Game Thoughts: Week 15: Dolphins at Giants

DolFan 316 wrote: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?

It really was one of those "tale of two halves" games. The Dolphins were pretty dominant in the first half, despite being up just 10-7. They marched down the field every time they had the ball, but couldn't score. Meanwhile, the Giants did almost nothing on offense. And then everything flipped. I think at one point late in the third, the Phins had 25 yards of offense in the quarter and the Giants had close to 200...something like that. Anyway, it was ugly.

As far as draft position, I'm pretty confident in saying that the Phins will lose the next two games. After that, it's up to the other losers to get some wins!

JMP wrote:It really was one of those "tale of two halves" games.  The Dolphins were pretty dominant in the first half, despite being up just 10-7.  They marched down the field every time they had the ball, but couldn't score.  Meanwhile, the Giants did almost nothing on offense.  And then everything flipped.  I think at one point late in the third, the Phins had 25 yards of offense in the quarter and the Giants had close to 200...something like that.  Anyway, it was ugly.

could it be that one team's coaching staff made good halftime adjustments and the other's didn't?

While not elite, the Giants have superior talent in the trenches. Their offensive line is better than ours, and their defensive line is better than ours.

You could tell this pretty easily by the absolute futility of our running game, and the success Barkley was having running against us. Plus we had a single sack on Manning, while the Giants were scoring safeties blowing up Laird in the backfield, and similar plays.

When a team is overmatched in the trenches, you will wear down and lose. No way around it. Perhaps if we had scored 3+ touchdowns in the first half, we would have built enough of a lead to avoid giving up the game.

That's my take, anyways.

mercury22nathan wrote:

JMP wrote:It really was one of those "tale of two halves" games.  The Dolphins were pretty dominant in the first half, despite being up just 10-7.  They marched down the field every time they had the ball, but couldn't score.  Meanwhile, the Giants did almost nothing on offense.  And then everything flipped.  I think at one point late in the third, the Phins had 25 yards of offense in the quarter and the Giants had close to 200...something like that.  Anyway, it was ugly.

could it be that one team's coaching staff made good halftime adjustments and the other's didn't?

I think the bigger issue is the Giants have more talent than the Dolphins. And how much adjusting can Flores really do with the current roster he has? Can't get blood from a stone, as they say.

white1 wrote:While not elite, the Giants have superior talent in the trenches.  Their offensive line is better than ours, and their defensive line is better than ours.

You could tell this pretty easily by the absolute futility of our running game, and the success Barkley was having running against us.  Plus we had a single sack on Manning, while the Giants were scoring safeties blowing up Laird in the backfield, and similar plays.

When a team is overmatched in the trenches, you will wear down and lose.  No way around it.  Perhaps if we had scored 3+ touchdowns in the first half, we would have built enough of a lead to avoid giving up the game.

That's my take, anyways.

Yep, the Phins clearly wore down in the second half, and it wasn't just the trenches either. The Giants have playmakers like Slayton and Barkley on offense, and realistically our ragtag defense was never going to contain them all day. You also have to factor in the emotional high the Giants were playing with in Eli's final start.