Did McDaniel Mess Up?

I know his decision to take it easy in the second half VS the Texans seems to make sense on the surface. After the Armstead injury he got spooked and didn't want anyone else hurt. I get it.

But the way this team's looked in the last 6 quarters now strongly suggests that in fact what McDaniel really did was completely destroy all the momentum they had from outscoring the Browns and Texans 69-17 over the previous 6 quarters. And once that kind of momentum's gone it's EXTREMELY hard to get back. Some teams never do. Will we look back at that moment as the turning point where the season went sideways and this team missed the playoffs yet again???

McD F'd up when he brought back Boyer.
He needs to get back to basics. Catch the ball. Make the tackle.

JEGnj wrote:McD F'd up when he brought back Boyer.
He needs to get back to basics. Catch the ball. Make the tackle.

I still don't understand why this D plays literally twice as well at home than on the road. Something is causing this, the trend is too real for it to be just a coincidence or an accident.

I have no problem with coasting through the Texans game. I do have a problem with calling 8 run plays in a game that was close for 3.5 quarters and the starting QB was not playing well.

JMP wrote:I have no problem with coasting through the Texans game.  I do have a problem with calling 8 run plays in a game that was close for 3.5 quarters and the starting QB was not playing well.

That part reminded me WAY too much of so many Shula losses with Marino at QB. Ran just 8 times in the 22-21 playoff debacle in San Diego despite leading 21-6 at the half, for example.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/199501080sdg.htm

Furthermore, the Fins were somehow able to run 18 times VS the Ravens even after trailing by 21 twice and 17 times against the Bills despite the Bills holding the ball for over 40 minutes so only 8 runs is even more unacceptable and inexcusable in that context.

DolFan 316 wrote:

JMP wrote:I have no problem with coasting through the Texans game.  I do have a problem with calling 8 run plays in a game that was close for 3.5 quarters and the starting QB was not playing well.

That part reminded me WAY too much of so many Shula losses with Marino at QB. Ran just 8 times in the 22-21 playoff debacle in San Diego despite leading 21-6 at the half, for example.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/199501080sdg.htm

That particular game isn't the best example to use. If anything, we ran the ball 8 times too many in San Diego that day because they couldn't stop Marino in the first half and we couldn't run the ball against them for crap.

Matter of fact, they did try to run out of the deep I on the first offensive play of the second half--after the defense had been out there 8 minutes and had heroically stopped San Diego at the 1. It was arguably the worst play call in Miami history until the Las Vegas game last year. Parmalee was tackled for a safety, we punted the ball back to San Diego, and they scored this time, gassing the defense with another long drive. By the time Marino got back on the field he'd lost his hot hand. Still a game that pisses me off to this day.

HalCHorn wrote:

DolFan 316 wrote:

JMP wrote:I have no problem with coasting through the Texans game.  I do have a problem with calling 8 run plays in a game that was close for 3.5 quarters and the starting QB was not playing well.

That part reminded me WAY too much of so many Shula losses with Marino at QB. Ran just 8 times in the 22-21 playoff debacle in San Diego despite leading 21-6 at the half, for example.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/199501080sdg.htm

That particular game isn't the best example to use.  If anything, we ran the ball 8 times too many in San Diego that day because they couldn't stop Marino in the first half and we couldn't run the ball against them for crap.

Matter of fact, they did try to run out of the deep I on the first offensive play of the second half--after the defense had been out there 8 minutes and had heroically stopped San Diego at the 1.  It was arguably the worst play call in Miami history until the Las Vegas game last year.  Parmalee was tackled for a safety, we punted the ball back to San Diego, and they scored this time, gassing the defense with another long drive.  By the time Marino got back on the field he'd lost his hot hand.  Still a game that pisses me off to this day.

Okay, point taken. I could've used the 9 runs VS the 49ers in the Super Bowl loss instead, especially after Shula actually called more runs than passes in the AFC title win over the Steelers Not making that up.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/198501060mia.htm

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/198501200mia.htm

I think the SD game was where the visitor's locker room lost power for there whole half time for some mysterious reason??

I said the offensive inconsistencies were starting too show up again and while I think a lot of it is the hideous play from the Oline, there does seem to be a tendency for McD to totally ignore the running game even when he should be more focused on using time off the clock than getting the first down.

Now, why the D stinks on the road...??? I have absolutely no idea. But all the problems we have seen with Boyer are still there. Maybe getting Chubb will make Boyer more prone to play that soft zone and blitz less??

This Phins team MAY make the playoffs, but all the holes and faults, and drawbacks I (we?) thought they would have before the season, they do have!

If they don't somehow manage to win one of the next two games, I fear we may see a cascade effect.

The whole season may be headed down the porcelain vortex and the Phins will be looking up at the Bills and Jets in the playoffs!

Purdy struggled with the blitz at first then they set up the quick outlet screens which killed us during the blitz. The problem was we went all out blitzes then gave up. Why not have delayed blitzes by the safety? Boyer sucks

finfanatic wrote:Maybe getting Chubb will make Boyer more prone to play that soft zone and blitz less??

I didn't see numbers, but I thought we blitzed a ton yesterday. And we actually did get to the QB a lot. The problem was, we got there too late and Purdy was still able to complete passes because receivers were wide open. As they say, if you live by the blitz you die by the blitz - and yesterday was a case where the blitz simply wasn't working.

finfanatic wrote:I think the SD game was where the visitor's locker room lost power for there whole half time for some mysterious reason??

Yes, that's the game.

Jeez, just come out throwing, I don't care if you're at your own 1, Marino had been carving them up at will......28-6 in about 4 minutes of nothing but passes IMO.

Ok, I'll try to get over it now.

My problem with the blitz under Boyer is it feels lazy.  It's way too much of a risk-reward proposition.  We SHOULD NOT really need to lean on it all that much, not with players like Howard, Baker, Wilkins, Sieler, Chubb, Phillips and Holland on defense.  That's a lot of talent.  The scheme should allow for pressure with the occasional safety/ LB blitz.  Sure, show the house but most of the time drop into zone and look to get the INT.

There's just something missing.  And you can see it in the defensive rankings.  Our defense just isn't that good - and given the talent it SHOULD be better.

With a sound scheme, you take a player like Purdy and using disguise pre-snap bait him into poor throws.  Blitzing just tells him "go hot and throw behind it".  Which is exactly what he did.  

Granted, our offense SUCKED and we kept handing the ball back to the 49ers.  Plus, without running the ball, the time of possession got way lopsided and wore us out.  Still I expected more against a rookie QB thrown into the fire with zero starting reps in practice. Just not good enough.

Oh and I'll add this: I think any AFC East defense - Jets, Bills OR Pats - destroys the SF offense after Garoppolo goes down. But we couldn't.

Excellent post, white. I'm in total agreement.

There is way too much talent on the defensive side...no reason at all to be as bad as we are, even with all the DB injuries. It all comes down to Boyer, and a scheme that just doesn't work if the pressure doesn't get to the QB in time - which is most of the time. It seems like there's a strange mix of aggressive and passive going on, and it creates what you described: blitzing up front, with wide open receivers behind. The "hot read" always seems to be open for the opposing QB - always.

The thing is, most of the time we are OK on early downs...but it is just too easy to convert 3rd downs against this D.

Bottom line: as you said from the beginning, white: Boyer MUST go! (And while we're at it, dump STs coach Danny Crossman too!)

HalCHorn wrote:

finfanatic wrote:I think the SD game was where the visitor's locker room lost power for there whole half time for some mysterious reason??

Yes, that's the game.

Jeez, just come out throwing, I don't care if you're at your own 1, Marino had been carving them up at will......28-6 in about 4 minutes of nothing but passes IMO.

Ok, I'll try to get over it now.

So what you're saying is...that game is to you what Brock Purdy is to me?

(Still not over it BTW.)

JMP wrote:Excellent post, white.  I'm in total agreement.

There is way too much talent on the defensive side...no reason at all to be as bad as we are, even with all the DB injuries.  It all comes down to Boyer, and a scheme that just doesn't work if the pressure doesn't get to the QB in time - which is most of the time.  It seems like there's a strange mix of aggressive and passive going on, and it creates what you described: blitzing up front, with wide open receivers behind.  The "hot read" always seems to be open for the opposing QB - always.

The thing is, most of the time we are OK on early downs...but it is just too easy to convert 3rd downs against this D.

Bottom line: as you said from the beginning, white: Boyer MUST go!  (And while we're at it, dump STs coach Danny Crossman too!)

I have officially jumped on the bandwagon. I kept giving him a chance, especially since the D kept proving they could play well at home, but Brock Purdy was the final straw!!! Being good at home doesn't mean shit when the next two games are on the road and by the time they DO play at home again they could be on a 3-game losing streak!!!

And I'll say something else too--if this D played every game like they do on the road, they could seriously challenge for the NFL record for points allowed per game The '66 Giants allowed a whopping 35.8 per game, and the '81 Colts harked up 33.3. Right now the Fins are allowing 32.8 per game on the road. Furthermore, every single road opponent has scored at least 27, whereas the most they gave up at home so far is 24. To put THAT in perspective, 27 points per game would currently rank 5th in the league in scoring. That means every time they play a road game, this team has to overcome a MINIMUM top 5 scoring output by the opposition!!!

I know I know, fumble return score blah blah. But 1. that's the first defensive score against the Fins this season and 2. let's be real here, Dre Greenlaw reaching the end zone did this team a favor by sparing them the further embarrassment and indignity of the mighty Brock Purdy hanging another TD on them.

(How's that white1? )