Game Thoughts: Week 15: Dolphins at Giants

The Dolphins lost their second consecutive game in New Jersey today, getting blown out by the Giants in Met Life Stadium. The Giants are awful, but they completely dominated the Dolphins in the second half and won 36-20 in a game that wasn’t as close as the score might indicate. In a season of terrible Dolphin losses, this one ranks as one of the worst, considering the opponent.

The Dolphins took a 10-7 lead into the half, and then promptly fell apart. The offense, despite spending most of the afternoon in Giants territory, couldn’t score. The running game was non-existent and the passing game didn’t bother to show up in the second half. The defense did manage to get 3 INTs, but was shredded in the air and on the ground.

This was a sloppy, uninspired effort by the Dolphins filled with penalties, dropped passes, missed tackles, zero pass rush, a missed FG and just overall piss-poor play. It was an awful effort in all phases of the game, and there was really nothing positive to take away and it was a major step back in the development of this team.

Apologies for the short write-up, but this game was trash and there’s not much else to say. I’ll just end by saying congratulations to Giants’ QB Eli Manning, who likely played in his final NFL game today. While I don’t think he is Hall of Fame worthy (though many would disagree), he had a great career and has been a class act all the way.

Hero of the Game: DeVante Parker gets the nod for his 72-yard, 2 TD effort (one in garbage time), but realistically, in a blowout loss no one is worthy of the award. Aside from a decent play here and there, mostly in the first half, the whole team sucked and isn’t deserving of any praise.

Goat of the Game: In a collective effort, the award goes to both the horrific OL and the Swiss cheese defense.

Beer of the Game: I had a Heineken and a few margaritas.

I think we've seen all we need to see out of this season.

If they don't blast several homeruns with offseason acquisitions (draft and otherwise) then we need a new front office.

I hope they have provided for several plans of attack, because things have changed significantly on the draft front.

That's weird, because when I looked at the box score there was absolutely nothing about it that would've indicated a 16-point Giants win. If you had told me before the game that Eli would throw 3 picks, the Fins would actually hit triple digit yards rushing, and Fitz would pass for nearly 280 yards and 2 TDs with no picks, I'd have thought for sure the Fins would win. Not sure how many losses this team's had recently with a turnover margin of +2 but my guess would be about five this century, counting this one. And no, I haven't looked it up yet

I don't care about this loss, it's the upcoming defeat to the Bengals that's got me in a proverbial tizzy. To lose to the team that's going to get the top pick anyway is beyond unacceptable

At least the Jags, Cards and Falcons all won so we shouldn't have to worry about any of them leapfrogging the Fins in the draft order now.

The Lions, on the other hand, are clearly tanking as much as everyone said the Fins were.

Okay, so it was 11 other losses this century with a turnover margin of +2 or more. A lot more than I thought, but in most of those the Fins were outgained way more than in this game.

http://pfref.com/tiny/a6jM9

down by only 1 point in the 3rd, the Phins were pinned deep at the 3. J'Marcus Webb false started pushing them back to the 1. and then on the snap, he was promptly beat badly allowing his man to penetrate into the backfield and forcing Laird to have to run wide. the end result - a safety and the Giants never looked back.

i get that the OGs aren't great, but why do they constantly shuffle them while allowing Kilgore - who was absolutely awful - to play full time and treat him like he's an irreplaceable team leader? and Davenport and Davis are constantly allowing the ends to be collapsed. honestly, i wouldn't mind seeing an entirely new starting five on the OL next year.

mercury22nathan wrote:i wouldn't mind seeing an entirely new starting five on the OL next year.

I think we have reached the point where a new starting 5 is now a necessity. It's got to be the worst run blocking line in the history of the NFL, and pass pro isn't much better. Thank God for Fitz and his ability to avoid pressure...Tannehill or Rosen would have set league records for sacks behind this dreadful line.

That said, I'm still holding out hope for Dieter...I'm probably wrong, but I keep telling myself that he'll be better when he has a legit LT and legit C next to him.

JMP wrote:

mercury22nathan wrote:i wouldn't mind seeing an entirely new starting five on the OL next year.

I think we have reached the point where a new starting 5 is now a necessity.  It's got to be the worst run blocking line in the history of the NFL, and pass pro isn't much better.  Thank God for Fitz and his ability to avoid pressure...Tannehill or Rosen would have set league records for sacks behind this dreadful line.

That said, I'm still holding out hope for Dieter...I'm probably wrong, but I keep telling myself that he'll be better when he has a legit LT and legit C next to him.

Fins actually tied a season high for rushing yards, set just last week in the same stadium. I'm not saying this O-line is secretly great, but now that You Know Who is gone, all of a sudden the Fins can actually approach the league average in yards per carry and hit triple digits running. Go figure. (But I still hope he at least isn't miserable over the holidays, he doesn't deserve that.)

(BTW I have done a bit of research and believe it or not the '92 Colts and '86 Pats were slightly worse at running, especially now that the Fins are improving in that department. Both teams averaged under 3 yards a pop. I'm such an NFL history nerd )

We simply have no more players to trot out on defense.

Our secondary is a ridiculous patchwork of recently acquired practice squad players and other waiver wire scraps. We must have 6-8 defensive backs on IR, just a ridiculously high number.

There's just no way we are stopping a squad of NFL talent with that secondary. Barkley is an elite back, Eli has won 2 Superbowls, and the receiving threats of Shepard and Slayton are also very good. We are simply outmatched on talent, and this will remain true against Cincy.

Our weak pass rush is not helping matters, but we actually got a couple sacks on Eli yesterday.

Agree on the front office comments. Grier needs to deliver on talent acquisition, big time, or this rebuild is over before it starts.

white1 wrote:Agree on the front office comments.  Grier needs to deliver on talent acquisition, big time, or this rebuild is over before it starts.

Not only do I have absolutely no faith in Greer whatsoever, but I am going to issue a preemptive demand that he be fired before the draft is over when he inevitably and completely botches Day One.

Also, can you see why I was so anxious to get a win before now? I knew if they came into the Giants and Bengals games still sporting an oh-fer, that 0-16 was a stone cold lock because injuries.

DolFan 316 wrote:

Fins actually tied a season high for rushing yards, set just last week in the same stadium. I'm not saying this O-line is secretly great, but now that You Know Who is gone, all of a sudden the Fins can actually approach the league average in yards per carry and hit triple digits running. Go figure.

It has as much, if not more, to do with Fitzpatrick than it does the backs and OL...he has rushed for 98 yards the past 2 games, including 65 against the Jets. I will say that Laird and Gaskins both appear to do well when there's actually a hole to run through...but that only happens like 3-4 times a game. Most of the time they are hit the second they touch the ball.

I think I said it in a different post. It really looks like Flores is just getting players the opportunity to prove their worth for next season at some of the positions. There are several players that have been playing that have been doing good that didn't play today but it looks like they have been put to the side to let others show that they are worth keeping during the offseason.

white1 wrote:We simply have no more players to trot out on defense.

Our secondary is a ridiculous patchwork of recently acquired practice squad players and other waiver wire scraps.  We must have 6-8 defensive backs on IR, just a ridiculously high number.  

There's just no way we are stopping a squad of NFL talent with that secondary.  Barkley is an elite back, Eli has won 2 Superbowls, and the receiving threats of Shepard and Slayton are also very good.  We are simply outmatched on talent, and this will remain true against Cincy.  

Our weak pass rush is not helping matters, but we actually got a couple sacks on Eli yesterday.

Agree on the front office comments.  Grier needs to deliver on talent acquisition, big time, or this rebuild is over before it starts.

Great post. The one thing I will say is that our players are still playing their asses off...I don't see any quit. They're just not good. The secondary is a mess.

The pass rush just isn't there, at all. But I was encouraged by Wilkins yesterday. He had a pressure that caused one of the INTs. Wilkins has played hard all year despite the lack of stats...the biggest problem that I see is that he is constantly double-teamed because the opposing team isn't worried about Godchaux, Moss, etc. If we can build the talent on the DL line and free up Wilkins a bit, I think he can be much more of an impact player.

JMP wrote:

DolFan 316 wrote:

Fins actually tied a season high for rushing yards, set just last week in the same stadium. I'm not saying this O-line is secretly great, but now that You Know Who is gone, all of a sudden the Fins can actually approach the league average in yards per carry and hit triple digits running. Go figure.

It has as much, if not more, to do with Fitzpatrick than it does the backs and OL...he has rushed for 98 yards the past 2 games, including  65 against the Jets.  I will say that Laird and Gaskins both appear to do well when there's actually a hole to run through...but that only happens like 3-4 times a game.  Most of the time they are hit the second they touch the ball.

Rushing yards by a QB still counts the same as all other rushing yards. Just ask the Ravens. And again, with that other RB in there this team couldn't run for squat, even as they won 3 times.

rightchea wrote:I think I said it in a different post. It really looks like Flores is just getting players the opportunity to prove their worth for next season at some of the positions. There are several players that have been playing that have been doing good that didn't play today but it looks like they have been put to the side to let others show that they are worth keeping during the offseason.

Yep. A great example is Nate Brooks. He was signed less than a week ago and saw extensive action at CB yesterday. I think the coaches wanted to throw him into the fire and see how he reacted.

To be honest I would put Rosen in for the Bengals game and see how well he does. They are 1-13 and it should be an easy win for Miami. Give him a chance as well to see if he really can worth keeping

rightchea wrote:To be honest I would put Rosen in for the Bengals game and see how well he does. They are 1-13 and it should be an easy win for Miami. Give him a chance as well to see if he really can worth keeping

An easy win?!?! Really?!?!

At this point a high school team wouldn't be an easy win for the Fins. That's all we need is for them to get blown out by a one-win team just to confirm what we already know--that Rosen sucks and blows at the same time!

The time to put Rosen in was 2-3 games ago, not now. Now is too late and utterly pointless. MAYBE in the second half if it's a blowout either way but that would be the only circumstance. And then what? Am I supposed to really believe starting Rosen in Foxboro against a Pats team who will want to win by 50 is a good idea???

There's really no reason to put Rosen behind this OL. It would accomplish nothing, other than getting him seriously injured.

One thing's for sure--we'll see EXACTLY how serious the Bengals are about Blowing For Burrow. They could actually still piss away the top pick by winning the last two believe it or not.

DolFan 316 wrote:One thing's for sure--we'll see EXACTLY how serious the Bengals are about Blowing For Burrow. They could actually still piss away the top pick by winning the last two believe it or not.  

Yep. The Bengals are WAY more talented than the Dolphins and they should beat us easily, at least on paper. But yeah...if they are really tanking they need to find a way to lose to us!

Even though there's only two weeks left, there's still so many variables. The Bengals have two winnable games left - us and the Cleveland Chokers...I mean, Browns. It would be REALLY interesting if the Giants end up at 1 and we end up at 2. Would the Giants take Chase Young at 1 if he's in the draft...or would they trade down??? And what would it cost the Phins to move from 2 to 1 to ensure they get Burrow??

I think if the Giants get the top pick, yes they are taking Young. They have Jones to lead the offense, Young leading the defense would be a great start to a young team on both sides of the ball.

Let's not forget that Young has declared he is staying in school. That's huge if true.

DolFan 316 wrote:Let's not forget that Young has declared he is staying in school. That's huge if true.

I'm not convinced he is staying. It would be incredibly stupid on his part.

If he doesn't come out, the top 5 and maybe top 10 of this draft is really, really weak. Fortunately, it is a deep draft overall.

Did he declare he wanted to stay in school, or is it just him saying "That's the plan," when asked if he was? Because "That's the plan," sounds about as convincing as Saban saying he wasn't going to be the Alabama coach.

Okay, *now* I get what Jmp was saying.

https://www.footballoutsiders.com/quick-reads/2019/week-15-quick-reads

Fitzpatrick loses 51 DYAR due to opponent adjustments. His 20-yard touchdown to DeVante Parker put the Dolphins up 7-0. Over Miami's next eight drives, he went 7-of-20 (throwing six incompletions in a row at one point) for 67 yards with three sacks and a 7-yard DPI as the Giants built a 36-13 lead.

At least the Giants or Skins should win one more since they face each other. Maybe they'll even tie, which would put both of them behind the Fins in draft order. Hey, a man can dream right?