After a two week hiatus, the "Ronin's Review" is back in action. I was too depressed and on the road to write-up something after the Green Bay game, and I had a work function and picked up the Bears game at 21-7 so I didn't feel it was appropriate to write a review after missing most of three quarters. But I'm back today. What a bizarre game today, huh? Miami's offense didn't seem to be on the field in the first half. The defense got two touchdowns. Jerome Boger's crew might be the lousiest in the NFL in terms of calling penalties and offering/not offering explanations up afterwards. Some pigeon damn near did everything but start attacking Blake Bortles as Stringer Bell noted in the game thread. Bird had some balls. The good news is that Miami got to 4-3 and I think if they can fix some of their mistakes from today, they've got a good chance to, as Cameron Wake said this past week, "Start stacking W's in the win column." I'll kepe it simple with Good, Bad and Bizarre today. Good - Above all else, Miami got the "W" today and I thought the team came out much sharper in the 2nd half in all phases of the game. - Olivier Vernon played very well today; too bad he got a sack wiped out by penalty. - I'm convinced that Cameron Wake is not of the human race. #Cyborg - Ryan Tannehill hooked up with Mike Wallace on a nice deep ball, in stride, and a great job by Wallace to get his knee down in bounds. - Dion Sims seems to sneakily get WIDE open once a game and I thought his blocking was decent today. - The front 4 played well on defense today, especially in getting push on Bortles when he was in the pocket. - Kelvin Sheppard might just be better than Jason Trusnik at MLB. - Nice to see the DBs start attacking the ball. Jones had a sack; Delmas and Grimes with pick-6's, and Jamar Taylor made a few nice tackles after whiffing one. - Will Davis and Rishard Matthews did pretty well on special teams today. - Good of the coaching staff to yank Daryn Colledge; he was horsecrap today and needed to be yanked. - Reshad Jones in run support and blitzing. - Ryan Tannehill running. He seemed to play better in the 2nd half, aside from the INT in the endzone. - Lamar Miller ran well and made some nice moves. Didn't have a lot of holes to go through but averaged 5.5 ypc. - Sneakily Miami had everyone average at least 4 ypc today. - Daniel Thomas was pretty decent today. Bad - Slow start against an inferior opponent? ...Joe Philbin Special today. On the road made it a bit more surprising. #NotReally - The interior of the O-line was DREADFUL. Absolutely dreadful. When someone is getting thoroughly outplayed by Dallas Thomas, there's an issue. I think...well hope, that sooner rather than later the coaching staff realizes that Daryn Colledge and Samson are NOT part of the "best 5". I think Colledge showed today that he's not as good as people thought, and I know people...a lot of people on here will disagree with me, but Samson Satele is not that good. He's a consistent snap in the shotgun, but that's about it. I'll re-watch but I think 3 of the tipped passes today were from guys Satele was blocking and getting pushed back by. - That said, Pouncey was not that great either today and seemed lost in space. Albert played okay...Ja'Wuan James had an off day. - Jason Trusnik holy cow, that was bad. - I think Kevin Coyle in general called a pretty awful game in the first half and it didn't help matters that they were stuck on the field for so long due to 3 and outs by the offense and from Delmas' pick six. But, to be gashed the way they were is disheartening. Jacksonville had 176 yards rushing on 30 carries - 5.87 ypc, but I'll bet dollars to donuts that Coyle will say that Miami gave up 42 to Robinson and 30 on the Bortles scramble and if you take those two runs away it's only 104 yards on 28 carries, a 3.7 ypc; which is more in line with Miam's seasonal averages. - Reshad Jones in pass coverage isn't all the way back to normal. Allen Robinson could have had a TD easily in the first half as Jones was late over the top. - Michael Thomas struggled in coverage today as well. - I think Bill Lazor/Ryan Tannehill had some issues with play-calling today, especially when they're backed up deep in their own territory. - Brian Hartline had a rough day. He had a nice 1st down catch over the middle and one of the "drops" was a bad ball from Tannehill, but he's been shaky ever since that miserable game he had at Buffalo in week 16 last year. - Koa Misi's ankle...seriously, what's wrong with it? Miami's better with him in. Bizarre - That pigeon. - Maybe it's just me but I feel like Miami's usually on the other side of games like this. Hopefully this was Miami's "Shrek" game for the year (i.e. an ugly win) and they're able to keep positive momentum going. - Jelani Jenkins had a few nice flash plays again today, but I feel like they drop him into zone coverage quite a bit when there's no one there. I'd examine getting him more involved moving downhill if possible. - Dion Jordan got some snaps in interesting positions. He played SAM LB in the base set (not even the pseudo 3-4 look Miami runs, I'm talking Von Miller-ish). He played base DE and he played as a spy LB in obvious passing situations. I could live with that and if he showed more ability to set the edge as a stand-up OLB, I think you could get him on the field more as opposed to having Philip Wheeler. I'll give kudos to DJ for sticking to his guns so far on that. But I think this is something that bears watching especially since you have Shelby and Fede BOTH capable of playing DE, and McCain showed well in limited snaps at DE today. - Blake Bortles is like 1 giant stride forward and 18 baby steps back right to where he started. - Gus Bradley's heart rate wen through the roof multiple times today, though he would have easily lost if he'd challenged Mike Wallace's deep catch. - Miami has won 3 straight road games (Raiders in London, Chicago and today). Overall Overall, this was a good win for Miami. They're 4-3 and have a chance to start building up wins. Next week's game against San Diego is HUGE. I'm not being dramatic either. There's playoff implications on the line. A win gives you a tie-breaker over the Chargers and would bring Miami to 5-3. That's a good spot to be in at the halfway point, and as we know from last year, San Diego is a team that can hang around in a game and they hung around and sneaked into the playoffs via a miracle in week 17. And, though it feels weird, I really think that Miami can beat San Diego, Detroit (lost Fairley today and Bush and Megatron are still banged up), and Buffalo at home on a short week minus Spiller and Jackson. At least win 2 of 3 before you have to go to Denver. That's putting the cart before the horse though. At least right now. Miami has to really fix some issues going into the San Diego game. I think you've really got to focus on clamping down against the run. If you can shut down Branden Oliver and make Philip Rivers have to pass, I think Miami's pass-rush will really cause problems for them. Getting Dion Jordan back to cover Antonio Gates could be a real boon as well. It was last year, so hopefully he's able to get back to full-game capabilities soon. Second, you've got to figure out the interior of the OL. That was almost worse than some of the games last year. I really think you have to put Mike Pouncey back at C. I know the coaches don't want to but he's WAY better there than he is at G, and it's not like Samson Satele is any great shakes there. I'd put Pouncey back at C and Shelley Smith back at RG. LG still would remain an issue, and personally, I'd give Billy Turner or Dallas Thomas a shot there, along with promoting Sam Brenner from the practice squad before I'd put Colledge back in or give Satele snaps there. Lastly, Miami really needs a way to find consistency in their starts. Today was a Coach Philbin Special - a slow start against an inferior opponent. For whatever reason, aside from the New England game week 1, I feel like just about every opponent is able to move the ball on Miami's D the first drive. Jacksonville controlled clock and gassed Miami today and the offense was out of sync. That's got to be remedied and hopefully Philbin & staff find a way to fix that. I will give them credit as they seemed to settle down and Miami controlled the 2nd half and didn't really let up until they emptied the bench on defense. But, games like today aren't going to net you wins against the Chargers, Lions, and Bills; I think everyone realizes that. *Edit - Joe Philbin pretty much said that as well in the locker room video after the game. Haven't watched his presser yet, but I'm glad he's pretty cognizant of this. I'm glad Miami got to 4-3 and I'm glad we have meaningful football in early November to watch next week. It'd be something if Miami can keep stacking W's in the win column and see where this takes them, and all of us. But I really think the 3 areas of concern I addressed have to be addressed by the team in order for them to win against San Diego.
Agreed, we should adjust/mitigate a LOT faster. A lot of the problem in that first half was Colledge though...and some dumb penalties (Satele for one).
Im sorry but this whole Misi/Trunsik thing has me so disgusted and annoyed. Misi needs to get his *** on the field and stay there or put him on IR and be done with it. He has played a game and a half all season and cant seem to get any better. As for Trunsik....please watch the tape of the game today and tell me that this guy is not a HUGE liability in the middle. He changes direction 3 times on every play...is slow to react and has no speed to chase down any play. I dont know where a MLB will come from but if Trunsik is out there...it is a MAJOR hole
According to PFF, Colledge(-8.6), this year, is worse than Clabo(-5.5), Martin(-4.2), McKinnie(-6.0), and Jerry(-8.0) last year. Today, he was even worse. If he had migraines, they should have sat him. If he sucks when he's healthy, what did they think the migraines would result in?
I really think you could make a case that Kelvin Sheppard was better at MLB today than Trusnik was. He got limited snaps, but I feel like he's able to read his keys and flow downhill much faster than Trusnik. He might not be in on every tackle, but he's doing enough to muck up the play until help arrives...usually in the form of Jelani Jenkins and Reshad Jones today.
What has happened to Brandon Fields? Think you are off base on "Pouncey to Center!", think the real problem and has been a problem for a long time is LG, would prefer to see Pouncey there and Smith or Garner at RG if Colledge continues to slide. I think it is a credit to Philbin and Co they saw he was struggling and...pulled him. Headache was, he was not doing his job. Brian Hartline..Bline..my Boi..wth has happened to him? McCain, hate to say it, but that is what a guy with talent looks like (cough Dion Jordan), not a lot of snaps but made impact and I'm not sure he was the one offsides on that play think the Ref got the number wrong tbh I can also see what more potent offenses will do against us now, simply short passes to negate the pass rush, and force our Db's to make tackles and limit YAC I'd love to see a target=production graph for our Wr/Te/Wr corps, far from a stat monkey more think some guys are regressing mainly Bline and Clay
Agree with respect to Fields, Hartline, and McCain. Fields, for whatever reason, has not been good ever since John Denney's snap hit him in the face in the 2nd Patriots game last year.
I really think thats over stating it. A loss would drop us to 4-4 halfway through, which isn't where we want to be, but isn't a hole to dig out of either. I think the truer statement is that we need to go at least 2-1 in the next three to be in a good spot the rest of the way.
Yep, another of the problems we have had, our "second tier" guys rarely are consistent. Fields was a dominant punter, a ST weapon..until now..Bline back to back 1k seasons, this yr, not so much, Jimmy Wilson does not seem to have gotten his feet back after being tried at S. Look back to last yr, those guys were really good/semi great players, this yr..nope
And it was STILL below his norm from last year. Had less hang time than a white dude in a cold shower.
Lazor and Tannehill continue to not understand what needs to be done early in the football game and what needs to be done when your having protection issues.
I might be in the minority but I HATED throwing the ball on first and goal where Tannehill got the ball tipped and picked in the endzone. Just pound the ball in there...get the touchdown and close the books on the game. Too cute a call when they were actually finally running the ball well at that moment
do you know how many 3rd and shorts, 4th and shorts, goal line situations like that one where all it would take is a bootleg or rollout to convert? none, as in we haven't done one in those situations.
He certainly shouldn't have thrown it into a horde of Jacksonville defenders. Worst throw of the season.
need to call a better game early relative to the pass rush and to the qbs skill set..Qb needs to improv and run for some first downs early..this would add another threat to the defense that simply does not exist at this point..
Thats bull****. Lets not call this play..because our guard is going to turn turnstile. Your smoking crack dude..can I have some Please go look up how many first downs hes rushed for in the last three games...are we even watching the same game? I think this has alot more to do with people hating on your boy then anything else to be honest
I know he can convert, thats not the point, the point is combined scheme carries, qb runs, rollouts, and bootleg reps are not enough in a game, especially early when you have enough experience to know that ryan plays better when doing so. I would estimate that he's running N.E.W 4 times a game...its not enough for this type of skill set..
Hes not...nor will he ever be a run first QB. Get ready to be disappointed if you are hoping for that. Hes a QB..who can run with the ball....
lol, has nothing to do with wilson dude...why would it?.... i know he's converting first downs, his average per carry is ridiculous, good thing I've been pining for that for three years, your taking this the wrong way, Im saying for us to be a better offense we, he needs to do all the things i listed, more often, Lazor needs to use his athleticism early, and ryan needs to improv more and show the defense that he is willing to run for a first down...on his own...its not chaos math here.. like i said to you in another thread, I'm not going to ignore the worst half ever played by a dolphin team in history..if you want to then cool, double complete rainbows.
and there lyes the root of our disagreement, you want him in the pocket and are content with that, and all the inconsistencies that come with that philosophy, I want him to be a dual threat who threatens a defense..He has the skill set to do it my way.
and it has nohing to do with being a run first qb..its called using your tools to threaten the defense most effectively.
He is a dual threat. Hes out rushing Russel Wilson the last three games in YPA. You want to ignore any running he has done..simply because you want him to run more.
Ryan had 5 rushes for 58 yards...and he doesnt run enough..Russel Wilson runs 6 times for 35 yards..and hes the Greek God of NFL quarterbacks
I feel like Joe Philbin needs to have a 'moment of truth' this week and just sit down and look at which players have not been able to get it done, and sit them on the bench. What we're doing on the OL obviously isn't working against teams with good defensive fronts -- in fact, it really didn't even work that well against the Bears -- and I'm not sure what #82 is doing out there. He's certainly not contributing to winning football.
im not ignoring, I'm trying to figure the best i can so we can avoid first half futility.. have we not seen first half futility all season?, have we not been a inconsistent offense? did you not watch the worst offensive performance in dolphin history today? Im saying to you my thoughts on how to change it.. three elements.. 1] coordinator uses qbs athletic skill set early in game 2} qb runs for first down early in the game to let defense know that they cannot turn their backs in coverage and to set a tone in the ball game. 3] were averaging 4 carries a game for the qb..I think its needs to be higher.
We've got some sturdy DL coming...SD (to an extent), Detroit, Buffalo, Denver, Baltimore...they better get it straight by those, for sure, else no shot at the playoffs. If it was just a matter of Colledge's migraine, OK, but I'm not convinced. Are they better than the last time we played the Bills? Maybe a little...need more. James has had a rough few games, I don't think that'll continue...he's played better, no reason to think he can't again. Hartline / Colledge killed the Offense today...badly. RT was "OK," but that pass on the INT was pretty lame...as was the overthrow in the endzone that ended up a FG. Couple other throws weren't spot-on, but overall, OK. Loved his run down the left sideline.
I am somewhat concerned that our offense only scored 13 points; the same number of points that the Jaguars' offense scored.
I just got to watch the game and I noticed Pouncey got taken out and Garner was put in at LG with Thomas at RG. Anyone else notice this?