Mike Sherman was the Dolphins‘ former offensive coordinator, who installed a west coast style offense in Miami over the last two seasons. He was also a former head coach of the Green Bay Packers, and was second only to Vince Lombardi with a winning percentage of .663 while coaching the Packers. He brought an offensive play book that was refreshingly more aggressive than what the Dolphins were used to under past coaching regimes, such as Tony Sparano and Dave Wannstedt. However, even though Sherman took more shots down the field, he couldn’t figure out more ways to utilize the skill sets of Reggie Bush and Mike Wallace, and often called third down plays that left fans scratching their heads in disbelief.
Now begins the new era of Bill Lazor, and it will be extremely interesting to see how his new up-tempo spread the field attack will fair this season. Lazor has a very impressive resume beginning his NFL coaching career in Atlanta under Dan Reeves, then working as the quarterbacks coach and offensive assistant in Washington under Joe Gibbs, followed by working as the quarterbacks coach in Seattle under Mike Holmgren, and lastly coaching alongside Chip Kelly in Philadelphia. He runs a fast up-tempo offense that likes to show all types of formations. Mike Wallace has already expressed his support, and is excited that he is being moved all over the field. Lazor was able to help DeSean Jackson explode last year, which is probably the one player in this league that is most similar to Wallace. Sports gambling fans can bet that Lazor is going to exploit Wallace’s speed just like he did with Jackson.
Another noticeable difference in Lazor’s offense is that he likes to use the tight ends in many different formations, and often puts two on the field at the same time. Charles Clay should be able to continue to improve from last season’s breakout year. It will be interesting to see which other tight end on the roster will be able to gain playing time, and if they will be able to make an impact on the offense. My guess is that the Egnew experiment will end with him being cut this year, leaving Sims and rookie Lynch competing for playing time. Phins fans should not be surprised if Lynch becomes the biggest sleeper from Phins 2014 draft class. He is a very big boy that blocks very well, and many analysts have said that he is a deceptively good pass catcher that knows how to create and get open in the seams.
Lastly the success of Lazor’s offense hangs hugely on the shoulders and arm of one player more specifically than the rest, and that is Ryan Tannehill. This is Tannehill’s make or break third season, and he will not have the same luxury as playing in the same offense that he played in, in college and his first two seasons in the NFL. He is going to have to work extra hard this off-season, in order to be able to master Lazor’s new offense. One of the biggest things Tannehill is going to have to improve on is his speed of releasing the ball. Lazor’s offense calls for a quarterback that can get rid of the ball very quickly, and sports gambling fans know that Tannehill likes to hold on to the ball a little longer than necessary, which did not help his sack totals.
Nick Foles and the Eagles had a very explosive, and impressive offense last year. Besides LeSean McCoy at the running back position, I would say that the Dolphins have just as good, or if not better talent on offense than the Eagles. So it will be interesting to see if Ryan Tannehill and the rest of the Dolphins offense can put up more points this year.