Miami Dolphins 4.0 "The Upgrade"

by PhinnyFromItaly on Aug 26, 2011 6:51 PM EDT

We are in year four under Coach Sparano & Ireland and I must say, while I am not impressed with two back to back 7-9 seasons, I do like where this team is headed. Sure there have been some mistakes along the way, but every franchise misfires from time to time.

As we move into Tony Sparano's 4th year, I believe the Miami Dolphins (4.0) have upgraded all three phases of the game. Defense, offense and special teams. I absolutely admire the squad we have right now. Some of you may disagree but I know many of you are with me on this. I will explain (as if you didn't already know) why I think so highly of this team and have such a positive outlook on this season for the Miami Dolphins. Starting with the defense.

1) Our depth on D-line:

I don't believe this is the official depth chart as of week one against the Patriots, but I'm sure it will look similar. I've only been a fan for about 10 years now (I'm 23), but I've never seen the Dolphins have depth like this. Usually teams are struggling to find good starters to solidify their d-lines and now we have 6 players that are all starting material. Langford, McDaniels, Soliai, Starks, Merling, and Odrick are who I'm referring to. All of which are very young (avg. age of 25.6) and talented. I'm aware that some of these guys are role players, but I would feel comfortable if any our 2nd stringers needed fill in for an injured starter.

S	STARTER	2nd	3rd
LE	70 Kendall Langford	78 Tony McDaniel	90 Ryan Baker
NT	96 Paul Soliai	95 Ronald Fields	66 Frank Kearse
RE	94 Randy Starks	97 Phillip Merling	98 Jared Odrick

2. Our pass rush:

Last year we were tied for 10th in the league in sacks. That's 9 sacks less than the NFL sack leading Steelers. These potential drive stopping plays are imperative. No pressure on the QB can make an average QB look productive. Starks, Soliai, Langford and McDaniels accounted for 10.5 sacks last year. How did our linebackers do? Just including Wake, Misi, and Dansby, they produced 21.5 sacks. So what did we do to improve?

We brought back everybody that contributed last year, including a defensive mastermind in Mike Nolan, and added Jason Taylor and Kevin Burnett. We all know what Taylor can do, I just wonder how much he can still produce and Burnett is an obvious upgrade to Crowder. Take a look at what Burnett can do.

G	GS	Comb	Total	Ast	Sck	SFTY	PDef	Int	Yds	Avg	Lng	TDs	FF
2010	San Diego Chargers	95	80	15	6.0	0	5	2	31	15.5	29T	1	2

Channing Crowder by comparison has 2.5 sacks in his CAREER, 3 forced fumbles, 1 pick and no touchdowns. This is Crowder's career vs Burnett's 2010-2011 season. Let that marinate for a minute. Burnett had more sacks last year than anybody on our team, with the exception of Wake. So, with our depth at D-line and Dansby, Misi, Wake, and Burnett as our linebacks, I believe we will be a defensive force this year.

I will continue this post with a follow up on the offense and special teams. Thanks for reading!

Poll

How good will Mike Nolan's defense be this year?

Top 5

152 votes

Top 10

13 votes

Top 15

1 votes

166 votes | Poll has closed

This fanpost was written by one of The Phinsider's registered users.

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Comments

Great post rec'd but you left out the secondary

And in the poll I would’ve voted for a top 3 option :). I don’t think we keep 9 lineman TBH. We only keep 25 defensive players total, so that would leave 16 for 8 other positions. 7 or 8 lineman is more likely. I think Kearse will be cut and Baker has to show tons of promise to warrant a spot.

But you’re absolutely correct about our pass rush and Kevin Burnett. He will bring a whole new chapter to Nolan’s playbook by letting him blitz or Dansby. Even Bell and our FS can blitz more. I’m excited about this defense right now.

I got S + What a Dog's Tail Does.
Bring back Pat White. He is the chosen one.

by Va FinFan on Aug 26, 2011 7:04 PM EDT reply actions

My bad I thought you were going through all 3 phases fully

but you’re talking about upgrades. You’ll be kinda busy when talking about the offense :)

I got S + What a Dog's Tail Does.
Bring back Pat White. He is the chosen one.

by Va FinFan on Aug 26, 2011 7:05 PM EDT up reply actions

Thanks and yes, I will be busy when writing on the offense.

I actually left out the secondary on purpose. As you figured out, I was really referring to upgrades. I do think the secondary will do well but we NEED to see more turnovers produced by them. Our number of interceptions weren’t very impressive last year. Good defenses that can turn the ball over, give offenses more opportunities. More opportunities= more attempts at scoring points.

by PhinnyFromItaly on Aug 26, 2011 7:17 PM EDT up reply actions

One thing if you think Jared Odrick will be playing 3rd string , you bumoed your head. Watch out for him this year, the dude is a stud!!

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by 21Dave on Aug 26, 2011 10:09 PM EDT reply actions

I don't think we have any official starters on the d-line. We have a rotation.

But we do need to submit a depth chart… The depth chart doesn’t show anything regarding rotations.

by PhinnyFromItaly on Aug 27, 2011 12:10 AM EDT up reply actions

Langford, Soliai and Starks are the clear starters,

until some else steps up, they are the best on our roster.

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by uncle finster on Aug 27, 2011 8:43 AM EDT up reply actions

I thought Odrick got the start in his 1 game last year

But then again, it doesn’t really matter with how much we rotate guys in…

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by Red Dog on Aug 27, 2011 4:40 PM EDT up reply actions

Merling will have a good season also, the only thing that may hinder this team on a single player base is that we are so deep

So there will be a ton of rotation between all of them.

by 21Dave on Aug 26, 2011 10:12 PM EDT reply actions

Burnett also had more int than anybody on our team

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by biggaandbadda on Aug 27, 2011 3:28 AM EDT via mobile reply actions