There's some positives in an incredibly frustrating game. The oline looks light years better with Smith over Thomas and the Tackles upgrade. Moreno breaking tackles is something we haven't seen from a rb in a long time. The play calling was pretty spot on minus the 2 runs inside the 15 on the 1st drive. The defense looked really good against a good offense. Pass rush was legit.
I'm not watching the game here in Hawaii, but I am glad to read that Moreno is looking good. I thought when they signed him, he should be the starting RB. Miller just doesn't break tackles or make any moves to evade the defensive players. He basically needs a huge hole to run through or else he gets tackled for no gain or a loss. Moreno is a better pass blocker, receiver out of the backfield, and an overall tougher runner. The only thing Miller has over Moreno is that Miller has more speed than Moreno. Unfortunately, Miller just doesn't seem to be able to use that speed to run for many yards and he usually goes down when hit by the first tackler. Moreno should be the starter once the regular season begins and Miller should be the change of pace back, IMO.
Last season as well. Its just good to see us do it against SOMEONE. We have looked as bad running the past two weeks as they have looked defending so its still a positive.
He was making good reads and good athletic plays. Plays that would have been short stops with other runningbacks.
Probably so but regardless Moreno looked like the superior back and a big upgrade. Both guys were rushing against the same d and the eyeball test was significant. Moreno looked much better than I expected. Ran with power and made some good cuts. Did you get to watch the game? Miller also had his typically dropped pass.
I agree he looked good. Just trying to temper the excitement a little based on who he looked good against. Especially who our OL looked good against.
I'm pleasantly surprised with our offensive weapons. We are going to cut some good prospects next week ;/.
Agreed with the oline part and I wasn't implying the rushing game as a whole was going to be good based on this game. Just simply that Moreno is a big upgrade over Miller. That part is irrelevant of the opponent.
Darkwa looked goo too man. Really wouldn't mind keeping 4 backs... with Miller being the only returning player from last year...
Dallas gave up 151 and 152 rushing yards it's last two games. Honestly, I thought Moreno looked kind of slow like he's still not quite in perfect shape, but that's good news because when he's at 100% he should be a monster. All of our running backs looked good; I'd say we keep Williams over Thomas and stash darkwa on the practice squad. The running game was better behind Shelley Smith, I think he sticks.
The Good - Billy Turner and Shelley Smith both made strong statements they should start. Hopefully coaches aren't stupid about this. - Knowshon Moreno heck of a debut. Looks a natural in this system. Maybe he's not awesome relative to rest of the league but he's the best we've got. - Gator Hoskins made a strong statement he needs to make the team, as did Orleans Dawkwa. - Matt Moore is a more than capable backup and looks a natural in this style of offense even if he can't run for sh-t. - Charles Clay looked like he's just picking up where he left off a year ago and that's good news. - Obviously the defensive line is still a strength. Odrick, Starks and Wake...stalwarts. - Branden Albert had the dress rehearsal game I was looking for him to have after some relaxed efforts in the first two games. - Jordan Tripp again flashed well, and Chris McCain had one of those "I did my job, did you do yours?" type games. The Bad - Ryan Tannehill didn't look good. That interception was just plain awful. - Thank god Knowshon Moreno showed up because Lamar Miller was flat as hell. - Still a chemistry issue between Wallace and Tannehill on deep passes. - Daryn Colledge and Samson Satele still aren't very good. - JaWuan James still struggling in run blocking. - I hope people don't think Egnew being cut is cool cuz Dion Sims is great. He's yet to show that. - Dallas Thomas is an apocalypse at the right guard position. - Jason Fox is really terrible at football, it turns out. Learn something new every day, I guess. - There may be some issues with the corners. - There are definitely issues with the safeties. - The guy who was going to replace the injured Caleb Sturgis also got injured. - The special teams looked pretty bad overall. - Mike Wallace still looks like a "give a penny, take a penny" guy and he's not going to give more than he takes til you can hit him deep.
Thought Moreno looked good as well. Williams and Dawkwa looked good too, but then again DT has looked good during actual NFL games. Not sure what to think with them doing well against backups, but good to see.
Lol few and far between obviously. I remember him starting out with some strong games but that was a long time ago. His most frustrating thing to me was always leaving yards on the field and Williams doesn't seem to have that issue.
He looked 10 years older than he is running. I laughed he runs like me. Love seeing his bomb pass though it's a thing of beauty. Wish it would rub off on Tannehill.
He isn't going to look fast , because he's not. He doesn't hit holes incredibly quickly either, but he can be effective and certainly was tonight , so that is a big plus.
I have been a huge Miller supporter since he was at the U but seeing him play and Moreno at the same time and it is clear Miller is lacking as a RB. BTW, I dont see how Gillespie makes this team
Moreno looks our best back since Reggie Bush. It's funny... think about the running backs whose careers were revitalized when they became a Dolphin... just recent memory... Lamar Smith, Ricky Williams, Reggie Bush and now Moreno? Looking that way. His legs looked really fresh. And he ran hard. Yes it was against the Cowboys... and Williams/Darkwa ran well too.
The main thing I wanted to see tonight was the run game come to life, and boy did it ever. I know Dallas has a poopy-filled diaper of a defense, but it was still really good to see us have some explosive runs and break some tackles. Moreno looked outstanding and Miller wasn't too shabby himself. The starting defense was also very good, and Dallas has a pretty damn good offense, so that was very exciting to see as well.
Moreno just knows how to run with the football. He reads his blocks correctly the majority of the time, shows good vision and reacts accordingly.
Yeah. The Chargers and Ravens both gained just over 150 yds on the ground. We got 200 even tonight, so we ran all over them even more.
Moreno was much better than I expected and seeing Miller drop another "concentration" catch just irks me. I honestly don't know how anyone could blame chemistry on that missed TD to Wallace. It wasn't even that deep of a pass. It traveled roughly 35 yards in the air and he literally missed him by a good 6 yards, both inside and deep (ha). Wallace is far from perfect but he's doing what he was brought here to do, get open deep and he's not just consistently getting open deep, he's getting WIDE freaking open. It's a shame we cant take advantage of that with just an average throw.T-hill is bound to accidentally hit the guy in stride one of these days...isn't he?
There was this one time..........at Cleveland. He took the football and stuck it in the................
To me Moreno looked liked the back that would consistently pick the right hole, block the right guy, and I expect catch the catchable pass. I don't see great athletic skills in him, but he keeps his legs moving at contact and if you generally pick the right hole that will generally mean positive gains. And with the state of tackling league-wide, quite a few broken tackles and extra yards. Miller even seemed to run a little harder after Moreno came in. I've never been a big Miller fan so my expectations weren't as high as many here, but I did see some improvement. Williams and Darkwa both look like they should make the team IMO. Those guys were making plays even when their teammates were screwing up. They didn't need perfect blocking (cough... Miller...cough) to make a play.
It was refreshing to see RBs breaking tackles and not going down on first contact. It was like night and day between Moreno/Williams and Lamar Miller. I sort of like Miller I guess, but he looks to be the 3rd or 4th best back on the team at the moment.
I'm trying to figure out what was so incredibly frustrating to watch about the game in the OP. Moreno has a lot of position specific talent, the only missing element is breakaway speed otherwise the other stuff is good. I also like the attitude for which he ran the ball..he was cool. I saw Miller hesitate, shuffle and scope while deciding which hole to run thru..
The frustrating part was the offense shooting itself in the foot over and over again. They got worse as the game went on. Scored a measly 3 points against the worst defense in the league, fumbled twice, lost one that cost them points, missed a wide open Wallace that cost them points, had a stupid penalty on the following play by Satele that cost them a 1st down on the quick out to Wallace, threw a 3 yard pass to the flats to dion Sims on 3rd and 8 that should've been a pick 6 and finished the night with a putrid int when he had a wide open Landry for a 1st down. Hartline dropping yet another 3rd down pass was frustrating as well. Everything that tannehill is weak at was highlighted in this game. 1) backbreaking turnovers 2) inability to take advantage of the best deep threat in the league despite being covered by air 3) not going through his progressions before dumping it off or forcing it to his BFF hartline. I sincerely hope Tannehill has it out of his system because he's out of excuses with me.
- Moreno baby!! This was the most refreshing part of that game. Finally being able to see our 1st team RB actually be able to get some yarda and first downs and actually show the ability to make something out of nothing. That was just great to see. - Miler is just lame. You could tell that Miller seeing Moreno play good inspired him to play a bit better, but it still wasn’t good enough, imo. My man, D. Williams looked much better than Miller. Darkwa also looked better. I definitely think Williams or Darkwa should be promoted ahead of Miller. - Dion Jordan??? Wt-? Well, it may certainly be too early to call him a bust, but he’s certainly starting to have that ugly stench, He looked slow and weak. - Receiving group looks very solid. - D. Williams, both looked good. - Great play by Gator H. - Moore is just a gamer and has the ability to hit the big play. I think those occasional picks are just him and I doubt that will change. He has the attitude where he always wants to make a good play and sometimes forces those passes for picks, but I definitely think his big play ability outweighs any bad in his game. That’s how you throw a f-----g deep ball!! - Starting LBs are still,,meh. - I truly hope this team can do something whilst we still have such a phenomenal talent in Wake!!!! A Beast!!! He certainly deserves it. - Tanne was efficient in the short to intermediate passes.. - I think all pre-season, J. James has been having a very solid showing for a rook.
Sometimes you have to just extrapolate play, meaning you could tell the offense could move the ball at will while also being able to tell that there was not legitimate gameplanning going in, they were focused on running the ball in every situation, even if in the regular season the drive would of been called differently, therefore resulting in a different outcome.. It looks to me like we have a very improved offense regardless of preseason points put up..
Agreed 100%. Not worried about points. I am slightly concerned about the Tannehill mental blips we saw the last two games though. Hes had that trouble in the past and I expect it from time to time from any player....but you'd like to see it cut down.
Not that he's off the hook yet, but D. Jordan quietly had a very good game, with 2 QB hits and a hurry. Against 2s, but still solid.
