Monday Night Football! The Mecca of matchups! Eh, not anymore . . . Marquis matchups have been completely and thoroughly watered down by TNF, SNF, and sometimes even Saturday Night Football. Can’t say it enough, but it’s time the NFL drops Thursday Night Football. Maybe if they had 2 a year, that would be special, and only for teams coming off a BYE week. Also, no need for Sunday Night Football either, leave Monday Night Football as the marquis matchup, and dump SNF. I don’t even want to talk about Saturday Night Football. Do they realize that some of us fans are married, or in a relationship? “OK honey, you remember I’m watching football tonight, and all day tomorrow, and then Monday Night too, right?” Yeah, good luck with that!
So the Ajayi-less Dolphins travel to Carolina to play the Panthers. The Dolphins are not the only team who’s accomplished their record with smoke and mirrors. If the Dolphins have no business being 4-4, then the Carolina Panthers certainly have no business being 6-3. Carolina’s defense has been their savior, but their offense isn’t all that much better than ours. Cam Newton is what I’ve always thought he was, a super athletically talented QB who in reality, just isn’t that good a QB. Cam has a QBR of 78.4, with 1978 yards passing, 10 TD’s/11 INT’s. To his credit, he’s completing passes at a much higher percentage than his entire career, 62.4%, but take away his rushing threat as a QB, and this guy just doesn’t cut it.
The Panthers defense has been inconsistent, pitching great games against the Niners, Bills and Bucs allowing only 3 runs (points). On the the bad side, they gave up 34 to the Saints (L 34-13), 30 to the Patriots (W 33-30), and 28 to the Eagles (L 28-23). The defense of course features the league’s best MLB, Luke Keuchly, along with other standouts, LB Thomas Davis, LB Shaq Thompson, DT Kawann Short, DE’s Mario Addison and Julius Peppers, 6.5 sacks and 7.5 sacks respectively, and DT Star Lotuleilei
On offense, the Kelvin Benjamin-less Panthers bring a 2 headed backfield attack with a power attack from Jonathan Stewart, and a RB/WR hybrid Christain McCaffery (Former Bronco’s WR Ed McCaffrey’s son). Stewart barely leads the team in rushing with 350 yards, just 9 yards ahead of one Cam Newton. McCaffrey easily leads the team in receptions with 54, and has 406 yards receiving along with 2 TD’s. He also has 183 yards rushing, to give him nearly 600 all purpose yards.
The Dolphins will once again bring their own 2 headed rushing attack of Damien Williams and Kenyan Drake. So far, it looks like Williams is more McCaffrey while Drake is more Stewart, but don’t be surprised to see Drake catch more passes, and Williams get some more carries too. It’s a work in process, and I don’t believe anyone’s role has been defined. Devante Parker is back, and WOW what a catch he made last Sunday night! Ted Larsen should be starting at LG, which will probably mean Jesse Davis, who played LG this past Sunday will now move out to RT to replace hamstring injured Ja’Wuan James. Davis will mostly be going up against Charles Johnson on rushing downs, and Julius Peppers on passing downs, both good, veteran DE’s. Keep an eye on that, as the Dolphins will be sending some help over to his side.
On defense, we get recently activated off suspension S T.J. McDonald back! TE Ed Dickson is quietly having a nice season for the Panthers, and w/o Benjamin, he may be targeted even more, so look to see if T.J. McDonald is a factor there, or do we let Kiko Alonso chase him around all night. We’ll see Sunday night. The defense looks so good at times, and so bad at times, you just don’t know what to expect. I hope T.J. brings some much needed energy, and maybe a guy who can cover a TE effectively.
Now, for the moment everyone has been waiting for! Fest photos!
Ok, one more . . .
GO DOLPHINS! Zero in!
Finsmob Unleashed 
D,
I’d prefer Woodside and Benkert if we were going to double dip at qb.
If Phins fans think things weren’t tough enough Gase is facing his toughest challenge now going into a very difficult game vs a very good Carolina defense with Sam Young manning the RT position. It’s going to be interesting to see if Gase utilizes Gray or some kind of protection to help out on the right side of the line.
I think we may find it difficult to do anything beyond short to shorter intermediate type passes, maybe slants, maybe screens to our rb’s. We’ll need to find a way to slow down the Carolina pass rush. I’m not expecting any kind of significant success running the football on Monday night. Can’t see the offensive line getting much push with their run blocking or opening up any kind of holes for our backs. So, it’s going to be another pass happy night and if we can’t get anything going it will be a long night. JMHO
I don’t want anyone here to take this as Tannehill bashing but just, to be honest, you saw Cutler do things with the football on Sunday night that you’ve never seen Tannehill do. He gets the ball out quick and his placement was no accident.
Never? I can’t agree with that.
seriously and, again, not saying it as a bash but there where throws made in that game by Cutler that Tannehill has never made in his career with Miami.
Disagree.
Not saying every throw but when you look at some of the throws, like the screens to Williams where he was getting the ball out fast and lacing the throws to Willaims it was nice to see the ball not being floated out there and the placement of the throw was thus that Williams didn’t need to make an adjustment on the ball and could just catch it and run it.
Just one example.
Like these?
the td pass to Williams vs the Browns is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. Williams was lucky to not get tackled as soon as he caught the ball. Tannehill gets the ball out too slow. Cutler gets it out there much faster.
Maybe Gase goes with two RT’s on Monday with Davis and Young lined up next to each other in order to make one decent offensive lineman.
Doubt it. Not that we won’t maybe use some unbalanced lines or 2-TE. I think Fasano being in there more often is more likely. I’ve seen him tangle with DEs pretty well this season.
It was a joke Tim!!
Not sure from you sometimes. When you get your dark cloud on it’s not easy to tell. Now if you did an LOL or 🙂 I would have known. LOL (see)
the sarcasm doesn’t work when you put the LOL at the end. doesn’t have the same effect. LOL
Our best chance to win this game against CAR is for our defense to play real well against their average offense and keep it somewhat low scoring. Like 20-17 or less. Watch it be a shootout and defy all odds. LOL
D really needs to start turning it around. Starting to give up too many points over the last 3 games. I said it would be difficult for the D to sustain it’s level of play if the offense didn’t get on track and start moving the ball better & I believe that’s probably part of the reason we saw them falter but they need to keep it close.
Thing about the offense in this next game is I wonder if they shot their load against Oakland and will not come out flat or if they will somewhat pick up where they left off. But, that could be difficult if they go with either Young or Davis at RT.
Agreed. It’s a wait and see who we really are at this point type of season.
And just remember, Colin Kaepernick lost his job to Blaine “The Real American” Gabbert in San Francisco.
LOL
For ORob and UK:
Haha @ UK FinFan! That’s Nazare in Portugal. It’s a top to bottom shifty giant wave. Usually a left whereas Mavs is almost exclusively a right. Nazare is arguably the tallest (in face height) paddle in wave on earth. But as the Legendary Buzzy Trent once said: ““Waves are not measured in feet and inches, they are measured in increments of fear.”
People are pushing some crazy crazy boundaries out there. I get nervous in 12′ waves (measured by the face height), these guys (and girls!) are paddling into 30-50 foot faces!!
I wish these incredible athletes nothing but the best, but I do admit, it reminds of the song:
“They were all in love with dying they were drinkin’ from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche coming down the mountain”
Don’t adjust your set that Seahawk color is real. Wow I need sunglasses.
Lou, the pass to Williams against CLE was not a floater and it was the play all the way. It worked. It’s a one on one play. How much quicker can it be, the route has to be run? This play is barely over a second. LOL
he always seems to hold the ball just a little too long. it worked out okay but the ball came out later than it should have.
D,
That was an excellent rant. Great take.
The last video where RT avoids pressure and rolls against his body throwing a perfect touch and placement ball to Williams was… Joe Montana-esque. 🙂
I’ll agree it was a good play but just wish there’d be more of them. For every one of those plays you see five mediocre ones.
I think that would be the kind of ratio that would land you in the HOF actually…
2nd video, but the 3rd was good too. Williams reminds me of Larry Centers.
Hoping Drake can become Ahman Green. 🙂
Lou, here’s my view on Tannehill. I don’t watch much college football anymore – 10 years or so. So all I knew about him coming out was how he got ranked and what others said. Then went and read and watched up on him. I saw talent and upside. I’ve seen him grow as a QB and leader. He can do anything you ask a QB to do, the skills are there. His issue is playing consistently at a high level. But when was the last time anything has been consistent with this team and especially on offense? From FO, to coaching staffs, systems and personnel?
I think Gase and Tannehill can get much better together. It got stalled along the way. Gee what a surprise, we’re cursed as Dolfans. LOL
IMO, he didn’t have the talent coming out and was a guy you were going to need to put a lot of time and effort into to develop and I think my assessment was correct.
I also think that, in order for him to be successful, pretty much everything on offense needs to be perfect or he’s not going to be able to do the job. Again, IMO, he was the single biggest reason we couldn’t move the ball consistently on offense in ’16.
I don’t think defenses fear him so where someone may say the reason Ajayi didn’t have the same success after his 200 yd games is because they figured him out I think it’s because other defensive coordinators looked at the situation and said, “hell, they’re all doing it wrong. We’re going to stack the box and let Tannehill try and beat us”.
He doesn’t give you that edge you need to win at the quarterback position. Can he make the throws he couldn’t make early on? Yes, he can. But, he still lacks that IT factor. He’s not the guy you can look at and say that if the defense is struggling one week he can elevate the play of the offense and still get you the win. He’s not the guy who can bring you back in the 4th qtr if you need it. He’s not the guy who if your run game isn’t working too well in a game can still help you get the win. He’s not a lot of things.
I miss Tannehill after watching those videos Tim posted
☹️
That’s what they say all the time, you’ll miss them when they’re gone for some new unknown it’s always greener on the other side guy. LOL
I will probably be complaining about him in week 2 of 018
LOL
Yep only dink and dunk. LOL
Turn off the sound if you’re not into vulgar crap.
THe 2016 throws are so much better than the 2015 throws
Just me?
Should be!
No RT is getting better. His knee injury stalled all of it. He should be back at almost 98% by the start of the 2018 season.
He’s a lot better than Chad henne, he has good footwork in his throwing motion, if only he wasn’t so oblivious to things going on around him, weak pocket presence, holds the ball too long
Adam SchefterVerified account @AdamSchefter 7h7 hours ago
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Injunction denied: Ezekiel Elliott’s 6-game suspension is back on.
Off choice of words considering Elliot is “back off”
Back full circle to UKs surfing tweet
Did you see this….fuck!!!
The Elliot situation is weird. It was okay to draft him but now it’s time to punish him. If he and the Cowboys were smart, they should have just gotten it over with. It still haunts them. Weird!
Tim,
In any case, I’m hoping they draft another qb. Two reasons, One, just in case Tannehill reinjures his knee, which is a possibility, and two, because they need to have a backup plan just in case he falters and turns out to NOT be the guy fans and the coaches are hoping for.
Again, IMO, I haven’t seen enough to tell me that he’s definitely the guy. I don’t see the leadership qualities that you’re talking about. If he comes back from that knee injury okay maybe he’ll prove me wrong but I’m not holding my breath.
Jahn ……. I couldn’t even stand up on a surf board.
Piggy, that fella was on the news last night being interviewed from his hospital bed. He broke his spine in that wipe out (he’s had at least one other similar spectacular crash). His family were worried, but one of his young kids said “my dad’s the only guy I know who makes a living out of falling off!” Priceless.
Richard Sherman done for the year, achilles. And the list grows of injured players and the penalties continue to mount.
Co-incidentally, Mike E penned this article under the non-de-plume of Richard Sherman Son
https://www.theplayerstribune.com/richard-sherman-seahawks-thursday-night-football/
🙂
I heard in 10 years the NFL will be no more due to all the injuries, Mothers will not let their sons play football.
It’s not far fetched, a lot of people in the business think the sport is in danger. Maybe it will have to change to a form of 2 hand touch, or flag football. I don’t know if it could work like that, it probably wouldn’t, but they have to try something.
a lot of injuries are due to abnormal stresses on the body, non contact injuries
Look at this list…crazy
How does the NFL stop this
Play with lower gravity?
swimming pool football?
and people bitch when a flag is thrown for un-necessary roughness or late hit. it makes you start to appreciate roger godell for his stance on player safety
Floaties instead of shoulder pads? lol
Rob – It’s the brain injuries that will really scare the moms. No one is scared of making millions of dollars and suffering a torn ACL, it’s the permanent brain damage done by repeated concussions. Take away the brutal contact and all that goes away.
I agree however the millions of dollars paid to NFL players might cause them to throw a blind eye to that,
No idea on MMA Mike. Rugby is taking it very seriously as several of them wear little or no head protection. Cauliflower ears are becoming less prevalent though
You may find this interesting fellas
Click to access Concussioninrugby_Neutral.pdf
I wonder what it is for MMA fighting, like the UFC. Seems like they’re taking similar precautions for Rugby as they are in the NFL
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/39630540
We used to laugh after about hits that “made you see stars”…..not as quite as funny now.
Floaties in football is a great idea!
What if helmets had airbags that deployed with a certain force?
so, the whipping motion of your brain slamming against your brain wall is helped by something that stops it by exerting force against the current trajectory?
Not to mention you would have to total their helmets after ever snap, thats a lot of insurance filing, it all gets kinda messy paperwork wise.
Yeah, not likely to be a cost effective fix
Yeah the Zero G idea would make football safer, but you would probably lose players more frequently considering now you could have a player drift indefinitely in 360 degrees from the point of impact. Would need some shuttle craft’s to chase them down. Would be interesting to watch as a spectator, like you combined the game of football with billiards minus rails or pockets. You could theoretically have 100 yard TD passes too, but to have a running game and still keep it safe you would only be able to have limited propulsion boot packs. Trench warfare would boil down to looking like people playing paddy cakes until some rotational force got them spinning and then it would be more like dancing with the stars. Probably would be entertaining for a week r two at least, so that means we’d all have to pay 1000 dollars for direct TV so we could make sure we could see all of out teams games in the 4 weeks of elimination to get into the Superbowl.
LMAO
UK
I think every MMA fighter has cauliflower ears, they get their heads ground into the mat quite often. Some are pretty nasty, kinda like that chap you put up earlier.
Football is not going to go away, but full contact before high school very well may. And can’t say am against that.
I personally think the reason we have so many injuries is because of an outside influence. I think its the hormones and steroids in our food that is at the core. Kids on average these days are monsters, if they put effort into working out, et, they are even bigger on average. 6’8 6’9 isnt as rare as it would have been just 20 years ago, a 300+lb man running a sub 5 40 also getting fairly common. The extra force we can generate on ligaments that cant be “developed” to be stronger is part of the reasons we see all these ligament and meniscus tears, the abuse thats being put on them as the players work out with abnormal amounts of weights, and then when they launch into each other with all their strengths, doubling the force on these parts, its no wonder they are popping and snapping left and right.
Concussions are a result of playing the game, i dont see any way to prevent these, but the ligament tears, etc those weren’t as common before, i think part of it is not live contact perpetration, ie the CBA doesn’t allow more full force scenarios so their bodies are use to compensating with muscles for ligaments that aren’t as strong (ie development of stabilizer muscles) and the fact they are physically bigger than they should be able to get just based on their genetics. If we don’t enhance ourselves, we will get as big as our physical genetic allow, which will match what our ligaments and bone structure can support. If something pushes up past that point, we cant expect to see these kind of injuries and we can expect more the more we push past those points.
Genetics man. I think of Barry Sanders, and his running style. Run, stop, cut, juke, step back, lunge forward, spin, etc – That dude just had really strong ligaments and resilient cartilage and joints. So many of these injuries are just dudes running, not even getting hit.
Yeah, so my theory is, Sanders with his genetics, had stronger ligaments, but he also developed to the size that fit the limitations of those ligaments. I think with the steroids, HGH, etc, that some of these players are taking at young ages, and/or just the hormones and steroids found naturally in our foods now days, they are developing well past whatever their own personal genetic makeup says they should plateau off at, result is a guy like Sanders might have been 2lbs heavier and 2 inches taller if growing up now, but his ligaments would still be what they were then. That push off he made to make his cuts, maybe 200lbs of force, these days it might be 250lbs and his ligaments regardless support 225lbs. Back then he is under that number, now he is slightly over, so that really strong push-off = blown ligament.
20lbs heavier not 2
stangerx says:
November 10, 2017 at 11:00 am
Football is not going to go away, but full contact before high school very well may. And can’t say am against that.
—————————————–
Im all for full contact before HS, before HS these kids are normal sized, well in most cases (i did see a kid in the 11-12 year old group yesterday that was taller than me and probably weighed close to the same). By the time these kids get in HS and get into a weight training program, its getting dangerous. You can follow the number of serious injuries climbing as kids progress, so there has to be a size, and strength and muscular development aspect to it. I think the big part is kids when they are in middle school and smaller still are in the confines of those ligament strengths, but by time HS hits some of them are developing past it.
You have a point as far as ligaments etc, but then the less hits the less likelihood of injury in any event. But my mind was more going to the recent CTE research.
It is not just concussions, but the amount of hits over time seems to be key as well. Just as much how tough do you drive your car as whether or not you got in a bad accident when it comes to the wear and tear on your brain. And that goes not just to the NFL but to all the millions of people that play the game rather just the relatively few who we end up watching on Sundays.
wow james out for season?
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#Dolphins OT Ja’Wuan James, who had been seeking additional opinions on his injured groin, is expected to be out an extended period of time. It could be the season, sources say. Bad news.
l like James so don’t get me wrong…but I don’t; even care.
If our OL gets worse (if possible) who cares. I don’t care if Cutler and Moore are hit on every play. We are not going to be a power running team without Ajayi. I would rather see James mend up for 2018. This is kind of a lost season
D
5’8″ 200 is really pushing the limits. I’m like 5’8″ 1/2, and like 165. It would be pretty hard for me to add 35 lbs of muscle, and I don’t think Barry Sanders had much fat at all.
All depends on frame and build too though. Some 205 pound wideouts are the same height as 320 lb DTs. You ever see those BMI charts based on height, weight and age? Don’t think am all that fat, but man at times have I been close to the “obese” zone. And the weight range they said I should have weighed were ridiculous.
Incidentally i have both my Sons in peewee league football. Im not really concerned with injuries right now, but if i see them do something that bad form or could get them hurt like putting their head down on a hit, im all over it.
I think thats probably minor contributor also to the injuries, is there isnt good basic fundementals and form training these days. I remember coaches harped on it very hard when i was coming up. Thir motivation wasnt really safety, it was making a good tackle to prevent missed tackles, etc., but that squaring up to make the tackle also puts you in the best position not to be hurt, it teaches you to take the tackle to the other player instead of waiting for him to bring his entire force down on you as a stationary target. How to get low and get under the point of contact, etc. These all help make those hits better, including the one that teaches you to bring your force into the equation.
If you line up the hit right (ie aim for their torso) and you exert force forward you cause their body to bend around yours which actually softens the hit. these guys now days like those slobberknocker “i want to jar the ball loose and make a highlight reel” hits and they arent good form and people get hurt.
stangerx says:
November 10, 2017 at 11:22 am
You have a point as far as ligaments etc, but then the less hits the less likelihood of injury in any event. But my mind was more going to the recent CTE research.
It is not just concussions, but the amount of hits over time seems to be key as well. Just as much how tough do you drive your car as whether or not you got in a bad accident when it comes to the wear and tear on your brain. And that goes not just to the NFL but to all the millions of people that play the game rather just the relatively few who we end up watching on Sundays.
———————————————
If they are learning fundamentals, they aren’t going to be hitting like that. Helmets aren’t for tackling, still you cant prevent a lot of them, its a nice thought but you just cant do it and its proven in the fact that the safer we try to make it, its still on the rise. Think of all the rules we have to protect the players now, think of all the advancements in helmet technology ( i would suggest going and looking at the helmets you can buy now days, even in retails stores, its ridiculous how much better padded they are now), and yet still, more injuries and concussions than ever. That obviously points to something other than those kind of changes needed to fix this.
Not sure about new helmets these days and never put one on in my life. No matter how good the training and intent though stuff does happen. Otherwise there wouldn’t be any missed tackles.
Wow on the injuries. It’s crazy!
That literally could be me right now
Hulk OK? Had a few things happen along the way, but never had surgery done (knock on wood).
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Matt Burke is not happy the number of chunk plays the Dolphins defense has been allowing lately.
I wouldn’t have a problem with us drafting a QB even somewhat high next year.
me neither
but OL, TE and RB are also priorities
BPA as they are available.
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Burke said he’s been pleased with how the defensive line has played the last couple of weeks.
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Cam Newton must be a run focus on every play, Miami Dolphins DC Matt Burke says. Creates a mental challenge as well as physical.
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Even after struggling vs. Cook, Burke said he feels confident in matching Alonso up against big tight ends.
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Matt Burke thinks Kiko Alonso, Lawrence Timmons, T.J. McDonald and Reshad Jones can all effectively cover tight ends. Last week, Cook had too much free space.
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Dolphins didn’t disrupt Cook enough off the line enough, Burke said.
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Burke on the Dolphins that have just three INTs: “We have to catch the ones thrown to us.” Also expressed disappointment in allowing FG at end of 1H.
piggy,
that’s how I feel about this season. Really I’ve been feeling like that since tanny went down. Just hasn’t been a very good football season for me. Haven’t watched many games and don’t really care too.
It was bound to be a frustrating season a week into training camp
but we get to see if the team and Gase can overcome obstacles and then be really competitive in 18 – that aspect is still alive for me.
Stanger:
Hulk is angry but isn’t that always the case. I am okay but I am in significant discomfort and not much I can do about it at the moment. It is amazing how much you come to rely on your right hand.
You gonna be out without right hand use for a while? Even if Mike E lives too far there are other options as well. 🙂
You should meet his new girlfriend, her name is Lefty. She’s a little awkward, but the newness of the relationship is still very exciting.
Byron Lefty? He has a very long wind up!
Boulder
I’m surprised you haven’t been watching. Only way I do that is if it feels like it’s going to be a 1-15 season, and it hurts to watch. It does hurt to watch sometimes this year, but I think they can be competitive, especially if the offense plays like last week.
PFF’s mid season special teams rankings:
4. (previous ranking: 24)
Combing through the data, it’s difficult to find a metric that points to the Dolphins being as good as their 4-4 record suggests. Here’s one. Cody Parkey has been the best kickoff man so far this season, holding opponents to an average starting field position of the 20.4 yard line. This nontrivial field position advantage is in no small reason due to perennial special teams ace Michael Thomas (six tackles, no missed tackles), who continues to via for our All Pro Team on a season-to-season basis
LMAO
😀
LOL
what’s going on this Friday afternoon ladies and gentleman?
we’re going to get a glimpse of McDonald this week
Had a quote from him that was just going to pop out. Far as the future of this team….that’s what I am most interested in.
“I definitely want to make my presence felt, I want to make those pads pop. That’s what I’m going to do Monday.”
https://twitter.com/MDCheer/status/929075466908119040
He had some nice runs in the preseason games.
Hey Ken, where do you get the stretchy purple pants from? You must go through a lot of them, even though they are stretchy you seem to tear the bottoms all the time. Not sure what that is about.
Hulk shop at Nordstrom’s. Can’t beat return policy, and Hulk always return ripped pants
Well shit. If football isn’t going to be around much longer, I might have to make it to a fest sooner than later. Lol
Feel bad for fish. That’s one more day of fishing that some anglers would take off and say I’m watching football. LOL
“its hard enough getting laid with a head like this…now you are literally saying there are less fish in the sea…fuck off humans!”
“Shit!”
“I’m sad….All my friends will be dead soon and plankton tastes like dirt…”
“I hope you go after the fish who have been stuffing me in the locker first”
“Don’t care”
“Stop! You’ve made a horrible mistake!”
“watchu talking about Willis!?!?”
“We all have to die sometime”
Piggy gone fishin’!
“Oink”
LOL @ Pigfish
Wow I really set Piggy off. LOL
“and so it ends”
I know what Gase has said about Tanny, but an entire season might change things for him. I know as a business decision, the FO will be exploring it as an option. My guess is they will ask him to restructure, which truthfully, would be beneficial to him and the team. He could lower the cap hit we have next year by restructuring, and gain additional benefits/assurances past next year in the process. He need to keep in mind we save 15 mil cutting him, and only get 3 mil in a dead money hit.
Whit him coming off an injury, etc, maybe us in a rebuild mode, i don’t see that being really stable footing for him. Maybe that will be the decision maker, If he refuses, he is cut or traded, if he agrees it might mean he is at least the assumed QB for the next couple of years. I do think though, even if its the latter, i still take a QB in the 2nd, i just might not double dip as early as the 4th. I might still double dip thought, except the other guy would wind up being maybe one of our 7th rounders not one of our 4th.
Lets say that happens, Tanny re-structures, currently he has 4.6mil left in guarantees, 2.3 this year and 2.3 next and he has about 60mil left on his contract overall. If we could get him to restructure so that 15 is in guarantees, and break the salary up 10 in 2018, fully guaranteed, 25 in 2019 5 guaranteed next and 25 for 2020 no guarantees we essentially keep the way we had it with push some of the money back, and give Tanny 10mil more in guaranteed money. It almost certainly commits us to Tanny in 2018, which should prevent any QB controversy. That would save us about 10 mil on our 2018 cap.
Cutting Thomas would get us another 6.6. So 17.7+6.6+10, would give us 34.3 mil to work with. I think we could resign Hayes, Thomas, Aikens, and Bushrod to contracts, if Bushrod doesnt decided to retire. Short term contracts for Hayes and Bushrod, maybe 2 years for Hayes and another 1 year for Bushrod. Thomas an Aikens wouldn’t be big money contracts but we could lock them down for 2-3 years. Id also try for Fede but someone might take a chance on him in FA and price him out of what we need him as, which is a rotational guy at rotational money. We should be able to fit all of their contracts under the 34.3, and still take a shot at Landry if he wants to stay in Miami. Im letting Matt Moore walk as well, since im drafting a QB.
Given the moves above, I’d keep Pouncey, as well then and then id probably trade back in the first, pick up a second 2nd if at all possible, at least a second 3rd (kinda depends on if we are a top 10 draft position in the first). If i didnt get Landry to re-sign, id draft a WR in the first (Calvin Ridley if possible, Arden Tate if not). Id go QB (Clayton Thorson) 2a, Luke Faulk if he was gone. I liked Faulk more, but the more i watch Thorsen the more im switching my position to like him more, TE (Hayden Hurst) 2b. OC (Bradley Bozeman) in the 3rd, RB(Bo Scarborough) 4a, DE (Chad Thomas) 4b. Thomas would replace Fede, or Hayes if we couldn’t get one of those signed. If we re-signed both, then maybe i take OLB Lorenzo Carter instead. CB (Jaylen Dunlap) in the 6th, and close out the draft with QB (Alex McGough) and OT/OG KC McDermott.
The reason for the double QB, even after keeping Tanny is that i would be replacing Moore as well, so with two rookies behind Tanny, if something did happen and we had to move ahead with Thorson as our QB, we would need a guy who could give us a good backup behind him and then we still need a PS stash. If doughty were to step up, McGough becomes the PS guy and vice versa. We would always still have options to pick up a vet FA if neither seemed to be capable.
as a spokesfish for the long posting fish. I agree except I don’t see the point of keeping Pouncey at 10M a year.
Good long post though
sincerely,
long fish
Teams rarely keep 3 QBs. It’s hard to invest in two rookie QBs simultaneously if you’re still trying to win. I don’t think we’re blowing anything up, I think we’re going to retool some areas. Ross didn’t hire Gase to compete for a couple of years then blow it up and start over.
They do if their starter is coming off a season long injury.
You also dont keep butting your head against a wall, sometimes you have to make significant changes. Besides im not going off that being my idea, you guys have been saying Mando says there is going to be big changes, im just riding that wave. I have plans for if they keep things the same as well. Hell this above really didnt shake the team up much, Still have Tanny at QB, Still have Pouncey at OC, we just have depth behind them. Im counting on Larsen and Bushrod being our OG’s but im getting people to come up behind them. All that strategy did was restructure Tanny and replensish depth players lo, not sure how its a “blow it up” strategy.
D, Tannehill should be fine in 2018. He didn’t have a Bridgewater type injury. He’s going to be the starter in 2018. 🙂
I think the changes will be at OL, TE, RB and WR and a possible rookie QB added to the mix. Oh wait that covers all of the offense. LOL
I’m thinking it’s about upgrading in all areas with a player or two at each position over some guys we currently have. Not an overhaul, adding better to the core. I could see 2-3 OL, 2 TE, 1 RB and another WR. Could look to add someone more athletic and with more upside than Moore. That’s pretty significant.
That said, I’ll wait and see how we finish as currently constructed. That will determine at least part of next year’s plan.
We don’t have a choice but to draft a qb because we go into every season thinking we’re set and things always happen that change things. We went into this season thinking we were set at qb and on the o-line but we lost Tannehill and some players on the offensive line.
When Tannehill went down they showed what they thought of Moore by bringing in Cutler. If they don’t have enough confidence in Moore to put him in to replace Tannehill then why bother keeping him around? Draft a guy who’s YOUR guy who you can develop to either be the guy who comes in and replaces Tannehill in case of injury or the guy who replaces Tannehill if he turns out to not be the guy you thought he was.
In any case, drafting a qb is a MUST.
I seriously don’t get the love affair with this guy. Really. He’s not that good that he can’t be replaced. Why is there this feeling of doom I sense when reading comments from people who don’t want him replaced like “omg, we can’t win without him”.
Take a look at the quarterbacks who were drafted since 2012. Other teams are improving at the position while we remain stagnant. We MUST draft a qb who can put pressure on him. We can’t continue to just pencil him in and say “he’s the starter”. We’re not talking Brady or Rodgers here.
There needs to be a quarterback competition at a minimum next year. Then, if he’s the best guy for the job it will come out. But, you can’t keep going into camp with him and Moore and giving him the job when he’s done little to earn it.
It’s an opinion that he’s part of the plan moving forward. Not a fact or that it can’t happen. I know how you feel about RT. I don’t think Gase and the org feel the same way as you do. We’ll find out though. My opinion is what I think the org thinks about him and what they might do, not my opinion playing GM.
I think we all agree we need some upgrades on the OL, youth at TE, more explosiveness at WR and likely a physical runner at RB. Some of what we have at these positions are stopgaps or guys not playing up to expectations. You could add 6-7 new players on offense expected to make a difference and that’s pretty significant.
But again, the 2nd half of the season may answer some of those questions. Lots of football left to be played. We’re not 4-10. LOL
Why do some people think it’s their job to make everyone agree with them? It’s not like they’d ever consider changing their opinion but they expect that very thing from others. Makes no sense to me.
Guess who’s playing great for Seattle??
DION JORDAN!
He had a good cameo for them after not playing for 2.5 years or whatever. You like salt don’t you? LOL
LOL
Always trying to get new players to give us hope, it isn’t the players it’s the FO/coaching staff, if you look at successful teams of the past most of them have things in common, they build from the draft, they run the ball and play defense.
we don’t build from the draft we’re always looking to spend on high priced FAs, we have a pitiful running game, and the jury is still out on the Defense.
Not true the last two years. The draft has been the focus, not big name FAs other than re-signing our own and adding some vet stopgaps.
maybe so but that is recent, and maybe because of the big ticket FAs we already have we were unable to dip into FA last year and sign our FAs also, we’ve lost quite a few of our own.
jordan cameron wike wallace, stabby, suh,shelly smith, cortland finnegan, the list goes on and how many of them were good decisions?
Let go of anything prior to Gase. The approach changed in 2016.
it’s a copycat league, you want to know what works? look at JAX, they are a power running team.
coughlin came in and the first thing he does is draft a big RB and an OL from Ala
Had the pick to land that guy too because they have been so bad, they have drafted in the top 5 like 4 years in a row.
was there a better player at that pick, who drafts a RB that early? teams that want to run the ball that’s who, it just goes to show you how a winning coach plans his strategy,
and it wasn’t coughlins team that had been bad for 5 years
I said he had the pick, not his fault for their poor seasons prior. Correction – 6 years in a row top 5 picks, 10 years in a row top 10. They should be really good by now and maybe they’re getting there.
http://www.nfl.com/draft/history/fulldraft?teamId=2250&type=team
I can’t wait till monday night, 15 rushes for 75 yards, 48 passes for 290 yards and we lose, but Cutler looks great!
SOShit different day
I’m not even seeing the yardage on the rushes. I think, like the Ravens game, we’d be lucky to hit 45 yds rushing. Passing is probably going to be more like 150 to 170 yds. I just don’t see the offense getting on track at all in this next game and because of that our defense is probably going to give up some points as well.
So Deon FF finally got a sack?
I also have a sack!
If he’d have had a sack 3 years ago he would have had more sacks! 😉
Lmao @ the fish!!
LOL. 2 years from now Tim’s going to be saying “let go of anything that happened prior to this new head coach”.
I can honestly see us ending up 6-10 or 7-9, at best, when I look at the remainder of the season. James isn’t the best RT in the business but we’ve got nothing in depth behind him. Yeah, Larsen is coming back but it’s not going to be a “pick up where you left off” type of thing either. I’d be surprised there.
Nope, this offensive line is going to need to be overhauled this offseason and if it isn’t we’re going to be having these same conversations again next season. Bushrod was a last minute signing and it was almost like it was done out of desperation because we didn’t aggressively go after anyone else on the offensive line. We lost Urbik and Steen but when you consider that 4 out of the 5 starters played together last season even thought Pouncey only played 5 games you would still expect more consistency out of the offensive line.
If we do re-sign Bushrod for another year I hope it’s only for depth and not as a starter. When I had stated my wishes for free agents on the o-line during FA and Larsen was one of them and Schwenke was another I was putting more of an emphasis on depth than anything. I never imagined we’d be doing into the season looking at Larsen as the starting LG.
Jax is the number 1 rushing team in the league, and are you ready for this? who has the number 1 Defense in the league??
The PANTHERS! OH NO!
You stressing bro? Worried?
I want to say Thank You to all the veterans who have served our country so bravely. Thank you for the sacrifices you made, to allow us here the freedoms we currently enjoy.
Thank you sincerely! Happy Veterans Day!
we are 30th in rushing, we are 31st in passing
is the lack of all the offensive output contributed to the injuries/distractions?
If your running this team you should be aware of this lack of output and your response is to ship your best RB out of town?
This team needs a better leader starting at the top.
these guys running this show are going thru the motions and do not have a clue how to win in the NFL.
Hold on there a second pardner. We just shipped Ajayi last week, so we were 30th in rushing WITH Ajayi. Can you give Drake and Williams a chance? I think they did pretty well in their first game getting a decent amount of touches. Let’s see if they improve on that.
It was not just Ajayi, it’s a lack of effort along the OL, I watched Drake and Williams run the ball, they are not downhill RBs they have to have space to have progress.
This team is now has a cinderella offense just like we did with Philbin and Lazor
Suh may not play, injured knee
if i’m running this team i look at the numbers and poach the best OL/Blocking scheme coach in the league and promote him so i can poach him. i look at FA/draft and focus all my attention on RBs and OL and i force feed that football up the middle until i force teams to stop me. not doing this is the reason Miami can’t win
Ed Warriner Ohio State
I’m tired of the finesse blocking and would like to see us go in a different direction. I’d rather we start getting some bigger, stronger offensive linemen in their especially at the C position because Pouncey really struggles with the big defensive linemen.
We’re going to see if the guys in the front office are capable of earning their money in this next draft when we see who it is they bring in to help along the offensive line. If anyone. lol
I definitely agree with this. Not a fan of the finesse blocking, or the players that come with it. When it comes down to it, it’s moving guys, and I’d rather have a bunch of guys wearing down the opposing defense.
i also watched some of the OL run right past potential blocks ending up not blocking anyone while the RB behind them is getting tackled. it’s almost as if these guys have made their money and are avoiding contact, if i was running that team i would start cutting players like that, i’d rather lose than watch that crap. i just wonder when this team is sitting in the film room and watching this lack of effort what are they saying, it certainly would be very embarrassing if i were in that film room
Rob
Of course it wasn’t just Ajayi, but he wasn’t the answer to our problems either. Fix the O-line, and anyone we put back there will look great.
we went 10-6 last year with ajayi going over 1200 yards, we had a sustained running attack. what happened? we mostly had the same guys.
I’ve said it a 100 times, but I’ll say it again, he got 624 in 3 games, so 576 yards in 13 games really sucks. He just wasn’t consistent. His great games helped us win, but he was very far from great most of the time. We’re going to have to find more consistency, and I think that’s what we’re working towards.
i dis agree mike, first of all he didn’t even play in the beginning of the year, he did not have a full 16 weeks of a starting rb running the football, and when he didn’t gain the yardage in some games it was because teams were focusing their attention on him so other areas of the offense such as the outside passing game had less attention.
it’s not a coincidence that when he ran for 100+ yards miami was undefeated. as a coach 100+ yards by one power rb should be your goal as this relates to winning
it wasn’t until the middle of october that he broke out against pittsburgh to start his run on the yardage
of course we are missing brandon albert
Rob – Ajayi started from Game 4, so basically 64 yards per game other than 200+ games.
you’re cherry picking mike, the 200+ yard games count also, if he started 12 games and rushed for over 1200 yards that avgs 100 yards+ per game, if teams had to focus on stopping him other areas were open, not to mention being thrust into the starting roll had a learning curve with him and the guys blocking for him at first. he really didn’t break out until the pittsburgh game week 6. he was averaging 5 yards a carry! don’t you think that opposing Ds had a priority of stopping him after back to back 200+ games? if he didn’t rush for 100 yards in a game the outside should have been open due to overcrowding in the box.
That’s not cherry picking at all. It just shows a lack of consistency. The real studs in this league put up big numbers week in and week out. Ajayi isn’t one of those guys. We’ll see if maybe he can do it in Philly, but he wasn’t that guy here.
Mike are you trying to say that we can simply pass our way to the superbowl? that running the ball is over rated?
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It’s amazing, I have some kind of mental block. I can never remember who our RB was at the start of last year, Arian Foster.
It really doesn’t matter, Ajayi is gone. we need a running back that runs down hill and an OL to block for him, otherwise we will not contend
BTW Mike, saw your 3 games and 13 games comments, but he didn’t play 16 games for us last year.
He was left at home for the first game of the year at Seattle. 😎
Yep, made a mistake
Mike E. says:
November 11, 2017 at 10:16 am
The real studs in this league put up big numbers week in and week out. Ajayi isn’t one of those guys.
__________________________________________________
were you saying this prior to the trade?
Of course not, because I hoped Ajayi would be one of those guys eventually, but now that’s over and done. I did say 100 times last year though that our running game was very inconsistent, and it drove me crazy how it was like a light switch, either ON or OFF. I loved the J-Train, because I hoped he’d put up a big game every week, but he wasn’t doing that.
Ajayi was one of the best RB in the league.
He wasn’t inconsistent, sometimes we left him at home or didn’t block for him, sometimes the game plan went to the pass when we are behind and losing.
He always bring everything to the table..
Leveon Bell had 32 yards against browns, and 47 against Jax,
But 179 against KC, and 144 against Balty.
I don’t see running backs clearing a hundred every week steady, they are up and down, along with the team, or the game plan. This isn’t a consistancy problem IMO, it’s just the way it is.
*He always brought
Also, we are on MNF? . No wonder MNF ratings are down, they let anyone in. Lol and jk
What a gutsy performance by Bryce Love last night. …30 carries, 166 yds, 3 TDs. All on a bad ankle. …big heart and tough as nails. Gotta love this kid.
How big is he? is he big enough for NFL play? for us?
We need a big back, is that the consensus of the blog? a bruiser-back.
Or is that what Ajayi was? and he did not fit Gase ‘s system.
Fournette is a big back, but he’s a good receiver out of the backfield as well. I’d bet Gase would be happy with Fournette
5-10 195. He will probably have to be part of a 2 RB system. I’m not sure he can carry the whole load. He’s tough, but does take a lot of hits. You’re probably looking at a 10-15 touch guy, not 25-30.
At this point, I’m tired of looking at numbers. I just want football players that are tough and love to play the game. Just give me a good big o-line, 2 good TEs, and a tough runner or two. …That would be a good start on offense.
Armando Salguero
@ArmandoSalguero
Miami Dolphins RT Ja’Wuan James is being placed on injured reserve today, per NFL source.
That’s not good . . . Take one step ahead, take one step back. 😦
Not surprised. We’re not allowed to have all our OL healthy playing together. 😦
Least we now have Larsen back. Still pretty sure that means we stick with quick release stuff though.
One comes back another goes down.
If we can’t get the Left side of Norte Dame’s o-line in the 1st, then I want one of those guys in the 1st and Billy Price from Ohio St in the 2nd.
Correction- Notre Dame
Nice mid-season review of the D by Barry Jackson. PFF stuff is interesting, but his comments make it worth the read.
http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/barry-jackson/article184094161.html
Draft needs:
OL
OL
OL
TE
OL
OL
OL
Lol, not far off.
Maybe a RB and a young QB too
If we go all offense in the upcoming draft, I would like to see 2 OL, 2 TE, and a RB in the first 4 rounds. If we go any defense, I love Bradley Chubb from NC St. …What a future combo Chubb and Harris would make at DE.
Ken check out this Avengers v Justixe League epic battle
Hulk kicks ass
Lol
Yeah….. Need to get another QB in too…..
So just one less OL pick. Lol
Yea, QB is definitely going to be a wildcard this off season and heading into the draft. It will be interesting what we end up doing at that position.