OK, no excuses this coming week, or should I say”weak.” The Browns are NOT Seattle or New England. And, our boys are AT HOME!!! Anything less than a victory over Cleveland is unsatisfactory, PERIOD!
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Someone up the page said the brutal part of our schedule is over. That’s NOT entirely true. Just 4 days after playing Cleveland, Miami flies up to Cincy to play AT the Bengals. That’s never an easy task. If the Fins get the expected win over Cleveland on Sunday, THAT GAME at Paul Brown Stadium will give Miami a chance to get back to .500. But they’ll have to do it on a VERY short week.
I unfortunately had to work through the only time we looked good. I kind of expected us to flash a little but this was better than expected. We need to build off this. Probably the biggest issue is the same issue we’ve had for years. Starting a game in the 2nd half instead of at kickoff. If we can fix that, we should be a pretty decent team by game 16.
I expect a lot better next week. We should destroy the Browns. 31-21 Miami next week.
Bookman,
I think this team might win 7 or 8 games instead 6. So yea they might be a little better than last years team. We still can’t stop the run or make a defensive stop when it matters. And we still can’t score in the first quarter. were ,edit request which is where we’ve been for the last few years
So Luck fumbles for a TD. Someone PLEASE explain to me why he gets s pass as a higher draft pick over Tannehill? Got tone honest, I find Tanehill to be tougher.
bookman,
no I thought they’d be 8-8 that’s why I picked them to be 8-8. I was hoping for a surprise. I’m tired of this mediocrity cycle that the phins have been in the last decade or so. And it starts from the top.
NOW,NOW, BOULDER, you know negative comments about “the top,” AKA Steve Ross, ARE NOT TOLERATED by certain members of this site. Ross is NOT to blame for hiring or retaining Sparano, Ireland, Philbin, Mike Dee, Mike Tannenbaum, or any other members of the “DOOFUS BRIGADE!” It’s all Huizenga’s fault, Old Dolfan’s fault, or someone else’s fault. PLUS, he’s only had control of the team for about 8 years, so it’s WAY TOO EARLY to rip Little Stevie Blunder. Why, hell, the mighty STEELERS didn’t play in a playoff game until their 40th season in the NFL!! – – So just take it easy, take a deep breath, and you’ll agree that Ross is THE GREATEST OWNER IN DOLPHINS’ HISTORY, just like Ireland was the GREATEST GM IN DOLPHINS HISTORY! –Just have a little patience and you’ll agree that everything’s OK with Miami’s franchise!
I didn’t watch the game today, but keep in mind we’re the team that hobbled Russell Wilson for the Rams. I think that had a lot to do with why they were so bad this week.
The only reason we had any chance in this game is because Garapolo got injured. Our D was incapable of stopping their O while he was in there. No Brady, no Gronk and our D still played like shit.
Not to mention the absolute terrible job by the D at the end of the game. They let the Pats hold on to the ball for 5 minutes and wasted all our time outs because of our inability to stop them.
Bookman, not going by anything today, but just from a career standpoint the Colts have been to the playoffs several times, I think they have even won a game or two with Luck. I’m not looking up stats, going from memory. So that’s a place to start. I know it’s a team sport, Luck didn’t get there alone, but generally a teams with poor QB play don’t make it to the playoffs.
I feel like because he was labeled as a can’t miss prospect, and because he was in the playoffs, he gets more credit than deserved. I think he gets a pass by “experts” for some reason. I just happen to like Tannehill more and I hate his gross beard…lol
bookman11 says:
September 18, 2016 at 7:57 pm (Edit)
Herd
I feel like because he was labeled as a can’t miss prospect, and because he was in the playoffs, he gets more credit than deserved. I think he gets a pass by “experts” for some reason. I just happen to like Tannehill more and I hate his gross beard…lol
I don’t like the beard either…looks like something might be hiding in there. As for the ‘experts’….we are all always saying how they are idiots. If that’s the case, why do we care what they say? 😉
Do you have any critique of the Fins that does not bash the owner?
I like Gase and Ross hired him and I could give a rats ass about what happened before he got here because it does not matter now.
NO, BOOKMAN, I ONLY RIP ROSS for the mistakes he has personally made. A few mistakes were made by the prior 2 owners but, in my view,they pale by comparison to Ross’s record of consistently oicking the WRONG GM’s(Ireland and Hickey), the wrong head coaches (Sparano, Philbin, Campbell) the wrong exec’s (Dee) and the wrong football czars (T-Baum). If you want to give him a pass on all these goof-ups, you may do so. It’s the consistent pattern of failure that SOME of us are concerned about. If you don’t give “a rat’s ass” about Ross’s failures then I feel sorry for you.
OD
I don’t give a rats ass on the past because there is nothing you can do about it know, but waste energy as you keep talking about it. I personally am putting my hope and faith in this coaching staff and players.
I just watched it again, he stopped on his route, but when he picked up the ball he seemed more interested in knocking it out of the Pats hands instead of catching it.
I agree. Arizona got revenge by destroying a scrub team this week. If we ever want to get there, next week is a good time to start winning and winning convincingly.
I really wanted them to draft deion Jones in the second and we traded up for Howard. I have seen a few good things from Howard but I’m with Piggy I was hoping more for some LB help
Steve that system totally negates pass rush. People just have never gotten wise to how to stop them. You can’t really approach them like other teams and you can’t just design your team to target them at the expense of being able to defend others. What they should have done was tee off on their midget receivers. Have a over slam into them right off the line, screw up their timing. Hard to do still because they have 3 of those fuckers all equally capable of running out of any spot and doing the same routes. Throw Gronk in and it’s just a nightmare to cover.
Parker settled underneath the coverage. He knew the defender had him covered over the top so he stopped his route thinking Tanny woukd throw underneath, but Tanny had already thrown it to the back corner. If Parker had stayed on his route probably would have been able to fight off the defender for the catch, but if Tanny had read the defender had him over the top and thrown it underneath, would have had an even better chance. Receivers have latitude to change their route depending on what the defender is doing, Tanny and he were just not on the same page there
Ken we couldn’t stop blount. Or others would meet him in the gap just to get blown back. Alonzo looked like a small child trying to bring down a silverback gorilla.
D,
I agree with what you saw on that last play, but I think Tannehill needed to put a little more air under it as well. No matter what, it would have been a tough catch as he would have had two defenders on him.
Gotta go with the any given Sunday law on this one, Throw in we are not a very good team…
Its just going to be a lame game and we lose again
23-17 CLE
BLAH!!!
D says:
September 18, 2016 at 11:54 pm (Edit)
Ken we couldn’t stop blount. Or others would meet him in the gap just to get blown back. Alonzo looked like a small child trying to bring down a silverback gorilla
—————–
Harambe?
My take is there are good things and bad things about the game. For me it was more glass three quarters empty.
I liked seeing our offense start to get a rhythm, but we keep opening the games flat and without the hurry up. It seems to me that the teams just throw everything at us, rattle Tanny and then our offense goes to shit. We really need to start off up tempo until we gain a good lead then maybe move to more clock management. We definitely need to establish that confidence and rhythm before slowing shit down. It’s just no working for us the other way around.
We also need to keep applying pressure on defense. I’d bring Isa up and have him play like a deep LB, keep Jones a little deeper, and just pin our ears back and get to the QB. That’s what this defense is supposed to be designed to do. Let’s start doing it
We gotta start winning these games. We may call it moral victories but it sucks the life of of a team to keep losing close ones. We can’t keep losing these, despite whatever positive spin ya want to put on it, it’s demoralizing.
Steve that system totally negates pass rush. People just have never gotten wise to how to stop them.
_______________________________________
I can’t completely agree with this. If the system was so great why are not 32 teams using it? It’s been out there long enough for everybody to copy it if they wanted to. Also we have seen great pass rushes create havoc for the Pats in the past. Ask the Giants or hell even Cam Wake when he made Brady cry.
This defense is not good. Now we know why the played well against seattle. Seahawks offense is horrendous.
And the offense is pretty average. Add them together and you get the same shit we’ve had for the last 10 years. 6-8 wins a season if we’re lucky.
This is exactly right. The sent their little receivers in the middle forcing our slow LBs to cover them
Omar Kelly @OmarKelly 10h10 hours ago Cambridge, MA
Also, Bill Belichick’s strategy to beat Miami’s defense was simple….attack the linebacker mismatches, and there were so many. So many!
It truly is amazing that we did so little to shore our LB problems this off season. It was a glaring weakness and the best we can do was trade for an undersized and oft injured Kiko Alonzo.
It wasn’t just on the LBs, nobody on defense played well in the 1st half. Maxwell looked like he was jogging around and the tackling was poor by everyone. The team looked like they hadn’t woken up yet. I couldn’t believe how bad they were playing.
If garoppolo hadn’t gotten injured they would have dropped 50 on us. Their whole team shut it down when he got injured. Our offense didn’t do jack either prior the injury.
The SEA offense isn’t terrible, I think they lose a huge dimension with Russell Wilson playing on a bad ankle. I still haven’t gotten a chance to watch yesterdays Dolphins game, and I’m not sure I want to.
Mike, the 1st half looked a lot like the playoff game against Jacksonville back in 99. We did nothing well and they were doing everything well. The entire team looked sluggish where the Pats looked very fast. It was really depressing.
After Garoppolo went down the Pats slowed down and we looked much better on both sides of the ball, but I’m not sure what to read into that. Is it something we can build on or was it that the Pats got out of sync for awhile? They did enough to seal the game as we once again had little time on the last drive to tie it. I really hope this isn’t going to be a trend for us this year.
The offense played lights out in the second half and we should be encouraged by that because it wasn’t just garbage time. Tannheill and company gave us a chance to win that game. Our defense, especially in the second half when the Pats needed to eat up clock and score, failed us by letting the Pats get a time consuming drive for a FG attempt that their kicker uncharacteristically missed. It would have been the dagger. Even with missing it. It left us with 1 minute to play, no timeouts and needing a TD and xp to tie.
The way to win in this league is to play good defense and run the ball, specially if you don’t have an elite QB. So our genius FO instead go out and get a pass happy OC to become our next coach (which was basically the same credential as our failed last coach) and now we can’t stop the run or play any D and the rush game is non existent.
I wish Ross had half of the football smarts the Jets owner has.
you can’t win like that with tanny. We know that. We give the ball back to them after three quick plays and the D has to get back on the field getting tired. This is what happened yesterday. We couldn’t keep the ball and they scored on their first 4 possessions. We have to run the ball to succeed IMO with tanny. And our defense sucks ass.
Well ain’t this an interesting headline from SI: “Gase Getting Everything Right, Except the Record”
“It’s not just that Gase’s Dolphins have lost. It’s that they’ve lost despite the fact that their offense—his offense, the one Gase was hired to transform—has played well. Or, at least they’ve played much better than what meets the eye. Sunday in Foxboro, Gase’s quarterbacking reclamation project, Ryan Tannehill, in the second half was 22 of 27 for 273 yards and two touchdowns. Playing mostly from a no-huddle, Tannehill figured out the Patriots’ matchup coverages and caught fire working the deep-intermediate levels from within the pocket.”
I want to say despite playing a shit first half I thought Tannehill all payed an excellent game. I would have him an A
Despite his fumble Landry also deserves an A
The weapons in general: Parker, Stills and Cameron played great IMO
The OL didn’t give up a sack
So as a whole I thought the offense played a good game despite a slow start
But it drives me crazy
The writing is on the wall about this teams flaws and the flaws are
A result of our offseason
Imagine the team we would have fielded had they resigned Miller, and drafted DBs and LBs with our 2nd and 3rd round picks
Instead we don’t know who will be our RB and our LBs were exposed all game
Kiko Alonso stinks – I give him credit for hurting Garopolo…lol but otherwise he sucks
And don’t get me started on Koa Misi – why is he still a Miami Dolphin. He’s never been healthy, he’s had off field issues and when he is on the field he is average – wtf
BoulderPhinfan says:
September 19, 2016 at 11:24 am (Edit)
you can’t win like that with tanny. We know that.
_____________________
I disagree with that. If anything Sunday showed that we could. He looked decisive and comfortable in a no huddle fast paced offense. I would like really like to see more of that especially since I don’t think we have much of a ground game this year.
Where was this no huddle fast paced offense in the first half of the pats game or seattle game? Yea when the pats defense decided the basically play prevent defense to keep its lead it worked.
We’ll see, but without a rushing game and good defense we won’t be in the playoffs.
I guess we all see it different ways.
There were positives in the 2nd half but coming up short is what always happens to this team.
Tannehill did great when the defense let him pass (yes, believe it, the Pats D was up 3+ touchdowns and psychologically let up). If the game were closer, there’s no way the Fins O would have gone as smoothly as it did during a big stretch of the 2nd half.
A lot of people will try to take away from the 2nd half offense by calling it “garbage time”
but that performance can win games
we would have won that game if the defense stops either the 3rd qtr or forces a punt before the final cheats drive (resulting in a missed FG)
If we have more time on the clock in the final drive and TOs left, you are not throwing a prayer to Parker to win the game – that was the only throw to make bc of the clock – but we were driving before that play
I just don’t get it
I just don’t get how the FO did not see this coming and how some of you defend it
this isn;t hindsight
we discussed how bad the LBs were before the offseason began
we did in last offseason too
the team failed ot make that investment
so now what?
How do you fix that after the season began
Teams will target that weakness just like Belicheat did – all season
Ryan Tannehill is going to have to pass for 4500 yards just to finish .500
Its very disappointing to me that the FO could have been so bind to this obvious flaw
I don’t know what to say about it
There were encouraging signs on the offense side of the ball
I think we might have something
but how do you build a team with such a glaring weakness? I’m lost on the thinking
Thanks for the synopsis of the game guys, I’m still deciding whether I feel watching it or not. I guess I should so I can see where we’re at, but I don’t want to get into a bad mood.
Piggy, the issue isn’t just the LBs. The entire defense played poorly right out of the gate. They did nothing well as a unit. The entire team looked sluggish and I don’t get why they weren’t more amped up for this game. That’s what annoyed the shit out of me.
the Cheats exposed us quick passes underneath
the DL barely has any time to get to the QB qirh those quick throws
and those quick throws were all underneath the coverage in the middle of the field
The Lbs on our team could not find a passing lane to save their lives
there were wide open gaping holes in the zone that the patriots were able to pick apart
we have 3 trash LBs and 1 lengthy CB who sucks at his job. Other than that the defense has talent and these glaring holes make the rest of the defense look bad
This is not an issue with being sluggish or lacking motivation
its not on the coaching
Its just that we have one particular unit that is better suited to play in the Canadian league than the NFL
the biggest issue on Sunday and on our team right now is the lack of talent at the LB position
and its a glaring hole that teams will continue to exploit
It was more than 1 CB and the LBs. It was no pressure by the DL and poor play by the LBs and entire secondary. You’re just all about not liking our LBs and putting it all there and that isn’t the entire story. Many of the killer passes completed against us were down the middle of the field in safety territory. There was plenty of time for the pass rush to get to Garoppolo but they didn’t.
Boulder:
Pats were not playing a prevent defense at all in the 2nd half. They dumbed down the offense once Brissett went in but the D was anything but a prevent and Tannehill carved them up.
Piggy:
24 is not a huge number but it’s right there were lots of good teams average on O. If we can score 24 points a game we should win more than we lose. Well that is if we had LBs and a better CB.
I think the lowest moment was when Alonzo had a clean shot at Garoppolo for a sack and he bounced off him like a little bitch. I know Alonzo finally got a good hit and actually caused the injury but bouncing off a QB on a clean shot, WTF?
lol, I was so mad when that happened. I think the most upsetting play for me was when Jenkins had his back to the QB and the ball wizzed literally passed his shoulder into the receivers hands…half the LB in the NFL would have picked off the pass.
I think on that missed sack by Alonzo he let up not wanting to get a roughing the passer call. He basically had him “in grasp” and let up not wanting to get called for Roughing the passer.
Mike E,
You already have a built in expectation of seeing something bad so I don’t know how mad you are really going to get seeing the game on replay 🙂
Pretty much, you can spin the offensive output any way, but the Miami defense had the same performance as the offense. The offense produced 3 pts in the 1st half and 21 in the 2nd half.
The Miami defense gave up 24 pts in the 1st half and only 7 in the 2nd (I don’t care if they were aided by the QB injury; they KO’d him and earned it).
The D should have given up 0 points in the 2nd half against that 3rd string QB
That was a gift
they just ran the ball at us and we could not stop it
The only reason the D didn;t give up 10 instead of 7 is bc Gostowki missed his final FG attempt
The d actually gave up a lot of 2nd half yards – [artocualry ont he ground, knowing that it was coming
it was a shameful 1st and 2nd half performance
You know as well as I do that with a huge lead, the leading team is going to slow down the pace of the game, so socring less is almost certain to happen and means nothing in terms of evaulation of the performance of the defense
The Patriots had 3TDs before the Dolphins threw 3 passes
in the 1st qtr we had 2 3 and outs
it wasn’t necessarily that it wasn’t working
it was that two off target passes cost us two early drives
and the Patriots scored with ease
late in the first half the passing game started to work
but we had turnovers
it really wasn’t a garbage time prevent defense passing attack
it was a very good offense
Stills got past the DBs
Parker and Landry were making great catches
Landry was punishing defenders after the catch and making every tackle hard
and Ryan Tannehill with hitting very small windows
yes they were some good plays sprinkled in all the shitty play in the first half. This is what we’ve had for the last 15 years. When you add it all up its 6 to 8 wins a season.
yes this team might win 8 games instead of 6. Usually when you change coaches you get more fight out of players. Give it a year or 2.
But IMO we’re still relying on the passing game to win games and I knew that was gonna happen when we hired gase. That didn’t work with philbin and it won’t work with Gase. We need to play great defense and run the ball and Gase is not the type of coach for that style of play.
I agree with you about the fight in this team. When the score was 24-0 I said to the guy next to me at the bar that what I wanted to watch for in the second half was to see if there was fight in the team or would they lay down. I also said I wanted to see some of the young guys produce, like Drake and Parker.
The way they responded late in the 2nd quarter and the second half told me a lot about Gase as a coach. Some of our talent may stink, particularly on Defense, but I am liking Gase as the head guy.
I’m less concerned with the final win tally of this team then I am with the fact that this offseason they failed to address obvious holes, and took a step back
You can’t do that year after year
open up another glaring hole
How long have we been doing this
first it was the worst receivers in the league
then the worst OL
I’m convinced now we have the worst LBs
and I am worried about who our RB will be
the moves were there to be made this offseason to avoid these flaws and the person in charge of making these calls tanked
I really think this is on Ross. I know Mr T can build a team that can play defense and run the ball. That’s how the jets went to 2 AFC championships.
Ross wants marino style offense where we fling it all over the place. Maybe that worked with Marino but it won’t work with tanny. Because its been 5 years now and it hasn’t worked.
The good news is we had some fight in us after we got down 24-3. We could have just given up and mailed it in but we had a chance to win on the final play of the game. The bad news is we got 24-3 so fast and so easily.
Exactly. In a weird way I enjoyed watching the second half. I had already conceded in my mind the loss and so the anxiety of a close game was gone. That and a lot of Captain Morgan.
Piggy,
You are exactly right and it’s what is pissing me off too. We have obvious holes that even Omar can figure out before the season and they don’t do shit to fix them. They try to bargain shop for players. When does bargain shopping really work?
Alonzo, cheap replacement because he’s too small and injury prone.
Maxwell, average CB but we aint got nothing so let’s get him!
Foster- cheap vet.
Imagine if we just paid a decent price for Miller. No RB problems then. Grimes was an issue last season. Why not start looking earlier? LBs? Issue last year. They just don’t fix obvious issues and then we have gaping holes every year.
tim,
Ross has a say in the type of coach we hire. That tells me everything about what he’s looking for in his team. If he had any smarts he would have hired zimmer or bowles which run the type of offense and defense that I think would work in miami with tanny.
I think to your point – he can control whether we acquire an offensive or defensive minded coach
and our last 2 hires are offensive guys
but he did pursue a defensive guy in Fisher
even though I think Ross can control that
I don’t think you can blame Ross for the problems on defense I am highlighting
I don’t think Ross is saying “draft offense, we don’t need LBs”
besides – one of the problems is that we let Miller go, which you would think Ross would have discouraged if he wants a powerful offense
Tim Knight says:
September 19, 2016 at 12:03 pm (Edit)
It was more than 1 CB and the LBs. It was no pressure by the DL and poor play by the LBs and entire secondary. You’re just all about not liking our LBs and putting it all there and that isn’t the entire story. Many of the killer passes completed against us were down the middle of the field in safety territory. There was plenty of time for the pass rush to get to Garoppolo but they didn’t.
******
Tim
I think you are missing or ignoring my point
The DL can’t put pressure on the QB when the ball is out of the QB’s back so fast
the reason the QB can find a s pot so quickly is bc the LBs are not in passing lanes and don’t; know where to be
nothing else matters
looking at the 1st qtr alone exposes this issue
almost every pass to the middle of the filed underneath the coverage
that should be a dangerous place for a young qb to throw
it wasn’t
I can’t put the 2nd half run defense all on the LBs – I think the DL is to blame for that as well and just crappy tackling
but Belicheat exploited our crappy LBs in the 1st qtr and that was obviously his plan going into the game
He identified that as our biggest flaw IMO
from there – everything else is some kind of adjustment
and eventually the rest of the defense wears down
when the LBs are so bad – the entire defense looks bad over time
bc they have to adjust to compensate
or they just wear down over the course of the game
if you just look at the 1st qtr – you can see how bad our LBs are
and that the cheatriots zoned in on it
That wasn’t what was happening. Garoppolo had time to get the ball down the field as well. There are 3 and 2 LBs on the field most of the time. They’re not responsible for covering everyone. The pass rush wasn’t there in the 1st half. The entire defense was bad in the 1st half and the offense sputtered and barely had the ball. That’s a recipe for disaster. The DL is suppose to be one of our strengths and when it’s not playing like that we’re going to struggle.
those passes int he 1st qtr were all quick passes to the middle of the filed
TD #3 was the only one where a receiver got behind the coverage
and that was only after an obvious defensive adjustment that had to be made
there were a couple of 3rd down conversions that were just easy
on the first 2 TDs drives The patriots had 14 yards rushing on 5 carries
The cheats ended converting a few big 3rd down plays that were back breakers
and those were just quick passes to their little receivers in the middle of the filed
Yes that was a positive. We barely had the ball in the 1st half so not hard to do. But the pass pro was very good in the 2nd half and when we have that RT plays well.
I think our defense is just not that good but I agree with piggy that Belicheat singled out our LBs as our weakness on defense and attacked it with quick passes to their small quick receivers in the middle of the field in the first half. That is a weakness that every team is gonna exploit if we don’t get it figured out.
The TOs and fumbles were in bold in my mind when I looked over the game afterwards. We had 4 TOs and that fumble Tannehill recovered ruined a drive. You just can’t win with 4 TOs.
I was pretty mad when we get the ball to start the 3rd quarter. Drive down the field and Ajayi fumbled the ball in the redzone. That IMO was a huge mistake that changed the rest of the game.
Piggy, you expect our LBs to cover Edelman and Amendola down the seams? That’s always going to be a mismatch against any teams LBs. They’re WRs in the Wes Welker mold that the Pats have been utilizing for almost a decade. You think we’re the only team who can’t cover them? They moved it on ARZ who has a very good defense. They’ve been doing it to teams for years. You have to get to the QB when they aren’t quick screens or slants and not all of them were like that. They were hitting us down the seam.
My problem was our corners didn’t contest enough plays, they seemed to play soft and we got hit with quite a few chunk yard plays.
In back to back weeks, the opponent has gone straight for the DB scheme.
In NE 2nd TD, Jones completely guessed wrong and it was an easy decision for Jimmy to throw between ISA and the DB underneath (Jones vacated the spot where the pass ultimately went through)
I had no problem with that last TO. I thought it was a solidly placed pass considering Parker’s skillset. He needs to stay healthy so he adds some consistency to his skills
Yeah I didn’t either. It looked like Parker either got his less tangled or he slipped because he couldn’t go up for it, he was kind of lateral and off his feet already.
Blissfully, I managed to miss most of the Patriots carnage, because while I was at the Mets game, I realized I didn’t record the game, so I set it late in the 2nd QTR, it was 21-0 Pats at that point, with about 5 minutes left in the half. About 2 minutes in, Alonzo tackled Garoppolo after a 1st down completion to Malcolm Mitchell. I guess I missed most of the bad stuff, the INT near the end of the 1st half, Tanny’s arm was hit as he threw, no bad there.
The pass to Parker in the end zone right before the end of the half, he could have had, he just missed it. Ryan did have a fair amount of pace on the ball, but it was a good throw, and he put it where only Parker could get it, he just didn’t come up with it.
It was a narrow window and he had to zip or it could have been picked. Tough throw but he gave Parker a shot on that one. The one at th end of the game he and Parker were not on the same wave length. It still gave us a chance to win.
Al, even though in the 2nd half it was mostly the 3rd sting QB, VJ also changed his schemes to be more press. I have no idea why he started the game playing softer coverages. We didn’t contest anything and there was poor tackling by the entire backend.
The entire team played better in the 2nd half. I don’t know why we came out so flat.
I don’t think any change we made defensively accounts for our improved performance. That was clearly the Pats dumbing down the offense and even then they scored and moved the ball when they needed too with a 3rd string QB and no Gronk.
They did change schemes though. The announcers pointed it out. We started playing more press and more contested routes. I’m not saying we were great. LOL
Here’s the problem… You can’t fix all of the weaknesses on this roster in one offseason. It’s going to take a sustained, patient effort to build up the roster through the draft and late FA period. We can pretty much already identify the guys worth investing in for the long term. Gase seems like a decent coach that is capable of getting the team through the next couple of years.
Not certain, but I’d wager both Seattle and NE have the best home records over the last 5 years and we had a chance in both games so all is not lost. Could still rally and be in the hunt for a wild card at 8-8 or even 9-7 if the team goes on a tear.
I’m more interested in seeing our FO follow a good long-term strategy and quit trading away draft picks or investing huge sums of money in FAs. Take your lumps and build the right way. I can live with these losses if I see them moving in the right direction.
Oh yeah, and for the love of God, please jam the patsies slot receivers, press, and throw off their timing. It’s not rocket science.
As for the way we’re building the team, we really haven’t targeted any big UFAs other than Suh and the trades we made in the draft were for players we targeted like them or not. We swapped our 1st with PHI for two starters, we didn’t give up a draft pick. We traded up for Howard – a starter, and a couple of future picks to move up for Carroo – depth and future. Now if we don’t get those comp picks we’re banking on, that could blow up in our face.
We also traded down in the 5th and acquired more picks then we went into the draft with. My feeling was that we had the rest of the draft with the same grade so it didn’t matter if we picked them in the 5th, 6th or 7th so let’s go with more numbers.
We had a lot of roster turnover this offseason and that’s typical with a new GM and HC. It doesn’t always come together right away.
Let’s win our home opener against a CLE team that isn’t very good and build on a victory. Until we win a game or games I’m not gonna spend too much more time speculating about this team. They have to play better and for more than just a half or a quarter.
The past doesn’t have anything to do with it though. You’re doing that to yourself. We are where we are in 2016. A new FO, HC and staff and a lot of new personnel. We haven’t put it altogether yet. Let’s hope we start winning some games and go from there.
I’m more interested in seeing our FO follow a good long-term strategy and quit trading away draft picks or investing huge sums of money in FAs. Take your lumps and build the right way.
That is not Tannenbum’s MO. He likes to make trades. Sometimes for no reason at all other than to stay busy I think.
Yeah, and he was taught by Big Tuna so he has a certain belief system he isn’t going to change. That’s why we get used up injury prone vets and the DL is a priority. RB aren’t worth anything, DL is more important than LB, etc
Watched 2 minutes saw a couple of late hits one on RT sliding feet first and hit by 2 defenders, no call. Luck yesterday same play, was barely grazed and got the call.
Some of my coworkers were giving me shit today about how the Dolphins are now just like franchises like Cleveland, Tampa Bay and Detroit. I couldn’t argue with them. I did, however, remind them they still live in Minnesota. It felt hollow, but it’s all I had.
This team has to clean up a lot of things. I still think the coaches are also learning about who they can trust and who does what well. Coaches always say, until we see guys in games, we don’t really know who they are.
That’s what happens when you blow it up and start over in the FO and coaching staff. There is no body of work with this team to go by. Hopefully they put it together sooner than later.
This was the first offseason in a long time we didn’t splurge on FAs, so I was happy about that. Mitchell is essentially an overpriced FA, but the cap hit isn’t too bad and he is starting at a position of need. Add the value we got with Tunsil dropping to us and that was a good move. Too bad Kiko doesn’t look like much of a keeper.
As a general rule, I hate trading up. All kinds of good players will fall to you if you are patient and not desperate to draft certain positions. I thought trading next years assets to pick Carroo was foolish.
We will see what happens this offseason. Need the FO to have a smart long term vision and stick to it. GB, Pitt, Balt, NE, and others have been doing it for years. Sure, it helps to have an elite QB, but I don’t consider Flacco to be one and Baltimore is a contender pretty much every year.
Two years of good drafts and smart FA moves and our defense could be completely rebuilt.
I’m up to about 6 minutes left in the 4th QTR. Tannehill looked really good, as did Parker, Landry, Stills and Cameron. Tannehill was threading some needles there. Some very impressive throws, and some nice catches by Parker, Landry and nice TD catch by Cameron.
I know this might sound silly, but I don’t really care if Arian Foster gets back or not. I want to see Ajayi and Drake, and see what they bring to the team, Foster is a band-aid at this point. He doesn’t fit in with the future of this team.
Tannehill looked great in the second half yesterday and you saw how dangerous our WRs are with Parker back. The OL wasn’t perfect, but they gave RT enough time and a clean enough pocket to make those throws. I’d like to see us stay up tempo and try to score 30 through the air. The run game will be there if teams have to account for our passing attack. Play to your strengths and that seems to be one of ours.
That’s what I was saying with the coaches learning this team. They need to start implementing what do well and eliminating what we don’t at least for now. Work on it over time. I think we’re becoming a better vertical team and we should continue to build on that.
Maybe on defense VJ is learning what we shouldn’t be doing. There is a learning curve with this team even if we don’t like it. What we need to see though is some wins that show that they are learning and not just overwhelmed.
What i don’t want to see is we start off 2-6 and then have this 2nd half reprise to finish 8-8 because we finally started to jell already pretty much out of it. It would great that they did that, but once again too late. We have to win this Sunday. No anything else.
I agree man. You put a lot of pressure on teams if you can score, and especially get up on them. So far, we haven’t been able to do that, but if we can manage to accomplish that, it will make our defense look much better. On the other hand, Byron Maxwell looks completely disinterested in tackling anyone, and for a “big” corner, that’s kind of disappointing.
It sure did. He was one on one with Martellus Bennett, which is a daunting task, but knowing he was the only guy on that side of the field, that was a pathetic effort by him. He was awful late and standing around watching others attempt to make tackles, and then got hurdled and run over by Blount. He was just sorry Tim, he really was.
If we need Arian Foster to get us into the playoffs, we’re worse than I thought. Let Ajayi and Drake grow. Ajayi was a steal in the 5th last yer, and Drake was a 3rd RD pick, let them work.
It felt good to say that Cameron played well. I really don’t want to hate on any of our players, so if he keeps playing like he did last week, or better, I’ll be thrilled.
I think the coaches kept 5 RBs because they’re not sure yet. They were also guarding against Foster’s durability and Pead being out. They’re still trying to find the right 3 just like you do with the right 5 on the OL etc. Ajayi has been a disappointment so far despite a couple of decent plays. Drake is being slowly fed missing most of the PS.
We had a lot of questions coming into this season and we’re seeing them being worked out. Just hope we don’t lose too many games during these evaluations.
For the Dolphins it’s a matter of yet another slow start followed by an inability to finish strong. Play calling was a mess the entire first half and defensively things simply didn’t work.
Regardless of the loss there were still players that showed up to play and if you believe Adam Gase who told the media that the “tape doesn’t lie” and they would find out who fought and who laid down. He said that some will “move on”. We’ll see what that means exactly.
The fact that tanny is the team’s leading rusher and our defense can’t stop a 3rd string QB with 6 minutes left because they just ran the ball down our throat says to me that we changed coaches but nothing else has changed with this team. Its basically philbin part II
Boulder, it’s a new regime. They don’t know these players well. If you keep making Philbin comparisons you’re going to drive yourself nuts!! LOL
I think Philbin teams lose both our games this year by two or more scores. Hang in there, we need to beat CLE in our home opener or the shit will hit the fan. 😉
Adam Gase who told the media that the “tape doesn’t lie” and they would find out who fought and who laid down
UHOH! Better watch out Maxwell! God he was half assing it yesterday. Like Tim & Mike E said above WAY too many plays where he was a bystander watching the tackle.
“you gonna get him? oh, good I didn’t want to get my uniform dirty”
Dave Hyde @davehydesports 9m9 minutes ago
The Dolphins rotated in every defensive lineman on their roster during the Pats’ last clock-munching series … except Cameron Wake.
for 15 minutes yesterday I was a Tannehater. I was quite done with him after the first interception. Then he put on the show in the 3rd completing 20 of 21 and driving us down the field again and again and I was like “who is this fucking guy? Where has he been for 3 1/2 years?”
The next 5 games before the bye will define our season – CLE, at CIN, TEN, PIT and BUF. 4 out of 5 at home. Then Jets at home after the bye. 5 out of 6 at home. All AFC and both division games at home. We need to go no worse than 3-3 to have any chance and even that is a tall order at 3-5.
Right now until I see us win a game or two, who knows?
BoulderPhinfan says:
September 19, 2016 at 4:52 pm
brilliant!
Dave Hyde @davehydesports 9m9 minutes ago
The Dolphins rotated in every defensive lineman on their roster during the Pats’ last clock-munching series … except Cameron Wake.
——-
Yet I think at the most critical time in the game for a run stop (set of downs before the one where Gotkowski missed a FG) I think Suh was out on 2nd down (or 1 of the downs) …Announcer pointed that out lol.
The thing that pissed me off about the Pats last drive is that the Fins D didn’t do shit to contain the edge …the out LB should have been on the edges over the DE to disrupt the action of the OT and pulling OG before those big guys could get out in space …
At that point, the Fins D needed to dare the Pats to throw to beat them ..Belichick wasnt going to risk the game with Brissett, should have called that fuckers bluff …he was going to run all the way.
OUr lbs pursuit on the outside runs was non existent. It looked ok against the seahawks but against the pats it was terrible.
BTW one thing OV did a decent job of was set the edge. ANd most of the runs came towards that side because they knew williams was gonna suck at setting the edge.
True but it was disappointing to see the stupid LB stuck inside on the DE/OT blocks with Blount (he is no speed demon, all power) bouncing outside then dinking back inside as the OLB tried to pursue around with no straight angle.
So what you are saying is we are fucked
—–
Well Ken, CBS showed a graphic during the game that said the chances of making the playoffs at 0-2 are 12% lol.
Al,
Belicheat took advantage of our weak LBs both in passing and running game. Specially on the last drive. That 26 yarder by blount on the outside was ridiculous. Everyone was watching him run instead of tackling him. he basically hopped over maxwell for another 10 yards. Nice tackle.
FFR in the house. We miss your wise ass remarks and I mean that in all sincerity. Don’t be a stranger
hard to feel missed in a place one feels unwanted and told to basically just leave.
hope all is well with you and yours. and you keeping that green thing under wraps. still kind of miss that green thing, my basement just isnt the same anymore.
They’ll win no matter what…
I bet Brady is breathing a little easier today with the injury to Garrapolo. You know the Cheat would kick him to the curb in a heart beat if that kid played like that for 2 more games.
You know he’s done that many times in the past starting with Drew Bledsoe
ffr,
As if you care what others say or even listen to them….now, shut the fuck up, pull up your panties and come back to those that can just barely accept your perverted nature but still love you anyway, ya prima donna.
More examples of ridiculous CB cushions turning into big plays. How easy can you make it? The second two are WR quick screen to Edelman. pic.twitter.com/zPhtoqxv1B
3rd & 9. You have a big,long armed CB in Maxwell. Look@this cushion on Edelman at bottom. 1st down. Notice TE to help with Wake/Mario?Smart pic.twitter.com/yrzHEaK5Eg
Wanna know what out coached looks like? Here it is.By simple formation you have Maxwell on a RB,Edelman on SS Jones & Amendola on LB Kiko.TD pic.twitter.com/7VGII8kT1A
If Parker catches that ball at the half we only need a FG on the final possession to tie.
Lots of what ifs. What if we beat the shit out of Cleveland how about that?
Suh (16 tackles, two tackles for loss, one sack, three quarterback hits, one pass defended), Alonso (22 tackles, two recovered fumbles, one quarterback hit, one tackle for loss), and strong safety Reshad Jones (21 tackles, one tackle for loss, one pass defended) have been solid through two games.
Alonso is tied for sixth in the NFL in tackles and Jones is tied for ninth.
Watching the highlight of every RT dropback… he was balling. I hope his pocket presence issues have come to an end. The Cheats were playing physical and quick as hell on D, but the OL did a great job in pass pro. Little tweak here and there and we’ll be ok.
If he had gotten his rhythm and confidence earlier it would have been a great performance. I blame that most on Gase because he needed to adjust the game plan to get him there.
Those stats don’t help when you see him hit a gap and get blown out by the running back. It doesn’t help the missed sack because he couldn’t bring down a 6’2 220 QB. I’m not saying he is complete poop but he misses a bunch of tackles, his coverage hasn’t been great and he doesn’t seem to have the size to bring down his tackles
We’ve gotten fuck so much in the past, because of the stadium. When the Marlins were playing there, we always had a bye early. The last 2 yrs it was the stadium renovations. before that it was the wanting to play in London for some stupid reason. Maybe all of that is behind us.
Look at the bright side, NE is starting Brissett against the Texans ans JJ swat next week (L) against an AFC team and the Bills the following week but hurts a division rival and we win against Cle an AFC team and then the Bungles another AFC team we are still looking good on H2H and other tie breakers. Then the next four games are at home, two against division rivals and all AFC teams. The season is not lost.
If anyone has the game recorded fast forward to 9:49 in the third quarter where it’s 2nd & 19 and Bennett gets 15 yards on the screen pass. You can see the Pat’s Center lay out and tackle Alonzo by the ankle and there was no call. HE FUCKING TACKLED HIM!
This was followed by the pass to Edleman where Bobby McCane gave them 1/2 the distance to the goal with a PF penalty
Do you expect anything less in NE? They let them hold like hell on the OL, in the secondary, look the other way when they hit you late. It’s like an NBA home game.
OK, no excuses this coming week, or should I say”weak.” The Browns are NOT Seattle or New England. And, our boys are AT HOME!!! Anything less than a victory over Cleveland is unsatisfactory, PERIOD!
—————
Someone up the page said the brutal part of our schedule is over. That’s NOT entirely true. Just 4 days after playing Cleveland, Miami flies up to Cincy to play AT the Bengals. That’s never an easy task. If the Fins get the expected win over Cleveland on Sunday, THAT GAME at Paul Brown Stadium will give Miami a chance to get back to .500. But they’ll have to do it on a VERY short week.
I unfortunately had to work through the only time we looked good. I kind of expected us to flash a little but this was better than expected. We need to build off this. Probably the biggest issue is the same issue we’ve had for years. Starting a game in the 2nd half instead of at kickoff. If we can fix that, we should be a pretty decent team by game 16.
I expect a lot better next week. We should destroy the Browns. 31-21 Miami next week.
So ….. Why is Luck given a pass and considered better than Tannehill?
Bookman,
I think this team might win 7 or 8 games instead 6. So yea they might be a little better than last years team. We still can’t stop the run or make a defensive stop when it matters. And we still can’t score in the first quarter. were ,edit request which is where we’ve been for the last few years
Ok, fine, but are they improving and on the right track? Did you really expect more than this at this point?
Rams over Seahawks… after how bad they were on Monday. could it be the Seahawks really, really suck
Where does that leave your assessment of us?
Inferred … lol
Lol!
So the Rams held the Seahawks to 3 points today. Was our D that good last week?
It doesn’t matter today they were not.
That’s what I’m getting at Tim. Were they good last week, or was Seattle bad? I’m not sure which.
They were good last week and bad this week. One has nothing to do with the other.
You are missing the point.
No I’m not. You’re trying to compare two completely different games. I don’t view it like that.
Unfortunately, Brady will return with a vengeance and the Pats will play with hatred like the 06-07 season.
This game was a lot like ND vs MSU yesterday. A lot of hopes, wishes, excitement, but ultimately a big tease. 😦
also, Foster didn’t last long. Landry was awesome. Drake pedigree taught him to look for the end zone. Our defense crunched a lot of their guys.
Just watched the DVR of the game. Hulk angry
0-2 and another long season
So Luck fumbles for a TD. Someone PLEASE explain to me why he gets s pass as a higher draft pick over Tannehill? Got tone honest, I find Tanehill to be tougher.
he’s been to the playoffs 3 times and AFC championship game once. I’d take that any day.
bookman,
no I thought they’d be 8-8 that’s why I picked them to be 8-8. I was hoping for a surprise. I’m tired of this mediocrity cycle that the phins have been in the last decade or so. And it starts from the top.
NOW,NOW, BOULDER, you know negative comments about “the top,” AKA Steve Ross, ARE NOT TOLERATED by certain members of this site. Ross is NOT to blame for hiring or retaining Sparano, Ireland, Philbin, Mike Dee, Mike Tannenbaum, or any other members of the “DOOFUS BRIGADE!” It’s all Huizenga’s fault, Old Dolfan’s fault, or someone else’s fault. PLUS, he’s only had control of the team for about 8 years, so it’s WAY TOO EARLY to rip Little Stevie Blunder. Why, hell, the mighty STEELERS didn’t play in a playoff game until their 40th season in the NFL!! – – So just take it easy, take a deep breath, and you’ll agree that Ross is THE GREATEST OWNER IN DOLPHINS’ HISTORY, just like Ireland was the GREATEST GM IN DOLPHINS HISTORY! –Just have a little patience and you’ll agree that everything’s OK with Miami’s franchise!
Guys
I didn’t watch the game today, but keep in mind we’re the team that hobbled Russell Wilson for the Rams. I think that had a lot to do with why they were so bad this week.
The only reason we had any chance in this game is because Garapolo got injured. Our D was incapable of stopping their O while he was in there. No Brady, no Gronk and our D still played like shit.
First Update
DOLPHINS-BROWNS
B’man 38-13 MIA
Piggy 31-6 MIA
N/A 31-21 MIA
GO PHINS!!!
Not to mention the absolute terrible job by the D at the end of the game. They let the Pats hold on to the ball for 5 minutes and wasted all our time outs because of our inability to stop them.
Bookman, not going by anything today, but just from a career standpoint the Colts have been to the playoffs several times, I think they have even won a game or two with Luck. I’m not looking up stats, going from memory. So that’s a place to start. I know it’s a team sport, Luck didn’t get there alone, but generally a teams with poor QB play don’t make it to the playoffs.
Herd
I feel like because he was labeled as a can’t miss prospect, and because he was in the playoffs, he gets more credit than deserved. I think he gets a pass by “experts” for some reason. I just happen to like Tannehill more and I hate his gross beard…lol
Luck hasn’t looked the same since he got hurt last year.
At least we have the Bills for the Fest. We have a chance to win that one.
I also want to know where the F our offense was for the first 25 minutes of the game?
I think after the 2nd half. We scrap the run game and let Tannehill go no huddle the rest of the season. It was the only thing that has worked so far.
161 yards running for the Pats and most of them after Garapolo goes down. How the hell do we let that happen?
bookman11 says:
September 18, 2016 at 7:57 pm (Edit)
Herd
I feel like because he was labeled as a can’t miss prospect, and because he was in the playoffs, he gets more credit than deserved. I think he gets a pass by “experts” for some reason. I just happen to like Tannehill more and I hate his gross beard…lol
I don’t like the beard either…looks like something might be hiding in there. As for the ‘experts’….we are all always saying how they are idiots. If that’s the case, why do we care what they say? 😉
As for Luck see the BB King song “the thrill is gone”
I don’t think Indy is a very good team. Luck not withstanding
HULK: YOU’re starting to sound a little like BOULDER PHIN FAN! – Naughty, naughty.
BOULDER PHIN FAN; –Answer for you up the page just below your 7:42 post. HOPE you enjoy it.
OD
Do you have any critique of the Fins that does not bash the owner?
I like Gase and Ross hired him and I could give a rats ass about what happened before he got here because it does not matter now.
NO, BOOKMAN, I ONLY RIP ROSS for the mistakes he has personally made. A few mistakes were made by the prior 2 owners but, in my view,they pale by comparison to Ross’s record of consistently oicking the WRONG GM’s(Ireland and Hickey), the wrong head coaches (Sparano, Philbin, Campbell) the wrong exec’s (Dee) and the wrong football czars (T-Baum). If you want to give him a pass on all these goof-ups, you may do so. It’s the consistent pattern of failure that SOME of us are concerned about. If you don’t give “a rat’s ass” about Ross’s failures then I feel sorry for you.
Good night all, I have to hopefully watch the Packers lose.
OD
I don’t give a rats ass on the past because there is nothing you can do about it know, but waste energy as you keep talking about it. I personally am putting my hope and faith in this coaching staff and players.
Why didn’t Parker jump on the last play of the game, seemed like the ball was right there?
I just watched it again, he stopped on his route, but when he picked up the ball he seemed more interested in knocking it out of the Pats hands instead of catching it.
Ken, Arizona couldn’t stop Garapolo either, that system they run is tough to stop. Not sure why, since they been doing the same shit since 2000.
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000704891/article/dolphins-jarvis-landry-we-cant-be-an-almost-team
I agree. Arizona got revenge by destroying a scrub team this week. If we ever want to get there, next week is a good time to start winning and winning convincingly.
I really wanted them to draft deion Jones in the second and we traded up for Howard. I have seen a few good things from Howard but I’m with Piggy I was hoping more for some LB help
Steve that system totally negates pass rush. People just have never gotten wise to how to stop them. You can’t really approach them like other teams and you can’t just design your team to target them at the expense of being able to defend others. What they should have done was tee off on their midget receivers. Have a over slam into them right off the line, screw up their timing. Hard to do still because they have 3 of those fuckers all equally capable of running out of any spot and doing the same routes. Throw Gronk in and it’s just a nightmare to cover.
Have a LB slam…
Parker settled underneath the coverage. He knew the defender had him covered over the top so he stopped his route thinking Tanny woukd throw underneath, but Tanny had already thrown it to the back corner. If Parker had stayed on his route probably would have been able to fight off the defender for the catch, but if Tanny had read the defender had him over the top and thrown it underneath, would have had an even better chance. Receivers have latitude to change their route depending on what the defender is doing, Tanny and he were just not on the same page there
Ken we couldn’t stop blount. Or others would meet him in the gap just to get blown back. Alonzo looked like a small child trying to bring down a silverback gorilla.
Our LBs….Jesus, even my auto correct hates when I mention them
Lol!
Ken we definitely need the tempo, it seems to keep our offense in rhythm
We can go no huddle though, and still run the ball
“We can’t be an almost team. That shit is over.”- Jarvis Landry
*
This quote sums up my feelings about this team perfectly.
D,
I agree with what you saw on that last play, but I think Tannehill needed to put a little more air under it as well. No matter what, it would have been a tough catch as he would have had two defenders on him.
Gotta go with the any given Sunday law on this one, Throw in we are not a very good team…
Its just going to be a lame game and we lose again
23-17 CLE
BLAH!!!
Morning Update
DOLPHINS-BROWNS
B’man 38-13 MIA
Piggy 31-6 MIA
N/A 31-21 MIA
Howie 23-17 CLE
GO PHINS!!!
28-9 Miami
D says:
September 18, 2016 at 11:54 pm (Edit)
Ken we couldn’t stop blount. Or others would meet him in the gap just to get blown back. Alonzo looked like a small child trying to bring down a silverback gorilla
—————–
Harambe?
Hell Alonzo bounced off Garoppolo like he was Harambe
Well my take from this weekend is the Dolphins suck and can’t compete against good terms.
Should we care about this for some reason?
It’s way more important than the Mets! 😉
Think maybe he is mentioning a RB prospect for us next year? Maybe?
My take is there are good things and bad things about the game. For me it was more glass three quarters empty.
I liked seeing our offense start to get a rhythm, but we keep opening the games flat and without the hurry up. It seems to me that the teams just throw everything at us, rattle Tanny and then our offense goes to shit. We really need to start off up tempo until we gain a good lead then maybe move to more clock management. We definitely need to establish that confidence and rhythm before slowing shit down. It’s just no working for us the other way around.
We also need to keep applying pressure on defense. I’d bring Isa up and have him play like a deep LB, keep Jones a little deeper, and just pin our ears back and get to the QB. That’s what this defense is supposed to be designed to do. Let’s start doing it
We gotta start winning these games. We may call it moral victories but it sucks the life of of a team to keep losing close ones. We can’t keep losing these, despite whatever positive spin ya want to put on it, it’s demoralizing.
I will admit that after giving up on Ryan Tannehill in the 2nd quarter he looked amazing in the third quarter running that hurry up office
Small sample size only two games
Ryan Tannehill passer rating by 1/2
1st half – 60.3
2nd half – 106.1
By attempts per game
1-10 – 76.5
11-20 – 50.0
21-30 – 125.8
31-40 – 97.6
It appears it takes the team 20+ passes to get into sync. They need to start playing better in the first 1/2 of games to have any chance!
D says:
September 18, 2016 at 11:43 pm (Edit)
Steve that system totally negates pass rush. People just have never gotten wise to how to stop them.
_______________________________________
I can’t completely agree with this. If the system was so great why are not 32 teams using it? It’s been out there long enough for everybody to copy it if they wanted to. Also we have seen great pass rushes create havoc for the Pats in the past. Ask the Giants or hell even Cam Wake when he made Brady cry.
This defense is not good. Now we know why the played well against seattle. Seahawks offense is horrendous.
And the offense is pretty average. Add them together and you get the same shit we’ve had for the last 10 years. 6-8 wins a season if we’re lucky.
updated. 9 out of 20 got the 2nd game correctly (I can’t believe 11 people thought we actually could win up in NE 🙂
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HYb9B1KHDXFHIfyAkIX-vaqSl8uCF7Zu7xsGsGspBpc/edit#gid=0
This is exactly right. The sent their little receivers in the middle forcing our slow LBs to cover them
Omar Kelly @OmarKelly 10h10 hours ago Cambridge, MA
Also, Bill Belichick’s strategy to beat Miami’s defense was simple….attack the linebacker mismatches, and there were so many. So many!
What a rocket scientist Bellicheck is. Piggy has been saying the same thing all off season.
Our FO is too dumb to consider the obvious
It truly is amazing that we did so little to shore our LB problems this off season. It was a glaring weakness and the best we can do was trade for an undersized and oft injured Kiko Alonzo.
That trade with Philadelphia for Maxwell and Alonzo is looking worse and worse everyday.
they probably would have taken tunsil anyway, even if they didn’t make the trade.
It wasn’t just on the LBs, nobody on defense played well in the 1st half. Maxwell looked like he was jogging around and the tackling was poor by everyone. The team looked like they hadn’t woken up yet. I couldn’t believe how bad they were playing.
The LB play was horrible as was Maxwell.
If garoppolo hadn’t gotten injured they would have dropped 50 on us. Their whole team shut it down when he got injured. Our offense didn’t do jack either prior the injury.
The SEA offense isn’t terrible, I think they lose a huge dimension with Russell Wilson playing on a bad ankle. I still haven’t gotten a chance to watch yesterdays Dolphins game, and I’m not sure I want to.
Fast forward to the 2nd half. At least that was entertaining. There was no entertainment in the first half. Just anger.
I’m actually watching Bob Ross right now, and I’m feeling pretty mellow, don’t want to ruin that by watching the game. lol
Mike, the 1st half looked a lot like the playoff game against Jacksonville back in 99. We did nothing well and they were doing everything well. The entire team looked sluggish where the Pats looked very fast. It was really depressing.
After Garoppolo went down the Pats slowed down and we looked much better on both sides of the ball, but I’m not sure what to read into that. Is it something we can build on or was it that the Pats got out of sync for awhile? They did enough to seal the game as we once again had little time on the last drive to tie it. I really hope this isn’t going to be a trend for us this year.
The offense played lights out in the second half and we should be encouraged by that because it wasn’t just garbage time. Tannheill and company gave us a chance to win that game. Our defense, especially in the second half when the Pats needed to eat up clock and score, failed us by letting the Pats get a time consuming drive for a FG attempt that their kicker uncharacteristically missed. It would have been the dagger. Even with missing it. It left us with 1 minute to play, no timeouts and needing a TD and xp to tie.
All true Ken.
The way to win in this league is to play good defense and run the ball, specially if you don’t have an elite QB. So our genius FO instead go out and get a pass happy OC to become our next coach (which was basically the same credential as our failed last coach) and now we can’t stop the run or play any D and the rush game is non existent.
I wish Ross had half of the football smarts the Jets owner has.
After watching how we ran the no huddle in the second half I say screw the run and let Tannehill air it out. It was the best he ever looked.
What other choice do we have? And whether that was the plan all along, look at what toys we have too play with on O.
you can’t win like that with tanny. We know that. We give the ball back to them after three quick plays and the D has to get back on the field getting tired. This is what happened yesterday. We couldn’t keep the ball and they scored on their first 4 possessions. We have to run the ball to succeed IMO with tanny. And our defense sucks ass.
Its the same philbin shit different year.
Well ain’t this an interesting headline from SI: “Gase Getting Everything Right, Except the Record”
“It’s not just that Gase’s Dolphins have lost. It’s that they’ve lost despite the fact that their offense—his offense, the one Gase was hired to transform—has played well. Or, at least they’ve played much better than what meets the eye. Sunday in Foxboro, Gase’s quarterbacking reclamation project, Ryan Tannehill, in the second half was 22 of 27 for 273 yards and two touchdowns. Playing mostly from a no-huddle, Tannehill figured out the Patriots’ matchup coverages and caught fire working the deep-intermediate levels from within the pocket.”
http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2016/09/19/nfl-miami-dolphins-adam-gase-ryan-tannehill-new-england-patriots
(has some nice X and O stuff on the Stills drop in the first game with bottom line being “what a call”)
yea when the pats had the game in the bag and their QB got injured we started playing well. LOL
I want to say despite playing a shit first half I thought Tannehill all payed an excellent game. I would have him an A
Despite his fumble Landry also deserves an A
The weapons in general: Parker, Stills and Cameron played great IMO
The OL didn’t give up a sack
So as a whole I thought the offense played a good game despite a slow start
But it drives me crazy
The writing is on the wall about this teams flaws and the flaws are
A result of our offseason
Imagine the team we would have fielded had they resigned Miller, and drafted DBs and LBs with our 2nd and 3rd round picks
Instead we don’t know who will be our RB and our LBs were exposed all game
Kiko Alonso stinks – I give him credit for hurting Garopolo…lol but otherwise he sucks
And don’t get me started on Koa Misi – why is he still a Miami Dolphin. He’s never been healthy, he’s had off field issues and when he is on the field he is average – wtf
You would think anytime we score 24 we should have a chance to win.
24 is not a huge number
but 24 the way we did – in the 2nd half was impressive
we would have scored 31 if the defense would not have shot the bed
the defense shot the bed bc the guys playing LB belong in arena football and not the NFL
Maxwell is a good example of another team’s trash still being trash
He was bad when we acquired him and he sucks now
but he is tall…so there is that
BoulderPhinfan says:
September 19, 2016 at 11:24 am (Edit)
you can’t win like that with tanny. We know that.
_____________________
I disagree with that. If anything Sunday showed that we could. He looked decisive and comfortable in a no huddle fast paced offense. I would like really like to see more of that especially since I don’t think we have much of a ground game this year.
Where was this no huddle fast paced offense in the first half of the pats game or seattle game? Yea when the pats defense decided the basically play prevent defense to keep its lead it worked.
We’ll see, but without a rushing game and good defense we won’t be in the playoffs.
I guess we all see it different ways.
There were positives in the 2nd half but coming up short is what always happens to this team.
Tannehill did great when the defense let him pass (yes, believe it, the Pats D was up 3+ touchdowns and psychologically let up). If the game were closer, there’s no way the Fins O would have gone as smoothly as it did during a big stretch of the 2nd half.
A lot of people will try to take away from the 2nd half offense by calling it “garbage time”
but that performance can win games
we would have won that game if the defense stops either the 3rd qtr or forces a punt before the final cheats drive (resulting in a missed FG)
If we have more time on the clock in the final drive and TOs left, you are not throwing a prayer to Parker to win the game – that was the only throw to make bc of the clock – but we were driving before that play
I just don’t get it
I just don’t get how the FO did not see this coming and how some of you defend it
this isn;t hindsight
we discussed how bad the LBs were before the offseason began
we did in last offseason too
the team failed ot make that investment
so now what?
How do you fix that after the season began
Teams will target that weakness just like Belicheat did – all season
Ryan Tannehill is going to have to pass for 4500 yards just to finish .500
Its very disappointing to me that the FO could have been so bind to this obvious flaw
I don’t know what to say about it
There were encouraging signs on the offense side of the ball
I think we might have something
but how do you build a team with such a glaring weakness? I’m lost on the thinking
It makes me sick that this team gets ZERO out of their TE in the pass game.
Sims made a big catch in th 2nd half and Cameron had a great TD
I didn;t see TE as an issue
our ariel attack looked fine in the 2nd half
why should Cameron catch 5+ catches when Landry and Parker can put up 100+ yards each
I thought it was Cameron’s best game as a phin.
Thanks for the synopsis of the game guys, I’m still deciding whether I feel watching it or not. I guess I should so I can see where we’re at, but I don’t want to get into a bad mood.
Piggy, the issue isn’t just the LBs. The entire defense played poorly right out of the gate. They did nothing well as a unit. The entire team looked sluggish and I don’t get why they weren’t more amped up for this game. That’s what annoyed the shit out of me.
Tim
I disagree
Its probably 80% LBs
the Cheats exposed us quick passes underneath
the DL barely has any time to get to the QB qirh those quick throws
and those quick throws were all underneath the coverage in the middle of the field
The Lbs on our team could not find a passing lane to save their lives
there were wide open gaping holes in the zone that the patriots were able to pick apart
we have 3 trash LBs and 1 lengthy CB who sucks at his job. Other than that the defense has talent and these glaring holes make the rest of the defense look bad
This is not an issue with being sluggish or lacking motivation
its not on the coaching
Its just that we have one particular unit that is better suited to play in the Canadian league than the NFL
the biggest issue on Sunday and on our team right now is the lack of talent at the LB position
and its a glaring hole that teams will continue to exploit
It was more than 1 CB and the LBs. It was no pressure by the DL and poor play by the LBs and entire secondary. You’re just all about not liking our LBs and putting it all there and that isn’t the entire story. Many of the killer passes completed against us were down the middle of the field in safety territory. There was plenty of time for the pass rush to get to Garoppolo but they didn’t.
Boulder:
Pats were not playing a prevent defense at all in the 2nd half. They dumbed down the offense once Brissett went in but the D was anything but a prevent and Tannehill carved them up.
Yeah you don’t play prevent for an entire half. We were beating them over the top.
so why didn’t it work in the first half before the pats had their lead?
Because we weren’t playing well. We obviously woke up in the 2nd half because it looked like a totally different team.
Piggy:
24 is not a huge number but it’s right there were lots of good teams average on O. If we can score 24 points a game we should win more than we lose. Well that is if we had LBs and a better CB.
If we can score 24 in a half
we can score 35 in a game
that’s my only point about it
and we may have to
I don’t think you can fix the toxic that is our LBs
I think the lowest moment was when Alonzo had a clean shot at Garoppolo for a sack and he bounced off him like a little bitch. I know Alonzo finally got a good hit and actually caused the injury but bouncing off a QB on a clean shot, WTF?
lol, I was so mad when that happened. I think the most upsetting play for me was when Jenkins had his back to the QB and the ball wizzed literally passed his shoulder into the receivers hands…half the LB in the NFL would have picked off the pass.
I think on that missed sack by Alonzo he let up not wanting to get a roughing the passer call. He basically had him “in grasp” and let up not wanting to get called for Roughing the passer.
Mike E,
You already have a built in expectation of seeing something bad so I don’t know how mad you are really going to get seeing the game on replay 🙂
You’d be surprised. I have a vicious temper, and when I see poor plays, the anger rises within. I guess I could just FF past the gah-bage
Pretty much, you can spin the offensive output any way, but the Miami defense had the same performance as the offense. The offense produced 3 pts in the 1st half and 21 in the 2nd half.
The Miami defense gave up 24 pts in the 1st half and only 7 in the 2nd (I don’t care if they were aided by the QB injury; they KO’d him and earned it).
The D should have given up 0 points in the 2nd half against that 3rd string QB
That was a gift
they just ran the ball at us and we could not stop it
The only reason the D didn;t give up 10 instead of 7 is bc Gostowki missed his final FG attempt
The d actually gave up a lot of 2nd half yards – [artocualry ont he ground, knowing that it was coming
it was a shameful 1st and 2nd half performance
You know as well as I do that with a huge lead, the leading team is going to slow down the pace of the game, so socring less is almost certain to happen and means nothing in terms of evaulation of the performance of the defense
Boulder
The Patriots had 3TDs before the Dolphins threw 3 passes
in the 1st qtr we had 2 3 and outs
it wasn’t necessarily that it wasn’t working
it was that two off target passes cost us two early drives
and the Patriots scored with ease
late in the first half the passing game started to work
but we had turnovers
it really wasn’t a garbage time prevent defense passing attack
it was a very good offense
Stills got past the DBs
Parker and Landry were making great catches
Landry was punishing defenders after the catch and making every tackle hard
and Ryan Tannehill with hitting very small windows
yes they were some good plays sprinkled in all the shitty play in the first half. This is what we’ve had for the last 15 years. When you add it all up its 6 to 8 wins a season.
they weren’t sprinkled in IMO
the passing game was finally working the way it was designed to work IMO
Again I am less concerned about the win tally than I am with the direction and the way the team is built
But I’m lost
how did we manage to take a step back at the RB position this offseason?
How did we not do anything to improve our LBs?
tim,
that’s what we heard with philbins teams that always started slow. I thought Gaze was a magician that can change that 🙂
Basically its the same shit different year.
there is more fight in this team than last year IMO
There are just some glaring holes
I actually think, personall wise, we were better last year
yes this team might win 8 games instead of 6. Usually when you change coaches you get more fight out of players. Give it a year or 2.
But IMO we’re still relying on the passing game to win games and I knew that was gonna happen when we hired gase. That didn’t work with philbin and it won’t work with Gase. We need to play great defense and run the ball and Gase is not the type of coach for that style of play.
Pig,
I agree with you about the fight in this team. When the score was 24-0 I said to the guy next to me at the bar that what I wanted to watch for in the second half was to see if there was fight in the team or would they lay down. I also said I wanted to see some of the young guys produce, like Drake and Parker.
The way they responded late in the 2nd quarter and the second half told me a lot about Gase as a coach. Some of our talent may stink, particularly on Defense, but I am liking Gase as the head guy.
Well I never called Gase a magician and he doesn’t play. LOL
Also, I’m not defending this team. It’s very possible we’re just not that good. But I see people pointing to one area when it’s much deeper than that.
We also don’t run more because we can’t much of the time. And Foster is already out with a groin injury.
Boulder
I’m less concerned with the final win tally of this team then I am with the fact that this offseason they failed to address obvious holes, and took a step back
You can’t do that year after year
open up another glaring hole
How long have we been doing this
first it was the worst receivers in the league
then the worst OL
I’m convinced now we have the worst LBs
and I am worried about who our RB will be
the moves were there to be made this offseason to avoid these flaws and the person in charge of making these calls tanked
I really think this is on Ross. I know Mr T can build a team that can play defense and run the ball. That’s how the jets went to 2 AFC championships.
Ross wants marino style offense where we fling it all over the place. Maybe that worked with Marino but it won’t work with tanny. Because its been 5 years now and it hasn’t worked.
Ross isn’t building the team. Come on man.
Boulder,
If Ross was telling T Baum what to do, then why did he hire him? You really think Ross makes the calls on players and trades?
Ross doesn’t know whether we trade for Kiko Alonzo or Chi Chi Rodriguez
he’s not the one for the vision on defense
Tannenbaum is
If Ross wasn’t a big scoring offense – that is fine
that doesn’t affect the defense
the defense is characterized by bad decisions
The good news is we had some fight in us after we got down 24-3. We could have just given up and mailed it in but we had a chance to win on the final play of the game. The bad news is we got 24-3 so fast and so easily.
Exactly. In a weird way I enjoyed watching the second half. I had already conceded in my mind the loss and so the anxiety of a close game was gone. That and a lot of Captain Morgan.
Mike E,
Watch the second half only. Trust us.
Piggy,
You are exactly right and it’s what is pissing me off too. We have obvious holes that even Omar can figure out before the season and they don’t do shit to fix them. They try to bargain shop for players. When does bargain shopping really work?
Alonzo, cheap replacement because he’s too small and injury prone.
Maxwell, average CB but we aint got nothing so let’s get him!
Foster- cheap vet.
Imagine if we just paid a decent price for Miller. No RB problems then. Grimes was an issue last season. Why not start looking earlier? LBs? Issue last year. They just don’t fix obvious issues and then we have gaping holes every year.
Agreed
Its not just that we have flaws or arent’ that good
its that the FO knew we would have these flaws and made questionable decisions
Gase has a diploma from Hogwart’s
tim,
Ross has a say in the type of coach we hire. That tells me everything about what he’s looking for in his team. If he had any smarts he would have hired zimmer or bowles which run the type of offense and defense that I think would work in miami with tanny.
Ross decides who we hire as coach. That decision effects everything else with this team including the type offense and defense we run.
I think to your point – he can control whether we acquire an offensive or defensive minded coach
and our last 2 hires are offensive guys
but he did pursue a defensive guy in Fisher
even though I think Ross can control that
I don’t think you can blame Ross for the problems on defense I am highlighting
I don’t think Ross is saying “draft offense, we don’t need LBs”
besides – one of the problems is that we let Miller go, which you would think Ross would have discouraged if he wants a powerful offense
Tim Knight says:
September 19, 2016 at 12:03 pm (Edit)
It was more than 1 CB and the LBs. It was no pressure by the DL and poor play by the LBs and entire secondary. You’re just all about not liking our LBs and putting it all there and that isn’t the entire story. Many of the killer passes completed against us were down the middle of the field in safety territory. There was plenty of time for the pass rush to get to Garoppolo but they didn’t.
******
Tim
I think you are missing or ignoring my point
The DL can’t put pressure on the QB when the ball is out of the QB’s back so fast
the reason the QB can find a s pot so quickly is bc the LBs are not in passing lanes and don’t; know where to be
nothing else matters
looking at the 1st qtr alone exposes this issue
almost every pass to the middle of the filed underneath the coverage
that should be a dangerous place for a young qb to throw
it wasn’t
I can’t put the 2nd half run defense all on the LBs – I think the DL is to blame for that as well and just crappy tackling
but Belicheat exploited our crappy LBs in the 1st qtr and that was obviously his plan going into the game
He identified that as our biggest flaw IMO
from there – everything else is some kind of adjustment
and eventually the rest of the defense wears down
when the LBs are so bad – the entire defense looks bad over time
bc they have to adjust to compensate
or they just wear down over the course of the game
if you just look at the 1st qtr – you can see how bad our LBs are
and that the cheatriots zoned in on it
That wasn’t what was happening. Garoppolo had time to get the ball down the field as well. There are 3 and 2 LBs on the field most of the time. They’re not responsible for covering everyone. The pass rush wasn’t there in the 1st half. The entire defense was bad in the 1st half and the offense sputtered and barely had the ball. That’s a recipe for disaster. The DL is suppose to be one of our strengths and when it’s not playing like that we’re going to struggle.
I completely disagree
those passes int he 1st qtr were all quick passes to the middle of the filed
TD #3 was the only one where a receiver got behind the coverage
and that was only after an obvious defensive adjustment that had to be made
there were a couple of 3rd down conversions that were just easy
on the first 2 TDs drives The patriots had 14 yards rushing on 5 carries
The cheats ended converting a few big 3rd down plays that were back breakers
and those were just quick passes to their little receivers in the middle of the filed
I’m not sure if it went unnoticed
but zero sacks given up by the OL on Sunday
Yes that was a positive. We barely had the ball in the 1st half so not hard to do. But the pass pro was very good in the 2nd half and when we have that RT plays well.
We also had key fumbles that killed drives.
we moved the ball well in the 2nd half
but those first couple 3 and outs out us in the hole
I think our defense is just not that good but I agree with piggy that Belicheat singled out our LBs as our weakness on defense and attacked it with quick passes to their small quick receivers in the middle of the field in the first half. That is a weakness that every team is gonna exploit if we don’t get it figured out.
Tim,
The TOs and fumbles were in bold in my mind when I looked over the game afterwards. We had 4 TOs and that fumble Tannehill recovered ruined a drive. You just can’t win with 4 TOs.
It always comes down to that even though one of them was the end of the game taking a shot.
I was pretty mad when we get the ball to start the 3rd quarter. Drive down the field and Ajayi fumbled the ball in the redzone. That IMO was a huge mistake that changed the rest of the game.
It killed us an eliminated a potential score. Landry’s fumble also killed a good start to a drive.
Piggy, you expect our LBs to cover Edelman and Amendola down the seams? That’s always going to be a mismatch against any teams LBs. They’re WRs in the Wes Welker mold that the Pats have been utilizing for almost a decade. You think we’re the only team who can’t cover them? They moved it on ARZ who has a very good defense. They’ve been doing it to teams for years. You have to get to the QB when they aren’t quick screens or slants and not all of them were like that. They were hitting us down the seam.
My problem was our corners didn’t contest enough plays, they seemed to play soft and we got hit with quite a few chunk yard plays.
It seems like playing soft is a miami thing when we all thought it was philbin thing 🙂
In back to back weeks, the opponent has gone straight for the DB scheme.
In NE 2nd TD, Jones completely guessed wrong and it was an easy decision for Jimmy to throw between ISA and the DB underneath (Jones vacated the spot where the pass ultimately went through)
spot meaning the passing lane.
Tim,
I had no problem with that last TO. I thought it was a solidly placed pass considering Parker’s skillset. He needs to stay healthy so he adds some consistency to his skills
Yeah I didn’t either. It looked like Parker either got his less tangled or he slipped because he couldn’t go up for it, he was kind of lateral and off his feet already.
Blissfully, I managed to miss most of the Patriots carnage, because while I was at the Mets game, I realized I didn’t record the game, so I set it late in the 2nd QTR, it was 21-0 Pats at that point, with about 5 minutes left in the half. About 2 minutes in, Alonzo tackled Garoppolo after a 1st down completion to Malcolm Mitchell. I guess I missed most of the bad stuff, the INT near the end of the 1st half, Tanny’s arm was hit as he threw, no bad there.
The pass to Parker in the end zone right before the end of the half, he could have had, he just missed it. Ryan did have a fair amount of pace on the ball, but it was a good throw, and he put it where only Parker could get it, he just didn’t come up with it.
At one point Tannehill was 20-21 in the 2nd half. He was slinging it all over the field.
It was a narrow window and he had to zip or it could have been picked. Tough throw but he gave Parker a shot on that one. The one at th end of the game he and Parker were not on the same wave length. It still gave us a chance to win.
Al, even though in the 2nd half it was mostly the 3rd sting QB, VJ also changed his schemes to be more press. I have no idea why he started the game playing softer coverages. We didn’t contest anything and there was poor tackling by the entire backend.
The entire team played better in the 2nd half. I don’t know why we came out so flat.
I don’t think any change we made defensively accounts for our improved performance. That was clearly the Pats dumbing down the offense and even then they scored and moved the ball when they needed too with a 3rd string QB and no Gronk.
They did change schemes though. The announcers pointed it out. We started playing more press and more contested routes. I’m not saying we were great. LOL
Here’s the problem… You can’t fix all of the weaknesses on this roster in one offseason. It’s going to take a sustained, patient effort to build up the roster through the draft and late FA period. We can pretty much already identify the guys worth investing in for the long term. Gase seems like a decent coach that is capable of getting the team through the next couple of years.
Not certain, but I’d wager both Seattle and NE have the best home records over the last 5 years and we had a chance in both games so all is not lost. Could still rally and be in the hunt for a wild card at 8-8 or even 9-7 if the team goes on a tear.
I’m more interested in seeing our FO follow a good long-term strategy and quit trading away draft picks or investing huge sums of money in FAs. Take your lumps and build the right way. I can live with these losses if I see them moving in the right direction.
Oh yeah, and for the love of God, please jam the patsies slot receivers, press, and throw off their timing. It’s not rocket science.
Agreed.
As for the way we’re building the team, we really haven’t targeted any big UFAs other than Suh and the trades we made in the draft were for players we targeted like them or not. We swapped our 1st with PHI for two starters, we didn’t give up a draft pick. We traded up for Howard – a starter, and a couple of future picks to move up for Carroo – depth and future. Now if we don’t get those comp picks we’re banking on, that could blow up in our face.
We also traded down in the 5th and acquired more picks then we went into the draft with. My feeling was that we had the rest of the draft with the same grade so it didn’t matter if we picked them in the 5th, 6th or 7th so let’s go with more numbers.
We had a lot of roster turnover this offseason and that’s typical with a new GM and HC. It doesn’t always come together right away.
Let’s win our home opener against a CLE team that isn’t very good and build on a victory. Until we win a game or games I’m not gonna spend too much more time speculating about this team. They have to play better and for more than just a half or a quarter.
we’ve been waiting for this for 15 years. Its always wait till next year for us poor dolphins fans.
The past doesn’t have anything to do with it though. You’re doing that to yourself. We are where we are in 2016. A new FO, HC and staff and a lot of new personnel. We haven’t put it altogether yet. Let’s hope we start winning some games and go from there.
I’m more interested in seeing our FO follow a good long-term strategy and quit trading away draft picks or investing huge sums of money in FAs. Take your lumps and build the right way.
That is not Tannenbum’s MO. He likes to make trades. Sometimes for no reason at all other than to stay busy I think.
Yeah, and he was taught by Big Tuna so he has a certain belief system he isn’t going to change. That’s why we get used up injury prone vets and the DL is a priority. RB aren’t worth anything, DL is more important than LB, etc
The guys like Tannenbaum know they have to win now, so there strategy isn’t always going to be like yours.
So, this posted over at NFl.com vidoes
http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/0ap3000000704926/Ryan-Tannehill-Every-throw-from-Week-2
—-
I think at the 1:30 mark of this video, Professor Lou will go crazy (terrible read)
Watched 2 minutes saw a couple of late hits one on RT sliding feet first and hit by 2 defenders, no call. Luck yesterday same play, was barely grazed and got the call.
I yelled about it but they didn’t hear me. LOL
There are always no calls and questionable calls in every game that makes you say hmmm?
Terrible read and not a premature snap by Steen?
Afternoon Update
DOLPHINS-BROWNS
B’man 38-13 MIA
Piggy 31-6 MIA
N/A 31-21 MIA
Howie 23-17 CLE
Wyo 28-9 MIA
GO PHINS!!!
24-3 CLE
Some of my coworkers were giving me shit today about how the Dolphins are now just like franchises like Cleveland, Tampa Bay and Detroit. I couldn’t argue with them. I did, however, remind them they still live in Minnesota. It felt hollow, but it’s all I had.
Howie
MIA 26 – CLE 10
This team has to clean up a lot of things. I still think the coaches are also learning about who they can trust and who does what well. Coaches always say, until we see guys in games, we don’t really know who they are.
That’s what happens when you blow it up and start over in the FO and coaching staff. There is no body of work with this team to go by. Hopefully they put it together sooner than later.
Tim,
This was the first offseason in a long time we didn’t splurge on FAs, so I was happy about that. Mitchell is essentially an overpriced FA, but the cap hit isn’t too bad and he is starting at a position of need. Add the value we got with Tunsil dropping to us and that was a good move. Too bad Kiko doesn’t look like much of a keeper.
As a general rule, I hate trading up. All kinds of good players will fall to you if you are patient and not desperate to draft certain positions. I thought trading next years assets to pick Carroo was foolish.
We will see what happens this offseason. Need the FO to have a smart long term vision and stick to it. GB, Pitt, Balt, NE, and others have been doing it for years. Sure, it helps to have an elite QB, but I don’t consider Flacco to be one and Baltimore is a contender pretty much every year.
Two years of good drafts and smart FA moves and our defense could be completely rebuilt.
This is really year one though.
Randy,
Like it or not, we have been a bottom third franchise for a long time now with no end in sight. Depressing.
I’m up to about 6 minutes left in the 4th QTR. Tannehill looked really good, as did Parker, Landry, Stills and Cameron. Tannehill was threading some needles there. Some very impressive throws, and some nice catches by Parker, Landry and nice TD catch by Cameron.
Wait what? Cameron looked really good? Does it pain you to write that😷
I was seeing Chris Jones around the ball a few times, and I was saying to myself, who is that huge LB on our team? #52? lol
I know this might sound silly, but I don’t really care if Arian Foster gets back or not. I want to see Ajayi and Drake, and see what they bring to the team, Foster is a band-aid at this point. He doesn’t fit in with the future of this team.
Only if you still have playoff aspirations.
Agreed. I was never that high on the Foster signing. To me it was an oh shit we fucked up signing for missing out on both Miller and Anderson
Mike,
Tannehill looked great in the second half yesterday and you saw how dangerous our WRs are with Parker back. The OL wasn’t perfect, but they gave RT enough time and a clean enough pocket to make those throws. I’d like to see us stay up tempo and try to score 30 through the air. The run game will be there if teams have to account for our passing attack. Play to your strengths and that seems to be one of ours.
That’s what I was saying with the coaches learning this team. They need to start implementing what do well and eliminating what we don’t at least for now. Work on it over time. I think we’re becoming a better vertical team and we should continue to build on that.
Maybe on defense VJ is learning what we shouldn’t be doing. There is a learning curve with this team even if we don’t like it. What we need to see though is some wins that show that they are learning and not just overwhelmed.
What i don’t want to see is we start off 2-6 and then have this 2nd half reprise to finish 8-8 because we finally started to jell already pretty much out of it. It would great that they did that, but once again too late. We have to win this Sunday. No anything else.
If we lose to the Cody Kessler led Browns this Sunday then I just might be reaching for the cyanide
drg
I agree man. You put a lot of pressure on teams if you can score, and especially get up on them. So far, we haven’t been able to do that, but if we can manage to accomplish that, it will make our defense look much better. On the other hand, Byron Maxwell looks completely disinterested in tackling anyone, and for a “big” corner, that’s kind of disappointing.
That jumped out at you too eh? I was like really dude, that’s where you’re at? WT?!!!
It sure did. He was one on one with Martellus Bennett, which is a daunting task, but knowing he was the only guy on that side of the field, that was a pathetic effort by him. He was awful late and standing around watching others attempt to make tackles, and then got hurdled and run over by Blount. He was just sorry Tim, he really was.
Steve
If we need Arian Foster to get us into the playoffs, we’re worse than I thought. Let Ajayi and Drake grow. Ajayi was a steal in the 5th last yer, and Drake was a 3rd RD pick, let them work.
Steve
It felt good to say that Cameron played well. I really don’t want to hate on any of our players, so if he keeps playing like he did last week, or better, I’ll be thrilled.
Yeah we all should view it that way.
Foster was a great back but he can’t stay healthy any more. At best he is a role player
I think the coaches kept 5 RBs because they’re not sure yet. They were also guarding against Foster’s durability and Pead being out. They’re still trying to find the right 3 just like you do with the right 5 on the OL etc. Ajayi has been a disappointment so far despite a couple of decent plays. Drake is being slowly fed missing most of the PS.
We had a lot of questions coming into this season and we’re seeing them being worked out. Just hope we don’t lose too many games during these evaluations.
Hulk gonna be extra green this week.
Hulk angry
I haven’t seen Randy but at least week to week it does seem like the OL is improving :/.
The WR blocking MEH…needs more work for sure.
Pass pro is showing potential. Run blocking still not good enough.
Pass protection is more important. Get the pass pro down, the run blocking will come. If you can’t protect the QB though, you can’t win.
For the Dolphins it’s a matter of yet another slow start followed by an inability to finish strong. Play calling was a mess the entire first half and defensively things simply didn’t work.
Regardless of the loss there were still players that showed up to play and if you believe Adam Gase who told the media that the “tape doesn’t lie” and they would find out who fought and who laid down. He said that some will “move on”. We’ll see what that means exactly.
http://phinphanatic.com/2016/09/19/miami-dolphins-week-2-players-week/
Yeah, who he and his staff can trust. No doubt that’s going on.
maxwell might be gone.
Culliver is in the hopper for October.
The fact that tanny is the team’s leading rusher and our defense can’t stop a 3rd string QB with 6 minutes left because they just ran the ball down our throat says to me that we changed coaches but nothing else has changed with this team. Its basically philbin part II
Boulder, it’s a new regime. They don’t know these players well. If you keep making Philbin comparisons you’re going to drive yourself nuts!! LOL
I think Philbin teams lose both our games this year by two or more scores. Hang in there, we need to beat CLE in our home opener or the shit will hit the fan. 😉
Adam Gase who told the media that the “tape doesn’t lie” and they would find out who fought and who laid down
UHOH! Better watch out Maxwell! God he was half assing it yesterday. Like Tim & Mike E said above WAY too many plays where he was a bystander watching the tackle.
“you gonna get him? oh, good I didn’t want to get my uniform dirty”
brilliant!
Dave Hyde @davehydesports 9m9 minutes ago
The Dolphins rotated in every defensive lineman on their roster during the Pats’ last clock-munching series … except Cameron Wake.
As good as Cam is he is one of the worst run defenders on the line. They were RUNNING down our throats. Cam is not the guy to put in to stop that.
Yea the other supposed RUN stopper did such a bang up job.
for 15 minutes yesterday I was a Tannehater. I was quite done with him after the first interception. Then he put on the show in the 3rd completing 20 of 21 and driving us down the field again and again and I was like “who is this fucking guy? Where has he been for 3 1/2 years?”
I gave the rookie a pass his first 8 games. LOL
So how long until Rex get’s the Axe in Buffalo?
The next 5 games before the bye will define our season – CLE, at CIN, TEN, PIT and BUF. 4 out of 5 at home. Then Jets at home after the bye. 5 out of 6 at home. All AFC and both division games at home. We need to go no worse than 3-3 to have any chance and even that is a tall order at 3-5.
Right now until I see us win a game or two, who knows?
So what you are saying is we are fucked
LOL you’re thinking playoffs. I’m not sure we beat the browns on sunday.
Where did I say playoffs?
It would be cool if Edelman had to come in and play QB on thursday night
from PFT
“PATRIOTS APPEAR SET TO START JACOBY BRISSETT, WITH JULIAN EDELMAN NO. 2”
BoulderPhinfan says:
September 19, 2016 at 4:52 pm
brilliant!
Dave Hyde @davehydesports 9m9 minutes ago
The Dolphins rotated in every defensive lineman on their roster during the Pats’ last clock-munching series … except Cameron Wake.
——-
Yet I think at the most critical time in the game for a run stop (set of downs before the one where Gotkowski missed a FG) I think Suh was out on 2nd down (or 1 of the downs) …Announcer pointed that out lol.
The thing that pissed me off about the Pats last drive is that the Fins D didn’t do shit to contain the edge …the out LB should have been on the edges over the DE to disrupt the action of the OT and pulling OG before those big guys could get out in space …
At that point, the Fins D needed to dare the Pats to throw to beat them ..Belichick wasnt going to risk the game with Brissett, should have called that fuckers bluff …he was going to run all the way.
OUr lbs pursuit on the outside runs was non existent. It looked ok against the seahawks but against the pats it was terrible.
BTW one thing OV did a decent job of was set the edge. ANd most of the runs came towards that side because they knew williams was gonna suck at setting the edge.
True but it was disappointing to see the stupid LB stuck inside on the DE/OT blocks with Blount (he is no speed demon, all power) bouncing outside then dinking back inside as the OLB tried to pursue around with no straight angle.
Ken says:
September 19, 2016 at 5:09 pm
So what you are saying is we are fucked
—–
Well Ken, CBS showed a graphic during the game that said the chances of making the playoffs at 0-2 are 12% lol.
Never tell me the odds
rock,
I think the bills will be 0-4 after they play the pats. I can see the bills owners firing rex then.
Al,
Belicheat took advantage of our weak LBs both in passing and running game. Specially on the last drive. That 26 yarder by blount on the outside was ridiculous. Everyone was watching him run instead of tackling him. he basically hopped over maxwell for another 10 yards. Nice tackle.
just stopped by to see what you guys were saying about the draft…….oh wait ya’ll are still talking football. ok cya next week then.
FFR in the house. We miss your wise ass remarks and I mean that in all sincerity. Don’t be a stranger
LOL, And it’s all tanny’s fault.
The Wyoming RB had 220 yards Saturday!
Ken says:
September 19, 2016 at 5:53 pm
FFR in the house. We miss your wise ass remarks and I mean that in all sincerity. Don’t be a stranger
hard to feel missed in a place one feels unwanted and told to basically just leave.
hope all is well with you and yours. and you keeping that green thing under wraps. still kind of miss that green thing, my basement just isnt the same anymore.
No one is saying you aren’t wanted here and if they have let me know and Hulk will smash!
They’ll win no matter what…
I bet Brady is breathing a little easier today with the injury to Garrapolo. You know the Cheat would kick him to the curb in a heart beat if that kid played like that for 2 more games.
You know he’s done that many times in the past starting with Drew Bledsoe
Evening Update
DOLPHINS-BROWNS
B’man 38-13 MIA
Piggy 31-6 MIA
N/A 31-21 MIA
Howie 23-17 CLE
Wyo 28-9 MIA
Rock 24-3 CLE
MikeE 26-10 MIA
GO PHINS!!!
F – F – fuckin-R! Holy shit! Glad you stopped by boy!
Not true that you are unwanted, I’m happy you returned!
Ken says:
September 19, 2016 at 6:25 pm
No one is saying you aren’t wanted here and if they have let me know and Hulk will smash!
no need. actually sorry i even said anything. if you dont mind, if you are still admin and can mind even deleting that comment for me
take care big guy, just to keep that green stuff in your pants.
FFR, don’t be ghey! LOL
ffr,
As if you care what others say or even listen to them….now, shut the fuck up, pull up your panties and come back to those that can just barely accept your perverted nature but still love you anyway, ya prima donna.
FFR I never have deleted a comment on this site and not sure how to do it. No need to delete. We are happy to see you and don’t be a stranger
Damn it. FFR broke the blog.
I really think we should use Drake more, and I kinda think having mighty mite in there at the HB position would be a bad idea either.
He looks on his way to be the starter
Right now Ajayi isn’t given us much
FFR cine on man you know we love you bro. Tim is way worse than you anyways 🙂
Cone on I meant
OK fuck this phone and it’s auto correct. Cone and cine……wtf
Agree with D I would like to see more Drake. Cone Cine!
Why so much cushion?
3rd down cushion in the 1st
Not sure why you’d want him up at the LOS when he can’t hurt you until he goes 9 yards.
They blinded the receivers are one side and it caused all kinds of mismatches
We do the same thing on offense
I don’t think the cbs are shift to the side with the WRs but maybe I’m wrong
When we line up 3 WRs in one side does the defense end up putting all the cbs on that side?
Ho-ding
Triplet the ref
Any guesses what Welker is high on in this pic?
Says a lot about the pas protection yesterday.
If Parker catches that ball at the half we only need a FG on the final possession to tie.
Lots of what ifs. What if we beat the shit out of Cleveland how about that?
If I stick pencils in my eyes I will never see another Dolphin loss
Suh (16 tackles, two tackles for loss, one sack, three quarterback hits, one pass defended), Alonso (22 tackles, two recovered fumbles, one quarterback hit, one tackle for loss), and strong safety Reshad Jones (21 tackles, one tackle for loss, one pass defended) have been solid through two games.
Alonso is tied for sixth in the NFL in tackles and Jones is tied for ninth.
So what is our fucking issue then?
scoring an average of 17 per game?
Yeah our D is awesome
Alonzo is tackling 10 yards down the field. It is also not a good thing for DBs to have lots of tackles
Don’t evaluate Alonso by his tackles
His stats look good
But that doesn’t tell the story
Better than Sheppard
Do you really want Mr. stats to come on here and school you 😛
Ho-ding
Watching the highlight of every RT dropback… he was balling. I hope his pocket presence issues have come to an end. The Cheats were playing physical and quick as hell on D, but the OL did a great job in pass pro. Little tweak here and there and we’ll be ok.
If he had gotten his rhythm and confidence earlier it would have been a great performance. I blame that most on Gase because he needed to adjust the game plan to get him there.
Those stats don’t help when you see him hit a gap and get blown out by the running back. It doesn’t help the missed sack because he couldn’t bring down a 6’2 220 QB. I’m not saying he is complete poop but he misses a bunch of tackles, his coverage hasn’t been great and he doesn’t seem to have the size to bring down his tackles
Doesn’t matter D, he’s got top 10 stats.
Next year we should get a home Thursday game and an opener at home, we won’t have to take on two of the best at home, even if both were short handed.
The schedule makers will find a way to fuck us again. They always do
We’ve gotten fuck so much in the past, because of the stadium. When the Marlins were playing there, we always had a bye early. The last 2 yrs it was the stadium renovations. before that it was the wanting to play in London for some stupid reason. Maybe all of that is behind us.
It’s really been a bitch and moan Monday
Cheer up Cleveland comes to town
Did you mean?
Cheer up Cleveland your going to Miami!??????????
Lol no
Look at the bright side, NE is starting Brissett against the Texans ans JJ swat next week (L) against an AFC team and the Bills the following week
but hurts a division rival and we win against Cle an AFC team and then the Bungles another AFC team we are still looking good on H2H and other tie breakers. Then the next four games are at home, two against division rivals and all AFC teams. The season is not lost.
It only looks that way on Monday after a loss.
Don’t really think anyone thinks season is over, but these losses could turn into a bad season. These kinds of losses take a toll on team moral
Hopefully Juice is nipping that in the bud he’s made some strong comments. Leader stuff. It’s good should pay off.
Caja china
If anyone has the game recorded fast forward to 9:49 in the third quarter where it’s 2nd & 19 and Bennett gets 15 yards on the screen pass. You can see the Pat’s Center lay out and tackle Alonzo by the ankle and there was no call. HE FUCKING TACKLED HIM!
This was followed by the pass to Edleman where Bobby McCane gave them 1/2 the distance to the goal with a PF penalty
Do you expect anything less in NE? They let them hold like hell on the OL, in the secondary, look the other way when they hit you late. It’s like an NBA home game.
Dude, the guy dives and lays out to grab Alonzo’s foot/ankle. I can’t immagine anything more blatant unless a WR boddy slammed a DB.
While your checking the replay check out 2:32 in the third when the official goes down. his flop is hilarious.
Beating the refs is part of beating the pats in NE. That’s why it doesn’t happen often by anyone.
Rewatching this game and McCane is really not good.
BEAUTIFUL TD pass to Stills! Nice route, good protection.
2 people in the challenge had us lose the first 2 games and still win 10 games. Toba and Prof Lou. Let’s hope they’re right 🙂
That’d be awesome
Drake should get more playing time.
He will since Ajayi has butter fingers
We need to score 26 to get our scoring average to 20 then build from there
Lol
Watching the replay of Gara Polo getting injured, I thought he was going to cry😭
And we’re behind in take aways so we need to fix that
It looks like Ajayi closes his eyes when he hits the line of scrimmage up the middle.
I cannot praise the O line enough on this final TD drive in the 4th. the 5 were blocking 7 at some points and keeping RT clean.
Ho-ding !
Gase does run the ball. The final TD we got was an outside run by Drake for 7 yds.
Morning Update
DOLPHINS-BROWNS
B’man 38-13 MIA
Piggy 31-6 MIA
N/A 31-21 MIA
Howie 23-17 CLE
Wyo 28-9 MIA
Rock 24-3 CLE
MikeE 26-10 MIA
GO PHINS!!!
https://twitter.com/MDCheer/status/778099246344134656