Everybody knows how well we've controlled the clock, racked up the yards, and kept many an opposing offense off the field for large chunks of time. That's the good side of this movie.

Unfortunately, and you guys had to know that there's more to the story - our D too often allows those same offenses to dash onfield and put up a quick score. Just rewind to the Indy & Saints games and you'll get the idea.

You know that kills momentum and puts even more pressure on our offense, because those 5+ minute, 15 play scoring drives require a ton of things to go right: avoiding penalties, key 3rd down conversions, etc.

Go back to the last pats game where we put together a very impressive 15+ play drive capped with a TD. Very nice.

The problem? Just a handful of plays later, Randy Moss was putting himself in the highlight reels of Sports Center with a long TD run and catch.  Or how about when Gibril Wilson single handedly tried to guarantee Dallas Clark's pro bowl spot with his missed tackle on the first play of that game? Can you say momentum killer?

Here are some numbers:

We are tied for 5th (worst) in the league at allowing TD drives of 6 plays or less: 13 times we've done this

Against the Colts & the away Jets game, we gave up 3 such scoring drives in each of those games.

Indy & Denver have each allowed just one < 6 play TD drive - any surprise those two teams are a combined 14-2?

There are only 4 teams who have given up more such 'quick scoring drives: Detroit, Tennessee, Tampa Bay, and Carolina.

Bad News: Those 4 teams will be watching the playoffs from their couches.

Good News: This week we play the worst team in the whole league at giving up quick TD scoring drives, that being the bucs. Plus we also have Tennessee on the schedule later, the second worst team at this stat and Carolina, #3.

Diagnosis: Long, time-consuming TD drives by our offense are our MO. Now we need our D to stop opponent's offense from getting these against us.

We talk a lot about wideouts on this blog and more often than not, hands are a big part of the discussion.

Namely, who has 'em and who doesn't.

Give yourself bonus points if you can already guess we have someone near the top........and the bottom of these stats.

No surprise:

Camarillo has hauled in a whopping 83.3% of passes tossed his way. That's more than impressive, it is tops in the entire league. Not to mention he's 4% points higher than the #2 guy in the whole league, Mike Thomas of the Jags. And for extra points, note Greg has not had a single drop counted against him.

Now you probably know what is coming next...you do, don't you?

Languishing down in, er, 84th place in the entire league, Ted Ginn checks in with a wheezing catch percentage of 44.2%. Even TO is higher, ditto Braylon Edwards who everyone says has iffy hands.

The stunning thing is that Camarillo's catch percentage is almost double that of Ginn's, 83.3 vs. 44.2. Plus Ginn has 6, count'em, six drops - a few of which would have been game winning touchdowns!

Yes as well all know, Ginn's targets involve some lower percentage passes, but nowhere near the point where he should be in the 44% range and 84th in the league. Look at Randy Moss, who gets thrown plenty of deep, lower percent passes, and he still hauls in 60+% of passes thrown his way.

A few other tidbits...

Davone Bess checks in with a healthy 72%, which is 10th best in the league.

Brian Hartline leads the team in ypc/avg at 15.9

Ricky WIlliams & Joey Haynos both have higher ypc/avg's than Ted Ginn, our supposed deep threat (11.8, 12.4 vs. 11.5)

My Christmas List:

Santa Parcells, can we please have a #1 receiver in our basket?

Seems we've been taking just a tiny little bit about Ted Ginn lately. No special reason of course... ;-)

Here are some interesting metrics on him and other  wideouts:

This one is for passes thrown to 20 or more yards downfield to a receiver, look who is on top of the list?

1. Ted Ginn, Dolphins: 13 targets, two catches (74 yards, one TD).
2. Vincent Jackson, Chargers: 12 targets, six catches (254 yards, one TD).
3. Donald Driver, Packers: 12 targets, five catches (156 yards, one TD).
4. Mohamed Massaquoi, Browns: 12 targets, four catches (126 yards, no TDs).
5. Steve Smith, Panthers: 12 targets, three catches (98 yards, zero TDs).
6. Terrell Owens, Bills: 12 targets, two catches (82 yards, one TD).

And you can see real quickly what the problem is: 13 targets.........2 catches. Now deep passes are not nearly as high percentage, but Ginn has the worst success rate in this group, a measley 15.3%. The next closest is TO at 16.7% and we'd all agree TO is having a lousy year. Compare this to say, Vincent Jackson, 50% success rate or Donald Driver, 41.7% success rate.

This isn't necessarily a sign that the Fins are going bombs away ala the 07 NE offense with Brady-Moss. My guess is that while GInn has gotten the most targets of 20+ yards, there's probably very few other players being targeted 20+ yards downfiled on our offense this season - save for the occasional wildcat downfield pass.

Another area where Ginn shows up is in the number of times thrown to on third down in the fourth quarter.

1. Steve Smith, Giants: seven targets, six catches.
2. Ted Ginn, Dolphins: seven targets, four catches.
3. Mohamed Massaquoi, Browns: seven targets, two catches.
4. Bobby Wade, Chiefs: six targets, two catches.
5. Wes Welker, Patriots: six targets, one catch.

In this case, Ginn has done a better job. Presumably though these are much shorter passes as they are taking place in 3rd down situations. This is another ominous sign though when Ginn's success rate on short passes is soooooo much higher than on long passes. So to add to the fine work done in an earlier fanpost about Ginn's YAC (in short, mediocre YAC metric) - when you are a one-dimensional speed guy with bad hands, ahem, you really have to make those deep shots work.

I found this today which is about one of our newest but rather little known dolphins who many of us are putting quite a bit of our hopes on - Cameron Wake.

Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Graham

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- Former Penn State and NFL star LaVar Arrington was knocking around the Buffalo Bills' facility Sunday with his protégé, Aaron Maybin.

Arrington has been mentoring him for years. Maybin was in middle school when he met the three-time Pro Bowler, so one could understand why Arrington was wearing a Bills T-shirt a day after they made Maybin the 11th overall pick in the draft.

	AP Photo/John Ulan
	Cameron Wake collected 31 sacks during two seasons with the CFL's BC Lions.

I'll have more on Maybin and his inner circle later this week, but I also had the opportunity to ask Arrington about another Penn State pass-rusher who's entering the AFC East this year.

The Miami Dolphins in January signed Canadian Football League sackmaster Cameron Wake, who played under the name Derek Wake at Penn State.

Wake arrived at Happy Valley with comparison's to Arrington, who turned pro the year Wake got there. Wake, however, left Penn State undrafted. He got into banking, then personal training and had to reinvent himself with the BC Lions, recording 31 sacks in two seasons.

The Dolphins signed him to a four-year, $5 million deal, the richest contract ever given to a CFL import.

"That's a heck of a story," Arrington said. "He's like Cinderella Man. That's one of those stories where you've got to say 'Man, if you don't believe that dreams can come true, then he's one of those you have to look at.'

"He has to say 'If I didn't go that extra mile, if I didn't work a little bit harder, I actually cheated myself out of possibly realizing my dream.' That personifies what he represents."

Arrington remains blown away by Wake's athleticism, but pointed to a lack of dedication that often drew Joe Paterno's ire.

"He went there and was athletic as all get-out," Arrington said. "There never was a question about his athletic ability. It was a question about his desire and his intensity.

"What happened from that time when he left Penn State to when he started playing in Canada, I don't know. But it wasn't the same man. It's not the same guy. That's pretty awesome that he's getting an opportunity to play in the NFL after all that."

********** ******************* ************************** ******************** ***********

You can coach a player on approach and attitude but not talent. From Arrington's comments, it sure sounds like Cameron Wake has tons of that - talent - and if it is enough to be a good player in the NFL, then our coaches/staff will get it from him.

Pretty much what we all expected but if nothing else, it is news before the draft much like getting Long locked up in advance was for us.
ESPN.com

The Detroit Lions reached an agreement Friday night with Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford to make him the first pick in the NFL draft on Saturday. According to a source, Stafford will receive a six-year, $72 million deal with $41.7 million guaranteed. The contract could be worth as much as $78 million if Stafford achieves all of his playing incentives. The guaranteed money tops the $41 million in guarantees Albert Haynesworth received from the Washington Redskins earlier this offseason. The Lions intensified negotiations for Stafford over the past three days, knowing they also could reach a less expensive deal with Wake Forest linebacker Aaron Curry. After Curry's agents visited Detroit's minicamp over the weekend, Lions president Tom Lewand focused on Stafford. The Stafford deal is the richest given to a draft choice in history, topping the five-year, $57.5 million contract the Dolphins gave to tackle Jake Long last season and the six-year, $72 million contract Matt Ryan received from the Atlanta Falcons. The language of the contract must still be agreed upon and approved by the management council. As the week began, the Lions were down to three choices -- Stafford, Curry and Baylor tackle Jason Smith, but the team was insistent on having a contract in place with the first-round pick before the draft starts Saturday. Detroit desperately needs a quarterback to help turn around the NFL's first 0-16 team, which has had the worst eight-year stretch in the league since World War II, and is turning to Stafford after he was a starter in each of his three seasons at Georgia. Stafford will not be able to fix all the problems associated with a franchise that has been bad enough to go 31-97 since 2001 in what has been the worst eight-year stretch by an NFL team since the Chicago Cardinals won 23 percent of their games from 1936-43. But the Lions can't afford to draft another bust.

	Matthew Stafford has agreed to the richest rookie contract in history.

"Obviously, the draft is the biggest crap shoot there is," Stafford recently acknowledged. Recent No. 1 picks have proven that. Eight of the past 11 players taken first overall in the NFL have been QBs, and half of them either haven't or didn't pan out for the teams that took them. For every Peyton Manning and Carson Palmer, guys like Tim Couch and David Carr have shown there are no guarantees. Stafford might get a chance to initially learn from the sidelines, backing up Daunte Culpepper. First-year coach Jim Schwartz has said Detroit's staff studied Stafford extensively on film. "We've seen every pass he's thrown in the last two years, and that's where you learn about his decision-making ability," Schwartz said last month. The Lions also interviewed Stafford, attended his pro day at Georgia and had a private workout with him to learn more about him as a person. Apparently, they're convinced he is the man to be the face, voice and arm of perhaps the biggest rebuilding project in NFL history. He was 27-7 as a starter for the Bulldogs, throwing for nearly 51 touchdowns and nearly 8,000 yards with a powerful arm. "I was relaxing and my hands were relaxing and the ball just shot through and hit me right in the face," Georgia teammate A.J. Green said last year. When Schwartz was hired last winter, he joked that it was about time to replace Bobby Layne, who starred at quarterback for the Lions when they were an NFL power in the 1950s. In a coincidence, Stafford and Layne both played at Highland Park High School in Dallas. John Clayton is a senior writer for ESPN.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Came across this online and thought I'd share here on the blog. It has to do with, heh, can you guess? Of course you can and that would be one Joey Porter, aka Peezy, and the run, as in run defense.

KC Joyner, whose metrics have been cited here quite often and most recently by Matty in the Jake Grove run-block post, wrote up this entry.

Here it is, in full:

What Parcells Should Tell Joey Porter

One of the underrated aspects of Bill Parcells’ coaching methods is how he was able to prod talented veterans into higher levels of performance. My favorite story along this line was how Parcells handled Harry Carson when he arrived in New York in 1979. Carson had been decorated with both an All Pro and a Pro Bowl berth the season before Parcells’ arrival, but that didn’t stop Parcells from throwing out a challenge to Carson to become an even better linebacker. Carson stepped up his game by making six All Pro and five Pro Bowl teams (and an eventual trip to the Hall of Fame) while under Parcells’ guidance.

I mention this because after reviewing the Dolphins’ defensive performance metrics for “Scientific Football 2009,” I am of the mindset that Parcells should throw down a similar challenge to Joey Porter. Porter was a second-team All Pro and a starter on the AFC Pro Bowl roster in large part because of his 17.5 sacks. That total wasn’t an anomaly; nine of those sacks were of the one-on-one variety and were achieved via an impressive set of pass-rush techniques.

What is troubling about Porter’s numbers is his run-stuffing ability.

He faced 82 Point of Attack (POA) runs in 2008 and defeated his blocker on only eight of those plays. That 9.8% POA win rate was the second lowest among the Dolphins’ defensive linemen/linebackers, and his 5.6 yards per attempt on those runs was the most of any Miami DL/LB. To put this into further perspective, consider that Matt Roth, the Fins’ other starting outside linebacker, had a 24.6% POA win rate on 61 POA runs and allowed only 3.5 YPA.

It’s not as if elite pass rushers can’t post top totals in this area, either. Terrell Suggs, one of the best pass-rushing OLBs in the league, posted a POA win rate of 33.9% and a YPA of 3.3 last year. He is the upper end of run stuffing, pass-rush specialists, but there are others of his ilk (DeMarcus Ware for example) whose run-defense metrics were also markedly superior to Porter’s.

Parcells isn’t a head coach anymore, but the Miami players say he is still a world champion button pusher whose presence is felt through the entire organization. That probably means Porter better ready himself for some kind of motivational tactic regarding his run defense, because if history is any indicator, Parcells will be sending one his way this off-season.

(You can follow KC Joyner on Facebook at http://tinyurl.com/ckavry or on Twitter at http://twitter.com/kcjoynertfs)

Well not quite fanning the flames but certainly expanding the discussion.

Tim Graham of ESPN posted the following blog entry. In it, you'll note some of Chad Pennington's comments and his responses. I think he understands the FO's plan and is obviously professional about it while keeping his personal options open - you can't ask for more than that really. Pennington is likely to be elsewhere in 2010 while Henne takes over.

Please see below:

Pennington knows Henne will take over Fins

March 25, 2009 10:46 PM

Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Graham

"If you look at how everything is set up, how the Dolphins drafted Chad, how they brought me in for a two-year deal, it's not news, really," Pennington said. "It's just the way it is.

"I'm comfortable with everything that's going on right now. I feel really good about where I am as a professional. I feel really good about how I'm playing and the goals I've set for this year. With this being my 10th year in the league, I'm the first one that can tell you nothing's promised to you."

Pennington last year guided the Dolphins to one of the greatest single-season turnarounds in NFL history, from 1-15 to the AFC East championship and a playoff berth. Pennington was voted Comeback Player of the Year for the second time in his career.

But the Dolphins have not expressed interest in extending Pennington's deal.

"What I do is I really concentrate on how I can better myself as a professional quarterback," Pennington said of speculating on his future. "If I'm doing that, then that's the one thing I can control and the rest of it will take care of itself, as it did in 2008.

"I enjoy Miami tremendously. I enjoy being a Dolphin. It's been a lot of fun so far, and I look forward to some other good times."

Jacobson asked Pennington if he would be willing to accept the backup role to remain with Miami.

"That'd be something I'd have to look at," Pennington said, although the tone of his voice was unenthusiastic. "It's something that's obviously out there. As a competitor, it's extremely hard to say yes to that right now because I'm used to being a starter.

"I love being in the huddle. I love leading the team. That's hard to do on the sidelines. That would be something I would have to address when the time comes."

http://static.keebali.com/finheaven.com/forums/customavatars/avatar29164_2.gif

As Miami Dolphins, I think these two guys future's are going to be pretty short and/or trivial.

Here's what I believe may happen and I'm sure Beck and/or McCown supporters will complain, so spare me the whining....

Right now, Beck is looking like the #3 or maybe even #4 guy in this QB shuffle - McCown hasn't been much better either. By the end of the preseason we can be pretty certain that:

One of our QB's will be cut or possibly traded with the most most obvious candidates being Beck or McCown

I don't see SIP (Sprano-Ireland-Parcells) Keeping a 4th QB over a versatile player who contributes on special teams and can be a backup at a position spot.

Beck may have some minor trade value (say for a 6th rounder). McCown has pratically zero trade value.

Beck however is not a SIP player, he's a cam-cam holdover whereas McCown was signed by the regime.

McCown has a track record in the league - albeit it a poor one with the occasional good game. Beck is much more limited (last year and this year) and basically not good.

Another possibility: Trade or cut Beck or McCown. Keep the remaining guy. Then if Simms gets cut, sign him, and cut the leftover of McCown or Beck so for '08: Pennington, Simms, Henne

'09: Henne, Pennington, Simms.

So which of the two do you think will stick - McCown or Beck? Whomever stays is probably scout team material while the other is a goner obviously who will have to hope to catch on with another team.

Matty I has a man-crush on Beck!

There, I said it - now who is with me? :)

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We are in the home stretch now and rapidly approaching the first preseason game. After all the scrimmages and practices, we'll be able to see this group get on the field against a real opponent - albeit, in a game that doesn't count.

Sure I know we have a few more days of practice, but I doubt there will be a great deal of change in the QB 'rankings' (assuming the coaches are ranking them).

Here's the question...

How do all of you think the QB's should be given playing time? Who gets how much playing time and when? Who starts?

Do you have a rotation? Alternate individual series? Give a guy a certain quarter or half?