"The Growing Season"

[Bryan]

I’ve been interested in the Dolphin seasons between 1970-1985 in which they didn’t make the playoffs, and the 1980 season is very weird. Some thoughts specifically on that season and in general:

*Don Shula was such a great coach. The 1975 and 1977 teams were really tough and Shula was very unlucky to not make the playoffs with either team. The 1980 team wasn’t nearly as good, and had several deficiencies, yet Shula got them to an 8-8 record. This included wins over some tough teams like Atlanta, Buffalo, LA Rams & the Pats. They also almost beat SD, losing in OT.

*Kim Bokamper was a pro bowl OLB in 1979 and remained at OLB for 1980 and led the team in sacks. He was shifted to DE in 1981, which is kind of strange because Bokamper was the back-up to Vern Den Herder.

*The Dolphins had 3 different starting QBs within the first 4 weeks of the season…Griese, Strock, then David Woodley.

*Delvin Williams led the team in rushing yet had a pretty miserable year. But he did have 151 yards rushing against the Rams.

*Kuechenberg and Den Herder were the only 70’s SB Dolphin regulars to still be regulars on the 1980 team. Larry Little, Griese and Tim Foley were starters but all got injured in the beginning of the season.

*Trailing 16-0 to the terrible Saints (who would wind up 1-15) with QB David Woodley putting up a 4-15-61 3 INT statline, Bob Griese comes off the bench in the 2nd half and passes for 241 yards in a 21-16 comeback win. The following week, Griese throws for 272 yards and two TDs to put Miami ahead of Baltimore 17-10 at the half. Griese injures his shoulder in the 3rd quarter and never plays again.

*In one of the dumbest games I’ve ever seen, the Dolphins trail the Bengals 14-0 in the 4th quarter. The Dolphins get a TD, but then FB Steve Howell is tackled for a safety. Down 16-7 late in the game, P George Roberts executes a successful “onside punt” on the free kick. HUH? Now with the ball, Duriel Harris catches a pass, fumbles the ball into the endzone, but its recovered by Nick Giaquinto for a TD. The Bengals still lead 16-14, but on their last possession they are stopped and Pat McInally’s punt is blocked. Miami K Uwe Von Schamann drills a 39-yard FG at the end to win the game, 17-16.

[JohnTurney]

*Kim Bokamper was a pro bowl OLB in 1979 and remained at OLB for 1980 and led the team in sacks. He was shifted to DE in 1981, which is kind of strange because Bokamper was the back-up to Vern Den Herder.

the 1980 defense was pretty good . . . it's one that is hard to keep up with, 1981, too. AJ Duhe is the reason why, they used him in a lot of ways and sometimes it is hard to figure out what is going on.

In 1981, in the regular defense, Duhe would, in some games, only play the strong side ILBer, he'd be on the side of the tight end. In other games looks like he's always on the right, so he's sometimes the strong side ILBer and sometimes the weak.

Then on passing downs you could find him standing up and rushing, as a right or left defensve end or a right of left defensive tackle (a three-technique).

In 1980 a lot of that, too. But someone would have to sit down and chart when he did game to game, play to play, to find each gameplan because they seem different.

Bokamper got hurt with the Brudzinski trade. Bru took his spot in 1981 and he had to move to DE. And as you mention Den Herder was the run-down DE and Bokamper was the guy who came in on long yardage. It wasn't just third down, saw him come in on 2nd and 9, for example. He'd also rotate some at RDE on run downs. If I had to guess I'd say Bokamper play almost as much as Den Herder. It was almost a Den Herder was a 1st down player rather than Bokamper a 3rd down player...

In 1980 Betters, in some games would play DT on passing downs, when there were 5 DBs in the game and Bokamper would be the LDE (Duhe would replace Den Herder at RDE). In other games the nickel package was a 3-3-5 and Bokamper would say a linebacker and Betters a LDE. But in other game(s) Bokamper would just go to RDE to replace Denherder and Duhe would play DT.

In 1980, in the 3-4, Duke would just move up and put in hand on the ground and covert the 3-4 to a 4-3 play playing either DT or DE. He was a good chess piece - Mecklenburg.

Bokamper, if he was going to be a DE needed to just be a designated pass rusher, but due to injuries he ended up being the starter from 1982 on. Didn't seem big enough to play DE in a 3-4. And on passing downs - they usually (not always) used a blitzer often from the ROLBer spot...rather than bring in a DT to make a 4-man line.

Duhe stayed a good player, though. He benefitted from the position change. The oddity there is in 1984 he was nicked early in year but also got benched later in the year but that was the year he went to his first Pro Bowl. One of the more obvious errors (and I am not one who totally dismisses Pro Bowl, it's just one honor among several, but there are sometimes picks like this that make you scratch your head).

I often think the off-years of a good team are interesting. What happened, was it a one-year thing or a start of a decline? Stuff like that.
Dolphins are a great example of that.

[GameBeforeTheMoney]

Those Dolphin teams were very competitive, but not great. Very good defense. Seems like they had a lot of RBs who could catch. Between Griese and Marino years, the Woodley/Stock QB situation wasn't the type to win big time with. Amazing that they made the Super Bowl. The AFC East was generally pretty good - I don't remember exact years when teams made playoffs off the top of my head, but the Colts and Patriots seemed to often make it. Bills made it sometimes, too. Then the Jets had good years in the early 80s. Only so many playoff spots to go around.

[Bryan]

*Kim Bokamper was a pro bowl OLB in 1979 and remained at OLB for 1980 and led the team in sacks. He was shifted to DE in 1981, which is kind of strange because Bokamper was the back-up to Vern Den Herder.

the 1980 defense was pretty good . . . it's one that is hard to keep up with, 1981, too. AJ Duhe is the reason why, they used him in a lot of ways and sometimes it is hard to figure out what is going on.

In 1981, in the regular defense, Duhe would, in some games, only play the strong side ILBer, he'd be on the side of the tight end. In other games looks like he's always on the right, so he's sometimes the strong side ILBer and sometimes the weak.

Then on passing downs you could find him standing up and rushing, as a right or left defensve end or a right of left defensive tackle (a three-technique).

In 1980 a lot of that, too. But someone would have to sit down and chart when he did game to game, play to play, to find each gameplan because they seem different.

Bokamper got hurt with the Brudzinski trade. Bru took his spot in 1981 and he had to move to DE. And as you mention Den Herder was the run-down DE and Bokamper was the guy who came in on long yardage. It wasn't just third down, saw him come in on 2nd and 9, for example. He'd also rotate some at RDE on run downs. If I had to guess I'd say Bokamper play almost as much as Den Herder. It was almost a Den Herder was a 1st down player rather than Bokamper a 3rd down player...

In 1980 Betters, in some games would play DT on passing downs, when there were 5 DBs in the game and Bokamper would be the LDE (Duhe would replace Den Herder at RDE). In other games the nickel package was a 3-3-5 and Bokamper would say a linebacker and Betters a LDE. But in other game(s) Bokamper would just go to RDE to replace Denherder and Duhe would play DT.

In 1980, in the 3-4, Duke would just move up and put in hand on the ground and covert the 3-4 to a 4-3 play playing either DT or DE. He was a good chess piece - Mecklenburg.

Bokamper, if he was going to be a DE needed to just be a designated pass rusher, but due to injuries he ended up being the starter from 1982 on. Didn't seem big enough to play DE in a 3-4. And on passing downs - they usually (not always) used a blitzer often from the ROLBer spot...rather than bring in a DT to make a 4-man line.

Duhe stayed a good player, though. He benefitted from the position change. The oddity there is in 1984 he was nicked early in year but also got benched later in the year but that was the year he went to his first Pro Bowl. One of the more obvious errors (and I am not one who totally dismisses Pro Bowl, it's just one honor among several, but there are sometimes picks like this that make you scratch your head).

I often think the off-years of a good team are interesting. What happened, was it a one-year thing or a start of a decline? Stuff like that.
Dolphins are a great example of that.

Thanks, this is good info. One thing I noticed is that Miami's pass rush in 79 and 80 was very anemic, but then in 81 & 82 they got a lot better at sacking the QB with essentially the same group of players. Did they just get more aggressive with their blitzes/zone blitzes? Or did they do something different schematically?

[Bryan]

Those Dolphin teams were very competitive, but not great. Very good defense. Seems like they had a lot of RBs who could catch.

Nick Giaquinto was one of the first pass-receiving specialist RBs...he had 5 carries and 24 receptions. He was phased out in 1981 for Tommy Vigorito. A guy who I always thought was really good was Tony Nathan. Dangerous whenever he got the ball. In retrospect, the biggest mistake Shula made in 1980 was not using Nathan more as a runner. He averaged like 2 full yards per carry more than anyone else on the team. He led the team in rushing the following season.

[JohnTurney]

Thanks, this is good info. One thing I noticed is that Miami's pass rush in 79 and 80 was very anemic, but then in 81 & 82 they got a lot better at sacking the QB with essentially the same group of players. Did they just get more aggressive with their blitzes/zone blitzes? Or did they do something different schematically?

It's just my opinion but I would agree with you. I don't know for sure it looking at games now I think they got more creative in blitzes because their coverage guys got really good. Don McNeal got picked on a little as a rookie, he made teams pay a little too. But he's someone who was a Pro Bowl level CB in early 1980s. He began to get hurt, though, so maybe his body just could hold up, I don't know...but he was really good, IMO. Small was getting really good, too.

I also think Brudzinski was better in 1982 than 1981 . . .

When you think you can cover well, you try to blitz more. And at that time the "Zone to Bo" was happening. They'd blitz one side and then drop Bokamper into the zone that was being vacated by a LBer... Asnsparger called it "safe pressure" - you could blitz and still play zone behind it.

I think they did the same 3rd down stuff in 81 and 82 as they did in 1980 but more of it - blitzing guys in 82 that didn't blitz in 1981. Making it less predicable. Thats my sense of it anyway. Maybe a Dolphins fan can correct me if I'm wrong.

And it was working and they'd do it more. Looking at it they had more alignments than I can keep track of. They seemed to have a lot of 3rd down packages..3-man lines, 4-man lines but different guys in different places in the 4-man line. Betters could be a DT or DE, Duhe, too. Duhe could be, in essence, a stand-up DT or stand-up DE in the 3-man lines so he could be the 4th.

So you suggest being more aggressive, I think that is fair. A new scheme? Well, maybe an expansion of what they were doing would be fair. It was still a 3-4 base but with several kinds of nickel/dime things going on. If you re-watch the 1982 SB you can see some of the packages...some working, the run defense, not so much