I think there is a freaky Friday thing going on with Jamar Taylor and Will Davis. Last year Will Davis looked like they boom or bust cornerback, however this year it looks to be Jamar Taylor. Jamar with two really good pass break ups, however also let up some big plays. Davis is looking more consistent. I see why he is getting on the field. I don't think I saw Tripp as a middle linebacker once in this game. My dream of Trusnik being cut isn't going to happen. He looked good last preseason. I felt the linebackers played a fine game. They aren't all world and are going to be beat by good scat backs and tight ends. However I think a lot of people look at last year when evaluating them this year. They still don't look like an upgrade over Dansby and Burnett (well Dansby anyway), however they look to be better than terrible. Other than one play that got Tannehill hit, Dallas Thomas played a pretty good game. In fact, he had some really good run blocks. For all the talk of Thomas, Shelly Smith had two plays where a swim move killed him. Luckily for him both were really quick passes by Tannehill and by Moore. Samson should be cut when Pouncy comes back. He has shown me nothing but having the ability to snap the ball. He isn't very good at run blocking and he isn't good at pass blocking. He is good at blocks in the back. Fox is a player I was wrong about. I should have never said he was good enough to start. If a run does not make more than 2 yards that is a 75% chance that Colledge's man is part of the reason. He is not a good run blocker. Too many times his man is either unblocked or gets off his block quickly. 20% of the time it is James or Satele. 5% it is Albert or Smith or Thomas. At least this game. Honestly I didn't see Thomas miss one run block, I did see Albert. D2 had a really good game. He looked like he took a step this game. He was better at finding holes and making people miss. This was the second game that Orleans Darkwa has impressed me. He also looked like he gained a step. D. Thomas probably should be cut for these two. I am not a fan of a guy losing his job to injury, but luckily there is years of tape on him. Darkwa is a strong back and D2 plays special teams. Something D. Thomas isn't known for. Knowshon had a really good game. His vision was really good. He had two plays where I thought he would get nothing, but his athletism allowed him to get big gains. It is nice having a runningback where the blocking doesn't have to be perfect for it to be successful. D1 should make the team. Wide Receiver is deeper than I have ever seen it. Yes they are a bunch of players that people would call "number 2" guys. Mathews, Gibson, Hartline, Wallace, Landry and D1 are a solid unit. If Hartline or Wallace is hurt, it isn't Morlon Moore of the street. A huge upgrade over last year. Sims had some really good blocks. Clay looked athletic with a good block on Knowshon's long play. I wish Miami showed more of Gator. I he looks interesting. The also rans, looked like also rans, though 81 did have a nice broken tackle to get two extra yards. Moore had another good game, minus an interception for a touchdown and a dropped interception for a touchdown. Tannehill did not have a good game. I believe in him, however this was one of those games CK talks about. Where he just has a bunch of brain farts. Not entirely his fault. Hartline did drop a pass, Samson did hit someone in the back, Lamar Mller did drop a pass, Sims fumbled the ball, both tackles decided they wanted to take a play off, and a few other mistakes lead him to 3 quarters and 3 points. In about 5 quarters of play, the Miami Dolphins first unit has scored 13 points. That isn't enough. I will say that it is nice to watch Miami's 2nd unit score a bunch. When was the last time Miami had such depth. Both back up defense and offense look good. I feel sorry for Dallas Cowboy fans. Their team just let up 200 yards rushing to the Miami Dolphins, who before this game didn't look like they would have 200 total at this point in the preseason. This is going to be a LONG year.
Great summary. Sometimes I feel like Tannehill just isn't relaxed out there, not in a groove, maybe over-thinking. In contrast Moore comes in and just plays, and despite making a bad decision on a botched play, doesn't let it bother him and plays well from then on. Hoping Tannehill can put that behind him and just find that veteran flow. Really liked both the Williams' last night. And agree wish we'd see more of Gator. Just that name alone makes my kid like him, so that's a good thing. I really like a lot of our young guys, hope we keep the right ones.
Dallas Thomas's problem is the same as John Jerry's, for huge men they do not have a lot of strength or power, I think that is why they were good tackles in college and mediocre to poor G's in the pros.
I agree with a lot of your points. IMO, I wouldn't put too much thought into how the passing game played out last night. Sure, we all would have liked to have sene less errors, but last night was about the running game. IMO, Philbin and Lazor wanted to prove something to their guys; "We can run the ball!" And they did. We all know that the passing game won't be like Denver's or Green Bay's, but if they can pass equally to last season and run close to how they did last night they'll score a lot of points.
Yes 13 pts but what did was build confidence in running the ball. At one point Ryan was 8 /9. We can pass the ball. I'm not worried about some bad plays. It happens. No sacks, very nice. Held their running game up, yep. Dallas Thomas didn't give or really miss too many blocks but is problem is he gets pushed back and either ruins the running lane, cut back lane or pocket integrity. In the end I think Turner is going to replace Colledge after the bye week and Smith will start. We will be able to run and pass the ball. I think before this person game Tannehill had like 18 tds and 2 ints in the red zone. Let's not get carried away about one bad play.
Dallas Thomas didn't get pushed back on this game. I am not saying he should start or anything, just that he had a pretty good game.
if you look up Ian Wharton on Twitter he shows it on about 4 plays were Thomas is the only person who doesn't get push or keep pocket integrity. Yes he played better. I'm a Thomas supporter and still think we should be playing him at LG not RG. He just needs to learn better leverage and live at the squat rack and leg press plus tons of core. Create a powerful base. I love his movement skills. All players have bad plays or games, such is life.
PFF article on our RG battle: https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2014/08/24/miami-right-guards-in-focus/ And I disagree about Satele, if anything the OL finally looks to be on the same page.
I have to look at a different angle on the Dallas Thomas run play. It looks to me that the safety makes the tackle. I don't know if Miller falls if the safety isn't there.
As one watches the 7:25 play, they claim Smith falls down, if you watch it one can see the DT pushed him off balance
The whole line played better. Some of it is on Dallas D line. Colledge is better than Turner right now, he is more reliable even if he does not flash great potential like Turner. Turner flashes, but will need a year of work. Shelley is just better at RG, mainly because of his second level blocking, but also because he is more consistent in pass pro. Satele is better than Brenner. Satele is consistent, you know what you're getting and can plan around that. You can't expect him to turn and seal Wilfork, but he is not going to be pushed around either.
I thought last night was encouraging. The offense moved the ball well. We didn't walk away with points for all the reasons dupree mentioned, but if we move the ball like that we're going to be fine. Tannehill didn't look great but he wasnt atrocious. We still could have won that game even after the pick so I won't hold it against him to much. Oline was definitely encouraging. Imagine if tannehill hit the dirt the way Romo did last night. We'd all be terrified for week 1 Defense looked great. Secondary didn't blow anyone away but if the pass rush can do that every week, it won't matter.
I didn't think Tannehill played badly. Most of the miscues seemed like QB/receiver not being on the same page. That's disturbing, but I don't know which side gets more of the blame. But I thought his passes were crisp and his decisions outside of the ones where we don't know who screwed up were solid. Pretty much agreed on everything else.
Good write up. I think Miami should continue to hold onto RT for some time and give him ample opportunity. But, the reality is, RT still struggles at times in several areas. I'm not down on him, but I also am not sold on him yet.
