Go back and watch the Chargers game.

Also, everyone and there mother, grandmother and dead ancestors knows that the Jets are going to blitz on 3rd down if it is a passing situation.

_________________

Could it be his coaching attire?



Nolan comes off as a bit on the arrogant side. That's probably what you don't like about him.

_________________

I can't see the pic at work... is he wearing a dress?

No, he is wearing a suit. When he first started coaching the 49ers he wore business suits on the sideline.

_________________

I'm not sure that would work in south Florida in August/September...

That could get hot... real fast.

You can't completely discount the DC. Capers was decent in Miami but injuries down the stretch took their toll. It was the offense that year that really sucked eggs. Hard to motivate a defense when the offense is coughing up points every game. I thought Caper's Defense finished on a high note that year even with all the problems.
You also can't say Miami lacks talent on that side of the ball. Some of that "talent" is still very young. Yes there are positions where talent needs to be upgraded (Why in the world did they Jettison Roth?). A big time safety sure would cure a lot of ills.

Even at full strength, that defense in 2007 could not stop the run from the first game against the Redskins on.



Sure I can. They have needs, don't they? They have glaring holes at FS, OLB, ILB, and NT, don't they?

Therefore they lack talent.

_________________

Our OLB's aren't that bad... I mean unless we lose Porter and Taylor... then it gets bad, but we have some nice young talent at OLB...

We were 3rd in total sacks this year.

NT - was a strength entering the season. Fergeson hasn't retired yet. Solai is inconsistent but stopping the run wasn't a weakness in most games.
OLB - The only weakness I see is the fact they don't want to tell Porter to retire. Wake, Anderson, JT and a host of other young players make this a position of stength considering the stats.
ILB - I wouldn't call it a weakness but Miami doesn't have a dominant player inside.
Safety is certainly a glaring hole and it. So you're 1 for 4.

Sacks can be misleading. We were in the bottom half in the NFL at producing pressure on the quarterback. And if you actually saw the games this year, you know that opposing QBs had all day to throw the ball for most of the game.

I'd rather lead the NFL in QB pressures and be in the middle in sacks than the other way around. Pressure leads to incompletions and interceptions.

Taylor is a free agent, so it is no guarantee that we have him. Porter is terrible... yes you read correctly... TERRIBLE at stopping the run. And I am willing to bet that he will not be with the Dolphins in 2010.

So where are the young, talent OLBs? We have Cameron Wake and.... who else?

_________________

Quentin Moses, Charlie Anderson.

I'd argue that the sacks aren't misleading. The tired old scheme of if-our-guys-beat-their-guys is why there were no QB pressures. The only time a QB got pressured was if JT, Wake or Porter beat their man. Furthermore underneath coverage by the LB's and safeties absolutely sucked. A back could catch a pass and you wouldn't see a Dolphin for 10yds. It was ridiculous. We had two rookie CB's and you'd think that since they were singled up in coverage so often that the underneath coverage would've been superb. Not so, it seemed like you'd have guys like Akin Ayhodele covering Wes Welker more often than they should've. I'm not so geeked about Nolan but Pasq had to go.

That's wonderful. I'm looking at 2010, however.



But he is always getting injured and at his age recovery time takes longer.



Wrong. I already posted in another thread (that may have been lost when the new forums were setup) how the run defense plummetted when Soliai in there. We were ranked 7th or 8th against the run when Ferguson went down. We ended the season ranked 18th against the run.



Taylor is a free agent. No guarantee he will return. Porter will not be back. Charlie Anderson? Are you serious? His best season he produced 2.5 sacks so where is the evidence that this guy could fill the OLB position for us effectively?

Wake is the only guy that shows promise right now.



You wouldn't call Akin Ayodele a weakness? Or Channing Crowder and his constant overpursuing? And the primary reason tight ends shredded us all year is because our ILBs can't cover.

_________________

What about them?

_________________

Then you didn't watch the games.

QBs had all day to throw against the Dolphins.

Funny how all season long you were criticizing this team for not putting enough pressure on the QB and now you say the sack statistics aren't misleading.

_________________

Careful what you say guys, Rich is keeping tabs.

_________________

I actually did watch every game this year, and was surprised to see us being 3rd in sacks, because as Rich said, we did suck at pressuring the QB.

I also think we would have been better had we had some underneath help *cough*ILB's*cough*

Anytime we came remotely close to pressuring the QB they dumped it to a back or a TE for big yards...

Not that the crappy tackling helped any either.

Yeah, they'd get sacks on 1st down and then give up a big play on 2nd down, then send 5 on 3rd down and they'd easily pick it up.

_________________

The Dolphins rushed 5 quite a bit. That counts as a blitz.

I think the age of our OLBs is a bigger factor.

_________________

They slowed down quite a bit towards the seasons end, but I'd still love to have JT back... he's just such a smart player... from smackin the ball down, to stayin put in his zone... to the countless other things he does well for us.

Was it the LB's or scheme? Crowder and Ayodele have had better seasons. I just don't want to get emotional and say this is a glaring hole. Safety is what I would call a glaring hole. The rest of these can be addressed with players via FA.

BTW...what kind of scheme calls for your undersized OLB's to lineup in a 4-3 all the time? If you're going to play a 4-3 then get players suited for that style of defense. The idea behind a 3-4 is to have the ends standing up and moving to confuse the offense. It was stupid to put Porter in a 3 point stance all year.

Just an FYI guys. A couple of you keep saying he got canned. That's not true. It was a mutual decision.. one that took place AFTER Parcells came calling.

He's a good DC. The run D was very bad there last year. But, you cant give the Denver staff credit for going out and getting Goodman and Dawkins.. and forget that they didn't get themselves a legitimate NT.

Even with Soliai, McDaniels or Starks at NT. They are better then anything in Denver. Though I HIGHLY doubt we will enter the season with our NT depth chart looking like that. Expect a FA acquisition or a draft pick to be spent there.

Davis and Smith will be another year older and Will Allen will return. Wilson will be replaced. Our scheme will be a bit better. (I watched the Defense a LOT this year.. and while, yes it is, lacking talent. Pasqualoni was running his own version of the prevent in a LOT of those games we blew late. It was like he forgot how to blitz in the 4th quarter and trusted our rookies to get it done)

Mike Nolan will be a good hire. He will know how to effectively use Cameron Wake, who will have MORE playing time next year... if not start.

_________________

I think anybody with half a brain could see this. Cam Wake has unbelievable talent rushing the passer, but is weak against the run. If Nolan can scheme a way to make that work we should see some nice plays on wake's side of the field.

_________________

In this very scheme...

_________________

I simply stated that you can't throw out the sacks. Those were the instances when our player outplayed their player. When is the last time Paul P's scheme shutdown a team completely? Isn't the scheme responsible for pressure as much as a player beating his man? If not, bring back Tom Oliva_otti because his schemes always required his guys to win their individual matchups. The Jet's aren't that great up front but bring a lot of heat through a very effective scheme.

I doubt they were better last season. They faced lesser competition last season compared to this year.