Phins' RB woes

as if having Howard and Brieda under performing wasn't enough...

as if then having Gaskin and Ahmed get hurt wasn't enough...

as if also having Brieda and Laird fumble on back-to-back possessions wasn't enough...

De’Andre Washington has now been sidelined for an undetermined period with a hamstring injury. Washington did not practice Wednesday.

https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/barry-jackson/article247301954.html

WTF.

Unbelievable. It's like, any time a back starts to show some sign that they may not suck...they get hurt.

Brieda has been the team's biggest disappointment, IMO. I expected some big plays from him, but he's given us nothing. I'd still like to see him used as a receiver, but as a runner he has pretty much sucked.

JMP wrote:Unbelievable.  It's like, any time a back starts to show some sign that they may not suck...they get hurt.

Brieda has been the team's biggest disappointment, IMO.  I expected some big plays from him, but he's given us nothing.  I'd still like to see him used as a receiver, but as a runner he has pretty much sucked.

This one baffles me too. Breida had a lot of potential coming in during the off season. Since day 1, I questioned his snap count. He has been used sparingly and don't like the vibe. We traded for him, give him his looks. I like Gaskin for the simple fact that he has by far exceeded his draft status. But he's given every opportunity. Start Breida and finish with Breida. Some people are just gamers. Lets really see what Breida can do.

Part of Breida's lack of snaps is probably due to his pass protection, which is not particularly good. Gaskin is very good, maybe great, in pass pro.

This is the issue with career backups, they're fragile. A huge part of being a good RB in the league is durability. I mean, you can't suck and just stay healthy, but staying healthy is what makes a lot of these guys starters.

Too bad the OC is a geriatric who actually believes teams still need to run the ball to win and thus won't go full Arena League like he needs to. Just forget this handing off business and fling it nonstop, or bring in Tua to run some of those funky college plays. It's like Gailey never heard of a ball control passing attack that Bill Walsh implemented around 40 years ago now.

DolFan 316 wrote:Too bad the OC is a geriatric who actually believes teams still need to run the ball to win and thus won't go full Arena League like he needs to. Just forget this handing off business and fling it nonstop, or bring in Tua to run some of those funky college plays. It's like Gailey never heard of a ball control passing attack that Bill Walsh implemented around 40 years ago now.

I would argue that the Phins don't run the ball enough. We're 7-4 and in most of those 7 games we led the game almost from start to finish. In the second half of those games, we should be running the ball to eat clock and shorten the game. Unfortunately, our running game sucks so we usually can't do that to the extent that we should. That's how you let the other team hang around.

You don't want to throw the ball 50 times a game unless you have to. Watching the Steelers game the other day, it was mind-boggling that they just kept throwing the ball over and over in the 4th quarter, even with a huge lead. They couldn't run out the clock because they kept getting incompletions, stopping the clock and punting. Ultimately it didn't matter because the Ravens were on their 3rd string QB, but the Ravens still managed to get within 5 points late in a game that should never have been that close. But - they don't run the ball any better than the Dolphins do, so they just kept throwing.

So, yeah, if you can't run you have to throw. But that's a problem for teams like the Steelers and Dolphins, and it's why neither team is going to get to the Super Bowl. If you can't protect a lead by shortening the game against a team like the Chiefs, you have no chance. Sure, you can use a short passing game - but that opens up the possibility of sacks, INTs and incompletions.

Maybe Hal can correct me, but the last time I can recall the Fins being in such dire straits at RB was in '94, when they went into a home game VS the Bears without Kirby, Byars and Parmalee. It...didn't go well.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/199411130mia.htm

And this situation seems worse, because Irving Spikes at least was an actual half decent reserve RB.

[quote="JMP"]

DolFan 316 wrote:So, yeah, if you can't run you have to throw.  But that's a problem for teams like the Steelers and Dolphins, and it's why neither team is going to get to the Super Bowl.  If you can't protect a lead by shortening the game against a team like the Chiefs, you have no chance.  Sure, you can use a short passing game - but that opens up the possibility of sacks, INTs and incompletions.

It's really rare for a team to win a title giving up more rushing yards than it gains, but it can be done. The '01 Pats did it among other teams and the '14 Pats barely ran for more yards than they allowed, which makes the Lynch Incident in the Super Bowl look that much worse ) Last season's Chiefs managed this as well.

http://www.footballperspective.com/how-the-eagles-won-it-all-despite-an-awful-rushing-offense-and-rushing-defense/

We all know the passing game is king in today's NFL. But, situational running is very, very important - specifically, short yardage and end of game situations. I think it's really difficult to beat the better teams if you can't run in those spots. Long way to say that my post above should be modified to say "situational running".

The Steelers maybe aren't as bad off as I think, because they have an excellent passing game. But I still say if you play the Chiefs, if you are winning late you damn well better find a way to keep the ball out of Mahomes's hands...and I don't think throwing the ball all over the place is going to do it.

BTW - that '01 Pats team may have given up more rushing yards than they gained, but Antowain Smith did have almost 1200 yards and 12 TDs.

JMP wrote:BTW - that '01 Pats team may have given up more rushing yards than they gained, but Antowain Smith did have almost 1200 yards and 12 TDs.

Lamar Smith in '00 had 309 carries for 1139 yards and 14 TDs, with a long run of 68.

Antowain Smith in '01 had 287 carries for 1157 yards, 12 TDs and a long run of 44.

Lamar caught 12 more passes for two TDs to Antowain's one. Seems like similar stats to me

The '00 Fins finished 11-5 with a +97 point differential and ran for 1894 yards and 16 TDs as a team. The '01 Pats finished 11-5 with a +99 point differential and ran for 1793 yards and 15 TDs as a team.

Really, the only differences between the two were that the Pats had Brady (who wasn't even that special in '01) and the Fins had Fiedler, and Antowain had literally a career game late in '01 that gave the Pats the division (only 150-plus yard rushing game he ever had and just his second 100-plus yard rushing performance VS the Fins in 14 games).

Ugh...Fiedler...don't get me started!

DolFan 316 wrote:Maybe Hal can correct me, but the last time I can recall the Fins being in such dire straits at RB was in '94, when they went into a home game VS the Bears without Kirby, Byars and Parmalee. It...didn't go well.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/199411130mia.htm

And this situation seems worse, because Irving Spikes at least was an actual half decent reserve RB.

Such an ugly game. We would have still been OK, except that it was windy and rainy in Miami that day, making the passing game difficult. Otherwise we would have buried Wanny's Bears. Or, yes, with Parmalee and Byars, we win.

Byars' injury was devastating, he was really having a career year and making it easy for us to absorb the loss of Kirby in the 4th game. I still think that team makes the Super Bowl with a healthy Byars (of course, San Fran would have killed us, but still....)

Hell, without the blocked FG at the end by James "Big Cat" Williams (literally the only play he ever made in his NFL career) or the ridiculous fake FG TD pass that the Fins covered like a blanket but still got completed anyway thanks to a lucky tip to a Bears player who was literally just standing around, that game would've been a win anyway!

Not sure which Wanny-Era Bears loss burns my boxers more, that one or the one in '97 where a 15-point lead with half a quarter left somehow turned into the Bears' first win of the season Yes, I hated Wanny LONG before he became this team's head coach!

No running game is a problem for a veteran QB. See Dan Marino.
No running game for a rookie QB is a nightmare. See any rookie QB.

If Tua starts today a running game would help take some pressure off the rookie. Gailey has been using the short passing game for the same reason. The short passing game has hurt Davante Parker and the offense in general. Chunk plays are huge momentum changers.

We should have pursued Bell a little harder.

I think Miami will be looking at drafting another RB for next year. Miami really needs someone that can break tackles and get down field. A two RB set would definitely fit Flores coaching style