With all of the changes the Miami Dolphins have made this year to their coaching staff, it’s been well-known that the team in South Florida will be running a completely new offensive system, and that system will include a lot of zone blocking.
During his media availability on Wednesday, Dolphins center Michael Deiter was asked about unique responsibilities involved in a zone-rushing attack, and his answer was quite interesting.
“It’s the same in the respect that the center has to get everyone on the same page, got to get the IDs, get the whole o-line ready to just cut it loose and be right assignment-wise,” Deiter said. “But then the whole o-line, it’s a system where we can just play with confidence and cut it loose and really not worry – worry about winning and not worry about losing. It’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s going to be a ton of fun because we can play with confidence. It seems really exciting and it’s going to be exciting.”
The concepts of winning and not losing may sound like the same thing, but that’s not really the case when it comes to attitude and preparation. In these systems, the players have to be executing, but the execution of the unit as a cohesive unit is more important.
With new head coach Mike McDaniel, offensive coordinator Frank Smith and offensive line coach Matt Applebaum all having successful rushing attacks in their coaching careers, Deiter knows that running the ball is something that this team is going to be doing often.
“You can just tell talking with them that running the ball is something that is important to all three of them and it’s cool,” Deiter said “As an o-lineman, that’s always pretty refreshing to hear. The way I think they’re so successful is the detail, the way they break it down to make it almost simple and how you can be effective and how you can run the ball effectively. It’s cool to have three guys who are smart and care about the run and want to get it going no matter what. When they can break it down and simplify it for you, it gives you a lot of confidence.”
There’s a lot of trust going on in Miami Gardens right now. The players are trusting the coaches, and the coaches are trusting the players. And, it looks like Deiter has earned enough trust to not really have much competition for the starting center spot on the zone-blocking offensive line.
