Brent Grimes Is The Wild Card In This Defense

  Brent Omar Grimes was born in Philly in 1983. He is also 1 of the latest high profile acquisitions made by the Miami Dolphins this past off season. Grimes path to the NFL hasn't been an easy one. He has had to prove himself, time and time again. From very early on since his college days. Brent didn't go to a highly touted school or make a ton of noise on ESPN during his college career. He attended Shippensburg University actually. This is located in his home state of Pennsylvania in case you were wondering. He then went undrafted in 2006 by the Atlanta Falcons, but didn't play a snap for the Falcons. He actually went overseas to Germany and played for the Hamburg Sea  Devils of NFL Europe. Where he lef as a champion He left them to join the Falcons active Roster in 2007. His first two years were pretty average to be honest. In 2009 he had a breakout year. He managed to stay healthy played 16 games and racked up 6 interceptions. Not bad for an undrafted free agent out of Shippensburg University right? However here is what led him to the pro bowl in 2010. The fact that he was able to prove he can do it again. Grimes finished with 16 games played and 5 interceptions. Noticing a trend here? He does something that our Defense needs to go from good to great. The ability to hold on to the football. Bring in interceptions, and make game changing plays. Here is the thing though in the following seasons after that Grimes started to suffer some injuries. Most noticeably an Achilles injury. I could personally shed some light in to this because I had an Achilles tendon release performed on me. I can tell you that it is one of the most pain full places to suffer an injury. I can also tell you that it is extremely tough to recover from given the sensitivity of the area and all the nerves surrounding it. This is tough in particular for a zone cornerback like Brent Grimes which uses his instincts to break on the ball and make plays. As you can imagine it is probably not the most comfortable feeling putting pressure on a tender Achilles heel. This ruins timing, speed and overall movement. As we know football is a game of inches, and a split second could be the difference between getting burned, or taking one to the house. Grimes is a wild card because of the type of injury he is dealing with. However make no mistake about it; if healthy he is a perfect scheme fit which can take this defense to a whole new level. The fact that he signed a 1 year "prove it" deal with Miami is a good sign. A sign that he wants to prove something and believes he can prove whatever that is. Certainty is not a term we can associate with Grimes right now because of his health.Than again if he wanted certainty he would have taken that two year deal the browns were reportedly offering him right?

Im Expecting a Cam Wake Led Top 5 Defense

  My expectations for this secondary are simple. They derive from the concept of playing at a high level. Here is why, we have Paul Soliai, Jared Odrick, and Cam Wake as starters. However this is just the start. Of course it’s great to have a great starting D line. That is always a must as the 3 keys to winning football games in my opinion lie in, having a top 15 QB (preferably top 10) a strong Offensive line, and a powerful defensive line that can knock opposing quarterbacks on their behind. This accompanied by the fact that defense wins championships (This is of course debatable given the day and age of a passing NFL that we live in.) Last year we had a D line that was great on paper and performed at a very high level. All though they have room to improve, and left some key plays on the field. A lot of it had to do with injuries to a depleted secondary. Along with injuries came the underperformance of players like Nolan Carroll (Think Buffalo game), and Sean Smith (Think Arizona and Indy game). I cannot emphasize enough the magnitude of the mistakes made by the starting CBs of last year’s defense. You can make a clear argument that between them and Dan Carpenters misses we missed out on at least two wins. Those two wins could have meant playoffs. Back to my point though this year Kevin Coyle got two new pieces at CB in Jamar Taylor and Will Davis. This is key because they fit what he wants to do on defense. Granted it’s going to be competitive back there .With the likes of Richard Marshall, Brent Grimes, and Dmitri Patterson fighting for a spot. All in all I think our secondary will be able to hold on just a second longer covering opposing wrs. This will allow our O line which is now deeper with Jordan drafted, and Vernon coming back, to pressure QBS more. This in turn will lead to more sacks, and errant throws, which turn in to fumbles, and interceptions. We also got younger and athletic at LB with the additions of Ellerbe and Wheeler. This will bring flexibility to cover TE (Patriots) and further broaden the defensive schemes along with the play calling. Overall I think this defensive will be top 5 in every category, producing 3 plus sacks per game, and stuffing the run. I also believe that the number of interceptions will also be higher this year. Our safeties are strong as Reshad Jones is primed for a great year, and Chris Clemons came back on a one year deal.

Big Year for Reshad Jones

In 2010 Reshad Jones, a kid drafted out of The University of Georgia got his first NFL sack vs. the Tennessee Titans. Reshad stood out from early on as a Miami Dolphin. Granted we were pretty much forced to watching Gerbil Wilson show everyone how not to play Safety in the NFL. This makes anyone who can make a tackle look like an upgrade. All though in 2010 Jones only started one game he played in 13. In which he racked up 1 sack, 11 tackles, and one interception, the future looked bright for Reshad. In 2011 he played in 15 games, started 12 in those 15 games he had 45 solo tackles, 18 assisted tackles, 2 sacks, and one pick. He showed the ability to be around the football. 2012 was his breakout year. In my opinion it all kind of came together for him. The coaching staff starting with Defensive Coordinator Kevin Coyle (Former DB coach under Mike Zimmer in Cin) came in and introduced a scheme which seems to give Reshad a lot more freedom to roam the field. This is key because if there is one characteristic that describes Jones in my opinion is instinctive. This scheme is also great for him because he not only gets more freedom, but by been in the league for a couple of years he has gained enough know how in order to apply that experience. This combination of factors resulted in Reshad bringing in 4 picks, 74 solo tackles, and 21 assisted ones. This includes that clutch game sealing interception against the Bengals at their house. This is all great stats, and signs that point to a very bright future for Jones and the Miami Dolphins. That been said it’s crucial that we as fans and most importantly Jeff Ireland keep a foot on the breaks in regards to our excitement. Reshad is in a contract year and every year he has shown promise, along with that promise h has shown considerable improvement. The question is the following: Is he worth franchising just on promise and improvement? I personally don’t think any players should be rewarded on the premise of potential. Granted he had a breakout season last year and he should be given full credit for it. He worked hard and made the most of his opportunities. Weather that reward comes with dollar signs included I’m not so sure. However his biggest opportunity is now upon him. This is the opportunity that only the great players take advantage of. This is what separates the boys from the man in the NFL, or in other words show the premier quality not many poses. This is the ability to be CONSISTENT. Reshad has a ton of ability and potential, and if he shows me by the end of this season that he can bring some consistency along with that potential I would be more than happy to give him a long term contract.

Sorry About The Stadium Bill but Just Win Please

I haven’t spoken, or for that matter written, much about the whole stadium bill not been passed to the floor. Honestly im not very knowledgeable on the topic, and I won’t pretend to be either. However here is my grain of salt. First of all I would like to start by the fact that im puzzled as to why the Marlins were able to BUILD a brand new multi million stadium. But the Dolphins were not even able to upgrade a stadium that was already built. I’m no math matician but common sense tells me that remodeling something is generally cheaper then tearing something down, and building something new. I understand that the way Loria handled everything last year with the renovation of the Miami Marlins didn’t help our cause at all. They had a brand new stadium, new team. The new stadium still exists of course, but the new team is now new for all the wrong reasons as we all know. The seats are still almost brand spanking new (as they are pretty much empty all the time). How is this relevant to The Miami Dolphins? Well for one they haven’t exactly been producing sellouts the last few years, except on Gator day. This is my point exactly if you have to use Tebow to fill out your stadium because you have been putting out a mediocre product on the field for such a long time you are in trouble. We drafted a new Quarterback in Ryan Tannehill, which has people excited and rightfully so. That helped but the seats are still pretty empty. Renovating the stadium would help it would definitely bring people to the stadium to check out all the state of the art equipment that might be installed. Thing is that now a day’s everyone has homes with state of the art bathrooms and T.Vs. Point is that a renewed stadium with new uniforms and all that is nice. Only as long as you are winning. Winning trumps all, as does loosing. I don’t care how nice a stadium looks. If by week 6 we have a losing record, and we are out of the playoff race seats are gonna be empty. If we have a winning record, have a shot at the playoffs? The stadium is old and, broken down its going to be full all the time. Bottom line we saw it first hand in Miami last year a new stadium is great but if the product on the field isn’t on par it could only take you so far.This applies for any city in the States Los Angeles, San Antonio or Miami.

1987 Redskins at Dolphins Dan Marino And The Glory Days

Enjoy ! Fins up!

Ryan Tannehill Highlights A Lot To Look Forward Too This Season

Enjoy this Tannehill video I hope everyone is having a great Monday!

Dolphins signed Tyson Clabo

Forget about weight, scheme or fit for a second. I'm a firm believer in the concept that great football players play football, simple as that. Tyson Clabo has two things that stand out to me, and make me really excited about this signing; First off he was the 4th highest ranked tackle by PFF last year. Yes he got cut by the Falcons last year, but please don't get your fact confused. Clabo wasn't cut because he was under performing, or because the Falcons felt he was starting to decline. He was simply a salary cap casualty. These types of things happen in the NFL it’s the nature of the beast; we all know that by now. Clabo is 31 years old, I get that, he isn’t exactly what you call a long term answer. But that is fine. Why? Because this move shows intent, it says no we are not waiting for next year, we want to win now. It goes hand in hand with Mike Wallace, Dustin Keller, and Dion Jordan's acquisition. We are finding talented football players who are not pigeon held to a specific scheme or system. This is great news, and should be applauded. The RT spot is not as difficult to fill as the LT is. This is relevant because weather its next year. Or in 2015 we can always draft someone to play the position. (I don't mention Jon Martin as an option because I'm hopeful he pans out at LT for years to come). For right now our line just got vastly improved. Clabo will bring an ability to keep Tannehill upright, get to the second level in run blocking, and bring some serious nastiness to the table. I'm sure him and Incognito will get along great. Bottom line Clabo is not at the ideal weight, or fit for the fins on paper. However on the field I think he will bring ideal production and that is what we all care about in the end of the day right?