Yeah at least the first team defense held a Super Bowl caliber offense to two field goals. But this is going to be one brutal passing offense to watch. I just expect the Dolphins not named Bess to drop the ball every time (not counting screens). Rob Gronkowski may get more yards by himself than the entire rest of out pass catches not named Bess. The fact we're pleading for Hartline to get healthy is scary/funny. And it all comes a year after a record setting passing season... I like the rushing offense and rushing defense (secondary is still suspect to me)...but as mentioned, it comes at the worst possible time for rushing in NFL history. Though that defense will hopefully do very well against the Jets and their WildTim. I don't expect playoffs, so a sweep of the Jets and split with the Bills (or sweep) would be a nice surprise. Forget the Pats, that would be a shock. The Jets and Bills also being more run heavy than pass like Miami is why we have some hope against them.
Wow... that many.... not good. I still disagree on the WR talent not being important and I believe were seeing exactly why. No scheme negates the importance of talent.... none. A good scheme and superior game planning can overcome lack of superior talent to a degree but pure talent can make any scheme better.
on Tannehill's int... Linebacker puts Martin on his ***... a linebacker... putting our right tackle on his ***!!! oh wow... for RT though, it's a blitz...he recognizes the play and where he should go, only problem is that he stairs down Bess rather than look the under linebacker off.
Fasano had three.. Clay had one... Naanee? Must have had three at least. Fuller had a bad one. Thigpen had a bad one. That's nine that I can recall. Fasano and Naanee's were all from Tanehill. The other three from Moore.
Remember when it was OK for the Dolphins to have XFL talent at the wide receiver position because this offense does better without #1's? Hoo boy. Man. Hah. ... ... Seriously, **** everyone that said that.
I think that Fasano had a bad night but is still one of the most consistant players on O. Daniel Thomas looks legit to me and we have no WR depth at all. Scary when D. Bess is your biggest threat, no disrespect to him. Nanee has shown exactly zero this preseason. I'd rather have Rishard Mathews out there at this point. He competes.
I dunno what you guys are watching but I thought only B Marshall ever dropped a pass in a dolphins uniform
1) Stop expecting a WR to step up. It's been weeks. It is what it is. Any help must come from outside. 2) Legedu Naanee = Ernest Wilford 3) Coyle has not done the job of teaching his safeties how to play. 4) Attention Dan Campbell, a coach must take players with potential and get them to show it on the field or he will not be a coach.
My notes on the game: Naanee couldn't catch a cold in an all you can eat buffet in the arctic. Area(most likely to get germs from asinine people who don't give a damn about anyone else.... check) Climate(most likely to stress your immune system and introduce it to bacteria you have never encountered before...check)
well considering last game he looked like the worst tackle in football, i wouldn't disagree. so he went from terrible last game to really bad this game. baby steps i guess.
thought all we needed was a qb. are we now saying that we need more then one position to be good? perish the thought.
I just finished watching the game now. Here are my thoughts: Tannehill looked pretty sharp even though the stats suggest otherwise. It's shame his receivers dropped 1/4 of his passes he attempted. Naanee dropped three passes. He has to have more drops than receptions thus far in the preseason. Fasano dropped at least three passes as well. I at least have faith in him to bounce back but he cost Tannehill a touchdown... *******. Davone Bess seems like the only wide receiver worth a damn on this roster right now... Reggie Bush looked pretty solid, as did Daniel Thomas. Martin and Jerry looked OK. Not good but not bad. Defense looked very good considering they were facing Matt Ryan, Michael Turner, Roddy White, Julio Jones, and Tony Gonzalez... without their best two linebackers. Sean Smith played well... and was tackling successfully. I couldn't help but laugh at how blatant Vontae's pass interference on the pick six was... someone said "message to staff" about it... I say "LOL okay." Thank you for returning to the field Cam Wake, our entire defense missed you. A LOT. I found it a little funny when Ross talked about the 1pm starts in that "they didn't have much of a choice" about starting then. Ross really does seem like a genuine fan... it's a shame the general public thinks he's all about the money. We really need Hartline to return... and then trade a late round pick for James Jones. Or something. Right now our 5-6 wide receivers we keep are Davone Bess, ????, ????, ????, ????, and ????. It kills me that this is true. I'm pretty sure it rains every single preseason game in Miami. Is it Tuesday yet?
Regarding Fasano and the crap he got, last season he only dropped one pass according to PFF. Season before that, he dropped 2 passes. He's a sure handed receiver more often than not do I think today's game was just a bad day for him. Naanee just sucks.
I didn't get to watch most of the game, but Tannehill looked fluid on that long run of his. We've got the most athletic white quarterback since Steve Young maybe...White Lightning, lol.
I watched a bit of the game last night (hey it's on pretty late over here ok!) and thought Tannehill looked good, but the number of drops was astounding. Now, I know that our receiving core isn't quite the greatest in the league, but wasn't dropped passes an issue with him at A&M? How much of the drops last night were on him and how much were on the receivers? Genuine question btw, I'm not trying to get in a hidden dig at Tannehill as I think (hope?) he's going to be great for us long term.
A couple were thrown a bit high but should have been routine catches for any decent receiver. The ones to Fasano were perf ect passes. It was pretty exclusively on the receivers.
I think Miami will explore a trade for Jones as well as look closely at tha waiver wire, especially from Green Bay. I think Hates may have shown enough (combined with his draft status) to make the team. I haven't seen anything from Naanee yet, separation, catching, routes...I don't get it. Someone has to give a shout out to Trusnik for covering Julio Jones successfully on the 3rd down attempt... Let's not make a habit of it, though, ok? 2nd team defense played pretty well, even against the 1's.
Just a sidenote, was watching sportscenter and they said Tannehill played like a rookie and seemed tentative. Then comes the Viking highlight and they said Ponder got no help and it wasn't his fault when he had the same type of game as Ryan, but Ryan looked better. Anywho, the running game looked much better tonight. Way too many dropped passes, Legadu really showed up... Secondary played better until that one play to Jones. I'd like to see some more pressure on passing plays. Offense is obviously a work in progress.
my quick (and as usual tuneducated ) observations: THE GOOD: -some good signs from Martin: there were times when he was just...manhandled (the LB that throws him on his butt ), but all in all, I think he is improving and I didn't find his game sooooo bad; -some good signs from Jerry; just hoping he wont get lazy again if he makes the team (as almost sure now); maybe in a couple of months our right side will be a strenght?! let's just hope we still have a healthy qb! (just joking ) -very good signs from the D, even more considering we were lacking 2LB starters; but we continue to have some problem with producing rush on the QB and suprising break down in the secondary (the long pass to Jones, WTF!); even our 2s played quite decent and got some stops (just a personal observation: I like the way Carrol doesn't make a scene, even after a good play); -Wake!!! -DT made some good plays: nothing earth-shattering, but encouraging for the future; -Slaton: I am not a fan of the guy, because I don't want to cut Miller, but this guy is earning on the field, running, catching, playing special teams; I guess you can not cut him THE BAD -some bad signs from Long: I don't know enough to know if he is normal for him starting the season slow, but he made mistakes even in running plays (and not always against Abrahams): if he is not the usual 77, we really are messed up; -the WRs: I can understand that we don't have much talent at the position, ok, but, geez, I thought that that would mean lack of separation or physical power or speed....not the total incapability to catch the ball!! (2 of the Fasano's drops were freaking embarassing: the frist one and the one in the RedZone); and I am curious about Naanee now, what they will do? -Thigpen disappointed me; -not enough pass rush; -Marshall didn't have a good game,even missing tackles; About RyanT,what I like more, all in all, is the fact that he dind't seem to get flustered, even if his teammates were almost part of a conspiracy against him, LOL. he seemed to remain poised, standing tall in the pocket when possible and I thought that, everything considered, he had a good game; there were just a couple of things that I noticed, but honestly I don't have any QB knolewdge to have a serious opinion, so I am not really sure if if they were real of just my immagination: -sometimes he seemed to me that he puts too much force on short passes; -I think on a couple of occasions he could have handled the pressure better, stepping aside and so on (considering that in pre-draft analysis I red he has a natural feel for the pocket); -at the beginning of the game his passes were not very precise, too high (and I think a couple to Naanee were not very catchable balls)
The biggest plus for me in this game was the way Ryan Tannehill engineered a drive down the field for a score (a FG) after he threw his first pick as a pro. Really this season is all about him, since there's nothing else to be hopeful about, and that was a good sign of his mental makeup as a pro.
Slaton and Miller aren't fighting over the same roster spot, so if you're gonna hate Slaton, don't let that be the reason.
Tannehill is not ready to lead? Did you watch the game or are you going off stats? Tannehill did a hell of a job all things considered. Scoing only 6 points? Do you want Tannehill to throw and catch the ball? He hit the TE in the enzone to only have it dropped. You can not judge him by the boxscore.
you are probably right, but it is just that I thought we would take 3 rbs, Bush, Thomas+ a 3rd and I guessed it was Slaton or Miller for that spot, anyway, he's playing good, so praise to him ps I wouldn't say that I hate him, but more that I hoped our draft picks to be very good forcing us to cut him (but if they are not going for the same roster spot it is pointless, I agree)
Yeah, that's a nice rundown GIK. To add, as this is my first post this morning and I'm thinking clearly Right now Jerry is outplaying Martin and it's not even close. Did Martin show enough progress between the last two games to warrant starting week 1 AT HOUSTON? Speaking of progress, the defense really progressed nicely this week. Liked the different blitz looks we gave this time, it was "Steeler-esque" but that's not to say we weren't blitzing before last night's game. But it was different. Cam Wake doesn't need to play next week. It would be nice to say Tannehill doesn't need to play either, but he and the offense need the reps. From last night's game, I'd give passing grades to the following offensive players: Tannehill, Bess, Thomas, Bush, Lane, Incognito, Pouncey, Jerry. Man is it easier to list the guys that played well... much shorter list passing grades for the defense? Starks, Wake, Solar Eye (thanks Dick Stockton), Spitler, Guyton (just catch the ball), Smith, Carroll (pleasant surprise), Misi (close one), Westerman (huge difference from last week to this week) there are more guys that I could list on defense but it really could be argued both ways (Baker, Jones (one big pass play and he sucks right? he's the best safety we have and I'm not sure that's saying that much but whatever), Randall) Jared Odrick cannot rush the passer from the outside. He's much better suited inside or in a 34 alignment. Might be nice trade bait for someone looking to beef up their inside front. I was really pulling for Gates, but he's not physical enough in this offense. I thought the deep pass that he caught (nice hands and speed) showed why and the local Miami crew called it right. He setup too far to the outside (or was pushed, either way it doesn't matter) and didn't give his quarterback much room. To Tannehill's credit (or was it Moore?) the qb threw a perfect ball anyway. Gates doesn't get his feet down however. Looks like the return job is still wide open. Miller appears to be given time off to learn the offense but I can't help but think he'll be our KR week one. PR? If Matthews makes the team, we know he can do it. I'd rather not see Bess back there but of course he can do it. Thigpen had a rough night. He's got good hands back there and runs the ball fearlessly to a degree. But the decision on the out of bounds kickoff was atrocious. And he hasn't shown enough in other areas (catching the ball in the slot) to warrant a spot. Lastly... huge fan right now of Jorvorskie Lane. He is definitely a keeper on the 53. And it's not just him being a fullback either. He's got good hands. Moves well for a big man. And plays the up man in the KR game very well (hope he stays healthy there as that's a spot for serious punishment).