All the positives I found in yesterday's game (feel free to add)

nice to see that the chunk plays stay even with the coaching staff change, we were top 5 in 20+ yard plays last season and had already 4 of them yesterday

 

The positives on offense were Bush, D train, Javorsky (the guy is just a beast), Icognito and Pouncey. Otherwise the offense was putrid. I mean we only scored 3 points.

The D played ok but there were put in some terrible situations. Our D is good but not great. I never really expected our D to be elite this year so in all fairness there are only a couple of D units that would have shut down Houston's offense with a short field.

This offense is going to need some serious time to gel. An 8-8 season is not out of the question if our offense can play decent this year.

 

I thought the team looked well prepared on offense, defense and STs.

Starks was impressive.

Soliai looked good.

Throughout the game the run D remained stout against what I expect to be one of the better run offenses in the league.

Hartline seemed recovered.

 

Interesting that you say the O looked well prepared. I agree from a player perspective, but not sure I agree with Coach Sherman's gameplan.

 

your thoughts on keeping Tannehill constricted to the pocket for developmental reasons?

 

I know you aren't asking me and I'd like to know what he thinks as well, but myself I just don't buy it.

1) We did attempt a few bootlegs

2) It's not something you can do every play anyway...you pick your spots. Remember you are effectively taking away half the field when you run a bootleg. If the defense is expecting it you lose the entire advantage.

3) You want him to develop pocket presence but not at the expense of confidence. You want to balance his progression with things you know he can be successful doing. You want to show him his mistakes, but also what he did well to say "See you can do this NFL thing". The whole compliment sandwich idea.

 

I saw one play yesterday that really struck a chord with me..made me think, this kid is the real deal.
It was a bootleg that got blown up and RT stopped in his tracks, squared his body up and threw the ball side-armed for a completion...he was calm, cool and collected...

 

Biggest positives... it was a rookie QB, rookie HC against a playoff team.

That has to mitigate the results.

I look forward to the day when a veteran Tannehill and Coach Philbin, with many wins under their belts, face a rookie QB-HC tandem and 'welcome' them to the NFL too.

 

Totally agree. Would fistbump if my computer was showing the button. (Why does it disappear sometimes?)

 

That left an impression on me as well. Cool, good improvisation.

 

For me it was the 2nd and 20. For sure I thought he was going down for the sack, but turned what I thought was going to be a disaster into a solid little pickup.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2sVuqZ8JEE

Breakdown of Tanny's plays.

Edit: My god did Legadu just give that ball away on Tanny's 1st INT. Show a little backbone. Allowed himself to basically be pushed thru by the CB. Any WR with a ounce of physicality doesn't let that happen.

 

How about that one to Bess where he was getting rushed and threw it side arm falling backward with pressure in his face, that really showed his athleticism/arm strength. Davone made a nasty grab as well to help him out.

EDIT: It's at about the 1:13 mark of VanDolphan's video.

 

I don't think he needs it. I see that as one of his strengths. I would have him all over the place, rollouts, bootlegs, under center, shotgun, pistol, etc. much like Shanahan did with RG3.

 

The positives I saw were, 1) Clemons and Jones looked comfortable and didn't have that "Lost Look", like I was expecting. 2) Misi was flying around, making plays. He is the 1 player I thought suffered the most from the lock-out. He looks like a totally different player this year. He kind of validated his draft status and if he continues to play as comfortable as he looks; LB become 1 less headache. 3) WOW!!! is all I can say about Pouncey, the guy is a really, really good player. 4) Even though Randall was in on only 15 snaps, he played like a seasoned vet. Kheeston Randall looks to be a real find along the D-Line. Overall the teamed seemed well prepared and played well minus those infamous 6 minutes in the 2nd quarter. I also feel that Martin showed enough to say he is improving, I think by seasons end we fan's will finally see much improved player in Jonathan Martin. He just needs more time to get use to A) the RT position and B) the speed of the game. He's just too smart to fail.

 

Jones looked good against the run, but I would like to stop hearing from the announcers every single game that "the safety is late getting over there".

 

Especially if the run game is working and the defense can't sell out against the pass.

 

IMO if we can run the ball that well and stop the run that well against one of the best teams in the league, absent the insanity that happened in that game we should be in every game this year.

 

Thanks for the link, when you look at the way the kid played considering the small number of starts in college, he played really well, didn't loose his **** after those 6 minutes from hell and the whole team kept trying.
It would have been easy to quit after the first half.