Phins will attempt to replicate the Pats ability to use & defend stunts in 2019
In 2018, the Miami Dolphins and the New England Patriots were obviously at the opposite ends of the NFL spectrum for many reasons. But, with the addition of Brian Flores, the Phins are certain to at least schematically bridge that gap in 2019.
Last year, the Patriots’ Offensive Line was the best in the league in handling stunts called against them. On defense, the Pats were among the most in the league to call stunts. During the Regular Season, they called a stunt roughly 20% of their pressure plays. This number rose dramatically to above 50% in the Post Season!
Conversely, the Miami Dolphins’ Offensive Line was THE worst at dealing with defensive stunts in 2018. Phinsnews put out this article showing how exposed Miami’s OL was to stunts in their Week 2 game against the Jets. For the second straight year, Todd Bowles laid out the template on how to attacking Miami’s offense. I thought Miami’s line, especially Larsen, would decrease this weakness as chemistry among the linemen built over time. Stacks of injuries and a lack of solid coaching made me dead wrong in that regard.
Phins O-line needs to ditch this kryptonite to stunts… or it will be a long and ugly season.
On defense, Miami ran very few stunts in all of 2018.
You have to wonder if there was a correlation between the lack of stunts run on defense and Miami’s inability to deal with them on offense. If the Phins O-linemen didn’t see stunts in practice, it’s no wonder why they couldn’t defend them in a game!
You’d figure the staff would have considered this?
Yes, the Wide 9 is based on speed off the ball and edge pressure. Miami’s decision to force this straight rush approach, despite the lack of results over several years, was a curious one.
To the contrary, the Pats used stunts to compensate for a lack of speed rushers. Even though they fared equally as Miami in sack totals, they did far better in pressures… and in the Post Season, the Pats led all teams in sacks when they turned up their stunt pressure.
One franchise had vision, and one wore blinders, jamming their heads where the sun don’t shine.
I’ll let you bet with the pay per head software, like www.AcePerHead.com, which franchise was which.
What is a stunt?
Responding to stunts on offense and executing them on defense demands discipline and intelligence from both the staff and players. Timing on them and when they are called is crucial to a stunts success. While Miami has lacked discipline for years, I can’t speak for the intelligence level of the players. But I can certainly say the Phins staff was stubborn and short-sighted, so Gase was the primary culprit, however you slice it.
Miami’s commitment to stunts in 2019 is why I was telling Jimmy to not worry about Grier not moving heaven and earth to get a pass rushing Defensive End. Flores will schematically compensate until one comes at the right value.
This season, Brian Flores will certainly demand that both sides of the ball are familiar with stunts. Gase preferred a one-trick pony approach, Flores the Jack of all trades, master of one. Yes, that’s the original Ben Franklin quote. In this case, the ‘one’ is discipline. Go Phins!!!
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