Kubiak should be taking notes from Tony Sporano on how to call plays down the stretch. Kubiak has no clue and it led to 2 losses when we could have been 4-1. He better be gone soon.
I really enjoy that the Dolphins don't seem stuck in the standard copycat NFL rut of playing conservative, standard formations, etc. They just do whatever the hell they want and dictate to the defense. It's great to see things like running out a mix of Henne, Brown, Ricky, and Pat White at QB in a critical drive in the 4th quarter.
I think that has a lot more to do with lack of big playmakers (maybe not so much if Henne continues to emerge as a good QB) than the wildcat. I think they'd be worse without the wildcat.
It got them to 11 wins last year (after 1-15 the previous year). They've struggled this year, but they've lost to 3 likely playoff teams thus far (SD, Indy, and Atl) and played Indy as well as anyone this year. Certainly 2-3 isn't very good, but they seem to be getting better as they go (they started 2-4 last year too), and Henne gives them more options than Pennington over the long haul.
yes, 11 wins in a Brady-less division. I like how the Dolphins go about their business as well, they seem to gas opposing defenses right out of the 4th quarter, but I just don't see a team using the wildcat that often winning multiple playoff games and a superbowl. Henne is gonna have to keep playing out of his mind before they are taken seriously imo. as a Chiefs/Texans fan though....yes, indeed the Dolphins are a blast to watch.
Yeah he's running the 46 Buddy Ryan did, just like Jon Gruden was running the West Coast Offense the same way Bill Walsh did. He'd be an idiot to try and run the "46" that Buddy Ryan was running in the 80s. The term "46" is odd terminology anyway, it has nothing to do with actual formations, just was the jersey number of whatever safety the bears had who acted like a 4th LB. Oh wow! They move the strong safety up into the box to come up and stuff the run, just like every other team in the league will do at some point... Its a tweaked version, thats for sure, but I wouldn't say they are running that exclusively. There are elements there, but I don't think they could be called the same defense by any stretch of the imagination.
One of their losses was to NE. Even if Brady beats them in the other game, that still leaves them at 10 wins. Well of course they aren't Superbowl bound - they were 1-15 just two years ago. They don't have much offensive talent right now. They have a new QB and no receivers to speak of. The beauty of their offensive gameplan is that they play above their talent level. Put better talent into that offense, with a creative gameplan, and it might get that much better. I have no idea if it can ultimately win in the playoffs. But I enjoy the fact that they are willing to try something different to make themselves competitive, unlike most of the NFL which is wholly uncreative. Until the last several years, people said a primarily shotgun offense couldn't work either, but now some of the best teams in the NFL work mostly out of that (Indy, New England, Pitt, etc). It's always nice to see new ideas take hold. One of the fun parts about college football is all the different styles that teams win with. It's always been said that the higher talent level on defense in the NFL prevents that, and now you have a team that runs plays without a QB and consistently gets good chunks of yardage with it. It's just fun to see.
That would be Doug Plank, who was a very dangerous safety. He hit so hard he hurt himself much of the time. Their other safety, Gary Fencik, was pretty vicious too. Some considered him a cheap-shot artist. Those two guys would get running starts and just make you cringe.
I don't know what to say about Chad Henne. Nothing I saw of him at Michigan indicated he would be a successful NFL QB. I'm still not sold on him. Arm strength isn't the issue, it's everything else.
You have to have pretty much the best personnel in the league to get away with running something that ambitious. Miami's Wildcat Offense is kind of like that. They are the originator, so naturally they know how to run it best. I don't really see any other team in the league right now having a lot of success with it like Miami has. Ronnie Brown is the facilitator, but the blocking is truly fun to watch. Rex's bunch got caught on their heels, and then put on their ass more than a few times.
