gut even if the entire defense was there. If we weren't going to run it, we would line our quarterback up in Shotgun, making it too predictable that we weren't going to run. On top of that, there was a stretch where the routes on a 3rd-and-5 were always designed to go between 1-3 yards. The Browns would not take many shots down the field until they were behind by two possessions late in the game.

Daboll's strength is that he seemed very good at scripting the first offensive series or two of the game. His weakness is that he didn't utilize the team's personnel very well, and after the first two possessions, particularly in the second half of games, there seemed to be 'no method to his madness' in terms of playcalling.

I was surprised to see him get another offensive coordinator job right away. He might have been at a disadvantage in Cleveland though, where he had to work with five different quarterbacks over two seasons and some of the worst starting receivers in the league. Best of luck to the Dolphins - hopefully you don't end up as frustrated as we did with Daboll.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

That doesn't explain how Hillis had 184 rushing yards or that Colt McCoy threw for 174 yards. That's over 350 yards of offense between those 2 players.  They only punted 3 times the whole day and scored 34 points.  3 TO's doesn't completely explain it.

Now I'm not expecting that he's gonna come to Miami and do that nor do I think that if Cleveland played New England again next week that would happen again, but you can't deny they did put up some big numbers on the Patriots that day.

Browns had a 404 yards of total offense and while in a vacuum that may sound impressive.  That was in fact not close to the worst for NE on the season.  Five teams had more yards of offense against NE and all of those 5 teams lost, including such powerhouses as the Lions (406 yards) Bengals (428 yards) and the Vikings (410 yards).  In NE blowout against Miami of 41-14, the Dolphins put up almost as much offense at 400 yards.  Putting up yards against NE was not a key to victory over NE.  The only way to beat NE this year was to win the turnover battle.  Browns did that.  Jets did that twice. 

[Pappy13]

Browns had a 404 yards of total offense and while in a vacuum that may sound impressive.  That was in fact not close to the worst for NE on the season.  Five teams had more yards of offense against NE and all of those 5 teams lost, including such powerhouses as the Lions (406 yards) Bengals (428 yards) and the Vikings (410 yards).  In NE blowout against Miami of 41-14, the Dolphins put up almost as much offense at 400 yards.  Putting up yards against NE was not a key to victory over NE.  The only way to beat NE this year was to win the turnover battle.  Browns did that.  Jets did that twice. 

Miami punted 6 times, turned it over 4 times (once on downs, once on a missed FG) and had time run out once on 12 posessions.  They had 1 drive in 12 that ended up in points, a 8.3% success rate.

Cleveland punted 3 times, turned it over once and had time run out once on 11 posessions.  They had 6 drives in 11 that ended in points.  A 54.5% success rate against that same defense.

New England's 3rd turnover came with 2 minutes left in the game when the outcome had already been decided.  It wasn't just the turnovers that decided the game, it was the Cleveland offense' ability to avoid turning the ball over combined with New England's turnovers that did it.  Clevelands offense was FAR better than Miami's in putting points on the board which was obviously helped by them not turning the ball over.  A big part of Miami's problems last year were turnovers which tend to be drive killers.  If Daboll can fix just that part of Miami's offense, it will make a HUGE impact.

[AZ Fins Fan 55]

The Browns would not take many shots down the field until they were behind by two possessions late in the game.

This alone I hope changes. I want to see the Phins take more chances downfield and not when they are getting beat like a screened door in a hurricane. I want to see them try and catch teams off guard by doing it early or in situations that would not necessarily call for it. We really need to open up the offense, I mean really what have you got lose!!!!

[MikeO]

This alone I hope changes. I want to see the Phins take more chances downfield and not when they are getting beat like a screened door in a hurricane. I want to see them try and catch teams off guard by doing it early or in situations that would not necessarily call for it. We really need to open up the offense, I mean really what have you got lose!!!!

Miami doesn't have the players to attack down the field. Our WR's aren't speed guys. We need a speed guy to open up down the field. Which will allow Marshall to work the middle of the field and do his most damage.

[Landshark]

We replace our OC with one of the few (the very few) coordinators in the league with a worse offense than our own.

I'm a little late to the party but this is why I didn't like the fact that Sparano was retained.  He doesn't get it.  He had several qualified candidates to choose from and he hired the guy whose offense scored fewer points than the Dolphins. 

[MikeO]

I'm a little late to the party but this is why I didn't like the fact that Sparano was retained.  He doesn't get it.  He had several qualified candidates to choose from and he hired the guy whose offense scored fewer points than the Dolphins. 

The story of the Dolphins offseason comes down to this....

1) Ross screwed up in keeping Sparano and failing to land Harbaugh. You either keep the Harbaugh talks so quiet that nobody finds out about it OR you fire Tony and just go on a coaching search. Ross screwed the pooch on that one. And the mis-steps and mistakes that has been all over the Sparano era are continiung. This hire makes no friggin sense at all. It's a safe hire because Sparano doesn't want a qualifed big name OC breathing down his neck ready to take his job. Tony put his status and his piece of mind before the team. PERIOD!

2) When we fail in 2011 (which is safe to say we will, not being a downer just realistic looking at the division we play in) Cowher and Gruden will  still be on the market NEXT offseason, and what Ross learned from this offseasons mistake he can fire Sparano and start his search the right way. Hopefully whatever spell Ireland has over him wears off and we can have a legit football coach who has been around the block once or twice and knows what he is doing and let them bring in "HIS PEOPLE". With the money Ross was throwing at Harbaugh its safe to say money won't be an issue with Ross when it comes to paying these type of guys.

[masterfins]

Just wondering, who's decision was it to hire Daboll?  Sparano, Ross, or Ireland??  I'm hoping Daboll does well.