Cortland Finnegan: I’ve never seen an offense as fast as Miami’s

[Prime Time]

Cortland Finnegan: I’ve never seen an offense as fast as Miami’s
Posted by Michael David Smith on June 10, 2014

AP

The Dolphins hired Bill Lazor away from Philadelphia to be their offensive coordinator this year, and all offseason the word out of Miami has been about an up-tempo, fast-paced offensive attack. We haven’t yet seen what that Dolphins offense looks like against opposing defenses, but players on the Dolphins’ defense say the offense is giving them all they can handle.

Among those talking up the Dolphins’ offense is veteran cornerback Cortland Finnegan, who arrived in Miami as a free agent this offseason and says he’s never before had to go against a team that uses the tempo that Miami’s offense has been using in Organized Team Activities.

“I’ve never seen anything this fast,” Finnegan said. “It’s great. It’s going to be great for us as an offense and defense. To go against one another, compete at this level and do it with this many bullets flying and people running around. So I’m enjoying it.”

Finnegan says the Dolphins’ defense can’t help but get better with the way the Dolphins’ offense is practicing.

“I think it’s great what the offense is giving us. It’s going to help us game time. Game speed’s going to definitely be slowed down for us and we appreciate it,” Finnegan said.

Last year the Dolphins missed the playoffs because they ended the season with a two-game losing streak in which they scored a grand total of seven points. The Dolphins cannot afford an offense that looks anything like that this year. If the talk out of Miami is to be believed, the offense this year will look a lot different.

 

[Boffo97]

I got nothing against Cort. Did well for us one year, had an off year, then had the decency to go get another contract immediately which gave us cap relief.

Wish him well, except if he ever plays the Rams. But since we just played the AFC East in 2012, we shouldn't play them again until 2016, barring preseason, revamping of the schedule, or playing in the Super Bowl.

 

[RamFan503]

Are they fast because they are running by him faster than any time in his career? No offense to Cort but every team we faced with him back there last year seemed like the fastest team.

 

[junkman]

I got nothing against Cort. Did well for us one year, had an off year, then had the decency to go get another contract immediately which gave us cap relief.

Finnegan played well for the Rams for less than half a season, and then had an epic free-fall.

Using PFF stats to quantify:

• first 6 games of 2012 he had a +9.2 grade. Projected over the full 16 games would be a +24.5 grade, that would have ranked him in the top 3 of CBs out of 113. Awesome, right?
• THEN, the remaining 10 games of 2012, he had a -14.8 grade. Projected over the full 16 games would be a -23.7 grade, dead last of 113 CBs (although you could make a statistical argument for Jimmy Smith from Baltimore with a -12.8 in only 474 snaps or Jayron Hosley from NYG with -12.1 in only 465 snaps).
• this only got worse in 2013 where his -19.7 grade in only 367 snaps projects out to a -53.6 grade over a full season. Again, by far the worst CB in the league. (2nd worst is Brice McCain from Houston with a -21.3 grade over 631 snaps)

Given the amount of money the Rams paid him and how poorly he performed (after those first 6 games), I'd say Finnegan goes waaaaay up close to the top of Rams worst free agent acquisitions. I'm hard pressed to come up with someone worse.

In fairness, I do believe that his precipitous drop was injury related.

 

[Boffo97]

Cortland Finnegan is not fit to shine Drew Bennett's shoes at the Shrine of Terribleness.

6 year, $30 million contract, $10 million guaranteed. $13 million total over first two years of the deal.

In those two years (the last two he'd ever play): 15 games played, 34 receptions on 74 targets, 379 yards, longest reception 24 yards, 3 TDs...

...and sent Isaac Bruce to San Francisco.

 

[ZigZagRam]

I dunno, last season I imagine every offense looked fast when Cortland was getting burned.

 

[-X-]

That's the offense that has Brandon Gibson on it.

Boom.

 

[Mojo Ram]

Are they fast because they are running by him faster than any time in his career? No offense to Cort but every team we faced with him back there last year seemed like the fastest team.

/thread

 

[Username]

I think PFT's headline is misleading. I think he's talking about the way they practice. He really said "I've never seen anything this fast." I remember during hard knocks Philbin had them running back to back teams, and all the players were bitching about it.

 

[A55VA6]

They probably look fast because of how slow Finnegan is getting. haha!