DAVIE, Fla. — It might be a bye week for the Miami Dolphins. But Olivier Vernon has some work to do.
“I’m going to go in the lab and come up with a sack dance,’’ said the rookie defensive end from the University of Miami.
Yes, this is important stuff in the NFL. If you’re a guy who gets to the quarterback with any degree of regularity, you better have a dance to go with it.
Vernon entered last Sunday’s 17-14 win over St. Louis with just half a sack on the season. But he took down quarterback Sam Bradford twice, including a key late sack that resulted in the Rams having to go for a 66-yard field goal that sailed wide left on the final play.
After Vernon’s sacks, he showed plenty of joy but there wasn’t much choreography. Dolphins end defensive Cameron Wake let him know that after the game.
“Cam was telling me if I get a sack, I can’t just draw a blank,’’ Vernon said. “So I got to figure out something.’’
Wake knows plenty about pass rushing and dancing. He has 34.5 sacks in four Miami seasons, and is third in the NFL this season with 6.5.
After Wake gets a sack, he holds his arms close to his body and then unleashes them. Let him explain what he’s doing.
“You got to let the animal out of the cage,’’ he said. “Locked up. Chains breaking. It’s a beast. It’s a hulk.’’
It might look like a raw display of emotion, but when Wake came to the Dolphins in 2009 he figured out exactly what he was going to do when he got to the quarterback.
“You got to plan it,’’ Wake said. “If you don’t, in the heat of the moment, you end up looking (foolish). So you got to think about it ahead of time and try to make it unique to whatever your skill set is or your personality is. Mine is easy because I’m an explosive guy … I’m a pit bull.’’
Wake is one of several Miami players who roll out unique sack dances whenever they get to the quarterback. Linebacker Karlos Dansby, who has 31.5 career sacks, has a bodybuilding-like move he calls “flexing.’’ Defensive end Jared Odrick, who broke loose with six sacks last season after having played in just one game as a rookie in 2010, has the “Pee Wee Herman,’’ easily the team’s most controversial dance.
Miami players either love or hate the moves Odrick unveiled when he got to then Denver quarterback Tim Tebow in a game last October. Just as was done in the "Pee Wee Herman" movies, Odrick dances while holding his arms down and moving them back and forth. After an Odrick sack during home games, the PA announcer plays “Tequila,’’ the song from the movies.
“It’s pretty good,’’ said defensive tackle Paul Soliai. “It’s funny. Everybody knows him as the Pee Herman sack man.’’
Linebacker Kevin Burnett, who had six sacks with San Diego in 2010, begs to differ. Burnett said he had a dance with the Chargers in which he rolled seven with dice but that he’s put that in mothballs since he’s now a coverage linebacker for Miami.
“It’s ugly as hell,’’ Burnett said of what Odrick does. “It’s probably the worst sack dance I’ve ever seen.’’
Odrick’s dance started after then-Dolphins defensive coordinator Mike Nolan wanted his players last season to scoop up loose balls during practice and try to score. That expanded into defenders doing dances whenever they got a touchdown.
“JT (since-retired Jason Taylor) kicked it off by doing the Tootsie Roll and then another guy did something like a Dougie,’’ Odrick said. “I was watching Pee Wee that week on television. So I said to Kendall (Langford, a former Dolphins defensive tackle), ‘If I get a touchdown during practice, I’m going to do the Pee Wee Herman.’ He said, ‘No, you won’t.’ So I got a fumble and returned it for a touchdown and did it. He said, ‘You won’t do it in a game.’ I said, ‘Watch me.’’’
With Odrick getting all his sacks last season in the final 11 games, including four takedowns at home, the dance gained some popularity. A number of Odrick’s No. 98 jerseys began appearing in the stands.
“I have some big supporters of the Pee Wee dance,’’ Odrick said. “It’s something fresh and new. We’ll see if we can keep it going. We’ll see if the Pee Wee sticks.’’
Unfortunately for Odrick, he has just two sacks this season, with 1.5 on the road. But when he got a half sack Sept. 23 against the New York Jets at Sun Life Stadium that was good enough for Odrick to do his dance and for the PA announcer to play “Tequila.’’
Dansby also hasn’t had much of a chance this season to try out his moves. Dansby, who had as many as eight sacks with Arizona in 2006, has just one in Miami’s first six games. But he’s always ready to dance.
“You got to predetermine what you want to do and you got to have rhythm,’’ said Dansby, offering a demonstration while flexing his arms. “When I was in Arizona, I did the Bird (a dance in which arms serve as wings). But here I’m flexing. You’re out in South Florida, the Sunshine State, you got to flex a little bit. If you don’t, they’re going to think you’re weak.’’
When it comes to the best sack dance on the Dolphins, Dansby does concede he doesn’t have it. But Odrick doesn’t get his vote.
“That Pee Wee Herman is outrageously bad,’’ Dansby said. “Cam has got the best. I ain’t going to compete with him. He’s pretty energized and electric coming out of the cage and breaking chains and that stuff. I love it, man. It gets me excited when I see him get a sack.’’
So who does Wake believe has the team’s top dance?
“I do,’’ he said. “Hands down.’’
Naturally, Odrick takes offense. He figures the Pee Wee Herman will continue to increase in popularity enough that some Dolphins fans with leftover No. 99 jerseys from Taylor’s career might get out markers and turn that second nine into an eight.
Nevertheless, there soon could be more competition on the Dolphins for best sack dance. Vernon is an up-and-coming pass rusher, and it remains to be seen what he will concoct in the laboratory.
Chris Tomasson can be reached at christomason@hotmail.com or on Twitter @christomasson
