Thoughts on game 13: Giants at Phins

Beer: Heineken (plus a few sips of Kraken rum)

Hero of the Game: Lamar Miller

Goat of the Game: Jarvis Landry

Leading up to this game, I said that the Dolphins would need 30+ points just to have a chance to win. That prediction turned out to be true, but unfortunately the Dolphins couldn’t even get to 30. To their credit, the Dolphins did score 24 points, more than the 16 I predicted, but it just wasn’t enough. The offense started out fairly strong, with 17 points in the first half. Lamar Miller dominated early, with 80+ yards and 2 TDs, but disappeared the rest of the game. Unfortunately, the Phins managed just 7 points in the second half, putting up a goose egg in the 4th despite several opportunities.

I usually don’t do “keys to the game”, but I thought I’d change it up because writing about losses and/or crappy play week after week gets old fast. So here are 4 factors that led to this loss.

1. Dolphin penalties – it’s very difficult to win when you rack up 123 yards in penalties. Offensive holding, pass interference, three personal fouls (…more on that later) - just sloppy, undisciplined football.

2. Dolphin defense – I expected Eli Manning and Odell Beckham to carve up the Miami D – and they certainly did. Eli completed an astounding 87 percent of his passes for 337 yards and 4 TDs…and 0 INTs. It was as good a game as a QB could ever have, as evidenced by the fact that he had just as many TDs as incompletions. The Dolphins had absolutely no answers for superstar Odell Beckham, who torched Brent Grimes, Jamar Taylor and Reshad Jones for 166 yards and two scores. Bottom line here: the Phins’ pass D was horrendous. And speaking of Grimes, he’s half the man he used to be…he’s just not earning his huge salary. (Yes, that was a tribute to Scott Weiland, for those keeping score at home…I have always hated Stone Temple Pilots, but it’s always sad to see a rock star destroy his life due to drugs.)

3. Dolphin passing game – Tannehill and the Phins did some good things in the first 3 quarters, including Tannehill’s beautiful deep TD to Kenny Stills on a perfectly designed play in the 3rd. But as is often said in this league, games are won and lost in the 4th quarter, and great QBs earn their money when the game is on the line. Eli Manning stepped up and led his team to victory. And as usual Ryan Tannehill…didn’t. I can’t blame it all on Tannehill because there were some bad penalties (…again, more on that later) – but this was an opportunity for Tannehill to show the entire world that he is in fact ready for prime time and worthy of the mammoth contract he signed, and he simply couldn’t get the job done. Having three possessions in the 4th quarter in a tight game is a gift from the football gods…you just don’t get that many chances in most games. And the Dolphins did absolutely nothing.

4. Jarvis Landry – Landry was completely overshadowed by his buddy Beckham, but did manage to haul in 11 catches. But, with the game on the line, Landry essentially handed the victory to the Giants with a penalty that Jon Gruden called one of the worst he’s seen. To set the stage, the Phins get the ball back with 5:50 to play, at the Giants 48 yard line…pretty much exactly what you want to see if you’re a Dolfan. On first down, Tannehill throws a short pass to Landry, who is unable to make the play due to blanket coverage by Giants’ nickel corner Trevin Wade. At the conclusion of the play, Landry gets pissed off at Wade and throws him to the ground right in front of a ref. Flag comes out, 15-yard penalty on the Phins, and that great field position turns to shit. Of course, the Phins fail to convert and have to punt. Now, maybe the Dolphins don’t score even if Landry keeps his cool. But, that just cannot happen. You have to be smart, and you have to give your team a chance to win. On the board last week I talked about Landry’s childish behavior at times this season, and how it was unacceptable. Tonight’s incident is a prime example of what I’m talking about…Landry’s immaturity and stupidity cost the Phins big-time. If you want to be a leader, act like one. That’s four times this season that Landry has lost his composure – that we know of – and it’s clear that this young man has some serious growing up to do in the offseason.

There’s not really much else to say about the game. The Dolphins’ season is now officially over, and we can all start to focus on coaching changes and draft picks without feeling guilty. Déjà vu all over again for Dolfans.

I’ll just end by saying that it was absolutely awesome to see all the Dolphin greats at the game tonight. It was a nice reminder of the rich history of this once-proud franchise. And it was so great to see the old uniforms again. Those uniforms are classic and classy, and they basically kick ass. The current unis suck, and seeing the old ones tonight just made the new ones look even more lifeless and bland than I already thought they were.

They need to go ahead and change back to the old-school uniforms. Love the darker aqua-blue.

Oh, by the way, Devante Parker played like simmering shit tonight. His route running was suspect, but it was horrible tonight, and he seems to have no instinct to fight back to the ball at all.

JMP wrote:Leading up to this game, I said that the Dolphins would need 30+ points just to have a chance to win.  That prediction turned out to be true, but unfortunately the Dolphins couldn’t even get to 30.  To their credit, the Dolphins did score 24 points, more than the 16 I predicted, but it just wasn’t enough.  The offense started out fairly strong, with 17 points in the first half.  Lamar Miller dominated early, with 80+ yards and 2 TDs, but disappeared the rest of the game.  Unfortunately, the Phins managed just 7 points in the second half, putting up a goose egg in the 4th despite several opportunities.

This game mirrors how the Fins as a whole have been most of this century. When they need to score they can't. But I guarantee you had the Giants stretched out their lead to three TDs at any point THEN you'd have seen this offense break 30 with two pointless TDs in the last 5 minutes or something similar. That's just how this team rolls.

1. Dolphin penalties – it’s very difficult to win when you rack up 123 yards in penalties.  Offensive holding, pass interference, three personal fouls (…more on that later) - just sloppy, undisciplined football.

It seemed to me on at least 3-4 of those flags the officials were just throwing them for the sheer amusement of it, but maybe that's just me. They sure did seem to take joy in penalizing the Fins regardless of the situation, though. Almost as if the officials were saying, "Here's what you can do with your 50th anniversary, jerks! HA!!!"

2. Dolphin defense – I expected Eli Manning and Odell Beckham to carve up the Miami D – and they certainly did.  Eli completed an astounding 87 percent of his passes for 337 yards and 4 TDs…and 0 INTs.  It was as good a game as a QB could ever have, as evidenced by the fact that he had just as many TDs as incompletions.  The Dolphins had absolutely no answers for superstar Odell Beckham, who torched Brent Grimes, Jamar Taylor and Reshad Jones for 166 yards and two scores.  Bottom line here: the Phins’ pass D was horrendous.  And speaking of Grimes, he’s half the man he used to be…he’s just not earning his huge salary.  (Yes, that was a tribute to Scott Weiland, for those keeping score at home…I have always hated Stone Temple Pilots, but it’s always sad to see a rock star destroy his life due to drugs.)

Pass D was as bad as I've ever seen it, and that covers a LOT of territory--and I could hardly even stand to watch! (BTW 90s rockers sure don't seem nearly as built to last as 60s/70s guys who abused drugs for decades, and I find that really odd for some reason.)  

3. Dolphin passing game – Tannehill and the Phins did some good things in the first 3 quarters, including Tannehill’s beautiful deep TD to Kenny Stills on a perfectly designed play in the 3rd.   But as is often said in this league, games are won and lost in the 4th quarter, and great QBs earn their money when the game is on the line.  Eli Manning stepped up and led his team to victory.  And as usual Ryan Tannehill…didn’t.  I can’t blame it all on Tannehill because there were some bad penalties (…again, more on that later) – but this was an opportunity for Tannehill to show the entire world that he is in fact ready for prime time and worthy of the mammoth contract he signed, and he simply couldn’t get the job done.   Having three possessions in the 4th quarter in a tight game is a gift from the football gods…you just don’t get that many chances in most games.  And the Dolphins did absolutely nothing.

This should end all debate, period. I don't care about dropped passes or anything else, when the 2015 Giants have no trouble holding a one-score 4th quarter lead against you, you're not a franchise QB. Or even a mediocre one, really.

4. Jarvis Landry – Landry was completely overshadowed by his buddy Beckham, but did manage to haul in 11 catches.  But, with the game on the line, Landry essentially handed the victory to the Giants with a penalty that Jon Gruden called one of the worst he’s seen.  To set the stage, the Phins get the ball back with 5:50 to play, at the Giants 48 yard line…pretty much exactly what you want to see if you’re a Dolfan.  On first down, Tannehill throws a short pass to Landry, who is unable to make the play due to blanket coverage by Giants’ nickel corner Trevin Wade. At the conclusion of the play, Landry gets pissed off at Wade and throws him to the ground right in front of a ref.  Flag comes out, 15-yard penalty on the Phins, and that great field position turns to shit.  Of course, the Phins fail to convert and have to punt.  Now, maybe the Dolphins don’t score even if Landry keeps his cool.  But, that just cannot happen.  You have to be smart, and you have to give your team a chance to win.  On the board last week I talked about Landry’s childish behavior at times this season, and how it was unacceptable.  Tonight’s incident is a prime example of what I’m talking about…Landry’s immaturity and stupidity cost the Phins big-time.  If you want to be a leader, act like one.  That’s four times this season that Landry has lost his composure – that we know of – and it’s clear that this young man has some serious growing up to do in the offseason.

I KNEW you'd have something to say about that! And now you've got me on your side. Happy now?

There’s not really much else to say about the game.  The Dolphins’ season is now officially over, and we can all start to focus on coaching changes and draft picks without feeling guilty.  Déjà vu all over again for Dolfans.

I'm SO glad we don't have anybody here in a position to ban people for not wanting any more meaningless wins.

I’ll just end by saying that it was absolutely awesome to see all the Dolphin greats at the game tonight.  It was a nice reminder of the rich history of this once-proud franchise.   And it was so great to see the old uniforms again. Those uniforms are classic and classy, and they basically kick ass. The current unis suck, and seeing the old ones tonight just made the new ones look even more lifeless and bland than I already thought they were.

What was with the pants, though? Why'd they stay the same? But yeah, the jerseys looked SCINTILLATING in HD. If those jerseys had been a woman, the amount of sheer beauty would've given me an erection.

Degarmo wrote:Oh, by the way, Devante Parker played like simmering shit tonight.  His route running was suspect, but it was horrible tonight, and he seems to have no instinct to fight back to the ball at all.

Parker's best attribute was supposed to be his ability to fight for the ball and win contested passes. He's failed miserably on most of those opportunities this season, and he looks lazy and soft to me. His head clearly wasn't in the game tonight...seemed like he was just going through the motions. That's a really bad sign for a rookie.

JMP wrote:

Degarmo wrote:Oh, by the way, Devante Parker played like simmering shit tonight.  His route running was suspect, but it was horrible tonight, and he seems to have no instinct to fight back to the ball at all.

Parker's best attribute was supposed to be his ability to fight for the ball and win contested passes.  He's failed miserably on most of those opportunities this season, and he looks lazy and soft to me.  His head clearly wasn't in the game tonight...seemed like he was just going through the motions.  That's a really bad sign for a rookie.

If he can't get his head on straight, that's two first round major busts in three years.

You guys do the Hennehill thing, I'm all about the Hickreland.

JMP wrote:Parker's best attribute was supposed to be his ability to fight for the ball and win contested passes.  He's failed miserably on most of those opportunities this season, and he looks lazy and soft to me.  His head clearly wasn't in the game tonight...seemed like he was just going through the motions.  That's a really bad sign for a rookie.

If I was a rookie who the coaches refused to play and develop at all until the season was out of reach and the games meant nothing, I can't honestly say I'd bust my ass 24/7 either. Hopelessness really is infectious.

Degarmo wrote:You guys do the Hennehill thing, I'm all about the Hickreland.

You almost had it. Hickerland is what I believe you were looking for

Hickey - Ireland Hick+reland = Hickreland

It's pronounced Hickerland though

DolFan 316 wrote:What was with the pants, though? Why'd they stay the same? But yeah, the jerseys looked SCINTILLATING in HD. If those jerseys had been a woman, the amount of sheer beauty would've given me an erection.

Yeah, the pants made no sense...although it is a perfect half-assed Phins move.

The jerseys looked better than ever...has to be the HD. I absolutely despise the current jerseys, and seeing the old ones tonight just made me sad. And so did seeing all those Dolphin greats in street clothes, while watching the current scrubs lose. All the celebration of past glories tonight really highlights the depths this franchise has fallen to.

You didn't hear?

They did the throwback tops this year, but next year, they'll get rid of them and go to the throwback pants with a new top; which won't work, so they'll get rid of the pants halfway through the season, and have some pretty good fill-in pants design that many folks will really like.  Wanting to make a big fashion splash, though, Ross will can the interim pants.  Then at the end of the season, they'll fly out to try to bag the most-coveted pants in the country, but they'll botch it and end up with their sixth or seventh choice.

Why?  Because even when they're trying to cover their ass, they fail miserably.

Degarmo wrote:You didn't hear?

They did the throwback tops this year, but next year, they'll get rid of them and go to the throwback pants with a new top; which won't work, so they'll get rid of the pants halfway through the season, and have some pretty good fill-in pants design that many folks will really like.  Wanting to make a big fashion splash, though, Ross will can the interim pants.  Then at the end of the season, they'll fly out to try to bag the most-coveted pants in the country, but they'll botch it and end up with their sixth or seventh choice.

Why?  Because even when they're trying to cover their ass, they fail miserably.

Okay, end the thread right here. Funniest. Post. Ever.

That was hilarious!!!

And on that note, I do have to get up for work, so time to say good night. Thanks for ending my night with a couple of laughs, guys!

nighty night.

JMP wrote:That was hilarious!!!  

And on that note, I do have to get up for work, so time to say good night.  Thanks for ending my night with a couple of laughs, guys!  

Wuss

Degarmo wrote:Oh, by the way, Devante Parker played like simmering shit tonight.  His route running was suspect, but it was horrible tonight, and he seems to have no instinct to fight back to the ball at all.

He never been good with his route running, even in college. I have been looking back at some of his college video and notice that he only ran fly routes and high slants.