It's that time of year: once again, Phins promise to run up-tempo, no-huddle offense

Armando wrote:
The 2017 Dolphins want to be up-tempo. Fast. No huddle.

“A lot of our offense is no huddle,” receiver Jarvis Landry said Thursday. “We just decide to slow it down. We’re not really a huddle team. We’re a no huddle team that decides to huddle when we want to. That’s a better way to put it.”

Last season you’ll recall the Dolphins decided they wanted to huddle most of the time. But the truth is coaches decided they had to huddle for the following reasons:

1. To protect the defense because after the up-tempo approach led to a bunch of three-and-outs, it put the defense on the field for 70-80 plays in games -- and that led to a lot of points by opponents.

2. To protect offensive players from themselves because there were just too many mistakes being made when the team was trying to go up-tempo. The offense was better, more efficient when it go rolled back and, yes, dumbed down.

This season, however, the Dolphins would like to try to go back to the original plan -- if not a full-time crazy up-tempo Peyton Manning Denver Broncos 2013-14 no huddle, then something less nutty but still more than last year.

The Dolphins want to press issue more. And they want to work the up-tempo, no-huddle thing well enough that they’re putting pressure on the opposing defenses rather than their own.

It should be fun to watch if it works.

(If it doesn’t work it will get shelved again).

So why do the Dolphins think they can consider doing what proved ineffective a year ago?

It begins with quarterback Jay Cutler. He’s been surprisingly good in practice running the no-huddle stuff.

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(Just so you are aware, the Dolphins have not come out and announce they want to go no-huddle. That’s a big, shhh, secret. But here you understand they’ve been working on it a lot (based on what Christensen said). They’re thinking of themselves as this up-tempo team (based on what Landry said). And so even though they have shown just a little of it in the preseason, you’re starting to see a picture come into focus. Are you getting the clues?)

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Remember, to be a no-huddle, up-tempo team is an intention at this stage. When the Dolphins try it, either after big plays or after a first-down or all the time, it has to work for the personality to stick.

If it doesn’t work, the Dolphins are not going to continue doing it for the sake of looking smart. It’s not smart to beat one’s head against concrete.

But if the no-huddle, up-tempo approach has success it could get expanded. It might become a thing. It might become the thing for the 2017 Miami Dolphins offense.

white1 wrote:This season seems to have the best chance of seeing it actually happen, the right conditions are aligned.

mercury22nathan wrote:love this.  its like you guys are fighting for my aqua and orange soul.  i read white1 and he's got me drinking the kool-aid, but then JMP brings me back down to earth.  i wanna believe, but i've been fooled so many times before.

JMP wrote:Same shit, different season.  Sounds great on paper, and I'd love to see it happen.  But we've heard the same damn thing every year since Bill Lazor first became OC, and every year the coaches scrap it.  It works great if your defense can get off the field and your offense gets first downs.  But if the defense is on the field all game and the offense has multiple three-and-outs, going up-tempo does nothing but shoot yourself in the foot.

mercury22nathan wrote:love this.  its like you guys are fighting for my aqua and orange soul.  i read white1 and he's got me drinking the kool-aid, but then JMP brings me back down to earth.  i wanna believe, but i've been fooled so many times before.

JMP wrote:I wish I could share white's optimism.  I remember the days when I thought - hell, expected the Phins to take on all comers and emerge victorious.   But I've been beaten down so many times, I'm numb.  I can't let this team fool me into believing anymore.  Expect the worst - that's where this team has taken me.  I'll be very happy during games when I'm proven wrong, but it's much easier for me to set the bar low.  I hate being "that guy", but it is what it is.