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Author Topic: Inexperience Is the Reason the Dolphins Suck  (Read 1250 times)
fyo
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« on: December 01, 2017, 09:55:17 am »

TLDR; Pretty much everyone on the team, from starting players to coaches, is either very light on experience or old an guy who just came aboard.

The local media has been full of criticism these past couple of weeks and most of it seems either trivial or unsubstantiated. Take any one of Salguero's negative articles over at the Herald, as an example. And there are a lot to chose from. This, along with some of the persistent (borderline irrational) negative posters on these forums, got me thinking about what exactly has gone wrong this year, aside from the obvious starting-quarterback-goes-down issue.

In the end, I think most of the problems come down to a lack of experience. A lack of experience among our coaches and, maybe more so, a lack of experience among our players.

Some of you may have read that the Dolphins had one of the oldest rosters in the league before the season at 26.6 years and while that's true, it comes with some massive caveats that have only increased since then.

Take the defense.

One of our starting corners is a rookie, the other is in his second year.

Our starting middle linebacker is a rookie.

That's about half of everyone in coverage on any given play.

And who do they have to coach them? A rookie defensive coordinator.

Our safeties do have some experience, although only one of them with the Dolphins. TJ MCDonald is 26, but it's his first year with the Dolphins. Reshad Jones is one of the very few players to provide some continuity, as much as is possible with changing coaches, but he hasn't played well this season.

The linebackers also have some experience, but while Timmons may be 107, it's his first year with the Dolphins. Kiko Alonso, at least, has a few years of experience with the Dolphins (and some elsewhere), but he's been moved away from the MLB spot where he thrived last season and hasn't been playing well. Some of that may be due to Timmons, who's now being subbed on passing downs for rookie Chase Allen (meaning even less experience against the pass).

That leaves the Dolphins' pride and joy, our defense line. No "inexperienced" excuse here with these guys. I'm still a huge fan of Suh, who I think is greatly underappreciated by a lot of pundits. He still demands double teams and comes up with a handful of great plays every single game. PFF have him as the 6th best interior defensive limeman this year with an "elite" grade. Wake takes a lot of flack for not getting enough sacks this year, but he's actually doing pretty well IMHO (and PFF would agree, scoring him 17th best with a "high quality" rating). The other half of the line, though, is rotten. Branch and Phillips just aren't cutting it. Phillips is the closest to inexperienced with 3 years, but Branch is just bad at this point and this is the guy we signed to an extension after last season, meaning that Branch and his $10M cap hit will be here next year and I won't get to do any gardening jokes.

Much of this is symptomatic of the coaching carousel we have going on in Miami. New coach comes in and plugs holes with players he's coached before (and since young players aren't let go by their teams, these guys are almost always at least somewhat old). Malcontents are rejected to avoid spoiling the bunch and young players that don't fit the mold are cut or just don't get the reps to develop. Rinse and repeat a few times and you have a very shallow roster with all of the experienced concentrated on a few aging players, many of whom have never played with any of the other guys on the "team".

The bottom line here is that everyone calling for "someone's" head is wrong. This mess has been years in the making and the only way out is to pick a course and stick with it. Next year, our coaches will be more experienced. Gase will have had his first bad season as a head coach after a somewhat lucky start and guys like Burke will either have another year of experience and some long sit-downs with Gase, or be replaced by (hopefully) more experienced guys. All those young guys on D? They'll be more experienced as well, which should greatly benefit our defense against the pass. The old guys who aren't contributing, well, some will be our the door and at least with the others the coaching staff now knows what to expect and can look for young guys to back them up (and maybe step in).
« Last Edit: December 01, 2017, 09:57:35 am by fyo » Logged
DaLittle B
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« Reply #1 on: December 01, 2017, 12:08:22 pm »

That's B.S. excuse IMO, and the same one we'll see to justify making the same bad decisions this offseason...SMH
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masterfins
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« Reply #2 on: December 01, 2017, 01:00:23 pm »

I don't like the idea of making changes, just for the sake of making changes.  That said once the season is over you have to go back and evaluate all personnel and make the changes that are necessary.  I felt like things have been on the right path the last three years, with a couple notable exceptions this year - 1) Paying Cutler $10M was a colossal waste, it will hurt the cap situation going forward; and 2) The Dolphins had an O-line coach (arguably the weakest unit on the team) snorting up before meetings and no one noticed.  I think you have to put both of these on Gase, hopefully he learns something from that.

Losing Vance Joseph as DC hurt a lot more than I thought it would.  His replacement is inexperienced, and who knows whether he learned enough this year.

Gase should probably remove himself from the play calling, he can always call the big plays, but the general tenor of the plays being called should be by the OC.

I still think the Dolphins are four or five players, and some coaching, away from elevating themselves above the annual .500 status level.
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MyGodWearsAHoodie
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« Reply #3 on: December 01, 2017, 02:05:53 pm »

^^^ with the exception if the user is stupid enough to leave white residue on his nose the signs of moderate coke use really isn't that different than a high strung overworked person who drinks multiple Red Bull's a day.  I highly doubt he is the only coach in the NFL with a coke problem.
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fyo
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« Reply #4 on: December 01, 2017, 05:49:42 pm »

I felt like things have been on the right path the last three years, with a couple notable exceptions this year - 1) Paying Cutler $10M was a colossal waste, it will hurt the cap situation going forward; and 2) The Dolphins had an O-line coach (arguably the weakest unit on the team) snorting up before meetings and no one noticed.  I think you have to put both of these on Gase, hopefully he learns something from that.

No doubt.

Do you think Cutler would've been brought in if Gase had been the Dolphins' coach for 3 years instead of 1 year? I really doubt it and that's my point. These actions are exactly what we can expect when we swap head coaches every other year. Give Gase more time and he'll bring in solid people he trusts in, both players and coaches, and then there should be fewer of these crappy moves. Gase knows he needs to bring someone in at quarterback that can step in and I think that'll be addressed this off-season, even though I wouldn't be surprised if Moore is still the backup next year.

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Losing Vance Joseph as DC hurt a lot more than I thought it would.  His replacement is inexperienced, and who knows whether he learned enough this year.

Look at the players he's had to work with. Timmons has been a huge disappointment and no one has stepped up on the defensive line. The end result has been a bunch of extremely inexperienced players being coached by an extremely inexperienced coach.

Even given the lack of established talent among the players, I wouldn't be surprised if Gase finds himself a replacement. The main argument in favor of Burke was continuity. Unless Burke shows that he's able to improve the D over the last five games of the season, Gase will be hard pressed to keep Burke. The three games against the Bills (twice) and Broncos, in particular, give Burke every chance to show off the D.

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Gase should probably remove himself from the play calling, he can always call the big plays, but the general tenor of the plays being called should be by the OC.

I'm fine with Gase calling the plays. There's a lot I disagree with, but it's refreshing to see some more aggressive play calling. Just lay off the receiver screens...
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fyo
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« Reply #5 on: December 03, 2017, 11:21:13 am »

That's B.S. excuse IMO, and the same one we'll see to justify making the same bad decisions this offseason...SMH

No, it's exactly the opposite. If we keep replacing the head coach, we'll keep seeing these mistakes made. If we keep the same top staff in place, we have a chance at avoiding it, but it does take more than a year or two. I'm sick of all these "oh, but this or that young coach turned the franchise around in no time" arguments that dominate the media (and fan comments) these days. How many of these turnarounds were preceded by years and years of head coach replacements?

The franchise has been completely worn down and needs to be built up in a way that includes more than just a few players on the team. Sure, we can get lucky with injuries, schedule, bounces, etc. and make a surprise playoff appearance, but to consistently compete, that will require much more.

The first step is keeping the head coach for more than 2 years.
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DaLittle B
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« Reply #6 on: December 03, 2017, 12:49:08 pm »

Saying were Too young is B.S. excuse...

2016 Our Defensive Backfield was a mess last year and played 2 young kids (Lippett 2nd yr,Mcain 2nd yr,and Howard was a Rookie) + Maxwell,and String of Nobody Safeties...Linebackers Like Jelani Jenkins cut during the season,added to depending on K.Misi...

My point is you just laid out EXACTLY the reason why Tannenbaum is going to spend more in free agency on a DB,or Trade for a guy( like Richard Sherman,whom there were scattered reports the Dolphins Were trying to do all off season,and into this season) A couple years ago it was Brent Grimes,then Byron Maxwell,yet we've Drafted a DB every year since 2012...Yet we Gave R.Jones (30 yrs old)a big fat contract,A. Branch 28yrs old A new contract,Kiko Alonzo a 3yr deal,Signed Timmons,(+ other moves)and thought that adding R.McMillian was going to solve our MLB...

We draft too many flyer/gamble guys...Isaac Asiata - I realize he's a 5th round pick,and 24 already,but he can't even be active when our team 's O-line is a mess...He can't pass protect...Coaching is part of it,but Why even draft him...If he's that unprepared to at least be an active back up.We needed more help at Guard,we resigned old ass Bushrod,and gave a 3yr deal for Larson (who's only played 16 games once in his 8 yr career)

RB Drake,WR Grant,and Wr Caroo...They contribute,but until we traded Ajayi,we didn't depend on Drake in any capacity.Caroo,and Grant next to nothing...So the front office is going to adress this how ? Crappy free agents? or More bad draft picks?

Davon Godchaux,has been the best pick,and that's what our front office seems to bank on....

I like Gase,I want to Keep Gase....The Problem is the way we acquire our talent,and assess our talent,in the draft,then rely on Free agents to fix bad free agents (and Bad draft picks)
http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/barry-jackson/article187760353.html

Yep, they think Ross will keep this "brain trust " together....

« Last Edit: December 03, 2017, 01:06:15 pm by DaLittle B » Logged

fyo
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« Reply #7 on: December 04, 2017, 08:32:50 am »

My point is you just laid out EXACTLY the reason why Tannenbaum is going to spend more in free agency on a DB,or Trade for a guy( like Richard Sherman,whom there were scattered reports the Dolphins Were trying to do all off season,and into this season) A couple years ago it was Brent Grimes,then Byron Maxwell,yet we've Drafted a DB every year since 2012...Yet we Gave R.Jones (30 yrs old)a big fat contract,A. Branch 28yrs old A new contract,Kiko Alonzo a 3yr deal,Signed Timmons,(+ other moves)and thought that adding R.McMillian was going to solve our MLB...

Having guys that are young, guys that don't have experience with the system, and guys that are over-the-top isn't an excuse to go out and spend a bunch of money on more old guys. If Tannenbaum does that, feel free rip them for it. The solution as I see it is to keep the same players playing. Sure, go ahead and get rid of people who are just not good or go get those big free agents if they address a real need, but the point I kept hammering was continuity. Both among coaches and among players. If you just replace young guys with different young guys and old guys with different old guys, that's not continuity.

Quote
We draft too many flyer/gamble guys...Isaac Asiata - I realize he's a 5th round pick,and 24 already,but he can't even be active when our team 's O-line is a mess...He can't pass protect...Coaching is part of it,but Why even draft him...If he's that unprepared to at least be an active back up.We needed more help at Guard,we resigned old ass Bushrod,and gave a 3yr deal for Larson (who's only played 16 games once in his 8 yr career)

I haven't been thrilled with a lot of the Dolphins' draft choices (although I really liked the Tunsil pick and still do). As for the situation at guard, Tannenbaum and Co clearly decided it wasn't worth paying 8 mil a year for a quality free agent and that really left them no choice but to settle for scrubs. I wouldn't mind seeing that area addressed in the off-season...
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