Finsmob Unleashed

Alright Dolphins fans, relaxed, reserved, nonchalant Mike E. is gone! It’s 2023, and our time is NOW!! This is undeniably the most talented roster we have had here in Miami since the mid 90’s. and our last playoff victory was 23 years ago against the Indianapolis Colts when RB Lamar Smith put the team on his back and ran his heart out for 209 yards on 40 carries and 2 TD’s, one of them in OT for the win, a 17 yard power run carrying defenders in the end zone. It’s time to reclaim that kind of glory. We have drafted, traded for, and signed the type of roster that should take us into the playoffs and beyond. Don’t discount the fact that RB Raheem Mostert is now rippling with 215 lbs of speed and muscle. Don’t discount the fact that we actually gave a pretty big contract to a FB, one Alec Ingold. Also, don’t discount that the Miami TE room is filled with guys who block, and make space for RB’s. Sure, no Dolphins TE jumps off the page as a pass catcher, but all of them block, and block well. I know we have Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, one of the most formidable WR duos in the NFL, but this team was built for the long haul, and if you want to be a playoff contender, you have to be able to run the football, and that’s why we have all those blocking TE’s, one expensive FB, a speedy RB (Mostert) that put on 10 pounds of muscle, and a guy who I believe has a bigger impact than some believe, RB Chris Brooks, undrafted from BYU, a big bodied RB at 6’1 223. We wanted Jonathan Taylor because he’s a big back, different than anyone else on our roster, a finisher. That’s what Chris Brooks will be for us in time.

If you’ve realized, I spent an entire dialogue on the offense and now, in the 2nd paragraph, I’m going to finally talk about our defense. This is a defense just ready to climb to the top of the NFL. It would have been wonderful if we had signed DT Christian Wilkins, but both he, and the team remain committed to getting a deal done, and I don’t think for a minute that a person of Wilkin’s character needed a reason to play hard and have a great season, but the fact that he wants a huge contract doesn’t hurt any in incentivizing him to have a great season. We brought in DC Vic Fangio to finally unleash what this defense is capable of. OK, it wasn’t ideal that one of the key guys we traded for is out till most likely November at the earliest, Jalen Ramsey, but we have so much talent on this defense, including the secondary, that Ramsey will end up being a pleasant boost when he’s healthy. CB Xavien seems healthy, and 2nd year rising star Kader Kohou looks like may start opposite Howard, just going by the depth chart on the Dolphins home page. I won’t be surprised, because most of the time when I imagine Eli Apple, I see WR’s running by him and see the back of his jersey. If that’s the case, either rookie Cam Smith could be the nickel, or maybe if he’s not healthy enough, Apple or newly acquired CB Kelvin Joseph will play nickel back. At safety, Brandon Jones returns from injury, and he was having a great season before his injury in Game 7. Jevon Holland is poised to have an All Pro type season at the other safety spot.

Third paragraph in and I still haven’t yet mentioned the defensive line and linebackers, the creme de al creme. Christian Wilkins at LE, Raekwon Davis in the middle and Zach Sieler at the other end spot, who just got a nice contract extension. At LB, definitely our best unit in quite some time, with Jalen Phillips at LOLB, the unheralded LILB Jerome Baker, David Long who came over from Tennesee and will be big player in our defense, and then Bradley Chubb at ROLB. DE/OLB Emmanuel Ogbah will be getting a fair amount of reps both hand in the ground and standing up. We have nice depth at LB with familiar faces Andrew Van Ginkel, Duke Riley, 2nd year LB Channing Tindall and the aforementioned Emmanuel Ogbah who will play both DE/DT and OLB. The area of biggest concern for me is the spot opposite X. Can either Kader Kohou, Cam Smith or Eli Apple, or possibly even Kelvin Joseph hold down that spot and do at least an average job? Big question, and one that will be tested immediately against QB Justin Herbert, who loves to throw the ball down the field. I would imagine we’re not going to leave whoever plays that spot on an island and they will likely get safety help, which then would put a lot of pressure on X in one-on-one coverage. Mike Williams, one of the bigger WR’s in the NFL is a physical player who will give most DB’s a tough assignment, and Herbert has the arm to get him the ball almost anywhere on the field.

Our offense clearly will be a different animal this season. No question Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle will get lots of touches, but I do believe we will be a more balanced offense this season. I have yet to mention RB De’Von Achane, who at some point will show the NFL his speed and smooth running style. This will truly be a RB by committee situation, with Mostert at least for now the lead back, but I think plenty of touches for Achane, Ahmed and the rookie Chris Brooks. Don’t be surprised if like in the preseason, Chris Brooks gets lots of carries deep in the red zone. QB Tua Tagovailoa has done all he can in the offseason to help himself stay healthy, and help lead this team an entire season of games. He added weight, learned through martial arts proper falling techniques to keep his head from crashing to the ground and as we saw in the preseason, he employed those techniques, and most importantly, they worked.

I think all of us here at FMU have looked at our defense and expected better. I think Vic Fangio looked at this opportunity through the same lens we do, this a defense just waiting to flourish with proper guidance. Fangio is exactly 5 years my senior, born August 22nd 1958. He’s been a defensive coordinator since 1995, no need to count, that’s 23 years (Fangio took a break from the NFL from 2006-2010). It’s hard for me not to believe that Fangio is the missing piece. Flores had some strong points on defense, learning from Bill Belichick in NE. Then Flores’ dismissal led the Dolphins to hand over the reins to Josh Boyer, who in my opinion, was too one dimensional and far too reliant on the zero blitz coverage scheme. I would expect less sacks from the safeties and more from the LB’s and DL. I think David Long is going to be great in this defense, both as a run stopper and helping in pass coverage. It’s not crazy to think we could have a top 10 offense and defense simultaneously.

We have a tough opening game, no doubt. The Chargers were the 2nd team last season to stymie both Tua Tagovailoa and our offense. It was the second leg of a dreadful west coast trip that began with a loss to the Brock Purdy led SF 49ers. Tua was sacked 3 times, and threw 2 INT’s against the vaunted SF defense. The offense was totally one dimensional, we ran 8 times against the Niners. Against the Chargers, it was no better. The Chargers hit Tua, but mostly took away his passing lanes which led to an awful 10 of 28 performance for only 145 yards. We made a slightly better attempt to run, but still had less than 20 carries (19). Despite having one of the best RB’s in the NFL in Austin Ekeler, Herbert was throwing everywhere, attempting 51 passes in all and completing most of them, 39 completions for 367 yards. We’re going to need to do a whole lot better on both sides of the ball to win this one. I expect more running from us, and hopefully that will open up the passing game for a few shots here and there. This would be a huge opening day win, and a big shot fired in the AFC towards the playoff race. I don’t have him in FF, but if I had Chris Brooks, I’d be inclined to insert him in the lineup because I think the kid may get a couple of TD’s in this one. In any case, we must have a better showing than we did on December 11th, 2022 against the Chargers last season.

GO DOLPHINS!!!!