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Both of them
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 10,225
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Linebackers are reason for pride
Linebackers are reason for pride - 08/09/2007 - MiamiHerald.com
Quote:
The problem areas tend to get all of the attention and scrutiny this time of year as pro football's training camps drone on, and the focus on what needs fixing is understandably magnified when a team has been out of the playoffs five consecutive seasons such as the Dolphins.
Today, though, with the first preseason game in two days, meaning Miami is still unbeaten, let us try on some optimism and see how it fits and feels, shall we?
Let's take a break from the question marks to talk about the exclamation point.
The Dolphins have the best linebackers in the NFL.
The Dolphins have their best group there in franchise history.
Joey Porter. Zach Thomas. Channing Crowder. Jason Taylor.
DOMINANCE
Left to right, that is dominance waiting to happen in the new 3-4 alignment that is now Miami's base defense and will, most times, see Taylor -- reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year -- moving off the end of the line to instead menace quarterbacks from an outside linebacker position.
(The team's official depth chart lists Taylor as starting right-outside linebacker. So if they're calling him a linebacker, who am I to argue?)
There are issues elsewhere on defense, yeah. Depth on the front line seems thin, and the secondary in general must prove itself. But the linebackers are at the heart of the defense, and the heart will be beating opponents pretty good.
Taylor and Porter, the team's major free agent acquisition, joining Thomas on the LB line gives Miami a pedigree of 15 combined Pro Bowls in those three players. Consider that, pre-Zach, Dolphin LBs had only earned 12 Pro Bowls across 33 seasons.
Your linebacker corps is officially pretty good when your weak link, at least on paper, is Crowder, the Tasmanian devil with the flying dreadlocks, impressively productive in his first two seasons as a starter -- and clearly still ascending.
Crowder, but 23, of the infectious grin, conveys the sense he loves his job and is grateful to be playing. He is grateful to be a prodigy among such mentors.
''I'm dealing with Pro Bowl guys year-round,'' he says. ``Great leadership.''
Thomas believes a player's third year is usually his breakout season and expects great things of Crowder, the former Florida Gator.
''His football instincts impress me,'' Thomas said this week, between practices, playbook in hand. ``His nastiness, a little bit of intimidation. He'll do some dirty stuff. Which is good.''
Crowder's enthusiasm and attitude have worked like youth tonic on Thomas, who will be 34 on Sept. 1.
''Man, he's got a full motor,'' the veteran said. ``His intensity and aggressiveness bring some energy around him. We got to be more aggressive. We need that. You thrive defensively off the people around you.''
Adding outright aggression was also a large part of the point of signing Porter away from the Steelers. He plays loud. Brings an attitude. Competes with a chip on his shoulder pad.
The notion that Porter might be spent at age 30 defies likelihood, although this week's minor arthroscopic knee surgery will fuel his doubters. To them: Do not question the durability of a man who has missed six games in eight seasons. Him missing the first two exhibition games won't help as he adjusts to a new defense, but won't hurt, either. The real season begins one month.
Porter knew his knee wasn't just right but it didn't become obvious until the camp's hard hitting commenced, ''when he got down and started digging and wrestling,'' as Crowder put it.
`JUST A CLEANUP'
Crowder once played nine days after an arthroscope. Thomas has had the procedure as well, and says, ``It's just a cleanup. You walk away better. You're sore the next day. But a couple weeks [later] and I was ready to go.''
With Porter and Crowder loquacious in their on-field styles and Taylor the reigning star of the group, Thomas in some ways is easy to overlook, borne of his steady excellence as the longest-serving current Dolphin.
Thomas gets fair credit -- nobody with seven Pro Bowls should be called underrated -- but has earned even more. He should be mentioned with Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher whenever the game's best inside linebackers are the topic. He suffers by comparison only in team postseason success.
Yet ESPN.com this week lists 50 current players it calls likely future Hall of Famers, 10 others on the bubble and 10 more it calls borderline, and Thomas doesn't even rate anywhere among those 70.
That's odd for a guy with seven Pro Bowls and maybe one or two more in him, a number worthy of Hall discussion. Among inducted linebackers, for example, Jack Lambert had nine, Dave Wilcox seven and Sam Huff five. Thomas might have to settle for ending up regarded as the greatest Dolphins linebacker. Meantime retirement, thankfully, isn't on his mind yet.
Why would you think about quitting when you can't wait to get started?
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Linebackers are reason for pride
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