offensive tackle Duane Brown, it was Seattle’s first game against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 5. Seattle lost 33-31, but ran for 190 yards and averaged 5.9 yards per carry.“It just became our norm and we had some pretty good fronts that we went against,” Brown said.Carroll agreed with his left tackle

MIAMI (AP) — Since last season the Miami Dolphins have parted with their top three quarterbacks Justin Layne Jersey , their leading rusher and top receiver, three veteran defensive ends and three starting offensive linemen, while adding no marquee free agents.They went 7-9 in 2018 and are widely expected to be worse next season. Heading into the draft, the Dolphins’ odds for winning the Super Bowl are 250 to 1, longest in the NFL.Even so, they say they’re not tanking under new coach Brian Flores, who replaced Adam Gase.“From Day 1, when we made the change, we talked about building the foundation and building it up the right way,” general manager Chris Grier says. “So that’s all it is. There’s no tanking.”Flores bristles at the word.“To disrespect the game and use that term, it stirs something inside of me http://www.steelersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-benny-snell-jr.-jersey , to put that nicely,” Flores says.So the Dolphins say they want to win now. But as they pare payroll and stockpile 2020 draft picks, personnel decisions are being made with the goal to win later.Here’s how that approach will dictate decisions in the draft:QUARTERBACKSThe Dolphins haven’t been to the Super Bowl since the 1984 season, and in that time they’ve drafted one quarterback in the first round.Coincidence?Probably not, but the trend is unlikely to change this year.The Dolphins have the 13th pick, which probably puts the potential franchise QBs out of reach. So they’re expected to wait until 2020 to use their top choice on a quarterback, which is why a lot of losses this season could have a huge long-term payoff in the form of a high pick.Well-traveled veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick signed in March, and the Dolphins acknowledge he’s merely a caretaker QB.“At that position, you can never be satisfied until you have the guy you really feel can give you a chance to win a championship,” Grier says.Fitzpatrick replaces Ryan Tannehill, who failed to deliver a playoff win as the only quarterback to be drafted in the first round by Miami since Dan Marino.IN CHARGEGrier joined the Dolphins as a scout in 2000 Zach Gentry Jersey , which happens to be the most recent season they won a playoff game.While Miami has been mired in mediocrity, Grier has climbed the company ladder and was promoted in February to oversee football operations. He has had final say on draft choices the past three years, but says he emphasizes collaboration.“I’m not going to force a coach to take a player, because that doesn’t work,” Grier says. “It creates animosity and distrust.”Chances of a war room clash between Grier and Flores are slim because they’ve enjoyed a long friendship. Each started his NFL career as a scout for the Dolphins’ AFC East nemesis, New England.NOT SEXYThe Dolphins will need a lot of bulk to rebuild. Draft prognosticators have listed at least 10 offensive and defensive linemen as potential first-round picks by Miami.The draft is deep in defensive linemen, and the best bet is Miami will take one from Clemson, with former Tigers teammates Clelin Ferrell and tackle Christian Wilkins both possibilities.MOVING DOWN OR UPThe Dolphins might continue their accumulation of 2020 picks — they now have 10 — by trading down in the first round.With so many roster holes to fill, it’s unlikely they’ll trade away multiple picks to move up.“If there is a guy there that we like this year that we feel we need to go get, yeah, we will be aggressive trying to get him Joey Bosa Jersey ,” Grier says. “But we’ll also be smart about it. There is a limit to what you should do.”RECENT HISTORYBad draft decisions are a big reason for the Dolphins missing the playoffs 15 of the past 17 seasons. They haven’t had a first-round pick make the Pro Bowl since center Mike Pouncey, who was drafted in 2011. Pete Carroll and Brian Schottenheimer sat together and decided with their team winless after two games there needed to be a change.What the Seattle Seahawks were trying to do on offense wasn’t working.“He and I sat down and kind of had a little heart-to-heart,” said Schottenheimer, Seattle’s first-year offensive coordinator.“There were things that he and I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page about. It wasn’t just the running game, it was he and I continuing to build our relationship and it was an awesome meeting. It probably lasted about an hour and we talked about a ton of different stuff. I know I came out of that meeting feeling really good just about the direction where we wanted to go.”The direction has been clear for more than three months as the Seahawks went from a team searching for answers to a team back in the postseason after a one-year absence from the playoffs.And it was the decisions made before playing Dallas in Week 3 where the switch was made and Seattle started on its path that has the Seahawks headed to face the Cowboys on Saturday night in an NFC wild-card game.The conversation between Carroll and Schottenheimer made clear Seattle was going back to the fundamentals of how it wanted to be offensively. They were going to make running the ball the priority and let Russell Wilson be a playmaker around the running success.The result: Seattle ended the season as the best run team in the NFL, and with Wilson having one of the best seasons of his career making big plays in the passing game.“I don’t think you’d always sit there and say we’re going to make this philosophy and go do this, and then you think you’re going to be the best in the league at it,” Schottenheimer said.Throughout last offseason, Seattle preached it was returning to the basic offensive fundamentals that led them to consecutive NFC titles. They were going to be bullies running the football behind the trio of Chris Carson, Mike Davis and Rashaad Penny.But for the first two weeks of the season, Schottenheimer and Carroll got too far ahead of themselves. They tried to see how much the Seahawks could rely on Wilson Nick Bosa Jersey , rather than relying on the run game. The result was a pair of ugly losses to Denver and Chicago, and Wilson running for his life getting sacked 12 times in those first two games.When Dallas arrived in Week 3, so did Seattle’s change in approach. That was the week Carson became the workhorse in the run game. It was the week that the additions of D.J. Fluker and J.R. Sweezy at the guard positions started to become noticeable, and Seattle’s running success meant Wilson was no longer under siege by the opposing pass rush.Seattle rushed for only 113 yards that day in the 24-13 win — 102 by Carson — but it laid the foundation for what the Seahawks became.“They were talking about it the whole time of running the ball more and being a run team,” Carson said. “They finally started getting it going against the Cowboys and it’s taken off ever since.”Starting with Week 3, Seattle has rushed for 2,422 yards, the fourth-most by any team since 2010 during that 14-game span. The 2014 Seahawks had 2,447 yards during the same stretch of games, one spot ahead of this year’s team.While it was the Cowboys when Seattle committed to its offensive identity, when it fully took hold depends on whom you ask. For Schottenheimer it wasn’t until Week 12 at Carolina when he became convinced Seattle had the ability to win in multiple ways. The victory over the Panthers came on a day Seattle ran for only 75 yards L.J. Collier Jersey , but Wilson threw for 339. It’s the only time in the final 14 games Seattle was held under 100 yards rushing as a team.For offensive tackle Duane Brown, it was Seattle’s first game against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 5. Seattle lost 33-31, but ran for 190 yards and averaged 5.9 yards per carry.“It just became our norm and we had some pretty good fronts that we went against,” Brown said.Carroll agreed with his left tackle that it was a few games after facing the Cowboys before the commitment to Seattle’s offensive style became the norm.“It was a step in right direction and the commitment came through but we were just getting started,” Carroll said. “I don’t think that was the pivotal week, it took us two or three weeks after that before we started to find the stride that we wanted and started to build on that.”