A week ago this evening, I posted the response post for the Miami Dolphins’ all-time Offense. This week, we take a look at the defense. I originally posted the following exercise in this post:
Please give us your best 11-man all-time starting offensive roster and your top three all-time special teamers at kicker, punter, and long snapper. If you prefer a player that, for some reason (like old age where you can’t remember like you once did) did not make the list above, certainly use that player and tell us why you believe he belongs.
Below are some of your all-time defensive rosters and thoughts-
mikestarace has some of the usual suspects.
Jason Taylor; Bob Baumhower; Cameron Wake; Tim Bowens; Zach Thomas; Nick Buoniconti; A.J. Duhe; Sam Madison; Patrick Surtain; Jake Scott; Dick Anderson; K: Jason Sanders; P: Reggie Roby
sdphinsfan found the exercise tough but still fielded a solid roster.
Tough one…here goes…(assuming we’re a 3-4 D with this)
DL: Bowens, DenHerder, Jeff Cross
LB: ZT, Duhe, Taylor, Wake
CB: Surtain, Madison (Vincent, McNeal for depth/nickel)
S: Jake Scott, Dick Anderson (Blackwood for depth)
P: Roby
PK: Stoyanovich
LS: Denney
krammm sees Offerdal as an underappreciated former LB for the Phins.
I think John Offerdahl is one of the best ever. Underappreciated because he wasn’t on a very good defense.
I was at a Dolphins/Buccaneers charity basketball game and AJ Duhe (6’3” 245 lbs) could dunk a basketball any way you wanted.
Spok507 chimes in with a scary defense!
DL: Jason Taylor, Can Wake, Tim Bowens
LB: Brian Cox, Zach Thomas, Nick Buonoconti
CB: Sam Madison, Patrick Surtain
S: Louis Oliver, Jarvis Williams
K: Olindo Mare
LS: John Denny
P: Reggie Roby
herbert pollack points out that the now Steeler is a better choice than Holland, even given his short tenure with the Phins.
Minkah should be on the list not Holland
Madison/Surtain
Taylor, Bowens, Wake, Baum (Wilkins)
Zach, Cox, Duhe
really not much to choose from
Francesco ITA is not a fan of Marion!
from 1983
Defensive Linemen
Jason Taylor, Tim Bowens, Bob Baumhower, Cameron Wake
Linebackers
Zach Thomas, John Offerdahl, Bryan Cox
Cornerbacks
Sam Madison, Patrick Surtain
Safeties
Reshad Jones, Minkah Fitzpatrick (not a fan of Brock Marion)
Special Teams
kicker Jason Sanders, punter Reggie Roby and long snapper John Denney
Thomas23059 points out a couple of overlooked guys!
John Offerdahl and Louis Oliver
And if Christian Wilkins is on the list, Zach Sieler should be as well.
As for a starting 11:
D-Line – Taylor, Bowens, and Wake
LB – Thomas, Buoniconti, Duhe, and Cox
CB – Madison and Howard (Surtain as the nickel)
S – Scott and Anderson
K – Sanders
P – I’ll take Roby and his watch…
KR – Wes Welker – He may not have been the best at it, but did anyone remember that he had both the most punt returns (127, tied with OJ McDuffie and Jake Scott) and kick returns (166) in Dolphins history? I sure didn’t.
LS – Ed Perry
For anyone who has forgotten Ed Perry, he went to Highland Springs High School in Richmond, Virginia (I used to live down the street from the school) and then played for James Madison University in the Shenandoah Valley. He was drafted by the Dolphins in 1997 as a TE and LS, eventually just snapping. He finished his career with KC in 2005, at which point, according to Wikipedia anyway, he was the last active NFL player to have caught a TD from Dan Marino.
JustACog reminds me of some of our past dominant defenses.
DE Taylor and Wake
DT Wilkens and Manny Fernandez
LB Tomas, Buonicotti, Matheson
CB Ramsey, X
S Scott, Anderson but Rashad Jones could be better than both, but I’m old school
K Sanders
P Roby
LS Denney
Czonkaholic has a solid point, it’s hard to select an all-time when teams run different systems under different coaches.
Since the fish have run a 4/3 and a 3/4 it’s not in my opinion as easy as taking the best 11
Jason Taylor won DPOY playing outside linebacker in a 3/4 I’m gonna cheat and pick 12 I’m gonna do
4 d- line and 4- lb’s I’m also gonna take players who were here as rookies or long term careers so no Junior Seau
D-line Jason Taylor,Tim Bowens, Bob Baumhower, Manny Fernandez
LB’s AJ Duhe John Offerdahl Zach Thomas Brian Cox ( sorry Nick B. )
Not including Nick B is preposterous
Safety Dick Anderson Jake Scott
Corner Patrick Surtain X- man
PA phinphan found this more challenging than the offense, which is fair, as the team has fielded a great defense several times in the past.
This one is a lot harder than the offense. I’ll start with the easiest, special teams.
Kicker – Garo Yepremian
Punter – Reggie Roby
LS – John Denney
DL – Jason Taylor, Bob Baumhower, Manny Fernandez, Cameron Wake (the most difficult to choose: leaving players like Doug Betters, Trace Armstrong, Vern Den Herder, Kim Bokamper, Zach Sieler, Christian Wilkins, etc… was tough)
LB – AJ Duhe, John Offerdahl, Zach Thomas, Bryan Cox
CB – Patrick Surtain and Sam Madison
S – Glenn Blackwood and Jake Scott (another tough one having leave off Anderson, Oliver, and Minkah)
Well, that’s our random top ten lists this evening. There was a strong consensus across nearly every roster, with some positions clearly more challenging to pick than others.
With the holiday, the site will be somewhat slow this evening and tomorrow. However, be sure to join us next week when things are sure to get crazy around here with the draft at the end of the week.
As always, thank you to each of you who not only join us every night for our live QOTD or answers posts, but also take the time to answer our questions of the day. For those of you who are regulars and almost always answer our questions, it does not go unnoticed.
