What Finally Did The Dolphins In

The bye and Brock Purdy. Yes, I'm serious. I know about the 30-0 halftime lead over the Texans yada yada but let's be real, that game was going to be a win no matter when or where it was played. But after that first half they've now been outscored 71-34 over the next 8 quarters. I'm no math whiz, but that's more than 2 to 1. IDK what the hell McDaniel did at halftime but he somehow managed to make Tua completely unable to play QB anymore.

In retrospect, 8-3 was a miracle considering the Ravens and Bills wins (obvious flukes) the complete waste of everyone's time this year's "draft class" was, Grier whiffing on 2 of 3 first rounders (and maybe even all 3) in '20, the failed FA signings of Edmunds and Cedric Wilson, and all of his so-called "blockbuster" trades that somehow result in this team missing the playoff anyway season after season. As the Bill' Fred Smerlas once said in '89 'When you keep cutting your own throat, eventually you run out of blood." At least that Bills team made the playoffs, this team won't even have a winning record!

What did the Phins in was the 49ers giving the league the blueprint to stop Tua, and the defense completely going in the tank.

JMP wrote:What did the Phins in was the 49ers giving the league the blueprint to stop Tua, and the defense completely going in the tank.

By allowing his receivers to constantly be wide open and pray the league's (formerly) most accurate passer somehow misses them over and over???

That's what everyone was saying last week, right? And the D has played no worse than they have on the road all season. This was the first road game of allowing less than 27 points, in fact!

DolFan 316 wrote:

JMP wrote:What did the Phins in was the 49ers giving the league the blueprint to stop Tua, and the defense completely going in the tank.

By allowing his receivers to constantly be wide open and pray the league's (formerly) most accurate passer somehow misses them over and over???

That's what everyone was saying last week, right? And the D has played no worse than they have on the road all season. This was the first road game of allowing less than 27 points, in fact!

This offense is based on timing. If the routes are disrupted, the play will fail - even if receivers are open.

JMP wrote:This offense is based on timing. If the routes are disrupted, the play will fail - even if receivers are open.

And yet I saw absolutely nobody--here or elsewhere on the internet--saying anything about this or the offense being "figured out" BEFORE last night's game. All I saw was "the receivers were open all game and Tua just didn't hit them!" and "there's no WAY Tua will play that bad twice in a row!" and people treating that 49ers game like a fluke and endless predictions of an easy win with some people even saying they'd break 40.

All this "we should've expected them to play this way again" stuff seems like revisionist history to me.

Actually, another factor was the sudden arrogance and even hubris of the fan base. Actually thinking this team could 'afford" to lose a December game because gosh, they're so good they'll just win the next one, right?

Thinking that being outscored two to one somehow equalled a fluke loss in which the opponent just got lucky and there was no WAY Tua would EVER play that badly again. (In a way the were actually correct, he played much WORSE.)

Even I, the Potentate Of Pessimism, fell into this mindset, the way I was strutting around proclaiming that this team literally could not and would not lose as long as Tua started and finished the game healthy. More fool me! And yes, I'm genuinely ashamed about that

DolFan 316 wrote:

JMP wrote:This offense is based on timing. If the routes are disrupted, the play will fail - even if receivers are open.

And yet I saw absolutely nobody--here or elsewhere on the internet--saying anything about this or the offense being "figured out" BEFORE last night's game. All I saw was "the receivers were open all game and Tua just didn't hit them!" and "there's no WAY Tua will play that bad twice in a row!" and people treating that 49ers game like a fluke and endless predictions of an easy win with some people even saying they'd break 40.

All this "we should've expected them to play this way again" stuff seems like revisionist history to me.

Lots of people brought up the timing issue last week, including the announcers in the 49ers game and a couple of you guys on this site.  Me, personally, I was too pissed off and didn't fully catch on till last night.  Once I saw that the Chargers were doing exactly what the Niners did defensively - and it was working again - I realized the issue was in fact timing and not just simple QB inaccuracy.  Collinsworth described it perfectly: Tua throws to a spot, and if the receiver doesn't get to that spot on time the play will not work.  Disrupt the route, and you ruin the play.  So yes - receivers were open all game last week.  But because the timing was thrown off by the defense, the receivers weren't where Tua anticipated they'd be.

JMP wrote:Tua throws to a spot, and if the receiver doesn't get to that spot on time the play will not work.  Disrupt the route, and you ruin the play.  So yes - receivers were open all game last week.  But because the timing was thrown off by the defense, the receivers weren't where Tua anticipated they'd be.

that's probably the most damning indictment of Tua i've ever read. i often dismissed the criticism of Tua that he "can not create off schedule" (much in the way Herbert was continually doing last night). but if what you're saying is true - that he throws to a spot and if timing is off, so be it, the play won't work - and he has no ability to create beyond that, then he most certainly isn't the answer to Miami's QB long, frustrating quest.

mercury22nathan wrote:

JMP wrote:Tua throws to a spot, and if the receiver doesn't get to that spot on time the play will not work.  Disrupt the route, and you ruin the play.  So yes - receivers were open all game last week.  But because the timing was thrown off by the defense, the receivers weren't where Tua anticipated they'd be.

that's probably the most damning indictment of Tua i've ever read.  i often dismissed the criticism of Tua that he "can not create off schedule" (much in the way Herbert was continually doing last night).  but if what you're saying is true - that he throws to a spot and if timing is off, so be it, the play won't work - and he has no ability to create beyond that, then he most certainly isn't the answer to Miami's QB long, frustrating quest.

Well, I don't think it means that he can't do it - just that he hasn't had experience doing it in this offense. It's not an easy thing to adjust to on the fly if you haven't seen it before - for any QB. He just needs reps. He has clearly shown the ability to create plays off-script many times in his three NFL seasons - not as often as Mahomes, by any means, but he's done it behind garbage OLs for sure. It's just that now he's faced with a defense that consistently takes away his bread-and-butter plays, something that hadn't happened in the first 11 games - and he needs to adjust. I'm confident he will, but it takes reps...so in that sense, it is up to McDaniel to make the necessary adjustments and have Tua practice them.

Whatever happened at halftime in Houston F'd this team up.

JEGnj wrote:Whatever happened at halftime in Houston F'd this team up.

And literally nobody was thinking that would cause problems beyond the 49ers game. The fanbase just assumed that hey, they can afford to lose that one since it's not a conference game and then they'll just beat the Chargers and everything will be just fine again!

I repeat, I did NOT see ANY of this "the offense has been figured out!" stuff BEFORE the Chargers game. EVERYONE thought the 49ers' game was a fluke.

Kinda amazing that the team winning by 16 got "lucky" and "coulda woulda shoulda" lost and the team that won by 6 dominated, devastated and decimated the Fins

I now suspect McDaniel is just another 40something "offensive mind" who really just bases his in-game decisions on whatever analytics say is the proper thing to do and has his own system which he never EVER changes or adapts to changing circumstances. Such as, oh for example, opponents figuring it out, or missing starters, or players being completely unsuitable for it, etc. For all must adhere to The System and if it doesn't work well, it's not the genius coach's fault. The design of The System is perfect, it's those gosh darn normies just not executing it like they're supposed to.

A complete lack of any semblance of creativity or adaptability along with an insistence that everyone *must* do things a certain way and only that way forevermore, now where have I seen that before? Oh yeah, only in every other aspect of life, that's where.

while i'm not quite ready to dismiss McDaniel as a rigid system guy yet, i gotta say his responses regarding the lack of use of Gesicki is not confidence inspiring...

Asked if he is inclined to do more to maximize tight end Mike Gesicki, who has no catches and three targets the past three games, McDaniel said: “Each and every game I try to do as good of a job a possible to put our players in position for success. There’s been circumstances in the last couple games where [we] thought that maybe if a different coverage hits or have a different opportunity those results are different [for Gesicki].

“Like every other player, we’re trying to utilize skills sets as best we can. Sometimes that opponent lends itself... to a certain position. Sometimes it doesn’t.”

https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/barry-jackson/article269085402.html

sounds like more of the "we let the defense dictate what we do" type of crap. you would kind think that an offensive genius could find some kind of way to get a guy who is as clearly talented as Gesicki the ball a few times a game. especially considering that defenses are now dropping back to take away the intermediate crossing passes to Hill and Waddle. you would think this would open up some underneath 5 yard or so crosses to the TE - since this team can't (won't) run and RB screens don't seem to be part of the "scheme". and its not like Smythe is playing light out keep Gesicki on the bench.

i am not near ready to give up in McDaniel, but he does have four games left to prove he can get creative and address the way defense are defending his offense.

Yeah, I have been resisting the whole McD is actually... (GULP) ... Adam Gase.... but....



That whole "System Uber Alles" thing gives me the heebie jeebies! Can the guy REALLY coach or it just a by-product of the system. When you keep trotting out the same pony where the other team KNOWS all the tricks your ONE TRICK PONY can do.... that is never a good thing IMO. Yeah, having Waddle and Hill is good thing, but if the defense can shut them down and STOP all the other receivers, the Phins are left with NO OTHER OPTIONS.

McD needs to change things up but I am at the point of saying he is just as incapable of change as Gase was even when he knew his job was on the line.

I agree... SOMETHING happened at the end of the Houston Game... when Tua got bent like a pretzel. I don't know what, but there is a different "FEEL" to the team it seems to me.

If you look at the next few games I am not confident the Phins can win any of them.