Player Friendly Defense?

Jason Allen, Yeremiah Bell, and Renaldo Hill all have primarily the same opinion of the new secondary defensive schemes.  “Player Friendly“.  Secondary coach Todd Bowles however believes that it is…if the player gets it.

After wrapping up the first mandatory mini-camp of the new season, the above mentioned trio talked with local media about the new defense and all of them felt that there was less confusion.

"”Basically, it means there’s just not a lot of adjustments now,” Hill said. “Last year, we made adjustments based on what the offense did. A lot of reads. A lot of calls. Now, if we make a call before a play, we’re sticking with it. We dictate what we’re going to do rather than letting the offense dictate it for us.”"

"”If this guy moves, you make this check; if this guy moves, you make this check“, said Bell in regards to what used to happen."

Now, they say that there calls are much easier.  When they get to the line, it is what it is and they will dictate to the offense instead of the other way around.  That’s all well and fine, but this is a unit that needs to discover it’s own identity.

While Bell had a very good weekend of work according to a local reporter, the entire unit needs to buy into the ease of a new system and not just 3 guys.  While the system will likely seem less involved and allow the players to “play free” as Hill put it, they will all need to work together if they plan to have any degree of success this season.  In all honesty, I suppose any positive news is good news.

After suffering through a painful learning process under the Nick Saban school of hard-knocks with a system that was more than just difficult, the Miami Dolphins secondary still used much of the same ideology last year under Dom Capers.  While Capers stated early on that the defensive signal calls in the secondary would be less in depth, the final results of his changes were not eye catching in much of a positive light.

With a new approach, new scheme, and new coaching, maybe this team will get it right.

In Other Camp News: 

• Ricky Williams had a very good camp and looks like he could regain some of what was seen and expected from him a couple of years ago.
• All 3 QB’s took first team snaps and depending on which reporter you like the best, John Beck and Josh McCown both have an edge for the starters job.
• Tony Sparano said that Chad Henne will get the opportunity to compete for the starters job.
• Jake Long has been impressing the other lineman with his work ethic both on the field and in the classroom.  Long has been making certain that his mistakes are not repeated.
• Defensive Coordinator Dan Pasqualoni has been working with Joey Porter on a few new things that are designed to get him back to doing what he does best, rushing the QB.
• According to Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald, Ernest Wilford catches everything.
• A non-mandatory OTA begins on Tuesday and runs through Thursday.  The players will be on vacation after that.

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