Good, Bad and UGLY for preseason week 3 vs the Bucs.

"Almost Picked-off" can be the nickname for our secondary. We would have like 10 picks or something this preseason if they could just catch the damn ball.

The understatement of the year:

If there were any concerns for Sparano and Daboll with the offense in this pivotal third preseason game it was on the offensive line and in the running game. Running backs Reggie Bush, Daniel Thomas, Larry Johnson and fullback Lousaka Polite had trouble finding any room to run.

Gosh, ya really think so?? :sad:

I loved the way Henne threw the ball. I don't think he handled pressure well enough, though. Of course, that could be erased if we improve our Line and when Jake comes back.

Someone tell CK...*gosh* a 60 yd TD pass sure does pump up a QBR....

"FreeStyle wrote:

I'm sure liking Lil Jimmy Wilson.

Hit man Jdub

"AdamC13 wrote:

Will be Henne didn't step into this completion correctly, didn't look the S away long enough on this completion, didn't have perfect placement on this completion, leaned a little too far to the right on this completion, and farted on this completion.

Yes, Henne can never be good enough until he learns to squeeze his butt cheeks tighter together when he is throwing the ball.

IMO, someone whom should be added to the "Good" list is Brian Daboll. He's been good at opening up the O. He's been very good at spreading the ball around to as many players as possible, thus increasing the chances of someone making a big play, rather than feeding it to the same few guys over and over. He's not as predictable. I'm very pleased with him so far.

Just been looking at the OL rankings last season for the two Super Bowl participants, and if their lines mean anything, we don't have to worry.
I'd doubt if more than a few teams had worse OT tandems than GB or Pitt last season. Some were worse though, like Chi, 75th and 77th, Ind, 44th and 70th, and Wash, 63rd and 65th, to name a few. Not that many. A lot of teams have one highly ranked OT and another in the bottom half or worse.
Like we will probably have with Long and Colombo or Murtha. Out of 76 OT who played 25% plus of their team's snaps, only 22 had a + grade.

GB:
Brian Bulaga was ranked the 69th OT with a grade of -24.6, allowed 12 sacks, 5 hits and 24 pressures.
Chad Clifton was ranked the 38th OT with a grade of -7.6M, allowed 7 sacks, 5 hits and 25 pressures.
As for their OGs, Josh Sitton ranked near the top, 2nd overall, at +21.1 and no sacks. Daryn Colledge ranked 43rd with a -4.4 and 3 sacks
C Scott Wells ranked 8th with a +9.3 and allowed 1 sack.

Pitt:
Max Starks was ranked the 42nd OT with a grade of -9.5, allowed 1 sack, 3 hits, and 15 pressures, in 355 snaps
Flozell Adams was ranked the 59th OT with a grade of -15.2, allowed 6 sacks, 4 hits and 30 pressures, in 925 snaps
Jonathan Scott was ranked the 71st OT with a grade of -26.6, allowed 4 sacks, 4 hits and 24 pressures, in 754 snaps

Pittsburgh's two primary guards, were Ramon Foster and Chris Kemoeatu. Foster was a -7.7 and the 55th guard and Chris was ranked 78th and a -21.5. Their Pouncey center was ranked 21st with a grade of -4.2. Heath Miller was ranked the 46th TE with a -8.0, mainly because he ranked poorly as a run blocker with -13.7 and 59th overall.
Somehow, Mendenhall was able to average 4.0 and gain 1280 yds behind this group.
What is their secret? Well, on the surface one would say having Roethlisberger and an effective passing game. And a great defense. Same as Green Bay.
If Henne and the skill players can do well enough, maybe they can overcome a weak OL like Rodgers and Ben and their RBs, and WRs did.

Or else, maybe PFF's grades are not the end all be all, and need to be taken with a grain of salt? Or, a little of both.

"Sceeto wrote:

IMO, someone whom should be added to the "Good" list is Brian Daboll. He's been good at opening up the O. He's been very good at spreading the ball around to as many players as possible, thus increasing the chances of someone making a big play, rather than feeding it to the same few guys over and over. He's not as predictable. I'm very pleased with him so far.

The two people most doubted during the off season, seemed to be Henne and Daboll, around here anyway. Now, they appear to be the least of our worries. Hoping they can carry over to the regular season.

"FinNasty wrote:

lol! So if we go 0-2... Ross wont be able to give tickets away. But if he fires Sparano and hires Nolan as the interm coach... the stadium is going to fill up? lol

Riiiiiiiiiggghhhhhtttt.....

Who said the stadium will fill up ? But if we go 0-2 even some of the die-hards will stop going. You really need to stop putting words into my posts. You are one of the worst of the trolls on my posts, and I really wish the mods would put a stop to it.

I did not see the game yet but apparently Henne was excellent out there. Kudos and it's good to see. Now let's see it for 16 weeks in the regular season and I'll buy the guys jersey.

Unfortunately it seems he got no help from the line or the RBs. They have royally screwed the right side of the line and the running back situation is really no better.

We wont be able to run the damn ball, we are stuck with below avg Rb's wich will expose the rest of our O

"AdamC13 wrote:

About time Fields got a little or a lot of respect...7 punts, 59 yard average, 51.29 net, 3 inside the 20. He belongs on the good...make that great list!

Can Fields do kickoffs too? Carpenters a reliable FG kicker but it would be nice to have a kicker that can consistently kickoff out the back of the end zone with these new rules.

Henne looked great. When he was audibleing at the line of scrimmage he looked downright Manning-esque. His performance last night was too. However like everyone else I'm concerned about the OL. Thor will help but the right side is worrisome. If the line opens some holes our running back will be okay I think, but they have to give Henne time to throw the ball.

"adamprez2003 wrote:

oline will improve as they figure out how to play with each other. question is how quickly? might have to sacrifice the first month while we wait. ROT has to be settled somehow

I have no idea how you actually have any confidence that the offensive line will improve with the players they now have starting. While Long will certainly help the play on the left side, the problem is on the right side and at center. Pouncey is not the player his brother is and I just don't see him being able to handle the defensive tackles in the NFL at this stage of his career. He should be moved to RG and the Dolphins should sign O'Hara to be their center this season. Carey is not going to improve his play. He plays like an old, out of shape has been, and I just don't see him ever being the player he was a few years ago. At right tackle, Colombo also is not the player he was when he was a starter for the Cowboys. If the players now on the offensive line are the same players the Dolphins plan to be the starters for the entire season. All I can say is that it is going to be a long and disappointing season for Dolphin fans.

Another thing that I noticed is that Henne finally has learned to look off his primary receiver .That is progress .:yes:

"Bpk wrote:

Fully agree. And concerned Sparano will do nothing at all to fix the line. Hope I'm wrong.

One big thing I'd add to the empty "BAD" section.... No sacks (according to NFL.com).

So in game one against the Falcons we got TWO sacks... one from Wilson at CB and one from Trusnik at LB.

In game two we got ONE sack from Ryan Baker on the DLine.

In game three against the Falcons we got ZERO sacks.

That's trending the wrong direction, guys. More worrisome... none of the starters have a sack. None. Not Wake, not Misi, JT, Dansby.... any of them. Now Wake DID get his hand on Freeman and Will Allen had a sack/safety erased by a flag, so there IS pressure there. But I have to wonder if we are really applying enough consistent pass rush.

I don;t want us to rely on the blitz this season to generate pass rush. That can lead to big plays against the defense, especially when we face good QBs.

So yeah, Oline is the first, second and thrid concern now... but pass rush bears watching.

Certainly, defense with no sacks and no turnovers deserves mention somewhere between bad and ugly.

"AdamC13 wrote:

I think a lot of our sacks will come in the 2nd half of games this season. Like Sparano said when asked who will be starting along the DL, he will start the best 3 guys but he will be throwing 6-7 guys at them during the game. It will be a result of our depth that will wear down the opponents OL in the 2nd half. Not going to see the effects of that in preseason imo.

We should recognize Cameron Wake for what he was able to do in the first half. He was getting consistent pressure on the qb. And then we started dropping him in coverage. I'm hoping that's just an experiment.

"MrClean wrote:

Yes, Henne can never be good enough until he learns to squeeze his butt cheeks tighter together when he is throwing the ball.

well, if that improves his accuracy... :couch:

Last season we did the stupid musical chairs thing along the o line, and then completely shook it up after the preseason ended, cutting Donald Thomas and others. We can't do this again.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

"Sceeto wrote:

IMO, someone whom should be added to the "Good" list is Brian Daboll. He's been good at opening up the O. He's been very good at spreading the ball around to as many players as possible, thus increasing the chances of someone making a big play, rather than feeding it to the same few guys over and over. He's not as predictable. I'm very pleased with him so far.

I agree... although, I'll wait until the regular season before I add him to my Christmas shopping list. Just in case. :shifty:

"MrClean wrote:

Just been looking at the OL rankings last season for the two Super Bowl participants, and if their lines mean anything, we don't have to worry.
I'd doubt if more than a few teams had worse OT tandems than GB or Pitt last season. Some were worse though, like Chi, 75th and 77th, Ind, 44th and 70th, and Wash, 63rd and 65th, to name a few. Not that many. A lot of teams have one highly ranked OT and another in the bottom half or worse.
Like we will probably have with Long and Colombo or Murtha. Out of 76 OT who played 25% plus of their team's snaps, only 22 had a + grade.

GB:
Brian Bulaga was ranked the 69th OT with a grade of -24.6, allowed 12 sacks, 5 hits and 24 pressures.
Chad Clifton was ranked the 38th OT with a grade of -7.6M, allowed 7 sacks, 5 hits and 25 pressures.
As for their OGs, Josh Sitton ranked near the top, 2nd overall, at +21.1 and no sacks. Daryn Colledge ranked 43rd with a -4.4 and 3 sacks
C Scott Wells ranked 8th with a +9.3 and allowed 1 sack.

Pitt:
Max Starks was ranked the 42nd OT with a grade of -9.5, allowed 1 sack, 3 hits, and 15 pressures, in 355 snaps
Flozell Adams was ranked the 59th OT with a grade of -15.2, allowed 6 sacks, 4 hits and 30 pressures, in 925 snaps
Jonathan Scott was ranked the 71st OT with a grade of -26.6, allowed 4 sacks, 4 hits and 24 pressures, in 754 snaps

Pittsburgh's two primary guards, were Ramon Foster and Chris Kemoeatu. Foster was a -7.7 and the 55th guard and Chris was ranked 78th and a -21.5. Their Pouncey center was ranked 21st with a grade of -4.2. Heath Miller was ranked the 46th TE with a -8.0, mainly because he ranked poorly as a run blocker with -13.7 and 59th overall.
Somehow, Mendenhall was able to average 4.0 and gain 1280 yds behind this group.
What is their secret? Well, on the surface one would say having Roethlisberger and an effective passing game. And a great defense. Same as Green Bay.
If Henne and the skill players can do well enough, maybe they can overcome a weak OL like Rodgers and Ben and their RBs, and WRs did.

Or else, maybe PFF's grades are not the end all be all, and need to be taken with a grain of salt? Or, a little of both.

Yeah, I think the PFF grades are a little over the top. They aren't the be all end all. It should also be noted that both Roth and AR have missed games in their teams super bowl runs due to injury. Which leads us to Matt Moore.

Few things to say for me really 1. Ronnie Brown got blamed way to much for our running game problems 2. Our defense still seems to give up touch downs every time our offense turns the ball over. 3. Brandon Marshall needs to get more targets. 4. I like our punter a lot.

"gandalfin wrote:

Can Fields do kickoffs too? Carpenters a reliable FG kicker but it would be nice to have a kicker that can consistently kickoff out the back of the end zone with these new rules.

Henne looked great. When he was audibleing at the line of scrimmage he looked downright Manning-esque. His performance last night was too. However like everyone else I'm concerned about the OL. Thor will help but the right side is worrisome. If the line opens some holes our running back will be okay I think, but they have to give Henne time to throw the ball.

Why would you want to kick it out? When he put it 7-8yds deep and they ran it out they got tackled before the 20.

Why would you want to kick it out? When he put it 7-8yds deep and they ran it out they got tackled before the 20.

Because touch backs eliminate the possibility of big run backs and short field postions for the opposition. It is the safer way to play it.

"Paul 13 wrote:

Certainly, defense with no sacks and no turnovers deserves mention somewhere between bad and ugly.

Bugly then ?