Game Day Fins vs Bill

I tried fighting technology for a long time but finally gave in. Get to watch the Fins on my Ipad and still get double time while working though I would rather be off and home watching the game.

I don't want to mention this but I have to. The one game I watched on an iPad was that embarrassing loss in buffalo when we had a shot at playoffs.

Hope you have much better luck today! For all of us!

I'm going 27-13 Bills. I just don't like this matchup for Miami...Buffalo's strengths perfectly match Miami's weaknesses.

Well Miami just won 28-25 should have been 28-17 but Miami made too many penalties at the last second. Love to see the toughness from Miami but at the same time Miami need to control itself with the penalties.

What a great way to go into the bye week. Fuckin fantastic. I love physical football and I'll take the dirty play. It's still better than being a little bitch like Philbins teams.

Awesome win!!! But the penalties are definitely a concern. This team remains sloppy and undisciplined, and Gase has to fix that.

Anyway - Jay Ajayi is a beast! I'm in absolute shock at his performance the past two weeks - never would have expected anything like this in a million years! He's carrying the team right now - along with a defense that is suddenly looking pretty damn good.

I still think that Miami needs to find another Safety to help out with Jones out. Would have love to see Jones out there.

I'll take the win and I got to watch most of the game. Have to stop the stupid penalties.

Birdmond wrote:What a great way to go into the bye week.  Fuckin fantastic.  I love physical football and I'll take the dirty play.  It's still better than being a little bitch like Philbins teams.

As long as they keep it between the lines and don't turn into malevolent misogynists like half the NFL these days.

Weren't Philbin's teams known for NOT being penalized that much?

Seven posts in this thread before mine. Telling. The sheer disbelief at what's going on is palpable.

Great 4th quarter.

Loved the long pass to Stills on 3rd and 5 instead of just plunging into the line and punting . . . that says a lot to me right there.

Glad you're here, Degarmo It gives me a chance to make the point that despite all of Ajayi's running, the Fins still trailed 17-6 late in the 3rd and also with 6 minutes left and it was a big PASS play that finally turned the game around

What, you thought Ajayi would convince me the running game is relevant? May I remind you that when The Quitter had his back to back 200-yard games the first one was a loss. To The Bills. By 17.

Is Miami trying to find it identity as a ground and pound team. Miami could be this as long as Ajayi is healthy and D. Williams can compliment the run game then Miami can be a playoff team.

DolFan 316 wrote:Glad you're here, Degarmo It gives me a chance to make the point that despite all of Ajayi's running, the Fins still trailed 17-6 late in the 3rd and also with 6 minutes left and it was a big PASS play that finally turned the game around

What, you thought Ajayi would convince me the running game is relevant? May I remind you that when The Quitter had his back to back 200-yard games the first one was a loss. To The Bills. By 17.

Ahem . . . I was just in the other thread yesterday talking about it's all about points, and the T.O.P means nothing anymore without points.

The only time the running game is important nowadays is when you're ahead and need to kill clock AND SCORE A TD, and, as well, also, near the goal line because nearly every team in the league has abandoned the play-action pass to the FB or TE anymore, probably because it's too effective. I saw a team use it today, forgot who, to the fullback and nearly fell off the couch. It was, of course, a touchdown.

Degarmo wrote:Ahem . . . I was just in the other thread yesterday talking about it's all about points, and the T.O.P means nothing anymore without points.

WHOOPS~! I somehow forgot all about that even though it brought back memories of your posting debut

On the other hand that means I already converted you to my POV

Yeah, pretty much you have. Like I said, running the ball is situational now. It's important in very specific situations.

Time of possession absolutely matters. I don't care what the stats say. You want your defense rested an the opposing D gassed.

Time of possession absolutely matters. I don't care what the stats say. You want your defense rested an the opposing D gassed

Agreed.

The way the game unfolded, I was thinking a lot about our conversation in advance of the game.

Early on, it looked like we were going to suffer the same fate as that long ago Colts game, when we owned Time of Possession but did not score enough points. With the Bills going up 17-6, our running numbers and TOP advantage started to fade. Statistically, we were dominating but the scoreboard begged to differ. I was thinking "here we go again", the Bills with a quick-strike TD, and they had (at the time) forced us to kick two FGs, preventing us from getting the points we needed to keep up.

That changed in the second half, obviously. While we continued to stay committed to the run, the points started coming with drives also. The first TD Ajayi scored, then the 2 point conversion to Landry seemed to give the team a spark. The defense started really locking down the Bills offense. Then we had the TD run by Williams.

Both rushing scores emphasized the importance of being able to run the ball in the red zone. Instead of watching Tanny get flushed out of the pocket, or forcing the ball into tight spaces, or getting sacked/fumbled or intercepted - we simply pounded the ball between the tackles and scored. A very physical, old school approach that actually worked. As the season continues, if we can keep developing and advancing our rushing attack, the credible threat of running inside the red zone will open up those play action passes. The red zone offense can evolve once it has something other teams must respect and game plan against. The running game is starting to look like it could be that threat.

Birdmond wrote:Time of possession absolutely matters.  I don't care what the stats say.  You want your defense rested an the opposing D gassed.  

If anything, yesterday showed that TOP doesn't matter at all - scoring TDs does.  We were down by 11 even though we were dominating TOP - that only changed when we started scoring TDs.  As for the defense, they gave up a TD drive at the very end of the game...being well-rested didn't seem to help them.

Even last night's game - the Cards had the ball for over 46 minutes and the 'Hawks had the ball for just over 26 minutes...and the game ended in a 6-6 tie!

It's exactly what we talked about last week, and I stand by what I said then: TOP only matters if you're scoring TDs.

As for the defense, they gave up a TD drive at the very end of the game...being well-rested didn't seem to help them.

While I did not like that last drive at all, and I'm sure Gase and Vance Joseph will be preaching about discipline, that was a penalty-fueled "bend but don't break" scheme leading to the final TD. Even if the Bills had recovered the onside kick, the game clock was at about 12 seconds.

Again, a couple real bad taunting penalties that bailed them out from 3rd and long situations. We were getting good pressure on Taylor and played well overall on that drive.

HA!!! PREACH IT, JMP!!! TESTIFY!!!

The bottom line is this: barring freaky things like return scores, each team is going to get the same number or roughly the same number of possessions in a game. If team A takes 8 minutes to get a FG and then team B takes one play to get a TD, that 8-minute drive just got rendered meaningless.

From what I could see on the net Ajayi had pretty much he same number of rushing yards in the first half as the second. Yet the Fins scored way more points in the second. It's not how long you have the ball on each drive, it's how your drives end that really counts.

white1 wrote:

As for the defense, they gave up a TD drive at the very end of the game...being well-rested didn't seem to help them.

While I did not like that last drive at all, and I'm sure Gase and Vance Joseph will be preaching about discipline, that was a penalty-fueled "bend but don't break" scheme leading to the final TD.  Even if the Bills had recovered the onside kick, the game clock was at about 12 seconds.  

Again, a couple real bad taunting penalties that bailed them out from 3rd and long situations.  We were getting good pressure on Taylor and played well overall on that drive.

 I thought the last drive was filled with sloppy, undisciplined football by the Phins.  No excuse for allowing a TD on that drive.

I thought the last drive was filled with sloppy, undisciplined football by the Phins.

Totally agree that the penalties have to stop. We had Jason Jones with a late shove of Taylor when already out of bounds, and Maxwell did something to draw a taunting penalty that kept the drive alive.

Our scheme and defensive calls were effective, the penalties cannot continue because it gave them life and led to the touchdown.

white1 wrote:
Our scheme and defensive calls were effective, the penalties cannot continue because it gave them life and led to the touchdown.

Yes and no.  The penalties obviously kept the drive going...the game would have been over after 3 plays if not for the Maxwell taunting penalty.  But at the same time, the D gave up a 25-yard completion to a special teams player on 3rd and 10 (and a 13-yard completion to another part-time player a couple of plays earlier), and they also couldn't stop Reggie Bush at the goal line.

Adam Gase RB Whisperer, Drops Mic.