Branden Albert, Miami Dolphins' new offensive line start strong

[the Talking Can]

By his standards, this wasn't good enough. His new team was trailing the New England Patriots. His new offense was making too many mistakes. And most importantly, in his mind, the offensive line wasn't doing its job of keeping Ryan Tannehill clean.

So Miami Dolphins left tackle Branden Albert sought out the quarterback during the second quarter of Sunday's contest to deliver the most unnecessary apology Tannehill has likely ever heard.

"I'm sorry, man," Albert told him. "We need to keep you cleaner. We need to do a better job."

After the game, as Tannehill changed out of a uniform that could forgo the typical bleaching, the signal-caller could only shake his head and smile.

"Are you kidding?" Tannehill said, recalling the apology. "That was like a day off.".....



...In 2013, Miami set a franchise record with 58 sacks allowed. Yet Sunday, with center Mike Pouncey sidelined while he recovers from hip surgery and five new starters (only one of whom -- Albert -- has any major NFL accolades to his name) on the field, the unit did not give up a single sack until the fourth quarter.

The group -- which includes free-agent signees Albert, Daryn Colledge, Samson Satele and Shelley Smith, plus first-round draft pick Ja'Wuan James -- wasn't merely impressive because of the previous season's sorrows. It was just ... impressive. There's no need to qualify or compare what it accomplished.

Not only did Tannehill stand mostly upright (he really didn't see legitimate pressure until the fourth play of the fourth series -- when he still managed to make three reads), but the Dolphins' running backs were motoring through respectable holes. The blocking helped Knowshon Moreno (who, of course, deserves credit of his own) to 134 yards on 24 carries in his own Miami debut, an average of 5.6 yards per attempt. Lamar Miller, meanwhile, nearly matched Moreno's pace, chipping in 59 yards on 11 tries, or 5.4 yards per attempt.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300...e-start-strong



I heard that Fisher apologized to Smith in the first, second, third, and fourth quarters.