Miami Dolphins not overlooking the Packers despite poor stats on paper

Written by Matthew Cannata | Twitter: @PhinManiacs
The Green Bay Packers don’t have a very efficient and good team on paper. However, as Joe Philbin explained, they are a different story when the game is actually being played and the Dolphins need to be aware of that on Sunday.

“I said this to the football team, I think, on paper, if you look at yards, total offense, total defense. Today, they’re not a great football team. If you look at points scored and points given up, I think they’re fifth in football and I think they’re 28th if you just added up the yards. Again, we all would agree that sometimes you can take statistics and move them around in a lot of different directions. I told the team that this is a very efficient football team. They are a team that doesn’t beat themselves. They’re number one in the turnover margin. We’re going to have to play a smart, sound football game against these guys. Certainly, I don’t dispute what you brought up about the rushing statistics, but you watch the film and it’s like, we were sitting there as an offensive staff today, you don’t see them getting blown off the ball a lot. You just don’t. They’re too well coached. You guys know Dom Capers. Dom was here and, Dom’s as good in this generation of football in the NFL, he’s as good as there is in my mind.”

Bill Lazor echoed those sentiments when he explained what he sees when he watches them on film compared to what they look like on paper.

“I think that’s exactly what I was trying to address. I watch them play and I see guys playing hard, getting off blocks. I don’t put a whole lot into what their height and weight are or what their numbers that they’ve given up are because I think some of those yards maybe came at times in some of those games and maybe they weren’t geared to stop the run at that moment. I think, especially the most recent video, I think you’ve got a team that has great momentum and great confidence defensively. Those are hard teams to beat.”

We all know that just looking at stats isn’t a good barometer to judge success and failure. Instead, the entire picture and context must be looked at and it appears that’s what the Dolphins are doing with the Packers.

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