Offense must stretch field for Miami to progress

By Marc Hudgens  |   Wednesday, September 12, 2007  |  Comments( 1 )

Miami Dolphins
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It's clear that Miami's offense displayed noticeable problems in Washington this past Sunday. Dropped passes, penalties at inopportune times, no running game, sacks and injuries hurt the Dolphins badly in Week 1.

Additionally, Miami's 'O' lacked the ability to go deep and that is the lack of a deep pass. While new quarterback Trent Green did a great job overall, the fact is he threw short passes the vast majority of the game. Judging from the drive chart, the Redskins stretched the field more often than the Dolphins because of their deep ball. Green went 2 for 5 on the long ball, and the playcalling should have ordered more of that because it's enormously difficult to stretch any NFL field with just short-range passes and running plays.

Green's Washington counterpart, Jason Campbell, threw it deep nine times, four of which were completions. Although Green and Campbell had about the same completion percentage on the deep routes (a slight edge in Campbell's favor), 43 percent of the latter's total throws were deep passes compared to the former's 13 percent.

Campbell accumulated nearly the same amount of yardage as Green but in approximately half the completions and attempts, which means there is a potential deep-ball issue in Miami. Green racked up a tad over 9 yards a toss compared to Campbell, who more than doubled that. Because of that, Washington had longer drives than Miami, with the Dolphins entering enemy territory 6 of 11 times compared to Washington's 8 of 12.

It is essential that, if Miami is bent on having a successful running game, Green is allowed to throw it long. And if it's incomplete, so what? At least the defense will spread out nicely, which will only help the offensive line produce solid running lanes for Ronnie Brown and Jesse Chatman. Throwing short passes only spreads the defenses horizontally; it's the vertical game that's needed for a serious ground attack. Green has a good enough arm to spread out defenses, so it can work.

For Miami, there are 15 (long) games to go, so there is plenty of time to make adjustments and go forward. But for the Dolphins to really excel, head coach Cam Cameron & Co. really should consider implementing more deep-ball schemes before this area of improvement turns into a problem.

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About Marc Hudgens

Marc Hudgens has been with RealFootball365 since 2007, covering college football, specifically Clemson and Oregon. He also writes for SouthernPigskin.com covering the ACC. He enjoys the acidic wit of Hunter S. Thompson, is a freelance graphic designer and has written several screenplays. He...
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