The pass protection from our backs is an absolute joke.

For as mediocre as Lamar Miller is at pass blocking, Daniel Thomas is one of the worst backs I've ever seen at it.

I don't care who it is, they need to find someone who can stand in there on 3rd down and protect Tannehill from incoming blitzers.

After today, I'm sure it will be a main focus in practice!

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With the lack of a running game in the 4th quarter, I was starting to be in favor of committing to the passing game and just put guard in place of a fullback to block back there. Daniel Thomas put himself in position to make the two blocks that led to sacks, he just didn't execute them correctly. Would it be fair to say that Ricky was our best blocking running back for the past 10 years?

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They even went to any empty back field late....

The pounding that Tannehill is taking seems to really be our main problem. We need to protect him better because at this rate he will not last the season & I dont feel like losing an elite QB.

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He's definitely taking a lot of hits back there. You have to admire his courage to stand back there not worrying about getting hit, but he needs to have a better feel for the pressure coming around him. There are times when he should get rid of it or run with it than take the sack.

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I agree with this 100%. I wonder if the Jags would part with Jones-Drew for a 3rd or 4th rounder?

MJD would be a dream to have in the offense. Makes you wonder if Miami keeps winning and before the trade deadline if they would ever consider pulling "something off" to attain a running back.

I mean Lamar Miller definitely has shown spurts of great runs so no need to get hasty just yet. I expect him to get loose on turf next Monday night with his speed.

Or instead of keeping the backs in to block, use them as safety valves that leak behind the blitz.

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With the current personnel in place that's really the only option.

Daniel Thomas has no excuse for being an butthole in pass pro though. The guy's 6'0, 235 pounds and supposed to be a power, inside runner. How are you so soft that you put your head down so early that you completely whiff consistently on blocks?

Nate Garner also needs to replace Clabo...yesterday. It's getting ridiculous. Garner is a serviceable player. Clabo has drives where he plays well, (like the game winner), but for most of the season he's gotten beaten badly. I want to see Nate in there and help shore things up.

Could just drop Clay back there to chip the blitz and go out in the flat as the safety valve...

The Dolphins should start having their backs chip and leak. Slow down the blitzer for just half a second and then let him by to give Tannehill the safety valve. If for example Thomas had done that on the one sack he gave up, Tannehill would have had at least an opportunity to lob the ball. Sometimes you have to use a defense's aggressiveness against them.

Teams do it to us all the time, but we never seem to do it.

I would love to see Lamar Miller on those types of plays. With his open field speed, he could become a very dangerous option.

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Ya This reminds me of Jay Cuttler...

a few games behind that early bears O-line and how many concussions later.. my god Jay cuttler was a mess.. I 100% think he is just starting to shake off the effects from the concussions...

It seemed to me that Ryan was slowing down in making his reads and pulling the trigger...

He game up HUGE in the that drive... so this is not an attack on RT.. what an amazing come back that was!

all I am saying is .. sooner or later.. one of those sacks are going to leave a mark.. and we are not protection a QB that I think can be a top 5 qb in the nFL...

I just hope he gets through this season so they can address it... start holding back people more to pass block a bit more... Thats about all they can do Today.. there is not much o-line talent that are sitting home and waiting for a call...

all that said....

what an amazing start to this season.....

I thought for sure he had the one yesterday..

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Had one what?

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The problem is that they're allowing blitzers free up the A-gap usually. It's not failing to block CB's on blitzes around the edge that's killing them. So that might not work unless you shift your protection that way, and leave the DE to be chipped by the back. Even then, you're leaving Tannehill open to get hit after the throw.

I agree they need to be doing it more, but at the end of the day, while you can mask it to a certain extent, you need to have backs to can pass protect efficiently when needed. Can't escape that. And right now, they flat out don't.

That's usually where chipping and leaking works best.



He's getting hit anyway, but at least it doesn't turn into a fumble...

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He's getting hit anyway PR and fumbling, not good....

He's fumbled 5 times, lost 2.

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Exactly my point.

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Fumbles lost can be skewed by pure luck though. I don't necessarily blame him when the O-line is playing Matador, but at the same time he's gotta protect the football. The same went for Matt Moore, who took a lot of deserved criticism for putting the ball on the ground.

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My point was that we should have the running backs chip and leak instead of just block and whiff. PR said that if we did that, Tannehill would still be getting hit and my point was that if he has the RB as a safety valve on a chip and leak, he'll be getting hit but he won't be fumbling because he'll be passing the ball.

We don't use other defenses aggressiveness against them enough.

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That's what I always admired about the Bills offense back in the 90's and the Patriots in the early 2000's ...... they bludgeoned people with that. Made teams extremely apprehensive to blitz.

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Yep, and when you have a guy like Thurman Thomas in the open field, it stings.

Not saying Lamar Miller is Thurman Thomas, but we've already seen a couple of times what type of burst he has when he gets space.

I figure 9 times out of 10, when teams blitz more than 5, they typically drop coverage back to keep the play in front of them.

In that case, a guy like Miller having 5-7 yards of space to work with could be effective.

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Well it's either the coaching staff is stubborn or they simply don't trust Miller's hands. Personally I think it's the latter. He dropped a beauty yesterday.

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A TD on that run when he got past the line.. I am in the corner endzone, it looked as tho he had it.. Atlanta has speed on defense..

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Yeah but it's one thing for a running back to catch a ball in stride and another to turn around and pull it into his chest.

Or heck... do it with frikkin Daniel Thomas so he can run backwards into the defenders.

At least it won't be a fumble.

And Sherman is stubborn... I think we all know that.

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We're talking about dump off passes on chips and leaks instead of keeping the RBs in exclusively to block...

But on that particular play, Miller screwed up by trying to fake out a defender in the open field and slowing himself down in the process. If he had just kept running he would have blown by everyone.

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I think he's referring to the dropped pass by Miller that would have surely gone for a TD. Was wide open in the flat with nothing but green in front of him.

Nope, he said it right above that he was talking about the long run.

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The speed comment is what caught my eye, I was referring to his run where he got into space.. He decided to try and cut it to the edge, and got run down...

He should have just went straight forward. He had serious speed in college, ALL ACC honors on track, 60, 100, and 200 meter.

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My bad... well... that drop was heart breaking too... would have loved to see that play materialize.

I was just talking to my buddy about that, could have been a blessing in disguise. That would have put us up by 4, with enough time for Ryan to lead a drive

Still tho, we want guys to make those plays. That was perfect execution until he dropped it..

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PFF has Miller as the worst rated HB 57th of those that qualify at least 25% of snaps. -8.7 overall
-4.8 run grade, -1.7 pass and -1.9 pass block.

Thomas 29th +0.1 overall and + 1.4 run grade. +0.4 pass and -1.7 pass block

Miller pass block has been trending better and Thomas pass block has been trending worse.