Merling can't get a break, Fins sign Marques Douglas
Written by Dave Blake   
Saturday, 24 July 2010

phillip merling phinfever clemsonEntering this season a lot of us were holding out hope that DE Phillip Merling would finally show why he was the first pick in the 2nd round in 2008. OK, most of us consider him to be a first round pick as he was the 32nd player selected in the draft as the Patriots lost their first round pick that year due to cheating (hence, Cheatriots), but officially he was the Dolphins pick in the 2nd round. Yep, that last sentence is a good example of a run-on sentence.

Merling did not play poorly in his rookie season, but it was clear that Kendall Langford, who was selected in the 3rd round that year, was the better player coming out of the gate. In his second season Merling did not show a lot of improvement and there were rumors the past month that he was becoming a disappointment to Parcells and Sparano. This was said following several training camps where he was elevated as the starter and rookie first round pick Jared Odrick came in during passing situations. 

In the final month of the 2009 season, when the Dolphins needed their players to take an extra step forward to make the playoffs in a very competitive AFC East, Langford was the one to step his game up ... not Merling. In the last four games of 2009, Langford had 14 tackles, 1 assist, and 1 sack ... which was close to his production the previous 12 games. Merling had 7 tackles and 1 assist. Even though Langford took more snaps, he earned them by his play on the field and what he did in practice during the week. 

None of us fans complained too much about Merling until we found out that the Trifecta were disappointed in him. Typical of us fans. Sure, we were not too happy about the rumors that he hit his pregnant girlfriend, but we were still waiting on the final word on that. Unfortunately, it was revealed this week that Merling tore his Achilles at a recent Dolphins practice and will be out for the season. 

Even though Merling has had a terrible offseason, I am disappointed that we lost him for the season. I am still hopeful that he can be the defensive lineman that Parcells and Ireland had hoped he would be when they drafted him. I am not too convinced that the rumors of him being on the bubble are all too true. My thoughts are that his personal life had him distracted and he did not have the training camp that the Dolphins had hoped he'd have. Perhaps his work ethic has not been Parcells-like when compared to other players. Since he did not improve in his 2nd season, and the Dolphins were planning on moving Randy Starks to DT, they draft Odrick in the first round. I think the stories of the Trifecta's disappointment in him was leaked out to the press to help motivate him to get him to that next level.

Now, those are just my thoughts on it. According to Pro Football Focus, Merling did not have a very bad year last year when compared to other 3-4 defensive ends. Clearly it was not good enough and the Dolphins need more from him.

phinfever pro football focus defensive end stats

So, with all that said, we all need to move forward and hope that Phillip Merling can get his things in order. An advantage is that the Dolphins do not have his personal life distracting the team in the locker room.

Immediately following the Merling injury the Dolphins signed Marques Douglas to a 2-year, $2.5 million contract to fill in at defensive end. The Jets were considering bringing him back after he signed with them last year, but the Dolphins Dolphins quickly moved on him after the injury to Merling was announced.

What can he bring to the Dolphins at age 33? He will be good in run support, but will more than likely be pulled out during passing situations. ESPN predicts ....

As a starter, he has the potential to provide 60-plus tackles and a handful of sacks in the Miami defense.

He also has a very good locker room presence, so, the Dolphins have added another leader to this team. Hopefully the team will not have too many Chiefs and not enough Indians, eh?

A big advantage of this signing is that he is a Nolan disciple. He played under Dolphins defensive coordinator Mike Nolan's Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers defenses. The fact that the Dolphins quickly signed him was probably due to some prodding from Nolan himself. 

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Too much change in Miami this Off Season?
Written by JP Correia   
Tuesday, 20 July 2010

There is no question that from a talent standpoint, the Dolphins are much improved over last season. That fact is highlighted by the acquisitions of Brandon Marshall, Karlos Dansby and Mike Nolan this past off season. The Dolphins have many more young play makers on the defensive side of the football, and have the big time threat at WR they have been lacking since the 2005 Chris Chambers. They have more depth along the offensive line, and are switching to a more effective defense for today's NFL.

But has there been too much change this Off Season?

The Dolphins, with the retirement of Jason Ferguson, have now lost 3 of their 4 team captains from last season, and the fourth is the emergency QB (Chad Pennington). The three that were lost were all on the defensive side of the football, where the Dolphins transitioned the most this Off Season. Miami is projected to have 6 new starters from the one that started last season, and 7 positions with new faces because of the position change for Randy Starks from DE to NT. Miami is also switching from Paul Pasqualoni's true 34 Defense to Mike Nolan's hybrid, much more aggressive version of it.

Along with all the new starters and the new scheme, it is going to be mostly rookie and second year players trying to fill the voids. The Dolphins will likely have two rookies starting in the front 7, a first year NT and a second year WOLB in Cameron Wake (who is switching over from the strong side). In the secondary Miami will likely be relying on three sophomore starters in Vontae Davis, Sean Smith, and projected first year starter Chris Clemons.

Is all this change too much for one Off Season to handle? In terms of the future, there is no doubt that Miami football looks very promising; but has there been too much change, (mostly on the defensive side of the football), for Miami to be successful in 2010? The coaching staff is certainly going to have their hands full in Training Camp trying to mesh this thing together. The ugly part is that Miami has the toughest first 8 games of anybody in the NFL, playing 7 above .500 teams from last season, and only 3 of them being played at home. Mike Nolan and Coach Sparano do not have much time to mesh this defense together.

The offensive side of the football should be just fine. While the Dolphins will likely have two new starting OG's, there is a lot of good depth, talent and competition at that position where it should become a strong point right away. The acquisition of Brandon Marshall takes the offense to a whole other level; we could be seeing the most balanced Dolphin attack ever.

The potential is there for this team, no doubt. But I worry if the defense has gone through too much change this Off Season. Only time will tell. One thing I will say is that Mike Nolan is a mastermind, and if anybody can put things together on that side of the ball, it's him.

Less than 10 days until Training Camp starts!

Go Phins!!!

*On a side not, 3rd round draft choice John Jerry has signed. That leaves just two draftees unsigned, (first rounder Jared Odrick and second rounder Koa Misi).

 

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I really can't get along without the browser toolbar. It has all the important links on it. I'm not selfish, I even have all the other Dolphins fan sites on it. There's a lot of draft links, rss feeds, and a cool email program that lets you know when you have mail. And NO spam or spyware. It works for Firefox and Internet Explorer. So, enjoy!



Support Phinfever by buying what you need from our advertisers. They pretty much pay the bills for us. Thanks!
 

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