Some real talk. Lots of real talk...

[The Franchise]

Regarding the speed issue, we have to prepare ourselves for the notion that some of this is by design. Offensively we don't have an Andre Johnson and we lack some depth but Duke, Dorsett, Hurns, Waters, and Coley is a foursome that we can take as upper echelon IMO. We're missing a dominant force and depth but that's ok given where we were.

The D is a different story. We definitely need more explosive players at safety no question. But up front we're a different team philosophically. We've always been built on undersized quick twitch players that penetrate and disrupt. Our last defensive system (and many prior) was all about getting upfield, disrupting the backfield, and pressuring the passer. We now have a philosophy built upon size, controlling the line of scrimmage, and keeping things in front of us. We substitute in some explosion but our base defense emphasizes size and physicality--275 lb ends, an interior plugger, and sizable backers. Perryman is a 6' linebacker that they ASKED to get to 240 lbs. When you think of our more explosive players, where will they play if they play consistently? McCord will probably be asked to get to 260 lbs and replace Shayon Green I think--the tradeoff will be some of his speed likely. Muhammad has no position next year he is unlikely to play except in pass rushing situations. Jermaine Grace can play nickel but I don't see him playing in our base defense until he's 230+ lbs. None of this is to say that we can't get more explosive defensively (especially in the secondary), but we don't look like we're interested in being the type of defense we've been historically. That's for better or worse it's all about the results.

I don't think we're being coached to be unathletic on D. I think we just are unathletic on D regardless of the size of the players. Alabama's big dudes look pretty athletic. We just need to recruit some better players on D, and we'll be fine. When guys like AJ and Cornileus and The Millionaire are logging major minutes you've got a problem you're trying to disguise.

Nobody is coached to be unathletic. The point is that I do believe that Golden puts a major priority on size and less so on speed especially when we're talking about our D--our offense could run with many of our best offenses on a track they just don't have the depth. We've heard him speak ad nauseum either lamenting (past) or endorsing (now) the size of the team. You rarely hear him talk about the speed. Maybe that's because he can control one moreso than the other with his personnel and can only control the other with new recruits. Nonetheless, my sense is that he wants a big, rugged, physical team and the typical Miami strengths (speed and disruption) are not at his forefront. To compound this, we run a defense that is very un-aggressive by our standards. This is an engaging defense that controls the LOS reasonably but it is not an upfield attacking system that wants to disrupt the backfield. That's a contrast to many of our prior defenses including those of our most recent glory days that played the run on the way to the quarterback and lived in the backfield. Those defenses looked fast because they were fast, but they also played fast stylistically. I think our current system makes some guys look slower than another would. I don't care either way I only care about results, but that's my view.

In the end, if Golden/D stay around for awhile, I think it will be a true rarity that you hear fans talking about how we're too small. If anything we're asking guys like Chick and Perryman and Gaines and Rodgers to get BIGGER than maybe they even should be. We're hardly cutting weight anywhere. But I don't think it'll be all that rare that people discuss our speed. That's the polar opposite of the way we've been traditionally and it's a philosophical change.

You don't have to be only big or only fast. Pretty sure The Don is shooting for big AND fast because big and fast beats small and fast. Takes time to overhaul the whole roster and add what we need where we need it.

I won't be surprised to see Chick at 290 next year sliding inside often or just being that giant 3-4 DE. If we go 3-4 we **** sure need tons of beef up front. Can't play that D with small DEs.

 

[CANE1775]

Totally agree on the DB's as well.

 

[motorcitycane]

Some real talk

how many Turnovers will Miami force this game? I say 4
How many special teams touchdowns will we have? (KR, PR, Punt Block) I've got two
How many offensive touchdowns will we have? I think two
How many FG's? 2

What y'all got?