Slats Sunday  2010-05-09

Dolphins thoughts, run blocking tangibles, and Porch Time with Slats Thompson*.

From The Herald, and others: "I would tell you that between Karlos (Dansby), Edds and Koa, our length is tremendous right now. These players are long players when you look at these players. (Chris) McCoy is a long guy. Edds in space plays long."

No mention of Crowder. In fact, no mention of him at all lately. I think the FO has written him off and already has his next year replacement on the team. Hope this inspires him to have a great season this year but he’s probably just playing for his next team from now on.

Dear Myron Rolle:  If you're looking for something to do this August because of that whole Rhodes Scholar final exam conflict, you might want to swing by Miami and see if there's any interest. That is, if you think you're smart enough to quickly learn  the free safety position in our 3-4 defense. Looks like there will be an open competition at that position this summer.

Man, nothing going on right now. Oh that’s right, NBA playoffs. And baseball’s started. Hockey in May??? Wait, there’s really a team called the San Jose Sharks in the playoffs? Man, nothing going on right now.

I liked hearing "special teams ace" and "good tackler" attached to so many of the new guys this year. 

Building a team of players bigger than the other guys is not just a strategy but also a matter of self defense as players seem to get bigger every year. If you're drafting for the long haul, then today’s over-sized players are tomorrow's undersized players.  The trifecta is just trying to stay one step ahead. But it’s got to end soon, doesn't it?. How much bigger can these kids get?

In most jobs you're not encouraged to beat the crap out of your co-workers. In this job you are, and the only punishment for doing it excessively or at the wrong time is not firing and/or jail time but you and your friends have to go stand 45 feet away. Football. What a game.

Beating a Dead Horse #1: Dan LeBatard on the value of asking potential draft picks extremely personal questions: "What possible conclusion can be reached about whatever the answer is, given that the Oakland Raiders had JaMarcus Russell followed by private investigators before the draft without being able to uncover that he, um, stinks?"

This week’s Tangibles:  Run Blocking

Ranking the Dolphins’ O-Line run blocking by player in 2009.  Stats from ProFootballFocus.com.

According to ProFootballFocus, the Dolphins ranked 3rd in the league in run blocking, close behind the Patriots. The Cowboys were way ahead at 1st.

What does that tell me without looking at tape?

-     The Dolphins maybe ran more to the right than left last year ???  I will have to check.
-     Ricky Williams and our tackles are a good combination
-     There is chemistry within our O-Line. And running backs. i.e. The whole is greater than the....
-     Incognito looks like an upgrade.
-     If John Jerry can get some snaps and is a beast at the run ..., it's gonna be real fun this year..


We're all assuming that Ronnie Brown will be 100% ready to go this fall. But we really don't know. Patrick Cobbs had a serious injury too. And Ricky Williams prefers to run more outside and may be getting a little old to run up the middle all day long. Hope somebody's ready to run between the tackles a lot.  Wait, I think I see Lex Hilliard in the back jumping up and down saying "Put me in, Coach, put me in."

Lex Hilliard had 8 missed tackles in 23 carries last year. If I had to imagine a linebacker converted into a running back, it would be Lex Hilliard.

Beating a dead horse #2, a limerick:

There once was a GM named Jeff
Who's question was more like Hugh Hef'
T'was a slow news day
His hide they did flay
With outrage screamed 'til I was deaf.

In 2009 the Dolphins ranked 8th in the league in time of possession. This year, six of the first seven teams the Dolphins play [Packers, Vikes, Pats, Bengals, Steelers, and the stinkin’ Jets] had a 2009 ToP better than 8th, better than we did. [Although to put that stat in perspective, the teams ranked 31st and 32nd in ToP went to the Super Bowl.] If our running game is improved, our time of possession should increase.

Purposely long sentence: Given the teams to be played at the beginning of the schedule in 2010, upgrading at both guard spots was important this offseason because if we can improve our run game then we should be the ones controlling the clock/ToP and the opposing offenses will have less time to score and therefore may be throwing more so we need better pass rushing and pass coverage especially in the middle, with a giant run-stopping NT less important this year. Hmmmm…, sounds familiar.  A true #1 receiver also helps the run game, which helps the passing game, which helps ToP, which helps the run game, etc.

Here are my non-football thoughts of the week: ………………………..  All done.

Porch Time with Slats

OPhinions: Hey Slats, how ya doing?

Slats: Who’re you and what are you doing on my porch?

OPhinions: Funny, Slats. Say, your first post last Sunday got a few recs. Aren’t you proud?

Slats: Proud? They're meaningless. Back in my day you had to earn your recs. They were tough to get and you savored every last one. Nowadays they hand them out willy-nilly, like bailouts to finance companies.  Geez, if you run the spell-checker before posting that’s good enough to get a rec!  Before ‘compoooters’ ran the world you had to use a large paper book called a dictionary to check your spelling. It had all the words in it listed alphabetically. That's right, you had to know how to spell the word before you could spell check it. These kids today are just illiterate spoiled brats.

OPhinions: Nooooo, don't say that! My self-esteem is tied directly to the number of recs my posts get. 

Slats: Shut up you wimp. And go rec yourself.

OPhinions:  [mumble, mumble] Next topic. How would you grade the Dolphin’s draft?

Slats: I’d use a Bobcat Loader with a seven foot grader attachment. It’s six-way hydraulically controlled moldboard makes it one sweet piece of equipment. Oh, you were seriously asking an asinine question? OK, their draft was all about stopping the pass and field position. Odrick off the edge, Misi and Edds right away for covering the pass, Dansby in the middle directing, and maybe Berserker Jones flying around the middle sometime later in the year. With Wake and whoever else Nolan will have blitzing all the time, they’ll need good pass coverage and good tacklers.

OPhinions:  And field position?

Slats: No one’s talking about it, and the Dolphins sure as hell won’t bring it up first, but they were trying to upgrade their special teams at the same time. If they can do that from day one this fall it will really help with those games in September and October. "Pin ‘em back and nail their butts to the turf," I say. That’s quality football.

Overall, tough, solid football guys. My kind of guys these picks. I like them.

OPhinions: And a grade?

Slats:  Go grade yourself.

OPhinions: [mumble, grundle, mumble] Well, that’s all for today, Slats.

Slats: Don’t let the gate hit you in the ass on your way out.

*Slats Thompson contributed to this post. He is a retired linebacker/tight end who played semi-pro ball for the Mt. Washington RiverRats. Slats mainly wore a leather helmet back then which explains some of the things that come out of his mouth. Nowadays he likes to sit on his porch, yell at the neighborhood kids who run in his yard, and shoot the shit about football.  He is also an imaginary person, just one of the many voices in my head.