SO, our disappointing season continues as we host the hapless Denver Broncos, who oddly enough, are in worse shape than our Dolphins at 3-8. This game is meaningless for us the fans, but to players, the games still matter, because they get paid, and they have a job to do, and for some, they are looking to make a positive impression on the coaches to earn a spot on the roster. In the big picture, it would probably be better for us to lose out, and finish the season 4-12, and end up with a top 5 pick, but Coach Gase and probably the majority of the players don’t want to see that.
I’m not even sure what to expect from our team this week. Denver is hurting in the secondary with the 1 game suspension of Aqib Talib, so one might think Devante Parker should feast. The reality is, even with Jay Cutler at QB, who loves Parker, they just can’t seem to have a big game together. His best game this season was probably game 1 against the Chargers where he caught 4 passes for 85 yards, but he scored his ONLY TD in Week 2 in the final second of a 20-6 loss against the Jets. Remember before the season all the talk about what a great year Parker is going to have, he was tearing it up in training camp, practice and even the preseason? BLAH BLAH BLAH, he’s completely underperformed again, along with the rest of the team. Broken record.
Some here will be rooting for a loss, some for a win, and others don’t even care anymore and won’t bother to watch. I’ll watch, I have to, but if it wasn’t for FF, I might find other things to do on Sundays at this point. I think when I sit down to watch, I just hope I can see something that gives me hope that we can be a good team. Show me some good play in all phases and beat the Broncos 34-3. I’d rather lose than have us win a slopfest 13-10 or something, and I really mean that. That win, to me at least is meaningless. If we’re going to win, at least give us something to watch.
Finsmob Unleashed 
No big rebuttal from me, because I agree with what jahn is saying, we disagree on the hit. I initially agreed on the hit too but once I slowed the play down I could see the impact started with a shoulder to the chest. They did helmet to helmet but it was after initial impact. Did he intend to light him up, with no concern for injury, I’d say without a doubt, but I still think the hit was by NFL rules, legal. There is a difference between legal and ethical though, especially on that hit
Incidentally Piggy was at least partially right, the reply did get a page turn. Oh and first!
Lol@ you still getting the page turn
PIGGY: Mrs. OD says to thank you for running that marvelous photo of Dan the Man and the Don of Miami. This charity event is a very special fundraiser for the Marino Foundation! BRAVO to the two greatest names in the history of the Miami Dolphins franchise!!!
What about Bill Parcels and Jeff Ireland???
PAGE TURN, BOB SEGER
Our O-Line through 12 games this season, via Football Outsiders…
Run-blocking
#31 in run-blocking at 3.18 ALY (Adjusted Line Yards)
#23 in power success at 60%
#31 in stuffed ranking at 29%
#22 in second-level yards at 1.07
#7 in open-field yards at .99
Pass-protection
#10 in ASR (Adjusted Sack Rate) at 6.0%
Adjusted Line Yards when rushing toward…
LEFT END: #29 at 1.80
LEFT TACKLE: #23 at 3.39
MID/GUARD: #30 at 3.37
RIGHT TACKLE: #31 at 2.56
RIGHT END: #11 at 4.00
How often we rush toward…
LEFT END: 7% of the time
LEFT TACKLE: 11% of the time
MID/GUARD: 58% of the time
RIGHT TACKLE: 16% of the time
RIGHT END: 8% of the time
—————
My notes…
1) If Gase wants to run up the gut more than half the time (58%), we’d better find a better run-blocking Center than Pouncey and his degenerating hips. Arkansas’ FRANK RAGNOW and Ohio State’s BILLY PRICE fit the bill with POWER. What’s more, they both can play Guard (positional versatility). I think Pouncey is in serious jeopardy of at least getting restructured, at worse getting cut (maybe traded?).
2) Again, if Gase wants to run up the gut more than half the time (58%), we’d better prioritize the Guard positions with POWER. Notre Dame’s QUENTON NELSON is a pure match.
3) It will be interesting to see what we do with Ja’Wuan James and his pending $9M 5th-year extension in ’18, post-injury this season. We can cut him without a hit, but he’s been fairly good for us this season. If he’s cut, we may get after a RT early in the Draft or via FA.
4) It would seem Anthony Fasano’s run-blocking has paid off at off-Tackle/end. Pray he doesn’t retire and we re-sign him next season. If he does retire (rumors are out there), we’re going to need a new blocking TE.
5) Keep your eyes on Jesse Davis and Sam Young the rest of the season. If one of the two are deemed potential starters next season, it’s going to help. Kenyan Drake is BALLING with the two of them on the right side as of late.
6) We prioritized pass-protection after years of Tannehill getting killed behind the O-Line. Cutler’s pocket awareness has helped a lot this season, but will it benefit Tannehill next year? In trying to upgrade run-blocking, we mustn’t drop the ball in pass-pro. The above mentioned NELSON, RAGNOW, and PRICE all fit the bill in both run-blocking and pass-pro.
7) We need to get BIGGER, STRONGER, and FASTER on the O-Line for ’18… regardless of the scheme or O-Line coach next season. If we don’t address as much by day 2 of the ’18 Draft, Tannenbaum/Grier need to be shown the door immediately after. We won’t have the $$$ to make significant upgrades via FA unless we allow Jarvis Landry to walk (BAD IDEA).
One more thing… Kenyan Drake is going to be NASTY if we can fix our O-Line. We’re already ranked #7 in open-field yards behind our current joke of an O-Line when Drake can miracle his way to the second level. Imagine what he could do if our O-Line could consistently spring him.
Drake has the potential to be a hybrid of Ajayi/Lamar Miller if the stars align on the O-Line.
To me he is a little of Miller and Bell, his receiving ability is as elite as Bell’s as many people commented during his time at Alabama (and i think Gase has said it a couple of times too) that he runs routes as well as almost any receiver they have seen. I have seen him take the top off a defense before running a deep post.
we are minus 20.1 in DVOA the only teams worse are indy clev and den
The yards that are up the middle are the tough yards, we need an explosive big back and a center and guards who can provide push, get that and the rest is cake.
One day i think im going to go for a post that on its own merit would require its own page, and page turn, i wonder if this web site system is prepared for something that triggers two rules, all of a post on one page, and page turn after so many lines. Overload the system with contradicting logic, my hypothesis is i may shut the internet down by cascading failures.
I know there are always well does this guy move well enough for our system or does this guy have enough power for that system. OL is about instincts and technique. A lot of other limitations can be overcome by those two things. IMO we need to stop arguing the best ZBS OG for us, etc, and just look at the best OG for us. We also hybrid up our blocking schemes so we aren’t a ZBS teamor a PBS team, we are a mix. I still assert that Gabe Jackson was the right guy for us, back when he was draft, and i feel we would have been much better off right now had we drafted him, but instead of crying over spilt milk, lets just learn from the mistake, that we should consider players, even if they don’t have “perfect fit” written all over them, but do have perfect OG written all over.
I think Asiata is going to be fine once he gets over the hump, and it may not be that he hasnt, it may be that Gase feels he needs to not experiment with a new guy right now, as he probably knows its going to come with adjustments and the rest of the OL compensating for it will destabilize the line and get us another injury at QB.
I do think we have to get more talent there and stack quality behind the starters, so we owe it to ourselves to invest int he draft and FA (though we need to be smart with how much we invest through FA) fairly heavily this next off-season. We have some other places of concern though, so it cant be all we do, but it does need a good helping of lovin’.
DVOA is important because its why we keep finding ourselves in 3rd and long. I agree we need to get better results on first and second to put us in better spots to be 3rd and short, but again, thats highly dependent on the circumstance you are in. We are passing on 1st and 2nd downs a good bit because we are playing from behind. I bet if you check all the games we played where we were in a tight game all the way through or had the lead for all or at least most of the game, you would find our DVOA was great there and we were running on 1st and second and the number of rushes in those games was balancing out the passes, etc etc. Our problem hasnt always been something we were choosing to do, its something we reverted to doing. DVOA is another stat that is skewed by playing behind on the score.
why are we falling behind? maybe because we are inefficient at running the ball and controlling the game early?
it all points back to running the ball. it should be this teams priority this off season.
taking nothing away from Drake what’s perplexing is Gase giving up his #1 RB, I know Tanny was a big loss this year but i think the loss of Ajayi was even bigger.
we could do nothing about the loss of Tanny but Ajayi is a real head scratcher to me??
and has caused me to question whether Gase is the right man for the job, from the outside looking in he seems to be vindictive as was the case with removing ajayi and the onside kick to kill the broncos. if he is that’s a bad trait for this job, cast everything aside i want to get even with this dude, just speculation though.
I understand he was our starting RB, but i think too much credit is given him for being effective. Im seeing unable to run and falling behind at least partially due to Ajayi not sticking to the script. The argument probably boils down to if you believe that statement or not. I personally have no inside information to refute it so im going with Gase was telling the truth.I also see a lot of the game situations from looking at play by plays for those games and it seems to show not failure to run earlier, but inability, and big time in several games with Ajayi. We are improving that statistics right now with Drake and Williams.
Like Gase was saying, if he just hit the assigned hole he probably gets a hard 3 yards, but then thats keeps you in the range you want to be for 2nd down, and then if they run again and he gets another 3, it sets up 3rd and short, and eventually one of those runs are going to break and its going to get his average back up, but he was more concerned with hitting a big run every time, and wond up getting nothing and a lot of times losing yards which completely screws the rest of the series and DVOA.
Incidentally i can see the other side of the argument and i understand that is also how it can be seen, and i think the big pivot point is i trust what Gase has been saying, and i believe you feel like its excuses from a HC who isnt doing a good enough job with his players and/or offensive design and play calls.
I hope that if we do find ourselves in an “eliminated from postseason” state, we play some of the players we need to eval, like Asiata, Smith, Derby, Anthony, McTyer, Lucas, Malveaux, Taylor, Caroo, and give Aikens and Thomas opportunities in the starting position player lineup to get a better evaluation there of if we should keep them for having ST and position backup potential, or just take our chances letting them walk and getting other ST people to step up and be contributors. Id kinda like to see them bring up Morgan and Gabe Wright as well just to give them a true evaluation but we would have to cut someone to bring them up.
I dont think Ajayi was the only problem but i do think he chunk of it, the trade deadline was just a good point of jumping ship on part of why it wasnt working. I see that move as a start to making changes to do just waht you (OCRob) are saying you should do, becauseif you cannot control the actions of you RB, its goona fail more than succeed.
I expect they will continue to focus on fixing it, because you can see from other games, he will run as long as its effective and prudent (ie if we have a lead or only a small defecit). So he shows he puts value on running the ball. I also believe some of the falling behind has to be credited to turnovers, the really poor discipline and getting drive killing penalties, bad complimentary football, ie the defense letting us down while the offense continues to struggle, and ST’s miscues that off an on we have seen time to time this season. So there are targets that are not directly related to running the ball that are also creating the problems with DVOA.
I suspect that his lack of snaps in Philly (this week was the first time he led the team in RB snaps) has something to do with the idea that a RB needs to do his homework so he knows where the play is blocked and why. That impacts RB results two-fold, 1) he knows where to run when he gets the ball 2) he knows where to block when their youmg franchise QB is throwing the ball.
The Flying Pig says:
December 5, 2017 at 9:32 pm
I look forward to D’s rebuttal to Jahns 752 post
Should take about 2 page turns
______________________________________________
Lol…well played Piggy, well played!
I don’t know what ever happened to Krillian, but if you could get him, myself and D posting on any given day you’d have years worth of content to read. lol…
Are you near the wildfires?
I assume no since I think you are near Oakland but the west coast is a different universe to me so I don’t know any better
M
Glad to see those O-line evaluations. I don’t think we get it done consistently, moving people enough to give the back a crease, and if we struggle with it enough during a game, we have to find other means of moving the ball, and that’s why we throw the ball so often in some games.
*********************
D
I’d like to see Asiata, but I’m not sure he’s ever going to be an NFL starter. I’d love him to be, because I think we need some nasty on that line. I would hope it would become contagious.
I dont really think that not seeing him already this is such a bad mark against him, its probably not the greatest and i know a lot of us thought he might be starting but as rookie 5th round selections go, not shocking not to be seeing him right now. I also noticed something just now. Dolphins have him listed at 341 and he was 323 for combine, i wonder if part of it is conditioning that is keeping him out.
Holy Fuck!
We’re on fire. Ventura, 40 miles south of me has evacuated 1/2 of it’s population…that’s 50k people….that shot is from LA, which is a smaller fire, but right near UCLA in a very very populated area.
The sky…..is on fire….Bad Company.
Jahn
I doubt you have time to watch anything on TV, let alone this silly show, but I find it amusing, and I make my wife sit through it with me. Seth McFarland wrote and produces this show called “The Orville”, which is a campy remake of a Star Trek like show, but it’s a comedy/drama. Anyway to get to the point, there is an alien race called the Krill in the show, and that’s what I called Krillian, so I always think of that when they are in the show.
These are Krill . . .
The one on the left is actually Seth McFarland disguised as a Krill
The real Star Trek has Krill doesn’t it?is
I don’t think so, maybe?
That’s how I always pictured Krillian actually. LOL…
Yeah, I’m 300 miles from Oakland Piggy. I’m 100 miles north of LA proper and 100 miles south of San Luis Obispo. We’re very much in SoCal although most residents like to claim to be “Central Coast”. There are bumper stickers here that say “Keep LA 100 Miles Away!”
May as well be Saturn to me
You’d love it. It’s like Saturn, only with breathable air (well, usually, when there’s not a raging fire going on), sunshine. Pretty girls, amazing beer and beaches.
I believe it
I was in Orange County 4-5 years ago and didn’t want to leave
The northeast sucks but it’s my life so oink goes on
D,
I think the problem with Ajayi had little to do with him ad libbing and more to do with a distraction, Gase left him home in the first game they played (Seattle) last year, That shows a conflict right there before any of his running tendencies were known.
i heard rumblings of Ajayi yelling at the coaches showing his displeasure of not getting enough touches this year.
he got minimal touches in both losses @NY and N.O.’s
he got 11 touches in the Balt game, after the loss i’m sure he was livid. and soon after he was traded. so i feel it’s safe to assume that his running style had little to do with his exit and more to do with bitching about not getting the carries.
if you go back to last season i don’t care how you cut it this team rode ajayi to a 10-6 season
I think it’s as simple as what Gase said, he wasn’t taking work home with him and because of that he was making costly mental errors in games. At some point enough is enough and you don’t keep a guy around just because he’s moderately talented, (and lets not make him out to be an all-pro, he’s not) if he’s not willing to put in the work to help his team mates.
I like Ajayi, ,and in fact I traded for him in FF after the Philly trade, but he’s not the solution to all of our woes, in fact, he may have been part of the cause.
Albert BreerVerified account
@AlbertBreer
15m15 minutes ago
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Per source, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s new contract is a five-year extension, taking him to the start of the 2024 League Year.
That just tells you the majority of the owners like him. That’s really all that counts.
Rightly or wrongly, I feel this is a BAD decision for the NFL (like I had to say that, LOL).
Armando SalgueroVerified account
@ArmandoSalguero
12m12 minutes ago
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Miami Dolphins summon free agents to workouts, sign two
http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/armando-salguero/article188387624.html
We FINALLY kicked the tires on Larry Webster, Jr! Too bad we didn’t sign him. *sigh*
M13, Goodell is your inner OD’s Stephen Ross.
This is TRUE! LOL
We all have to wrestle with our own Stephen Ross of our inner OD
For me it’s pants
Once we get rid of pants in our society and have free flowing farts I will be at peace
I don’t think I’m alone on this one
I was totally behind your pants free campaign until I figured out it was about free flowing farts. Boo!
The last place you want to be is behind my pants free campaign
Or downwind in general.
LOL @ Piggy
She either wants the hard salami
Or I’m mince meat
No tellin’ which
Is that from a song, or a real life experience?
The fires in Cali are horrifying. Hoping for the best for everyone.
GOOD NEWS from FAU football. Ace running back Devin (Motor) Singletary today was awarded C-USA’s Offensive Player of the year Award. The sophomore rushed for 1794 yards and 29 touchdowns, plus he caught another TD pass for a total of 30 TOUCHDOWNS, tops in Division I football. –Also, my Brother-In-Law called me at work to inform me that FAU is favored by 22 and 1/2 points in their Dec. 19 bowl game against Akron. Perhaps the best news I heard today was a report that Lane Kiffen, apparently, is staying at FAU for another season. That said, I would not be shocked if Oregon gives him a call to replace former Ducks head coach Willie Taggart, who is now the HC of Florida State. This makes Mark Richt, of the Miami Hurricanes, the longest tenured coach of the Sunshine State’s 7 Division I programs!!
Kevin Sumlin wants the Oregon job he stalled talks with UCF waiting for the job to open. Not sure where it stands at the moment that was something I heard yesterday.
Let’s be honest. Is an offensive guard worth a first round pick?
Think of it as “Is finally fixing our O-line worth a 1st RD pick?
If that’s what the net result is, I think we all know the answer . . .
Do you need an offensive lineman in the first round to fix the offensive line?
I mean, if you can get Billy Price in the 2nd and he solves your issue at LG isn’t it just as good? And I honestly don’t think it’s where we pick them as much as it is that we actually pick offensive linemen.
If it’s a Zack Martin type player, yes. If it’s gonna take two years, no. You never know even though most scouts thought Martin would be the real deal and he is.
I just look at it from the point of view that first round picks are reserved for playmakers. That playmaking WR or LB. Even DT. Someone who can impact a game. An offensive guard isn’t going to impact a game all by himself. It takes 5 guys working together, doing their jobs, to get it done.
I comeptlely agree
If it’s Zach Martin yes or even Mike Iupati in his prime years
But generally nI. I don’t want to draft the next Jonathan cooper. Frankly I don’t want to draft the next Mike Pouncey either
People are saying good things about Nelson though
And our OL has to be a priority
I say no except for DeCastro. But no fuck it waste of a pick. When in doubt take a front seven player lol.
DeCastro was the other one I was trying to think of
He’s just starting to turn into a very good player but he was up and down early in his career
DeCastro had a season ending injury either his first or second season, so that slowed him down right there.
Knowing this regime, we’ll go with a premier position in the 1st rd. But I do know they are a BPA group, not a need group.
They are not BPA they’re BPA at a position they’ve prioritized
I sure hope so. I’d rather see them pick a guy like Roquan Smith than a guard if we’re sitting there at #11 on draft day.
https://247sports.com/Article/247Sports-football-recruiting-Debating-Trevor-Lawrence-or-Justin-Fields-111838848
Couple of high school qbs that are really being praised
If we want to go with Tanny for a couple more years we can think bout drafting one of these guys is 2022…lol
The one dude looks like Ellen Degeneras
LMAO!! I actually think in the bottom picture, if he had dark hair, he could look like Cher. lol
NEW BLOG UP!
Lou
I’m not saying we have to draft an OL in the 1st, but if he’s a great player, and he does complete our O-line, I’m down for it. Is it necessary to draft an OL early, maybe yes, maybe no.