Game 11 thoughts: Phins at Colts

Two 5-5 teams battling to keep their playoff hopes alive. It doesn’t get much bigger than that in the regular season. And the two teams responded with a hard-fought game that came down to the last second.

I fully expected the Dolphins to get blown out today. Instead, they responded with one of their best games of the season. Ultimately, though, the Miami offense and defense just weren’t good enough.

The offense started off great for a change, with a TD on the opening drive for the first time in 21 games – since October of 2017. There was a good mix of run and pass, and Kenyan Drake took a bubble screen at the line 33 yards to the house. Excellent play. The offense was considerably less impressive after that opening drive.

Ryan Tannehill returned to action and looked like…well…Ryan Tannehill. Very typical effort from Tannehill, relying on mostly short passes to pad his completion percentage and throwing a couple of really nice passes and a couple of really bad passes (including 3 near-interceptions). Tannehill threw for just 204 yards, with a huge chunk of that coming on an awful wounded duck deep pass that resulted in a 74-yard TD by Leonte Carroo. The ball should have been intercepted, but Carroo out-muscled and out-physicaled the DB, securing the ball and then running untouched for a TD. Other than that play, Tannehill mostly played it safe and didn’t do much despite his eye-popping 119.4 QBR. Bear in mind that more than half of Tannehill’s passing yardage came on just two plays – the 74-yarder by Carroo and the 33-yarder by Drake.

Frank Gore had an excellent game, averaging almost 5 yards a carry. His big play was a 23-yard run early in the 4th that led to a second TD by Drake shortly after to give the Phins a 10-point lead. However, for all the good that Drake did he also had a dropped pass and completely whiffed on a block of LB Darius Leonard that resulted in a Tannehill sack.

Other than Carroo, the WRs didn’t do much. The trio of Parker, Stills and Amendola (who missed much of the game with a knee injury) combined for just 5 catches for 29 yards, on 8 targets. That’s just not acceptable.

The TEs did very little, though Durham Smythe of all people did catch 2 passes. Mike Gesicki caught just one pass for 10 yards at midfield, and then promptly fumbled the ball back to the Colts. In the strangest part of the game, that Gesicki fumble was sandwiched between 2 INTs by Xavien Howard. All three turnovers occurred on consecutive plays, and brought the game to a wild halftime finish.

The OL played pretty well overall, although they committed 4 penalties, including 2 by Ted Larsen. Not good.

One final note on the offense. On the Dolphins’ final drive, they were backed up inside their own 10 and Gase got ultra-conservative with his playcalling. The Phins went three-and-out, gaining 0 yards on the drive…a run up the middle for no gain, a bubble screen at the line of scrimmage for no gain, and another run up the middle for no gain. On the previous drive, they also ran up the middle on 3rd and 10 for just 4 yards. With those plays, there was virtually no chance of gaining a first down. Gase coached scared, and it led directly to the loss. He often coaches not to lose, which is frustrating enough, but in this game he actually coached to lose.

24 points is a lot for the Dolphins’ offense, but scoring just 10 points in the second half isn’t going to win you many games. Still, it was good to see Tannehill back…if nothing else, he’s clearly better than Brock Osweiler.

The offense needs to score a lot more than 24 points when they have to carry the defense. Despite the 2 Howard INTs and a Raekwon McMillan forced fumble, the Dolphin defense was terrible again today. Here are the results of the first 8 plays that the Colts ran:
Play 1 = 16 yard run
Play 2 = 7 yard run
Play 3 = 21 yard pass
Play 4 = 17 yard pass
Play 5 = 14 yard pass for a TD (on that first drive, the Colts averaged 15 yards per play!!!)
Play 6 = 7 yard run
Play 7 = 24 yard pass
Play 8 = 10 yard pass

On that 8th play, McMillan managed to force a fumble that the Dolphins recovered, but that should paint a picture of just how unprepared the Dolphin defense was to start the game. That might be the worst stretch of 8 plays ever. They tightened up a bit after that, but still allowed over 450 total yards. (By the way, on the Colts’ second TD, McMillan got totally burned by TE Jack Doyle – who fell down on the play and still managed to be wide open for the easy TD pass.)

Andrew Luck absolutely torched the Phins, to the tune of 343 yards and 3 TDs, completing an unreal 30 of 37 passes. WR TY Hilton, inexplicably covered by LBs on too many occasions (gotta love zone coverage), ripped the Phins for 125 yards and a TD. RB Marlon Mack crushed the Phins for 85 yards on just 15 carries, and would have done more damage had he not exited the game with an injury. The Dolphin LBs again looked lost in coverage throughout the game, and the secondary didn’t do enough even with the two INTs. Howard and Minkah Fitzpatrick were roasted for big plays, and it seemed like there was a ton of open space every time a Colts’ receiver caught a pass. On the plus side, Cam Wake had a strip sack (recovered by the Colts) - the first sack allowed by the Colts in the last 5 games.

One particularly ugly play was a Colts’ 4th and 1 attempt late in the first half. Jacoby Brissett was at QB, with Luck lined up wide. Fitzpatrick initially had Luck covered, but when the ball was snapped Fitzpatrick ran to the line – leaving Luck wide open for an easy 4 yard completion and a first down.

But the worst play of the defense came on the final drive of the game, and gave the Colts a victory. On 3rd and 8, Luck masterfully avoided a sack and threw downfield to a wide-open Chester Rogers for a 34-yard pass that put them in FG range. It was a busted coverage, with no one near Rogers, and it’s something that just can’t happen at that point in the game. The Colts gained 9 yards on the ground on the next 3 plays, and then Adam Vinatieri kicked the game-winning 32-yard FG as time expired.

Special teams was great for the most part. Matt Haack again did a great job of pinning the opponent deep, and Jason Sanders kicked a FG. Kiko Alonso partially blocked a punt early in the 3rd quarter, which the Dolphins almost lost when Jerome Baker foolishly tried to field it and muffed it…fortunately the Phins recovered.

Like I said, I never expected the Phins to win this game. But the way they lost was still gut-wrenching. They blew a 10-point fourth quarter lead, with horrendous offensive playcalling and horrendously poor defense. The most frustrating part of this game is that it was the best the Dolphins are capable of playing – and they still lost. On a day when the offense scores 24 points and the defense forces 3 turnovers – and STs block a kick – it should be a win. But not this team. Even at their best, they still lose. So now they limp into the end of the season with a 5-6 record, clinging to quickly-fading playoff hopes.


Beer of the Game: Heineken

Hero of the Game: I’ll give it to Frank Gore, for continuing to run like a beast.

Goat of the Game: Adam Gase, for being a pussy and coaching to lose.

Great writeup, as usual JMP.

This loss hurt me more than the others. The 10 point lead late in the game I think is what did it. Maybe more so because I witnessed the great plays you outlined - the Gore run, the Drake run and reception for TD, Carroo coming up with a big play, Alonso not only getting a punt block but also destroying the RB behind the line of scrimmage, the strip sack. We had plays all over the field. Wasted. Just wasted by this staff and our horrible offensive play calling.

I hear Gase was raked over the coals in the press conference over play calling. The reporters just wouldn't let it die as a topic. He deserves it. Armando says this is the first time the questioning was so aggressive with Gase squarely in the cross hairs.

He needs to admit this is not working. He needs to select someone else as the play caller and be done with it. Those damn bubble screens KILL ME, especially like yesterday when they were just getting blown up as soon as the catch is made. Looks so weak. Where are the slants? Where are the throws to the slot WR or TE down the seam? ATTACK THE FIELD. Don't cringe to throw beyond the line of scrimmage.

Maddening. Frustrating. Humiliating.

As I wrote in another thread, only us as fans really know how bad the lost opportunity was yesterday for the Fins. We feel this loss as much as the players and staff. The rest of the football world? "Ho hum Luck is great what an awesome comeback victory!"

It sucks. Being a fan of this team is hard. Soul draining. Exhausting.

JMP wrote:They blew a 10-point fourth quarter lead, with horrendous offensive playcalling and horrendously poor defense.  The most frustrating part of this game is that it was the best the Dolphins are capable of playing – and they still lost.

truth, right there!

and this should be enough to convince Ross that this thing needs to be blown up.

white1 wrote:Alonso not only getting a punt block but also destroying the RB behind the line of scrimmage, the strip sack.

i also saw with the Colts backed up on their 11 in the fourth quarter, Alonso get stiffed armed by a 5'9'' RB on a short pass that turned into a 19 yard gain.

i also saw with the Colts backed up on their 11 in the fourth quarter, Alonso get stiffed armed by a 5'9'' RB on a short pass that turned into a 19 yard gain.

\

Oh I'm not absolving him for that, or for the hit to the head of Luck on his slide. I'm acknowledging the fact he made some good plays for us too.

white1 wrote:This loss hurt me more than the others.

Judging by what I've seen elsewhere on the interwebz, you're definitely not alone. A *lot* of people seem to have finally reached their personal tipping point.

As I wrote in another thread, only us as fans really know how bad the lost opportunity was yesterday for the Fins.  We feel this loss as much as the players and staff.  The rest of the football world? "Ho hum Luck is great what an awesome comeback victory!"

Football Outsiders feels your pain.

https://www.footballoutsiders.com/audibles/2018/audibles-line-week-12

Ryan Tannehill is a seventh-year pro and the Dolphins still don't trust him to throw on third-and-long with the score tied. He's not a disaster on the Bortles level or anything, but at this point it's clear the Dolphins need something new at that position.

Adam Gase, meanwhile, must infuriate Dolphins fans. After going up two scores, he stopped trying to win. (Actually, several Colts fans on Twitter noted that he didn't seem to be coaching to win even in the first half.) Two three-and-outs for -5 yards total, full of short passes and a pair of handoffs on third-and-10. A lot of fans still lack faith in Ryan Tannehill, but he's at worst a decent quarterback. They coached that game like they were playing Hide the Bortles.

 

I’m so tired. So tired.

I can make it. I will make it through this season. I’ll cling to the hope somebody will knock off New England.

I can summon the strength to travel to Minnesota and root for this team to win. I can. Because I have to. I just have to.

I will make it through this season. Spring is coming, and the hope that comes with it. I can do it.

I'm so tired of this shit ass team. Every week a team playing us has 3rd and long and they complete a 20 yard pass wide friggin open up the middle or we get a penalty and give them a first down. Miami has 3rd and long and we run a 4 yard screen pass and punt. Gutless coaching and pathetic QBs. I'm sick of it.

gase is such a fake. QB guru my ass. So, tell me again, how being in 3rd and 10, it is SO hard to achieve a first down. I don't think that has ever happened in the whole history of the NFL, that a team actually picks up a first down on 3rd and 10. Can't remember ever seeing this.

My thing is, gase came out a few weeks ago, and STRAIGHT FACED said something to the effect of Ryan Tannehill has a "high ceiling" and "he has still not reached his ceiling yet".

So, if that is the case and he is the QB you have hung your job on basically, then why in the hell do you not trust him to make a play to win the game, instead of sending in queasy joe like BS, pussy, play not to lose play calls?

gase could have actually silenced a lot of his critics if he had even just given the QB a CHANCE to make a game winning play. Succeed or not, I STILL would have giving him credit for playing to win, as opposed to the scared shitless show he put on yesterday.

I’m convinced Adam Gase undermines players he doesn’t like like DeVante Parker. I think he undermined the team with his play calling yesterday. I don’t understand why he has a job. Shipping off Jay Ajayi was criminal last year. It went largely unnoticed since Kenyan Drake stepped in and put up similar numbers. Where are those 200 yard rushing games by Drake this year? Gase has Drake on the bench behind Gore. Undermining one of our best offensive weapons.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2018/11/26/adam-gase-everyone-looks-at-result-and-all-the-good-things-get-forgotten/

so supposedly Gase is not too worried about the outcome and is more worried about how well they played. he also wanted to know why so many people are worried about the ending results. you have to read this comedy. it like when you tell a kids it not about winning it's about how you play the game. that sounds like a loser to me

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[Disclaimer:  Upcoming Degarmo swearing too much because I'm angry as hell rant.]

So, the thing that to this day still irks me is Gase sitting on the bench when the defense is on the field.  I know that other coaches at times will go over to the bench and discuss something with the guys, but Gase sits there alone a lot of the time.  He doesn't exude leadership.  In terms that we discuss around here all the time, he doesn't have "it", that leadership quality that guys will run through a brick wall for.  

Yes, knowing your Xs and Os is important as a head coach, but more important is your leadership, your inspiration potential, your ability to protect your players, deflect and handle the press, and make game day decisions about the important details unwavering-ly.  

He's just Joe Philbin, a milquetoast guy with no ability to handle players' personalities, and thinks far too highly of himself.

You can see the same look in both Philbin's and Gase's eyes in the press conferences when they're pressed on subjects.  They have this anger about them, but I swear they know they have no real answer to separate themselves from the blame, so they give some nebulous bullshit answer.

Ross needs to fire him now.  They could literally be in playoff contention (real playoff contention, not the mathematical BS we're in now) if he didn't coach that 4th quarter like he was terrified of success.  

I can't take Ross hiring these shit bags anymore either.  The entire football world knows the way you do this is get rid of the GM/coach and many others, if not everyone in the front office, and let the new person build the team.

Think of the fucking disgraceful litany of front office characters and coaches we've had to deal with as fans, not to mention a couple of nice scandals like Bullygate and the Dawn Aponte bullshit.

Also, why waffle about the GM?  Chris Grier is as much as a GM as I am the president of the US.  

And why would anyone hire Tannenbaum?  No one in the fucking league wanted him, at all, AT ALL, AT ALL!  They go out and get Suh, waste of time, and we all knew it would be.  Sure, he's a dominating player, but he wasn't the dominating player we needed.  Getting him, Ross spending all that money, didn't do a damn thing for the team, nothing.

They draft Ajayi, and because he makes Gase's boo-boo all sore, he gets shipped to Philly to win a Super Bowl.  Parker is called out as not being, whatever he's not being, by Gase even when it's clear that they rarely have him as a dominant part of the game plan.  Sure, he could be better, but if you only get 3 times a game to prove it . . . you get my point.  They go out and get Gore, and he plays like a beast, but when he shows any inkling of taking over a game, he's subjugated to the bench for the remainder of the game so Kenyon Drake can either make a 70-yard run, or fumble away the ball.

There are numerous instances of this kind of crap under Gase, and we all know it.  PLUS, WTF is it going to take for the Dolphins to get some talent on the offensive line.  I'd say the line coach this year deserves a medal for getting this island of misfit toys to perform adequately.

The only thing on this team that's solid is special teams.  They are also the only unit that has a good coach.  Think about that.

EDIT:  Okay, after reading that article that rightchea posted, I want this guy out of the building permanently and immediately. Ship his shit to whatever cave he's going to live in.  This is what every single loser-ass coach we've had before him has said, EVERY ONE OF THEM SAID THIS BULLSHIT.  No, fucker, all that matters is results, that is ABSOLUTELY THE BOTTOM LINE IN FOOTBALL, PERIOD, END OF THOUGHT PROCESS, NOTHING FURTHER, STFU AND WIN OR GTFO.  Jesus, I'm sick to death of these god-damned pussy gamma males (not even a beta, just some tertiary turd floating in life's punch bowl) coaching football teams.  Go away, Gase, your bumbling bullshit is no longer needed.

Fuck this guy.

Once again, apologies for breaking the swear jar.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv


Well said Sir!

Degarmo officially wins the internet for the rest of the week. That is all.

unfortunately Degarmo, Ross is someone that is looking for people that he knows instead of who is best for the team. a bunch of sorry ass GM and VP saw a opportunity to get themselves a job and Ross to the bait.

DolFan 316 wrote:Degarmo officially wins the internet for the rest of the week. That is all.

Agreed, that is a beautiful rant!

Thanks guys, we were all thinking some form of that, I'm sure.

rightchea wrote:unfortunately Degarmo, Ross is someone that is looking for people that he knows instead of who is best for the team. a bunch of sorry ass GM and VP saw a opportunity to get themselves a job and Ross to the bait.

I know for a fact Ross is not stupid, even a little bit. So, it's one of three things: 1) he honestly doesn't care; 2) he cares but has no faith to do the right thing on his own without seeking some rather idiotic friends' advice or; 3) he's doing it on purpose.

rightchea wrote:http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2018/11/26/adam-gase-everyone-looks-at-result-and-all-the-good-things-get-forgotten/

so supposedly Gase is not too worried about the outcome and is more worried about how well they played. he also wanted to know why so many people are worried about the ending results. you have to read this comedy. it like when you tell a kids it not about winning it's about how you play the game. that sounds like a loser to me

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Come on guys, who looks at W-L records anyway? This is 2018, where everyone gets a participation trophy and you get a standing ovation for trying hard. Results are meaningless...it's all about making everyone feel like a winner.

Yeah, fuck you, Gase. It IS about results, and you're going to lose your job because you don't understand that. You are nothing but a fraudulent LOSER. GTFO of Miami, NOW!

2) he cares but has no faith to do the right thing on his own without seeking some rather idiotic friends' advice or;

I actually believe this one. When you've got a problem, like Ross has had since he bought the team, the first thing you do is look for a trusted advisor. In this case, it was Tannenbaum. Had a twist of fate occurred and somehow this was John Dorsey instead, we would be in much better hands.

Tannenbaum was in Ross's ear as soon as he showed up years before he ever got a formal job. We all saw it coming. You think that's ever stopped? I guarantee Tannenbaum is using any opportunity he's got to CONTINUE filling Ross's ear for the reasons the team is not winning, the strengths they have, the weaknesses they can fix and how.

If the time comes (and it's looking likely it will), you can be sure Tannenbaum will throw somebody - anybody - under the bus to save his own job. Grier, Gase or both. Hell Matt Burke might be a sacrificial lamb, or Loggains for that matter. No one is safe.

It's going to take a courageous step but Ross MUST see through his "friend" and look at the results, then reach the conclusion himself that Tannenbaum is not the guy to lead this franchise. I mean dammit, the NFL itself has a whole advisory council they stood up in the name of competitive balance, to advise owners that need new football leadership! USE IT!

One more note. Marino scares me. I'm interested in no part of installing a VP/GM that is going to be "learning on the job" from day one. Plus, he shrank from the time commitment required in this job before, what's changed now? Loved him as a QB, but sorry I want no part of a Marino-led franchise in the front office. It has DISASTER painted all over it.

Give me an executive that commands respect and knows how to build a roster. As of right now, the only name I'm familiar with is Louis Riddick, but I'm sure there are more and equally qualified candidates that can take this team, hire a GM and head coach, and get it fixed. It's not Tannenbaum, it's not Grier, and it sure as hell looks like it's not Gase either.

I feel that he trying to take either Tannenbaum or Grier job. he retired from television and now wants to be top dog somewhere that he is liked and that is Miami

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I'd say your best realistic candidate for GM right now is Eliot Wolf, Dorsey's assistant GM in Cleveland. He's young (36) but that means he could be here a long time.

Will McClay in Dallas is an excellent candidate for GM but I think it would take a lot to get him away from the Cowboys' organization.

George Paton in Minnesota is also highly regarded around the league, and ironically has been Spielman's assistant there for a while.

That's where my list would start, probably, in that order.

Love the idea of Eliot Wolf, and Ross is friendly with Ron Wolf...so there is at least some connection.

McClay and Paton are definitely hot names, too.

Other options I'd be interested in:
Alonzo Highsmith (Browns VP of Player Personnel)
Joe Douglas (Eagles VP of Player Personnel)
Terry McDonough (Cardinals VP of Player Personnel)

Paton used to work for the Fins back in the JJ/Wanny days. No thanks.