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Thoughts on game 1 - Phins at Skins

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Post by JMP Mon Sep 14, 2015 9:55 am

Beers: Speakeasy Big Daddy IPA, Founders All Day IPA

Players of the Day: Reshad Jones, Jarvis Landry

Goats of the Day: Donkey Kong Suh and Bill Lazor

A win is a win, and a win on the road is even better.  So I'll take it.  But this one was the type of game I alluded to last week: a game where the Phins won, but it almost felt like they lost.

I was hoping the days of sleepwalking through most of the game were over for the Phins, but I guess not.  Three quarters of complete garbage, and if the Phins were facing any other team yesterday they would have been out of the game before the 4th quarter even began.  Fortunately, the Redskins suck and the Phins were somehow able to win in the 4th thanks to Jarvis Landry's punt return.

Tannehill was very spotty for most of the game, missing a few open receivers and throwing a few passes that should've been picked, and losing a fumble.  He did make some nice throws, but overall it looks like not much has changed for him.  His final numbers look good, but it's a case where stats don't tell the full story.  And his offensive coordinator didn't help him out.

The OL was sometimes good, sometimes bad.  I did notice Dallas Thomas getting pushed back several times, but what else is new?  Rookie Jamil Douglas held his own at RG for the most part.  Overall, I guess I'm pleased...but I think defenses like the Bills and Jets will eat this line up.

Jarvis Landry is the best player on this team - period.  It's a shame that Lazor has no idea how to use him, because him averaging 6.6 yards a catch is absolutely disgraceful.  What a waste of a talented player.  And Landry won the game with his punt return for a TD, after LaMike "why-the-hell-is-he-in the NFL" James got benched after fumbling.  Just an awful special teams play by the Skins, but thank God Landry was able to take advantage of it.

Rishard Matthews looks like a player that needs to be on the field a lot more.  Jordan Cameron was ignored early on, but really came on strong and did a great job of finding the weak spots in the porous Skins D.  Greg Jennings was solid, and saved Tannehill by catching a bobbled pass that bounced out of a defender's hands and should've been intercepted.

And now to the running game.  As I've said many times, Lazor has no idea how to use the running game.  Lamar Miller carried the ball just 3 times in the first half and 3 times in the 3rd quarter.  In fact, it was so bad that on the opening drive of the 3rd quarter, the Phins ran 7 consecutive pass plays - and that drive ended with Tannehill getting sacked and losing a fumble.  And, for some reason Lazor continually replaces Miller with Damien Williams - who may be a nice receiver but is a terrible RB.  I don't know why Lazor is so scared to use Miller, but it is maddening.

Lazor sucks, that's all there is to it.  His play-calling is just mind-boggling.  Instead of sticking with what works, he constantly tries to deceive the defense with passes behind the line of scrimmage (UGH!!!) and even a reverse to, of all people, Greg Jennings!  And when Tannehill actually throws the ball beyond 5 yards, good things tend to happen - yet Lazor rarely lets Tannehill do anything but dink and dunk.  And again - Lazor's handling of the running game, and particularly Miller, is just awful.  An offense that but up just 250 total net yards against the Skins??? Really?  That's sad.

As for the defense, it looks like the run D is continuing where it left off last season, giving up 16 yards on the ground!  Suh looked absolutely awful, easily getting blocked out of the play and spending a lot of time on the sideline.  He was pretty much a waste.  Rookie Jordan Phillips actually played much better than Suh to my eyes, and even got his first NFL sack.

There was zero pass rush in this game, with Wake and Vernon doing nothing even with single coverage most of the game.

The LBs missed tons of tackles and got dragged for yards at a time by Alfred Morris.  Misi and Jenkins made a few nice plays and had a lot of tackles, but overall did more harm than good.

At safety, Reshad Jones was an absolute beast, and he single-handedly kept the Dolphins in the game.  A Pro Bowl effort for sure.  The other safeties - Aikens and Thomas - played terrible, missing tackles and getting beat all day.

Brent Grimes was Brent Grimes - outstanding day overall, though he did give up a couple of plays.  Jamar Taylor looked good at times, terrible at others...same with Brice McCain, who at least had a key INT.

Overall, this defense looks very mediocre against the pass and downright bad against the run.  The problem with the "Suh factor" is that if every team we face is going to double-team him and run plays away from him (as the Skins did), other players have to step up and make plays.  Yesterday, the other Phins on the field just couldn't do it.  And, we still can't cover a TE.  Yeah, we only gave up 10 points...but let's face it, the Redskins are not exactly a powerhouse offense, especially without DeSean Jackson.

Special teams were solid - most good coverage, and the two rookie kickers did their jobs.

Outgained by almost 100 yards, and losing the time of possession battle by about 16 minutes...most of the time, those stats equate to a loss.  But overall, I'll gladly take the win...but too many games like this, and the Phins will be lucky to match last season's 8-8 record.


Last edited by JMP on Mon Sep 21, 2015 2:22 pm; edited 2 times in total

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Post by mercury22nathan Mon Sep 14, 2015 10:41 am

Ladies and gentlemen I give you the new and improved 2015 Miami Dolphins. I assure you, any similarities to the 2013 and 2014 Miami Dolphins is purely coincidental.

LBers that can’t wrap up a tackle. Check.
Porous run defense. Check.
Inability to cover a TE. Check.
Inability to convert short yardage. Check.
QB that inexplicable holds the ball too long at the worst possible times. Check.
QB whose accuracy is inconsistent. Check.
Aversion to pass plays beyond 10 yards. Check.
Pass plays designed to be caught 3 yards shy of the marker on 3rd and long. Check.
Team that sleepwalks through large portion of the game. Check.

Yes, new and improved – and more expensive.

Suh was a nonfactor. The run defense looked better when he was on the sideline.
Chris McCain was inactive and Sheppard was apparently benched for Zach Vigil – a situation that bears watching.
Tannehill wrecked Sims on a pass that should’ve been and easy floater for a TD.

But I guess it wasn’t all bad – the Phins won.
Franks didn’t miss his one 22 yard FG attempt (although his first extra point was close) and his kickoffs were superb.
Landry has real game speed.
Jones played excellent.
Darr punted well.

I don’t want to over react as it’s just the first game. Hey, Russell Wilson and Andrew Luck both lost. Let’s take the victory and realize there is still plenty of work to be done – and plenty of time to do it. As the long as the team continues to progress, we might be okay (hell, they looked good in the preseason). But let’s also be honest, if the Redskins had not committed multiple drive killing penalties, dropped 2 easy interceptions and parted the Red Sea on Landry’s punt return, this game would’ve been a lopsided victory in their favor. As it stands right now, the Phins are tied for the lead in the AFC East, but all 3 other teams look lightyears ahead.

And one final note.

“It was unbelievable,” Ross said, via Mark Maske of the Washington Post. “Wasn’t it amazing? I mean, you felt it was almost a home game. At least on our side of the ball, it was great seeing all the green there. We’ve got another away game next week. So we’ve got some challenges.”

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/09/14/dolphins-owner-fedex-field-crowd-felt-like-a-home-game/

Its AQUA you fucking moron!! Shut your damn mouth and continue to write checks.

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Post by white1 Mon Sep 14, 2015 11:28 am

U. G. L. Y.

This game had "loss" written all over it for the first 40 minutes. Minor miracle they pulled out the "W". If forced to look for upside here, I would say that I guess it shows some mental toughness we were able to tighten things up in the 2nd half and salvage the game. Especially after getting pushed around for the entire first half on both sides of the ball.

Too early to say we are a fatally flawed team, but as many have said, our deficiencies in several key areas were all there for everyone to see. No quick fixes apparent for any of them.

Too early to make predictions also, but damn did you see what the Bills did to Luck? I am fearing our offense vs Buffalo defense, looks to me like a horrible matchup. Also, do you think Rex will notice we are soft against the run? He'll put up damn near 400 yards on the ground if we can't figure out what to do here.

Coaching, like we have all said, will hold this squad back. I'm not sure you can staff a defense with enough talent to overcome Coyle's inability to develop a gameplan and scheme. Not many teams have the luxury of a probowl safety, probowl CB, probowl DT and arguably two probowl DEs. And fail to create a top 10 unit.

Our offense is just maddening to watch. When it works, it's a pretty thing. But just so inconsistent and we have all seen days where it's just so ugly.

I don't know boys. Good teams improve as the season moves on. We better pray ours does, or this squad won't break .500





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Post by JMP Mon Sep 14, 2015 12:01 pm

white1 wrote:our deficiencies in several key areas were all there for everyone to see

And this is what scares me about yesterday's game. The problems we saw yesterday are the same problems we've seen since day one of the Philbin era...leading me to believe that they will continue to be problems going forward. There's plenty of areas that good teams can and will exploit. Just in the division alone, I can certainly imagine Bowles and Ryan (and of course Belicheat) being savvy enough to design a winning gameplan against us. It's fairly simple: on defense, pressure Tannehill and don't let 1-yard passes turn into big plays; on offense, double Suh and run plays away from him, and keep pounding the rock. The Jets and Bills are absolutely built for that type of football.

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Post by finskev Mon Sep 14, 2015 12:24 pm

I won't go crazy over the 1st game, Now after this week than I will, Because I'm going to Jacksonville for the Game and I was there Last year to see the Offense Debacle where we scored one offensive touchdown.

Now I will give Lazor credit for one call and that was the 2nd 16 screen pass to Miller that went for 22 to help run the clock out which for once the offense was able to. Bad when You can omly thing of One play.

Run defense was better in the second half after Philbin said they had to fight off blocks to make tackles, Suh one tackle one assist, Wake nothing except he drew two penalties for holding on the Skins.

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Post by JMP Mon Sep 14, 2015 12:31 pm

Two more things I forgot to bring up...

I saw our heralded first round pick DeVante Parker exactly one time yesterday...sitting on the bench. All week long leading up to the game, I heard over and over how Parker looked great in practice and got better every day. Yet while we were struggling in the red zone yesterday, Parker's ass was on the bench. WHY???? If he's not yet ready to get on the field for even one play in the red zone, then something is wrong. And if he is ready, why didn't he play? Why even bother to activate him if you aren't going to use him??

Speaking of, didn't we just add a power runner - Jonas Gray - to the roster??? Sure would have nice to see him get a carry in one of those short-yardage situations that we pissed away.

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Post by mercury22nathan Mon Sep 14, 2015 1:43 pm

JMP wrote:Speaking of, didn't we just add a power runner - Jonas Gray - to the roster??? Sure would have nice to see him get a carry in one of those short-yardage situations that we pissed away.

yes, except that he was inactive (along with Will Davis, Lippett, Fox, Hazel, AJ Francis and Chris McCain). but perhaps next week will be a different story.

Can Jonas Gray help this short-yardage game? The Dolphins failed on second-and-2 (Lamar Miller run), third-and-1 (Miller run) and fourth-and-1 (Damien Williams run) in the first half. The converted their only such short-yardage play in the second half by throwing on third-and-1 to Rishard Matthews for 9 yards. That throw might have showed the kind of faith Bill Lazor had by then in the short-yardage running game. Gray had a good track record of such runs in New England, though whether that was him or the offensive line is the issue. Gray had 17 short-yardage runs. He got four touchdowns and seven first downs in them, meaning on 11 of the 17 attempts he was successful. Not superb. But better than what the Dolphins have done. Now the decision in watching him practice is how much of that was him and how much was his line.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/dave-hyde-blog/sfl-hyde10-ten-more-thoughts-on-dolphins-opening-win-20150914-story.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DaveHyde-blog+%28Dave+Hyde+|+Sun+Sentinel+blogs%29

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Post by JMP Mon Sep 14, 2015 1:59 pm

mercury22nathan wrote:yes, except that he was inactive (along with Will Davis, Lippett, Fox, Hazel, AJ Francis and Chris McCain). but perhaps next week will be a different story.

Sure hope Gray is activated moving forward, because we can sure use him.

On another note, I hate having players on the roster that really have no chance of ever being active. Barring a catastrophic run of multiple injuries, I just can't imagine a scenario where Lippett or Hazel would suit up on gameday...they don't even contribute on STs. Just seems like two wasted spots to me.

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Post by finskev Mon Sep 14, 2015 2:54 pm

I know this won't happen but they just need to let All 53 players be active, Could someone refresh My Memory on why they have inactive players. This is what Happen when your over 50.

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Post by JMP Mon Sep 14, 2015 2:59 pm

finskev wrote:I know this won't happen but they just need to let All 53 players be active, Could someone refresh My Memory on why they have inactive players. This is what Happen when your over 50.

Totally agree about all 53 players being active - that's exactly how it should be, especially these days when it seems like injuries are happening more and more often (especially with the new concussion protocols).

Great question, though - I have no idea why there is even an inactive list. I'm sure it has something to do with $$$, but I really don't know.

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Post by DolFan 316 Mon Sep 14, 2015 6:45 pm

Only this team could convince everybody it's the same old same old--with a win.

Sleeping on Sundays = best decision I ever made Cool

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Post by JEGnj Mon Sep 14, 2015 9:32 pm

My thoughts are very simple Philbert and Tanny SUCK.
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Post by CarsonChris Mon Sep 14, 2015 10:45 pm

Jonas Gray was cut today

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Post by JMP Tue Sep 15, 2015 9:29 am

CarsonChris wrote:Jonas Gray was cut today

The new RB they signed is also a kick returner - Raheem Mostert. He had the most total yards of any player this preseason. Problem is, he's about 5'11" 190, and will not be an answer to our short-yardage problems. Hopefully, though, he'll solve our return issues.

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