Lions Practicing Against Dolphins Team Battling 'Soft' Label

A handful of NFL players have made reference to the Miami Dolphins team not being among the toughest in the league.

New Detroit Lions linebacker Grant Stuard expressed he felt the AFC East squad would not be ready to come in to face a team as physical as the back-to-back defending NFC North division winners.

Alain Poupart covers the Dolphins for OnSI and shared where the Dolphins "soft" label originated.

As Poupart explained, "This notion that the Miami Dolphins are a soft team dates back to a couple of years, and if memory serves it began with a DeSean Elliott after he had joined the Pittsburgh Steelers. Linebacker Jordyn Brooks then made a "soft" comment after the Dolphins' Thanksgiving night loss at Green Bay last year, which only added fuel to the fire.

"One factor involves the Dolphins offense, which relies on speed and deception rather than overpowering or being more physical than their opponent. Not sure about the idea of "soft," but there is zero arguing that their offensive style leads to that notion. There's really nothing that we've seen on defense to suggest that unit is "soft," but the whole concept has now being applied to the entire team, and maybe Mike McDaniel's persona — quirky, intellectual — doesn't help matters in that regard."

Lions coach Dan Campbell shared with reporters on Monday why he chose to run a pair of joint practices with Miami.

"I do know (Dolphins head coach) Mike (McDaniel). I would say that was more of a, they were going to be out there, we had already had ours set up with Houston in the last week, so I didn’t know how much I wanted to do one before that, but I do like doing two joint weeks if we can," said Campbell. "They were already going to be in Chicago, so it just kind of made sense.

"Like alright, why don’t you guys come out here and play us and then we’ll get a couple days of practice. They agreed to do it, so it was like, alright," Campbell continued. "And it’ll be good, that’s a talented roster. They’re creative on offense, and they’ve got a tough D. That’s that kind of Baltimore background, so the scheme will be good. The speed on the perimeter will be really good for our guys, obviously with what they’ve got. We’re looking forward to it.”

The latest 'Lone Wolves' podcast previews the upcoming joint practices and breaks down key battles to watch.

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