That epitomizes my biggest fear going into the season, lack of a breakaway receiver. You'll never see a play like Greg Jennings outrunning everyone, granted it was against the lowly steelers D.
Reasons for encouragement 1. The Phins were sticking very closely to the Saints up until Tannehill's second turnover. The first drive was great despite the insanely loud crowd. Of course the awful third down call by Sherman derailed the whole thing. 2. The D really found its stride and forced the Saints into 2 straight punts. After the first drive set up by Jones awful play on Sproles the D was playing tough. 3. A huge positive for me was that last week against the Falcons, Odrick got in the backfield several times but couldn't come up with the stop on the ball carrier. This week he was explosive and was determined to not make those mistakes again. Very encouraged by that. Solai also had a couple of impact plays in that first half. Run D was great. 4. On Miami's first play of the second drive, Tannehill threw the deep pass to Wallace. The interesting thing here was that it was first down and opposing teams have been routinely bringing a safety down in run defense to guard against the run on first down. This left the corner one on one with Wallace. The oline formed a beautiful pocket for Ryan to step up and he delivered a really good ball to Wallace. Wallace has to catch these. No excuses. Everyone executed except him. 5. Speaking of the oline, they kept Ryan clean the entire first half. The first sack did not come until 9 minutes left in the third with the score 28-10. Baby steps. 6. The run blocking was very good for the Dolphins in this game. Miller had holes to run through and was decisive. Again, baby steps. 7. On the first sack by Odrick, Dion Jordan got very good pressure on a bull rush against the LT forcing Brees to step up into Odrick's waiting arms as he came off a spin move. Very nice. Couple of other things -Seems like Gibson drops a pass every game. I really wish he would drop(pun intended) this tendency. He has been very solid otherwise. - I really dislike Coyle's tendency to consistently match up our linebackers with slot wrs. Every now and again is ok, but several times a game?? - Vernon dropped back on Sproles a time or two and do a pretty job in a small area. He had a solid game on Monday. - Thigpen was in on the second drive of the game and Tannehill lofted a screen pass to him but it looked like Thiggy couldn't locate it. Maybe he should get more opportunities following his big catch and run. He showed good elusiveness.
The only answer to the thread title (relative to Monday night) is ... Zero. (with one caveat: the coaches find a way to rework Wallace into routes that suit him and find a way for the line to block better. There can be no deep balls with the OL the way it is).
Tanny just barely underthrew Wallace on that play; you cd see Wallace slow just a little. Do you think this was as far as he can throw it? I hope not. I find Gibsons drops to be annoying but apparently it is a known issue for him.
Yea, I noticed that about the pass as well. It was a good pass, just not perfect. Perfect would have him running under it and into the endzone. But it was definitely catchable. I don't think that was as far as he could throw. Unfortunately, it looks like him and Wallace are still trying to get on the same page. Right now, they just aren't vibing. Hopefully, as we get further in the season, they will get better.
Yeah, I've got to believe that it can only get better between them. Still need to the O line to give them time so he can run some deep routes and guys can do some double move routes.
I know no one wants to hear or recognize this... but, Miami played a good first half. we were very much alive & still in the game the second half, which we normally have owned, was a marriage of a veteran contender, capitalizing on mistakes, & a collectively stunned Dolphin team overwhelmed in an OnTheRoader on MondayNiteFootball. the all too predictable end was a Miami disaster. the team looked like a deer caught in the headlights on a dark road in the middle of nowhere, after turning over the ball & the Saintly assault that followed... the up-side: this game will go far in seasoning a very green but up&coming talented team. look for a big win on Sunday: Miami by 10! did you think this would be another undefeated season? we are growing into a decade of NFL contention & AfC dominance with every game that we play.
We played well until that INT before the half. That was pivotal. Could we still have won it in the 2nd? Of course! But it was that much harder.
It's the old saw of whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger, except that if you have no more to bring to the table, things will get worse, not better. We will find out what we've got on Sunday.
