Jared Odrick not only is a beast, he has excellent straightline speed and lateral movement/quickness. Dude is a player. Ditto for AJ Edds- big, active, great movement skills even after the ACL recovery. Will stick you, too. Matt Moore- dude is accurate and can manage a game, pretty good escapability, too. He pushes the ball, which I don't like, but he'll be a good #2 and push Henne if necessary. Henne- bad luck with one of the the two ints, recovered with some real nice throws, especially the TD to Hartline. Henne has the stink on him as to untimely INTs and bonehead plays, he has to use that great arm, SEE THE FIELD, and cut down on the errors. Obvious analysis I know, but that's how it is. Anthony Fasano- See above and help your Quarterback, don't hurt him. Edmond Gates- this puppy is biting right out of the starting gate. Speed, hands, route running, more speed- 6 yard TD in which he couldn't use his speed was impressive. Dude is a PLAYER, great draft pick. He and Reggie Bush will open up this offense, refreshing like a flood of water over desert ground, just what the doctor ordered. Love it. Daniel Thomas- looks like a keeper. Power runner with better speed and quicks than I thought, which is outstanding. Hartline- I have to say that he looked good. I've remained dubious of him being anything more than an adequate WR, but he busted it open. I still think that Gates will eat into his playing time, though. Bess- ludicrous catch. ps I forgot to add Jimmy Wilson- dude is just a player. Great corner blitzes, learning both S and CB positions and playing them well. Will make the 53 man roster and see playing time. Nolan Carroll? I hope that he sticks, but a little too much Chris Clemons in him- great measurables that don't necessarily translate to the field. I'm pulling for him, though. But Wislon- more of a straight up, productive football player. Looks like the real deal, great 7th rd pick, great 2nd chance for him after the prison debacle. The 1st quarter obviously sucked, but I'm not going to worry about it. Henne showed flashes, both good and bad. I'm not worried about the D-line despite the Falcons run success early. Some good offensive flashes- I just love this Gates kid- and we haven't even seen Bush and Marshall yet. Let's face it, this team is a wildcard- if Henne steps it up, with Gates, Bush and a healthy Marshall, with Odrick and Edds back on defense, with Kevin Burnett added at ILB- it could be an interesting year. And then again they could flop. Interesting team, interesting year to come.
Moore looked Ok, but if you look at their Stats (I'm not a huge stat guy), Henne has a better Pct. Henne should win this battle, what I like about Moore is he can escape a rush better.
Besides the one catch from Thomas, i didnt see much from him, although the OLine was pretty terrible so it may not be fair to him. Also, was it me or did we take more shots downfield in this game then ALL last season combined? Daboll gets some props from me. Like the aggressiveness, especially going into halftime.
Then there was Livas/Wilson/Wallace these guys helped make watching the game exiting. Yes its just preseason but seeing multiple fresh young talent like that gives you a little sense of hope. Culling to a 53 man roster might be a very tough job.
I knew that I forgot someone- Wilson. Good point, I'll add him now. The PR by Livas was great, but I didn't even know that he was on the roster until last night.
I thought Henne played like crap last night, the two int's did not help his case. Sure one of them wasn't really his fault but it still happened and on the first pass play. I did not see anything from Henne that said he is ready to lead the team. Yes he had a really nice pass to Hartline but nothing else stood out. Let's hope that this was just rust and he will improve.
We're talking about Henne and Moore and the real problem was the OL stunk the place up. Until that is fixed Henne, Moore, Lucas, Frerotte or Marino would all struggle...
You didn't think his mobility in the pocket stood out? No way he avoids that corner blitz last year (IMO), and he definitely doesn't get that 10 yd scramble for a FD last year.
That one Thomas play was enough to show me what I wanted to see- quicks, speed and burst that translates to an NFL level. I already know that he runs hard between the tackles- I like this guy already. My guess is that the Fins hit on the first three draft picks and also, at least, Jimmy Wilson as well.
I know the play ended in an interception, but I really liked the fact that Roberto Wallace was targeted deep. I remember last year in preseason when Wallace inexplicably shied away from the inevitable contact. It's these small progressive signs that are the most encouraging for me. Same goes for Henne, his footwork in the pocket has clearly progressed and I don't mind it one bit when the kid gets risky in preseason. I don't mind it when he careens a laser off a guy's chest. Elway never had to hear any complaints from his receivers. They were the ones who had to adjust. Success this year IMO hinges on Sparano getting that O-line straight and comfortable. Odrick is a keeper, as is Wilson. Both could start by end of the preseason. Gates is on schedule. Dedrick Epps looked like he might be a David Martin type. Did Alama-Francis turn into a black man? I saw the game online and swore he was hyper-pigmenting. Moore looks to be a good backup. Sapp made a valiant attempt to save his job. Stopped watching midway through the 3rd, but I heard some good things about Grigsby. Having just moved back to Tucson; I want to see him make the team. Livas doesn't look scared and has a real shot to stick as a return specialist. Another diamond in the rough for Ireland if he sticks. I know Padre must've had a smile on his face when they showed the replay of Spears blocking the "sausage king" on that one pick. I like how Sparano held people out of this game. He definitely has shown an ability to admit mistakes. Which is refreshing to me. Yes, Henning was that bad that it only took one preseason game to blank him from our minds completely. I'm pissed I didn't get to see O'Connel's scramble.
Unfortunately I'm at the mercy of AFN, so I was only able to see the highlights on Sportscenter. From what I saw... Henne needs to get back into game rhythm. Nice 44 yard TD pass to Hartline, airing it out. Something that he's capable of doing, just needed the play calling to do it. Didn't get to see much running back highlights, so I can't comment there. Moore looked pretty good himself. Who knows, if Moore thinks he has a shot at starting, perhaps that'll heat up the QB play in practice and that'll translate in to big plays on the field. We'll just have to wait and see. Defensively. *sigh* Granted, we are talking about "Matty Ice" and Ryan is a beast of a QB, but it just seemed the defensive line wasn't getting any pressure on Ryan nor the back ups. I tell myself it's only the first preseason game, but still. One thing we're receiving accolades on is our defense, so...let's see some action! Awesome to see a punt returned for a TD. Always exciting to see a Dolphin return one to the house. Didn't see any overly animated Sparano fist pumps for field goals. That's a good thing.
O'Connell >>> Devlin I suspect we will see Devlin again but based upon last night I would rather have O'Connell as the third QB.
Since this is the first time I have seen him in a Dolphins uniform, I thought a tight end made that catch.
The only thing I can say about teh 2nd int, if it was a miscommunication and a wrong route, that will be found out quickly in that if that sitiuation does not happen again then maybe it was, but if it is a consistent issue then it is Henne
Ike and Hartline must have baked down in Davie as I sort of thought the same thing "who is that wearing Francis's number"?] Q Spears also had a TFL in the first half, he had a quiet night but a good one. Jimmy Wilson and Livas are both intriguing, they both drip talent, but they'll have a week of getting backslapped and congrats, how they deal with it will pretty much determine what happens to them. Lil Beast is developing right on schedule, imo how he handles this small bit of success, and his footwork in the EZ will determine how he grows and where he winds up, and to me he is another one who has lost bulk, along with Henne. Pleasure watching Matt Moore play qb, he is technically solid and does the little things really well.
Decent showing by the team. There is only so much that can be taken from preseason games. The best you can hope for is no injuries.
Chad Henne didn't play nearly as poor as the box score would indicate. The deep throw to Hartline was nice. The INT whether it was the wrong route or not was a poor decision to throw the ball there. No running game=not good We have a very talented WR corp. Marshall, Hartline, Bess, Gates, Wallace can all play. We didn't even get to see Marshall or Bess yet the speed infusion was apparent. Nice to see Benny Sapp come down with a ball. Need more of those this year. We also caused a Harry Douglas fumble a few plays earlier that would have been reviewed in the regular season. The Falcons are a better team (1's vs 1's) at this point. BUT, I'm not so sure we can't catch with an improved running game. That is a big BUT though.
What I like about Moore is he looks like a very solid backup. If Henne can take that next step the Qb situation here is not so dire afterall. That's a questionable if about Henne but surely a possible one...
