Let's start with one quick one in the "bizarre" column. The Miami Dolphins are now 6-0 on Halloween all-time. The last two wins have both come against the Cincinnati Bengals (orange & black = Halloween colors), both last night, and back in the 2010 season. In both games, Miami scored 22 points. Good: - I think it went largely unnoticed because of how Cameron Wake ended the game and because of how poor Andy Dalton looked at times, but that was one of Ryan Tannehill's better performances. The last drive of regulation to get Miami into field goal range was really nice. And it's not the first time we've seen flashes like that. Last year in the Seattle game; this year against Atlanta; even that ridiculous play to Brandon Gibson against the Ravens; last night was another step in the right direction for him. - Lamar Miller has looked really good the past two weeks and hopefully Miami continues to feed him. Other than the fumble last night, which was a pretty outstanding hustle play on Carlos Dunlap's part, Miller was very good. I also think he's shown some nice things as a receiver the past few weeks. Miller averaged 6.6 ypc last night. - Mike Wallace, thanks for showing up. - Good to see Rishard Matthews make some tough catches. I hope he continues to get more looks. - Brian Hartline is a sideline magician. That big catch on the last drive in regulation was NICE. - Michael Egnew's blocking improvement has earned him more snaps and he's had catches in back-to-back games. - Bryant McKinnie has proved a pretty valuable pickup thus far. Hopefully this "mini-bye" helps him get even more acclimated to the offense. - This has been pretty overlooked as well, but Tyson Clabo actually held up rather consistently against Carlos Dunlap. - It was good to see the defensive front play well, for the most part. Paul Soliai brought it last night (3 tackles, 1 sack) and so did Randy Starks (6 tackles, 1 TFL). Glad to see Starks has regained his starting spot. - Dannell Ellerbe played his best game as a Dolphins last night. - Dimitri Patterson has been very good when he's been on the field this year. - Chris Clemons is the most consistent player in the secondary, save for when it comes to getting beat on third downs, that honor belongs to Jimmy Wilson. Oh, wait... - Caleb Sturgis got the monkey off his back. Bad: - Daniel Thomas had a rough game last night. I fail to understand how Mike Sherman can consciously call to run Daniel Thomas on any kind of outside sweep, stretch, zone, etc. play; especially when the last two weeks he had looked good running inside. - The loss of Brandon Gibson is going to continue to sting for a while. His presence was missed last night. - Hopefully Richie Incognito returns soon. Nate Garner filled in admirably, but he was violated by Geno Atkins and Brandon Thompson at times last night at LG. - Jared Odrick had a pretty quiet night last night. - Olivier Vernon's run defense just continues to puzzle me. For as big and as strong as he is, he loses the POA way too often. Anthony Collins, really? - Koa Misi, was he injured again? - Philip Wheeler was a rolling dumpster fire last night. That was awful. He'd been more consistent than Ellerbe on the year to that point. Neither of them have been worth the money they both got paid this offseason. Isn't that what most people said about Burnett & Dansby? - Brent Grimes had a pick-6 that was big, but if Andy Dalton throws that ball correctly that's a TD. Grimes had a bad game last night. He's been up and down this year, and I'd be hesitant to re-sign him after this season depending on what's on the free agent market based on his first half of the year. - Reshad Jones went back to a down-tick game last night. - The 3rd down defense was atrocious last night; they couldn't get off the field. The unit as a whole is way too inconsistent game-to-game, drive-to-drive. Hopefully sooner rather than later Miami realizes they need someone better than Isaako Aaitui for interior depth. Regardless of how Miami finishes this season, they would do well to find someone better than Kevin Coyle to run the defense. Bizarre: - Walk-off safety for the win? That's rare. - The Dolphins season as a whole has been pretty bizarre, but this past week took the cake. - Hopefully Jonathan Martin gets past whatever issues he's facing. - Joe Philbin's post-game presser last night. If you haven't seen it, treat yourself to that macabre six minutes. I wonder how much the Dolphins website edited out of his post-game speech. That was very jumpy in its edits as well. - Miami blew a 17-3 lead for the second straight week. - The 3rd quarter of games is just not kind to Miami. I can't recall the numbers off hand, but they've been outscored by a pretty disturbing margin. - Miami went 3-1 in the first quarter of the season and 1-3 in the second quarter of the season. - I hope this mini-bye in the schedule helps everyone on the team because I don't think you can really make heads or tails of them thus far this year. Does the win serve as a catalyst that sparks a hot streak? Is it merely a reprieve from the vultures that seemed to be circling the team the past month? I guess we'll see come Monday Night against Tampa Bay. I copy and pasted the following from post #22 in this thread just so everything's in one spot. Two other things I would like to add; one that I omitted in error and one I just noticed. 1) Cameron Wake is really good, and it's awesome to have him back. I'm still not sure he's at 100% as his snap count was fairly low. Philbin intimated that they kept him on a gradual increase in snaps. I expect he's going to start playing more and more the next two games...which is scary. 2) Dion Jordan is an athletic freak. On the final play of the game most people just see Cameron Wake bullrush Kevin Zeitler for the sack. If you re-watch the replay, you'll notice the ball is almost spotted in the middle of the hashes - slightly closer to the near has. Miami lines up with 3 down lineman - Odrick, Starks, and Wake. They have 3 LBs on the field. Dion Jordan is lined up slightly inside the far hash, with Ellerbe in the middle and Wheeler coming off Wake's outside shoulder on the left. Cincinnati is lined up with a trips formation to the left (opposite Wake's side for reference) with A.J. Green out wide, Mohamed Sanu in the middle, and Jermaine Gresham slightly flexed as a TE. Dion Jordan is standing on the 11 yard line at the snap. As the ball is snapped, Jordan rushes out into the flat (standard zone look), but actually picks up Mohamed Sanu, who at the snap is probably 8-10 yards outside of where Jordan is lined up. By the time Wake has Andy Dalton on the ground, Dion Jordan is running stride for stride with Mohamed Sanu, who is running a wheel route, damn at about the 22 yard line. That's is a hellaciously (yeah, I invented that word just now) ballsy call by Kevin Coyle...except that Dion Jordan is in perfect trail coverage position and with his 6'6" height, cuts off Andy Dalton making that throw (if he had time to even get to that read because Wake got there so quickly). Wow. That's all I can say.
Philbin's post game speeches have been scripted by Dawn Aponte all season long, it's a little bizarre but it's nothing new.
Was completely wasted before the game started and am hungover today so I may be wrong, but did our offense only score 13 yesterday? Very happy for the win. Ecstatic. But I hope we can score more week to week.
I'd be interested to see how it would've played out on a normal week if Cincinnati was healthy. They were without Maualuga and Hall, then lost Atkins. They're better than they showed last night, defensively at least. Andy Dalton was back to his craptacular self; to my delight. There's a guy that works out at the gym I go to and told me at the beginning of the season that Andy Dalton was a "top eight" quarterback. I mean, really?
Thad Lewis and the Bills scored 24. They are a very solid defense, but would like to put up more than 13 offensively, especially with Atkins out partway through, and Leon Hall down a few weeks ago. We won, but 13 wasn't great.
I agree with Miller, I felt like if he had kept cutting back to the left he would've walked in. For the deep ball, I think Tannehill was dead-to-rights on the money with that one. It's a smart play by Terrence Newman; he knew he was beat. Didn't cost them points as a defense, just field position. Still bit them in the end though. As for Grimes, I'd like to have him back at the right price as my #2 CB. To this point, for my taste, he's been inconsistent. He's not good against the run; though he's at least flying in there doing something when they run at him. But, to this point, I wouldn't re-sign him for the money he's probably going to ask. I'd rather take a shot at a younger guy like Tarell Brown or Sam Shields. Plus, I think you have to give Jamar Taylor and Will Davis a chance to develop. Taylor's seen slivers of playing time, and that's been it. Ultimately, I think it comes down to whether or not Coyle's still the DC come next year and what kind of scheme you're going to run. I mean, look at some of the top D's from the past few years. I think you're better off trying to find guys who can play press man. You've got Seattle with Browner & Sherman; San Francisco would've had Tarell Brown and Chris Culliver, along with Carlos Rogers this year; Kansas City has Sean Smith and Brandon Flowers. I'll cut myself off there because that's a lot of futuristic dot-connecting.
How's this for revisionist history. Colin Kaepernick was taken the pick immediately after Andy Dalton. Could you imagine that offense with Kaepernick in it? To be fair though, Randall Cobb was taken two picks after Daniel Thomas, and within 12 picks after Thomas, the Draft saw both Justin Houston and Stevan Ridley taken.
I think one thing being overlooked, to stop the losing streak and gain positive mo, they turned Tannehill into more of a game manager Qb in the first half, playing most things safe, run the ball more often, quick passes. THill even..wait for it...checked down to a Running Back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Interestingly, it was also THill's only game so far this year w/o a turnover of any kind (fumble, Int, 4th down failure to convert etc) Before anyone says I'm claiming he is just a game manager, when they took the cuffs off in the 2nd half, and the 6 OLmen formation no longer meant gashing the Bengals, he did well in leading the comeback from 3 down with 1:30 to go. Suspect the reason why every OLmen magically had a positive PFF grade, including Clabo, is the change in approach meant the opponents could not just pin their ears back and passrush every down.
Grimes is a player. Yeah he slipped a few times but you knock him??? Did you not see the tackles he made stepping up against the run? He's a total plus imo. come on man! Patterson and Grimes were infront of Clemons. Clemons our best DB? No.
Agreed, QB play very much has an impact on OL stats and play. Tannehill seemed much more aware of the play as it developed today than he had been. Checking down, moving up in the pocket - at one point Mayock was even praising him for "climbing the pocket." It seems like in prior weeks he just kind of stood there as things collapsed and eventually a DE would swat the ball out. 0 TO's can certainly help overcome only 13 points scored, and the D picked up the rest. Hopefully something to build off of.
Chris Clemons is our most consistent DB. Yes. Just like I typed above. Reshad Jones, when he's on, is the best DB the Dolphins have. Brent Grimes missed 4 or 5 tackles last night in run support.
Actualy Grimes missed two tackles on the same play and on the same player .Tackling is not his forte but I give him credit for getting back in the play after missing the first tackle.
Clemons and Jones made zero plays last night that had any imput to the score. Grimes and Patterson.....2 INTS. Grimes made some plays in run support. Count how many poor tackles Jones and Clemons made. Grimes wasnt alone especially in the 2nd half. Jones hasnt lived up to his new contract this season and Clemons is...well Clemons. You even had Jones and Clemons arguing over coverage and assignments on the very last play. They wern't good last night imo but if you think Clemons was then its all positive. Maybe i missed something but i like our Corners making plays. Weve missed that for too long Ronin. Its all good in my book. We got the W in the book.
I think were fools for not locking down Grimes long term ASAP. I think it was one of the best of season moves made.
Two other things I would like to add; one that I omitted in error and one I just noticed. 1) Cameron Wake is really good, and it's awesome to have him back. I'm still not sure he's at 100% as his snap count was fairly low. Philbin intimated that they kept him on a gradual increase in snaps. 2) Dion Jordan is an athletic freak. On the final play of the game most people just see Cameron Wake bullrush Kevin Zeitler for the sack. If you re-watch the replay, you'll notice the ball is almost spotted in the middle of the hashes - slightly closer to the near has. Miami lines up with 3 down lineman - Odrick, Starks, and Wake. They have 3 LBs on the field. Dion Jordan is lined up slightly inside the far hash, with Ellerbe in the middle and Wheeler coming off Wake's outside shoulder on the left. Cincinnati is lined up with a trips formation to the left (opposite Wake's side for reference) with A.J. Green out wide, Mohamed Sanu in the middle, and Jermaine Gresham slightly flexed as a TE. Dion Jordan is standing on the 11 yard line at the snap. As the ball is snapped, Jordan rushes out into the flat (standard zone look), but actually picks up Mohamed Sanu, who at the snap is probably 8-10 yards outside of where Jordan is lined up. By the time Wake has Andy Dalton on the ground, Dion Jordan is running stride for stride with Mohamed Sanu, who is running a wheel route, damn at about the 22 yard line. That's is a hellaciously (yeah, I invented that word just now) ballsy call by Kevin Coyle...except that Dion Jordan is in perfect trail coverage position and with his 6'6" height, cuts off Andy Dalton making that throw (if he had time to even get to that read because Wake got there so quickly). Wow. That's all I can say.
That is actually a part of the roles I envisioned for Dio when we traded up to get him, how many 6'6 250 pd+ De's can make that play effectively. Only one who comes to mind was Adalius Thomas, thing I do worry about is if Dio does not have gaudy sack numbers the usual Dolfan suspects will say 'bust, should have taken so and so" Speed rush will take you only so far in the NFL, that is his main forte' atm due imo to his lingering recovery time from shoulder/chest surgery, people forget he had a setback in the preseason cycle.
Cough *3-4 padre* Cough. Let Jordan play in space off the edge. I'll sink with this ship if I have to!
I agree with pretty much everything except the Grimes statement. He's a player man, I think he did well last night against one of the best wideouts in the league. I find it hard to knock a guy you just had a pick 6, how often do we see that as dolphins fans? It was also on 3rd down inside the redzone which really shifted the momentum a little bit in our favor. He's always making plays on the football, yeah he's not the best run stuffer but I think he holds his own. I wanna lock him down for the long term for sure. Mike Mayock also gave him the game ball I might add.
I'll fire the torpedo to put that on the bottom myself, we could see it still, and I'd still be completely opposed to a "switch' to the 3-4..seen to many crappy linebackers as high draft picks who cannot make it go, then you are stuck with them for 3 yrs "to see what you have". Visions of Te's dusting Lb's dancing in my head makes me shudder..Channing Crowder in "trail coverage" position..may as well be Freddie Krueger
+ Charles clay running hard, breaking tackles. + Tannehill and Hartline, what a duo when you need to make a catch and get out of bounds ! + rizzi was tempted to fake punt, it's worked before with Clemons. Fields last punt was what setup the safety, what a nice lob shot ! Special teams was A+ save Sturgis, who hopefully broke his slump with the last one. - play calling was still puzzling, seemed reluctant to run in short yardage, but that seemed to be validated later on. We couldn't get a damn yard when we needed it. Especially after Atkins left. - tackling was awful. They got the ball to Aj Green quickly, and he made Grimes look like a rag doll when he was on him. You had to really hold your breath when Gio got the ball, and we're soo lucky he got hurt near the end of the game. He's the difference maker. - Wallace burned his man but that looked like an overthrow from my view on the late deep pass that drew a flag.
Take away the pick 6 from last night. How'd he play? Because, if Andy Dalton actually makes a semi-decent throw, that's a TD for A.J. Green. And, to reiterate. I'd be hesitant to-resign him based on who is available. I'm in no way saying he's bad; merely, he had a bad game last night and I think the pick-6 is overshadowing the fact he had a bad game. On the games final play, Grimes gets beat so badly off the ball by Marvin Jones if the Bengals actually block Wake, Dalton probably completes that for a first down. Would I like to have Brent Grimes back in the offseason? Yes, but if there's someone that's potentially better (and younger) out there, I'd rather go that route, which is where guys like Aqib Talib, Sam Shields, Tarell Brown, and Terrell Thomas can potentially come into play.
Now this is what I call a major nugget...thanks Ro for the details, I've said before, I think it's real important to play this unique skillset everywhere on the field. He's the kind of player that if his skillset is used all over the field, the skillset he presents to an offense, the space he can cover, allows other players to cover less, thus the cliche appears in the form of " he makes everyone else better".. I just think he can affect the game with more impact by doing everything then just pass rushing..
My return salvo would be that Miami already seems to have those LBs in place with Wake, Jordan, Vernon, Misi, and Ellerbe. All of them, save for Vernon, have experience in the 3-4. Plus, you have Jelani Jenkins who is a coverage specialist. All that's really missing is a 2-down, thumper ILB. But, we're stuck with Kevin Coyle for now.
Yeah I see what your saying but you can't just take away a play like that. He made Dalton pay for a bad throw in the worst way, I'm used to seeing our DB's have hands of steel, like say Smith for example.
I disagree about Odrick having a quiet game. I thought he did a good job at providing pressure and keeping Dalton uncomfortable. In fact, Soliai, Stark and Odrick did a good job of collapsing the pocket. Dalton faced pretty decent pressure up the middle all game and I do believe that lead him to having not his best game.
