The Dolphins’ $114 million man, Ndamukong Suh, looks to be going rogue. During the Dolphins loss to Jacksonville, reports indicate the burly and talented lineman freelanced his assignments on defense.
According to the Miami Herald , Suh went off script and strayed from Dolphins defensive coordinator Kevin Coye’s game plan. Taking a bad situation and making it worse, Suh decided to call his own game. At times, his ad-libbing caused confusion on a unit that was already struggling with the Jaguars. Suh wasn’t a force in the scheme for a second straight week.
Considering the season is young, Suh’s stats are hardly anything to be concerned about. Suh started the 2013 campaign with three tackles and no assists in the first two games. He went on to the Pro Bowl, later that year, after amassing 36 tackles and 12 assists.
When asked to talk about his lack of involvement within the game plan, Suh expressed himself with no regrets.
“I couldn’t tell you. At the end of the day, we have to go back to the drawing board and figure out what we want to run so guys can make plays and go from there.”
Suh seems to be suggesting that the play calling could be the culprit behind his slow start. That gives the Dolphin fans something else to ponder.
Miami coach Joe Philbin denies that sue went off script in the Jaguar game. Referring to the story found in the Miami Herald , he says it’s not true. Philbin says he watched the game film and saw no evidence of Suh doing anything wrong, in a statement to the Sun Sentinel .
“There’s a report that Ndamukong Suh was freelancing out there on the field. I just watched the entire tape with the entire defensive staff. I didn’t see anything of the sort, so I’m not sure where that came from.”
When drawing up game plans for a force like Ndamukong Suh, coordinators tend to run plays away from that player. Players have to make adjustments for those schemes and react. Many times, that causes people to feel as though the player has improvised. While Suh can make spectacular plays with his athletic ability, he still has to be where the coaches tell him to be. Going into Terminator mode will only cause more confusion among the rest of the players.
Suh has the backing of coordinator Coyle.
“That’s not an accurate report.”
The answers need to found quickly. If Suh did in fact go off script, that’s a deeper problem for the Dolphins organization. As for now, Kevin Coyle, Joe Philbin and the rest of the cast need to plug the holes, before they get bigger.
Staying on script may be a start.
[Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images]