I fully expect a close game next week against the 49ers. Obviously the most important thing win or lose is to keep Tua upright and healthy.
When he came back from injury last season, he moved the pocket as well as any QB I can recall. Hopefully, Coach can take advantage of that skill. Unfortunately, that would throw his timing off and that's what makes the offense work. Next week is going to be three hours of nervous energy.
If the second half is anything to go by, our play offs are pretty slim. The schedule is tough anyway but the OL is a car crash. Tua would have been killed if he had stayed in.I can see a 9-8 record by the end of the season.
Alan, go have some tea and relax in your flat. Tua played with a way worse offensive line last year and a high school offensive system. We have a head coach now who understands his players strengths and weaknesses and a defense who I think is going to turn a corner in the second half of the season as they did last year. Can we give it a couple weeks before we start writing off an 8-3 division leader? They're only a 3 point underdog to the mighty 49ers in San Francisco next week.
OL was terrible but McD kept calling up longer developing pass plays. I'm sure he will fix that for next week. I also thought our offence looked very "bland" pre-snap with not as much movement as usual. I wonder if McD was hiding some stuff for next week. I'm expecting our offence to look a lot more like the 49ers actually, lots of quicker developing, shallow crossing to try and get Hill or Waddle in space and get the ball into their hands as quick as possible.
The comments here are just comedy sometimes. It's why I just don't come here on game days anymore. The defense gives up 15 total points for the game and seals the win with an INT. Defense Box Score = 215, 1 TD and 2 picks for Allen. 36 yards rushing total for the game for the team. If you read the comments you would have thought they hung 30 on them. Reality check. The defense played lights out. Armstead is a key piece as you see his replacement was beat like a tin drum when he stepped in. Moving two guys on the line to different positions, Lovie knew attacking them immediately might pay dividends. And it did. Tue bent over like a Gumby (old school reference), I just was like NOOOOOOO. They will figure this out with some reps or moves. Losing 2 starters on the O line will have an effect in a game. Weird how people don't think that's possible. Like everyone is just plug and play. I was a little concerned at his play calling in the second half but then realized, he stuck to the game plan and was trying to win the game. The receivers were open. Thomson just missed several open guys and was "rushing" passes. Maybe he should have been playing not to lose, running the ball when they knew we were running the ball. But I think back on all the comments of "why don't we have a coach that tries to win the game??". He's that guy and he's not going to change. They did look somewhat rusty and it was a good thing that the Fins played Houston. They will beat the 49ers. They barely beat the Saints. And the Chargers looked like crap.
McDaniel himself said he botched the play calling when they were up by 30 and Armstead was out. I'll chalk that up as a learning experience. I think we match up well with San Francisco and of course McDaniel is going to know their personnel inside and out. The Chargers fail to impress me every week. Their coach is terrible, their offensive line is terrible. I only worry about Ekeler on that team. Herbert targets him 15+ times out of the backfield every game and he's hard to tackle in open space, not exactly Miami's strength.
nope, ive not seen a good team this season have a wheels fall off half like that one. That is why I posted the comment.
The Dolphins now have the 6th best Super Bowl odds. 3rd best AFC championship odds. Tua has 3rd best MVP odds.
I agree, and I think if Armstead wasn't out, it'd be even, or the Dolphins would be favored. The offensive teams that scare me vs the Dolphins are the ones with great running QBs because of the amount of man coverage they play. The pass rush with Chubb is real. He is a needle mover. The Browns have a top 5 pass blocking OL, Texans overall are meh. Dolphins looked good against both. Huston and SF are about equal. Chubb has another week in the D. I like the Dolphins D over the 49ers O. I think the game comes down to scheming Armstead being out. Handle the 49ers pass rush and the score shouldn't be that close. If they cannot, whichever team makes the bigger plays on D wins. I don't see focus being an issue like I thought it could vs Huston.
People are too hard on the backups as the gap between them and Tua is big and Brissett turning back into competent again should be a good lesson there. Plus I don't really fault Teddy or Skylar too much given how time they played with Armstead-less offensive line. Can't say I would be too excited about Skylar as the backup next year but paying for one might be a luxury they can't afford.
I think we could afford it. And given that Tua is a little on the injury-prone side, I think we need it.
The spread was actually 4.5 before yesterday's games. It actually went down to 3.5 even with the Armstead injury. The matchup is good and I think people are expecting the Dolphins defense to turn it around. The 49ers offense isn't good. Samuel is banged up. Garappolo is the definition of game manager.
" This Season ". You didn't imply that at first. Not that I agree anyway because there have been second half collapses by quality teams this year. The Ravens come to mind immediately.
The Ravens apparently have been told (and fully believe) that they only have to play hard for 30 minutes, 45 max.
If the Dolphins could field a dominant offensive line, no one would have to worry about Tua potentially being injured. The OL has to be MORE than just Armstead.
not sure the season matters, that is ridiculous. However, even when the Ravens lost I don't recall their OL totally collapsing and if I am not mistaking some people here claimed it was all Tua and nothing to do with the Ravens playing bad coverages
I’d settle for an average to slightly above average line at this point, which would include some depth. Hopefully, McDaniel and the offensive staff have some input in the offseason, because we know for a fact that Grier can’t draft OL.
I'm going by what you originally stated, " I don't see the quality teams do this". Wrong. Then you changed it and said, "this season" . Still wrong. Quality teams do have occasional break downs, always did and always will. And, even though Tua played tremendous late in the Ravens game there's no denying the Ravens D coverage broke down and the Dolphins offense took advantage of it. The Ravens, a quality team, have done this more than once this season. Not a guess, not an opinion, it happens. You watch a lot of football so how can this elude you ? Look, the Armstead injury sucks , no denying it and It was frustrating to watch after the way they played in the first half, but to now state they're not a quality team is nothing but a knee jerk reaction.
Wrong. The Ravens have lost games in the 4th quarter however, they didn't fail to score points in any of those games in second half. FACT. Where exactly did I state they are not a quality team? show me since you seem think you are good at pointing things out.
" I don't see the quality teams do this" You were comparing the Dolphins second half to "quality" teams. Correct? Or was that a quote from the other dolphin25 ? And while we're on the subject did the Ravens have their rookie backup QB in when they scored some points while collapsing late in the game ? Asking for a friend.
I honestly don't get what point he's trying to make. I can't tell whether he thinks the Dolphins are good or horrible. He's all over the place.
True. I can't tell if he's just letting off steam based on the Dolphins 2nd half performance or insisting the Dolphins are just not a quality team. Its his prerogative one way or the other but my point is all upper echelon teams occasionally have a rough performance especially if there's injuries involved.