Special Teams Coverage Review (2008 Midseason)

Continuing on with my series of periodic looks at the most active members of Miami's special teams coverage units, I have assembled this table compiling special teams tackles and forced fumbles:

	Tkl	Ast	Comb	FF
Jason Allen	10	1	11
Charlie Anderson	6		6
Akin Ayodele		1	1
Davone Bess	1		1
Dan Carpenter	1		1
Patrick Cobbs	6	1	7
Brannon Condren	2	1	3
Casey Cramer	3	2	5
Chris Crocker	1		1
Tyrone Culver	2	4	6
John Denney	1		1
Boomer Grigsby	1		1
Nathan Jones	3	1	4
Michael Lehan	2	1	3
Brandon London	2		2
David Martin	3	1	4	1
Quentin Moses	1		1
Lousaka Polite	1		1
Reggie Torbor	5	3	8

As I wrote after the first quarter,

I wanted to do this because special teams stats are generally under-discussed and not kept track of all that thoroughly. And yet, several players carve out their spots on this team precisely because of what they bring to these units.

This year, I thought I'd update you all on how the coverage units are playing out after each quarter of the season. Obviously, stats like these don't always tell you who exactly has been the most effective stoppers on special teams, but they do show who has been the most active and who is in position to make the most stops.

I've also included the forced fumbles category because that is an identifiable skill that can be the turning point in any given game. I don't include fumble recoveries because those are random and statistically insignificant.

Again, Jason Allen leads the team with 11 tackles, pulling away from Patrick Cobbs who still has a respectable 7 tackles. It will be interesting to see if Jason Allen's special teams activity lessens as his role in the base defense grows. I'm not expecting his activity to drop off all that much, but it's something to keep an eye on.

Mathis waived; McChesney gets called up

There's no question that the right guard spot has been the biggest weakness on Miami's offensive line this year, due in no small part to Donald Thomas' season-ending injury in week one.

It's hurting the running game, and it may very well be affecting Vernon Carey and Samson Satele's performances, as they can't get any continuity next to them. Thus far, the team had been rotating Ikechuku Ndukwe and Evan Mathis at right guard with little success from either player.

Well this week, the coaches looked to shake things up. Mathis was waived and G Matt McChesney was promoted from the practice squad to take his place. Tony Sparano also hinted that Andy Alleman could get his chance at RG this week against Seattle.

I'm certainly in favor of seeing Alleman get his chance in the starting lineup, as he is a young player with a lot of potential. His ceiling is higher than Ndukwe's, but the most important thing is probably settling on one man to play the position full time. Constantly switching out linemen like that destroys the line continuity, and makes it harder for the unit as a whole to progress.

On another note, I haven't seen it officially reported yet, but I believe Omar Kelly wrote in one of his Sun-Sentinel blogs that the team had released TE Matthew Mulligan from the practice squad and re-signed CB Will Billingsley to it. McChesney's call-up creates an empty spot on the practice squad so perhaps Mulligan will be brought back. We shall see.

Here is what the team's practice squad looks like now:

1. RB Lex Hilliard
2. WR Anthony Armstrong
3. LB Rob Ninkovich
4. RB Jalen Parmele
5. LB Will Kershaw
6. DT Anthony Toribio
7. CB Will Billingsley
   

Hagan released, Frye signed; Crowder sticks up for Camarillo

The Dolphins released WR Derek Hagan today.

This ends the 2005 third-round pick's very disappointing career in Miami. After last season, Hagan was harshly criticized by his position coach for being too immature and unfocused. This offseason, it appeared as if he was finally turning a corner, as he was playing as a starter for much of training camp. Then, things just kind of fell apart, and Hagan disappeared down the depth chart. He was declared inactive for four of the team's games this season and only caught three passes.

Hagan's development in Miami had clearly come to an end, so it makes sense to get rid of him and get a player on the team who has a chance of progressing.

To that end, the team signed T Brandon Frye from the Texans practice squad.

The 6-foot-4, 305-pound Virginia Tech grad was Houston's fifth-round draft choice in 2007 and began his college career as a defensive lineman before being moved to the offensive line as a sophomore. . . Sparano pointed to Frye's position flexibility and being able to play guard or tackle as one of his selling points.

*****

Just to take another shot at the idiot that is Karl Paymah, I'd like to point out Channing Crowder's assessment of him:

Who is he? He plays because Champ Bailey got hurt. I don't know Patin, Paytin, Poptil," Crowder said, purposely messing up Paymah's name. "Camarillo ate him up all day. He should be quiet and go work on his cover skills.

Nicely done, Channing, and way to stick up for your teammate.

Broncos Game Notes; Reader Mailbag

I've been following the election proceedings pretty closely over the past few days, so I haven't had time to write a full post-game commentary, but I got a reader email about the game and wanted to use it to talk a little about the Broncos game.

Here are the questions:

The Dolphins secondary played a great game for the second time in a row. Do you think they will continue this trend? Overall, the Dolphins defense played an excellent game. The offense seemed to struggle a bit. They did come up at the end with a touchdown when they needed to. The running game for the dolphins is a bit weak the past couple of games. Why? Do you think Ricky Williams has "lost a step"?

I'll touch on each of these issues briefly.

1. You're absolutely right; the secondary played tremendously against Denver after coming up big against Buffalo. It's no coincidence that this upturn in performance has come with Jason Allen's significant increase in playing time. I've always lobbied for Jason to get playing time, if for no other reason than to put to rest the guessing games over whether he can be a legitimate asset to this team or not. Right now we are in the process of finding that out, and so far so good. Andre' Goodman also played out of his mind against Brandon Marshall. However, that's not the type of performance that I am counting on too heavily as the season progresses.

In the short term, this trend of strong secondary play probably should continue, seeing as how Miami's next three games are at home against Seattle (Senece Wallace at QB), Oakland (JaMarcus Russell) and New England (Matt Cassell). Those are all inexperienced and average-at-best passers. Over the long term, I think it may be a bit too optimistic to expect the level of performance put forth over the last two weeks to be sustained for the next eight games, especially with the pass rush essentially being relegated to one man (Joey Porter). On the other hand, I wouldn't expect Miami's secondary to get burned like it did against the Cardinals again either. That's the low point and the Denver game is the high point. Expect some level of play varying in between those two poles as the season wears on.

2. As for the offense, aside from the game-clinching 8-minute drive in the fourth quarter, that unit was awful. The defense truly won this game, and really bailed out the offense. Miami is still producing far too many three and outs, and that's largely a function of the running game being so inefficent. I can't really explain the problems in the running game, as the personnel would seem to indicate running the ball to be a strength. Samson Satele is not a strong run-blocker, but we all knew that coming out Hawaii's offense in college. And we are having to make due with a patchwork RG position between Ndukwe and Mathis. Still, Vernon Carey, Jake Long, and Justin Smiley are maulers who should be owning the running game. In the end, I just don't think this line has developed into a cohesive unit yet, and the season-ending injury to Donald Thomas may have something to do with that, I'm not sure. Regardles, if Miami can't figure out a way to consistently run the ball out of its base formations, they are going to be in trouble.

As to Ricky Williams, yes, I think he has lost a step, which seems odd to say following his electric preseason. But, he is 31 and RBs tend to decrease in productivity after the age of 30 (or even 28). Still, he's a solid backup to have and he's not hurting the team when he's on the field. Even without some of the burst that we've come to expect from Ricky, he still provides great field vision to hit the holes when they are there, and he catches the ball well. Ricky's definitely not done yet, just slowed a bit.

A few other observations:

• Kendall Langford had an excellent game, as did the entire defensive front seven. It seemed like Langford had been hitting the "rookie wall" lately, but this game was a great bounce back.
• Karl Paymah is an absolute fool. It's one thing to get absolutely toatsed time after time during a game Jason David-style. It's entirely another thing to then say this about the opponent (Greg Camarillo) who just beat your ass all over the field all game long: "He's really nobody...What was his longest catch, like 10 yards?" Actually, Karl his longest was for 23 yards, and if Camarillo is a nobody, what the hell does that make you?
  

Pennington and Porter get awards; Cobbs extended

For his play against the Buffalo Bills, Chad Pennington was named the AFC Offensive Player of the Week.

Pennington becomes the second Dolphins player to win the award this season, after Ronnie Brown won it following the Week 3 game against the Patriots.

Of the award, he said:

When your team is winning and doing good things, those awards and accolades normally come, so I think it's a credit to us as a team and how we played well as a team and how everyone has bought into what we're trying to do.

On the defensive side of the ball, Joey Porter was named the AFC Defensive Player of the Month.

Porter finished October with 14 tackles, 5.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery. He had at least a half sack in all four games this month.

*****

I'll admit that RB Patrick Cobbs has pleasantly surprised me this year. I thought it would have been a better idea to keep Jalen Parmele on the roster and cut Cobbs, but it turns out that Parmele got through waivers and made it to our practice squad, so I can't fault the front office for making that decision.

And Cobbs has turned out to be a pretty active and productive third-string RB. He's playing a part in the Wildcat formations, as a blocker, and as a pass catcher, and he is still one of the team's better special teams players. He's certainly proven his worth to the team this year.

And he was rewarded for that performance with a two-year contract extension. Cobbs is now under contract through 2010. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Wildcat By The Numbers Week 8

Here's my latest tables for tracking the success of the Wildcat formation.

This week saw the formation get shut out of big plays once again, but it did manage to convert three first downs which was a pleasant development, as the formation previously had little success in that area.

A new wrinkle was also added this week, with Ricky Williams and not Ronnie Brown taking the direct snap from center on one play.

One note with this week's tables - I have adjusted the numbers to discount all kneeldowns. This gives a more accurate calculation.

	Plays	Run	Pass	Yards	Yds/Play	FDs	TDs
Week 3, @NE	6	5	1	119	19.8	1	4
Week 5, SD	10	9	1	48	4.8	3	1
Week 6, @HOU	7	6	1	77	11.0	0	1
Week 7, BAL	5	5	0	4	0.8	0	0
Week 8, BUF	7	7	0	34	4.9	3	0
Total	35	32	3	282	8.1	7	6
Avg./Game	7	6.4	0.6	56.4	-	1.4	1.2

	Plays	FDs (non-penalty)	FD%	TDs	TD%	Run Avg
Non-WC Plays	375	128	34%	11	2.9%	3.4 yds
WC Plays	35	7	20%	6	17%	6.6 yds

	Runs	Yards	Avg	FDs	TDs
Ronnie Brown	20	141	7.1	5	4
Ricky Williams	11	66	6.0	2	0
Patrick Cobbs	1	3	3.0	0	0

Buffalo Game Notes; Reader Mailbag

That was a really satisfying win. We had great performances on each side of the ball, some expected (Porter), some not so much (Ginn). This team really seems to step up its level of play against tougher competition. Of course, that's both a blessing and a curse. It's why they've been able to pull out amazing victories over teams like New England and Buffalo, while falling to teams like Baltimore and Houston.

Before I get into some individual notes about this game, let me open up the reader mailbag to answer a question. (If you have any questions you'd like to see me answer here, just send me an email.)

Finally, the Dolphins beat the Bills. The Phins really stepped things up in the second half especially on defense. Joey Porter once again did a great job and looks like he did with the Steelers. The secondary had some big plays in the second half. The passing game was improved from the last couple of games. At this point in the season, how do you rate the Dolphins passing game? Do you think the WR position is still a huge need for the Phins in the 2009 draft? It seems that the coaching staff is still making adjustments and finding out what player works best at a given position. What are your thoughts?

Thanks for the question, as always.

You're right, the defense certainly came to play in the second half - particularly the fourth quarter, the same spot in which they collapsed against Houston. So that was a good sign. And, given some of the positions they were put in in the first half, the defense wasn't horrible then either. I'm thinking specifically of the goal line stand they made on Buffalo's first drive, holding the Bills to only a field goal. That's the second goal line stand this defense has made so far this season, and that's a huge testament to improved defensive line play. It sure was good to have Jason Ferguson back.

As far as Joey Porter, well I don't think even the most optimistic observer could have predicted this kind of play. He's simply a man on a mission - and that mission is to restore this Dolphins defense and team to respectability. He's certainly doing more than his fair share. Now it's time to see some other guys helping out. The pass rush simply cannot continue to be a one man show. Phillip Merling was the only other player besides Porter to register a quarterback hit on Trent Edwards. Pressure needs to come from somewhere else, whether its Vonnie Holliday, Matt Roth, or Channing Crowder. Teams will start to give Porter the Jason Taylor triple-team treatment soon if no one else materializes as a significant threat opposite him.

On to the secondary. Is it any coincidence this unit played better with the insertion of Jason Allen? It very well may be. After all, this was only one game, so let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Still, Jason played above average in his first significant action this season, and that's all you could have hoped for. He wasn't perfect, but he was solid. If he can keep up that kind of play and continue to improve, this secondary may be in for a bit of an improvement over the second half.

And Will Allen held on to an interception! Nice play, sir.

The passing game was, as always, brutally efficient. Chad Pennington is completing a ridiculous percentage of his passes, and that is keeping this offense in rhythm and on the field.

Today, however, Pennington also opened up the passing game downfield (well, as far downfield as he can reliably get the ball). Before this game, the offense had been almost entirely relegated to a confined 20-yard box. This game saw Pennington take several shots downfield, primarily to Ted Ginn - who just so happened to have the best game of his young career. That should be no surprise, Ginn's biggest strength is on deep throws, and that was on full display against Buffalo.

But again, this is only one game. Will this type of play-calling and success become a trend or a one-game blip on the radar? The more the receivers can get involved downfield, the more the opposing secondary will have to back up out of the box, in turn opening up some running lanes for Ronnie and Ricky. That's important, because the running game has been getting stifled lately.

At this point in the season, I rate the passing game as highly efficient and effective, but still not threatening. Ginn has had one great game. Greg Camarillo is the most consistently effective WR. Beyond those two, there are still huge questions. The tight ends have been fantastic, and I want to give a special mention to David Martin. I can't believe this is the same guy who played here last year. I was hard on him a lot last year, because he was pretty awful and being outplayed by Justin Peelle. But this year, he's looked totally different, and he deserves credit for turning things around.

That said, yes, the WR position is still a huge area of need in next year's draft and free agency. I don't know if Miami needs to spend a first round pick on one (it depends where they are picking and who is available), but they will want to consider using one of their two second round picks on one. At this point, the only WRs currently on the roster that I would consider locks for next season are Ginn and Camarillo. Anthony Armstrong, Davone Bess and Brandon London will certainly be in the equation if they keep improving and I like what I've seen from Bess and London so far. Derek Hagan and Ernest Wilford might as well start looking for employment elsewhere.

Hope that answers your questions.

Now here are a couple other thoughts I had about the game:

• Brandon London - congrats on your first NFL catch! Hopefully, he'll get more involved in the offense in the second half.
• Ted Ginn not only had a great day receiving, he also had a great downfield block on Ricky's long screen pass, as did Samson Satele.
• What is with Dan Carpenter's short kickoffs? He said after the game that he was not intentionally pooching. Well that's good to hear, but that makes it even more of a head-scratcher that he had kickoffs land at the 14 and 20-yard lines. That is simply unacceptable. They set the defense up in terrible field positions and sap away much of the momentum gained from scoring drives. If Carpenter has a big leg as we were told, I want to see it.
• It was good to see the Wildcat gain some first downs today.
• Brandon Fields showed off some directional punt ability that we didn't know was there. He was huge in the field position game today.

Enjoy this win, everyone, but just keep this in mind: Miami is still just 3-4 and in last place in the AFC East. No sub-.500 team is playoff bound. So let's temper those kind of expectations for now. Just take this season one game at a time, and victories like these will be all the sweeter. Just be thankful that Miami is a good enough team this year that they'll still be playing meaningful football in November. That in itself is a meteoric rise from last year.