Miami has Eggs all in one Basket

Jimmy Bourbon

9 years ago

It is already becoming a running theme that there are huge question marks on the offensive line, and we have just begun OTA’s. The Dolphins on paper have more talent and look like a better team than last year. They have upgraded themselves at multiple positions, however, there are still some holes on the roster. However, when the weaknesses and holes on a team decrease, that means the weaknesses that are still visible get even greater scrutiny under the microscope.

Most of the pay per head services sites like AcePerHead.com are agreeing that the reason that Miami’s offensive line is such a question mark and pending issue is because they will have two very inexperienced players playing the Guard position. Whether Turner, Thomas, or Douglas starts this season at Guard, the lack of experience is going to come into play, and often lead to mistakes and bad plays, which can ultimately lead to turnovers or not gaining first downs, which depending on the situation in the game can lead to losses. The offensive line is the backbone of your offense and if there are constant issues in the blocking game then this is going to limit the success of our offense.

What is even worse is that the Dolphins are not even counting in the fact that Branden Albert, their best lineman, may not even be healthy for the first game, and there is no guarantee that he can stay healthy enough to play the whole season. In the last three seasons, he has not been able to stay healthy enough to play a complete 16 game season. Out of a possible 48 games, he was only able to play in 34 of those games. Usually, when a player has a history of injuries that causes him to miss games, that trend continues for the rest of his career. With that being said the fair assumption, and safe thinking would be that Albert will most likely not be able to play a full 16 game season in 2015.

I hope he can stay healthy, but the reality is that Albert is coming off major surgery, and injury, and he has a history of being injury-prone, so there is a decent probability that he may have another injury this season. Last season after Albert got injured the offensive line was never the same, and they began to play worse as an overall unit. Now one year later, and Miami still does not have a suitable backup for Albert in the case he does get hurt again, which means we could have a deja vu scenario on the offensive line again this season.

The Phins have all their eggs in one basket in regards to Albert being healthy enough to play, however yet again this season there is no contingency plan if Albert can’t play. Sure we can move James to Left Tackle, but that is not his natural position, and not only is he not as good a LT as Albert, but then there will also be a lesser skilled player playing the RT position. Add that into the fact that the Guard positions are already a weakness, and then we are left with an even worse offensive line than was originally feared.

I believe we can live with Turner, Thomas or Douglas as our two Guards, but what I am much more worried about is not having Albert for a full season. Albert is the cornerstone of our entire offensive line, and with out him we will be drastically worse on that unit. So as much as the worry over the Guards is an issue at the moment, the much bigger worry should be Albert’s healthy for the entire 2015 season. How does the rest of the Miami Dolphins news fans feel about Albert’s chances to start game one this season, and stay healthy for the remainder of the season?

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