Adam Gase's late playcalling under microscope as Dolphins blow golden opportunity

This is not a surprised but lets see what he does when Miami play the Bills later on today....

Cameron Wolfe wrote:There's plenty of blame to go around, but Dolphins coach Adam Gase's fourth-quarter playcalling deserves the most scrutiny.
Miami's final two offensive drives were oddly scripted and poorly executed three-and-outs. The first of those drives started at Miami's 25-yard line with 8:26 left in the fourth quarter and a 24-17 lead. The Dolphins took just 43 seconds off the clock. Tannehill threw two incompletions on short passes, and the drive ended with a Kenyan Drake draw on third-and-10 that lost five yards.
Gase said he started that drive with two passes, despite the team's running the ball well with Gore and Drake, because the Colts were sending heavy run blitzes.

http://www.espn.com/blog/miami-dolphins/post/_/id/28192/adam-gases-late-playcalling-under-microscope-as-dolphins-blow-golden-opportunity

It like this guys knows how to makes excuses to cover himself like a kid getting caught in a lie

Classic example of a coach NOT putting his team/players in the best position to be successful. This loss is squarely on the HC. If they lose going down with a fight, that is one thing, but to just blatantly go ultra-conservative is just unacceptable.

scotgif wrote:Classic example of a coach NOT putting his team/players in the best position to be successful.

That sentence could sum up Gase's tenure with the Phins.

How about the final drive today, when the Phins are actually moving the ball pretty well. Gase calls a wildcat, and Ballage gets tackled for a loss. Why the hell are you calling a wildcat there? WTF???? If Allen was able to connect with Clay on that final play, the damn wildcat would have been responsible for the loss.

Calling it now, next time the Fins have the lead and the ball with 5 minutes left, Gase orders the offense to go into the victory formation and kneel. Afterwards he tells the media that the D was taking everything away and he thought it was best to just not make a mistake by doing something as foolish as attempting to move the ball forward.

Seriously, I can totally see that happening.

This is starting to remind me of some of the Dumbstedt...er...Wannstedt... calls when the HC stuck with a QB he KNEW could not be counted on to win the game, thus giving him an excuse, so he was always ready to play ultra-conservative and lean on the defense. Dumbstedt at one time HAD a fairly good defense.

Gase, who is SUPPOSED to be a QB whisperer, and is SUPPOSED to be an offensive genius, and is SUPPOSED to trust Tannehill as his starter, and is SUPPOSED to think Tannehill is the answer, does not have a good defense; nowhere close; and definitely does not have an excuse for playing like the defense is the best chance to win the game IMHO; apparently doesn't trust Tannehill and definitely doesn't seem to think he is the answer.

The more you examine the coaching, the front office, and the owner, you can see one fact becoming clear as day: NOT ONE OF THESE GOOBERS KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE DOING!

Oh, they can put on a front and ACT like a GM, act like a HC, act like a DC...but where it really matters, in the proof, on the field, the Coaching is BAD, the defensive scheme is a recipe for losing, and the next indication the front office has a clue, will be the FIRST CLUE they have ever shown, and the Owner...at least he admits he doesn't know anything about football.

My biggest gripe with Ross is he never seems to realize just how scroogied up the team is until it is too late. He stuck with Philbin one year too long (Actually two too long IMHO), and it was clear Tannenbaum was a disaster from the beginning, and yet he stayed the course, and now the Phins are looking at a rebuild, and next year's draft is short on franchise QBs IMO.

If Ross wants to lose Phin Phans and have a franchise that is MEDIOCRE AT BEST....then he has suceeded. If he wants something different, he needs to TRY something different.

finfanatic wrote:
Gase, who is SUPPOSED to be a QB whisperer, and is SUPPOSED to be an offensive genius..........

I honestly didn't think that he was the right guy to begin with. In all actuality, I think he was lucky. Tebow didn't play great. He had an outstanding defense and a balanced offense. He made one play at the right time, to the right route, against the wrong defense. Then he had Peyton Manning, IDGAF who your coordinator is, you don't tell Peyton Manning not to audible. If you did your ass would be fired. Alas, there's his last stint before the HC of the Dolphins. He coached CUTLER, to his best statistical year as a Pro. Now tell me if goes from #32 ranked QB to the 25th ranked QB isn't that by nature the best statistical year the QB has ever had? It only means that Cutler was just a bad QB with an arm. In no way does a small sample size like that warrant a HC job.

McCarthy intrigues me

With the Defense that the Broncos had, there was no way they would do horrible. They made the offense look good most times and that helped Gase cause as well. in fact, I believe that Gase was never that great of a coach in the first place and that Miami making to the playoffs his first year was a fluke.

finfanatic wrote:
My biggest gripe with Ross is he never seems to realize just how scroogied up the team is until it is too late.

If Ross wants to lose Phin Phans and have a franchise that is MEDIOCRE AT BEST....then he has succeeded. If he wants something different, he needs to TRY something different.

My thing is ross, if nothing else is a business man. He MUST realize how the team is looked at by the majority of: the local and national media, and the local fans. He LOVES to make a splash. LOVES to make the sexy, big-name signing. LOVES to have the spotlight shining on his team and stadium. HOW in the world can he justify sticking with this group if they do not make the playoffs (Even a first round KO is better than no playoff)?

Even if they go 8-8 I would applaud him if he blew the FO up (including boy wonder) because it would make a BOLD statement that a mediocre/.500 team is JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH. And this is not the standard that he has for his team and for the team's fans.

Now, do I think that this will happen? Probably not, but at what point does ross FINALLY realize that mediocre is just not good enough?

Usually the bottom line is money. I know the profits have to be WAY down. I know for a fact that I only went to two games this year, when I could have gone to every home game, but I said enough is enough.

Will the P/L statement be the ONLY thing to get ross to do the right thing and end this horror show and bring in a strong football CZAR and let him pick and build his organization?

Just what exactly do you sell the fans for next year if he brings these goobers back? Year 8 of the Tannehill tenure? Third and ten draw plays? Pre-snap penalties? Old FA's that get hurt? LB's that can't cover me? First round DE picks with 1 sack in two years? Wildcat plays that get blown up? Rookie 2nd round TE picks that can not create separation?

My main question is who is in ross's ear advising him? I can think of two names to give advise, Dan Marino and Don Shula.

The Tannehill thing, I'm not sure we have much of a choice but to keep him around. It seems like the smart play, along with drafting a QB. We should have already had a QB drafted, of course, but from today going ahead, we need to both have a QB and find a QB. They dug this hole for themselves.

My main question is who is in ross's ear advising him? I can think of two names to give advise, Dan Marino and Don Shula.

My guess is that Tannenbaum somehow still has his ear. Probably due to their personal relationship that goes back before Tannenbaum joined the team in his current capacity.

When does his voice get stale? When does the track record of continual failure finally catch up to him? Your guess is as good as mine.

Love Marino as a QB. Skeptical about this skills as a front office executive. Not sure there's much for Ross to lean on there, other than "he cares". But really, ALL football people care about one thing - keeping their job. Best way to do it is win.

scotgif wrote:

Even if they go 8-8 I would applaud him if he blew the FO up (including boy wonder) because it would make a BOLD statement that a mediocre/.500 team is JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH. And this is not the standard that he has for his team and for the team's fans.

Now, do I think that this will happen? Probably not, but at what point does ross FINALLY realize that mediocre is just not good enough?

That's the thing...the team is mediocre at best right now, at this moment. There's no denying that - it is what it is.  But what Ross has to do is step back and truly assess - where is this team headed?  Are we building something that is on target to be championship-caliber in the near future?  If Ross is honest with himself, the obvious answer is "NO".  And if we are in fact not building a champion, than what the hell are we doing?  Treading water simply isn't enough, and there's absolutely no evidence that we are trending in the right direction.

Think about this: who are the players on this team that we can build around?  The list is small:

On offense - Tunsil is a building block...he's not an All Pro and probably never will be, but he's a solid piece to the puzzle.  I don't see anyone else at that level on offense.  Not at QB, OL, RB, WR or TE.  Drake is a nice complementary piece, but I'm talking about stud building blocks.  

On defense - Howard is a building block.  Fitzpatrick might be a building block.  And that's it on defense.  No other studs at DE, DT, LB, CB or S.

Now, in their year-end assessment meetings, I'm sure Tannenbaum, Grier and Gase will bring up other names in an attempt to keep their jobs.  But looking at it objectively, the 2-3 players I mentioned above are really all we have.  Every other player on this team is essentially a JAG.  Sure, there are degrees of JAGs, but really, there is not one other player on this roster that you can point to and say "if you want to build a winner, that guy is a key piece".  NOT ONE.  And that's not my opinion - that is an objective FACT.

If Ross opens his eyes, it's clear that this goddamn structure needs to be burned down and built back up, from the ground up.  No more half-measures, and no more accepting mediocrity.  The people in charge of this team have failed, and it's time to start over.

The only good news here is that a LT, CB and CB/FS are good building blocks to start with. All are premium positions in the NFL.

Puts the "need" focus squarely on QB and DE. Fill in the rest however, but get those building blocks first.

A COMPETENT regime could pull this off in relatively short order. Our current regime will simply churn, release guys worth keeping, replace with guys that are busts/hurt, upgrade at some spots, downgrade at others. In short, treading water.

white1 wrote:The only good news here is that a LT, CB and CB/FS are good building blocks to start with.  All are premium positions in the NFL.

Puts the "need" focus squarely on QB and DE.  Fill in the rest however, but get those building blocks first.

A COMPETENT regime could pull this off in relatively short order.  Our current regime will simply churn, release guys worth keeping, replace with guys that are busts/hurt, upgrade at some spots, downgrade at others.  In short, treading water.

Yep, exactly.

I'd add WR to the list of huge needs. I know all the stats about how the top WRs currently have won a total of 0 Super Bowls, but goddamn...I don't think I can stand another season of watching the garbage we parade out there at WR week to week. Even when Albert Wilson was healthy...he only had one game with more than 74 yards receiving; most games he did nothing. Kenny Stills is our best receiver, and that's just sad. This team DESPERATELY needs both a go-to receiver for key situations (3rd downs, red zone) AND a big, strong, physical receiver that can dominate games and consistently win one-on-one matchups. Of course, we also need a playcaller that knows how to use offensive weapons...but anything's gotta be better than watching this group of smurfs. Including Wilson and Grant in the discussion, we don't even have a #2 receiver - let alone a #1.

OK, WR rant over. But yeah, I agree - a competent front office could turn this team into a winner fairly quickly. Even very quickly if they find a QB. But no, we'll stick with Tannenbaum and Gase, and trot out Tannehill again and let him "compete" against Fales, Falk and an undrafted rookie. Garbage in garbage out, repeat.

To be honest we don't need WR as bad as we think. Amendola and Wilson are healthy they are good. Parker is proving to be a keeper as long as he is on the field. Miami needs to look into the LG and RG. both are horrible and need to be replaced. Miami is currently in the 14th spot in the draft and to be honest Miami can only get higher. Miami plays both the Pats and the Viks which I can see both as loses.

QB is also a need but I not seeing to many 1st round picks coming out of this coming draft. There has to be competition for Tannehill if Miami wants to see if he is a real franchise player.

rightchea wrote:To be honest we don't need WR as bad as we think. Amendola and Wilson are healthy they are good. Parker is proving to be a keeper as long as he is on the field. Miami needs to look into the LG and RG. both are horrible and need to be replaced. Miami is currently in the 14th spot in the draft and to be honest Miami can only get higher. Miami plays both the Pats and the Viks which I can see both as loses.

QB is also a need but I not seeing to many 1st round picks coming out of this coming draft. There has to be competition for Tannehill if Miami wants to see if he is a real franchise player.

Totally disagree on the WRs. I think the position is a huge, gaping hole and a big reason this offense doesn't score points and sucks on 3rd down. Amendola is not a gamechanger. He's just a possession receiver and is good for 10 yards per catch max, and he's 33 years old and at the back-end of his career. Wilson is a player that will have a good game here and there if he manages to break a tackle for a big gain, but otherwise he is also a minimal-yardage player most of the time. He's very small and you have to pick your spots with him...he's a slot receiver that only Gase thinks can be an outside receiver, but he can't consistently beat top corners. He's also coming off a major injury. Parker is a waste of everybody's time, and should be doing anything other than playing football. I'm so done with him and his "hey, look at me, every 6 games I make a good play" routine.

I agree receivers are a need. However I would look for value there vs using a high draft pick or signing an expensive free agent.

Our resources need to go to the trenches. We now need two defensive ends, and we need an upgrade at all 3 interior offensive line spots. We could use another DT too.

That’s easily six players I would prioritize over making the first move at receiver.

So while I agree it’s a need, on my list it’s pretty far down.

I won't even talk about how much better shape this team would be in if they hadn't choked away the Colts and Bengals games. Nope, no negativity today!