This first quarter of our Phins season has been crazy. When we're down, we're up, and when we're up, we're down. We have yet to see a game where everyone played average, let alone good. MANY highs and lows. With all that in mind, it's time for a quarterly report card. Just don't ask Sparano to sign it. QB- Henne has had his ups and downs, as was somewhat expected. Unfortunately, when he had his downs, we won. When he had his ups, we lost. This is all in the development of a very talented young QB. I like what I'm seeing. All considered, I give him a C+ RB- R&R have not been close to the "Express" we hoped for. There have been flashes. Many things factor in. All of them considered, they have been average. C OL- Long has been great, as he is supposed to be. Carey has been up and down, which he is not supposed to be. The interior has been average but, I do like Jerry. C TE- Fasano has played well, both in blocking and receiving (when he gets the chance). Can we ask LeBron to play part time? Hell, looks like we're looking everywhere else. Haynos's injury has hurt. D FB- Polite is anything but, and is one of my favorite players. He whiffed on a block last week, one of the few I have seen. Short yardage is MONEY. A WR- This is tuffer than the others. Marshall has been good to great but, still not quite connecting with Henne. It WILL COME. Bess is the best slot receiver in the NFL. Hartline "could be" a VG #2 WR. He is getting open but, has been the one Henne has missed often. I expect much more of him as the season goes on. The rest have shown little in little playing time. There may be some potential there. B- OC- The favorite topic of many, Henning has been uneven this season so far. I think he has done pretty well, in general, with a number of questionable calls. I also consider what he has to work with, and the time they have been together. C Our D, and the rest will have to wait for a different thread.
QB_ Henne C+ Wasn't asked to do much first two games, but made no mistakes, was very good in Jet game, struggled last RB- I'm going to say C Brown hasn't had the carries we have liked, Rickys first good game was this past Sunday OL- C I think the Jerry sickness has hurt and Long is not healthy TE- I'm going to go B, Fasano is doing better than last year FB- D LP has been awful with his blocking WR- B+ still a few to many drops OC- C+ Would be higher, but calls the wildcat and the most head scratching times
Can't give the fullback an A grade. Short yardage and run blocking have been very good but have missed on pass blocking.
The reason for some optomism is that I do not believe we have seen ANY player on this team play as good as they can. JMO
We agree on most. Fasano is well worthy of a higher grade. The rest are worthless. I graded the position, not just Fasano.
True, but Fasano has played most the snaps. LP has not been good, he is missing key blocks on pass protection that have gotten Henne in trouble more than once.
QB: Henne is a bit of a mixed bag for me. He had one bad half-game, two mediocre games, and one good game. Even in the good game, the offense didn’t finish drives and seemed to lose steam while drawing closer to the red zone. He’s generally throwing the ball well, but his placement could be better. Is he better than Pennington? No, not yet. But he’s done nothing to justify being pulled. Grade: C WR: Marshall is not just a beast, he’s a monster. Bess looked better than Wes Welker on some catches. Hartline seems to always be open deep. Wallace and Moore do their jobs when asked. But I’d like to see a little more from the group collectively. Grade: B+ RB: Elderly, physically incapable aliens have switched places with Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams. Patrick Cobbs has done nothing despite the fact that he usually does something. Lex Hillard has gotten blown up on special teams despite the fact that he usually does nothing. True fact: all four of these guys might not be here next year. Maybe Ronnie’s next team will use him properly. Grade: F OL: Once again, pretty much every guy here is interchangeable. The interior is a major question mark, and I suspect is the primary reason behind the failure of the Wildcat. But there’s potential if they could all just play some games together. Grade: C TE: Imagine a revolving door where people walk in and immediately spin back out. Anthony Fasano can’t find his way out. Grade: Incomplete FB: Lousaka’s Polite only failing this season was giving up a sack to Jason Taylor. Grade: A DL: Starks is just short of elite, Soliai has taken steps forward, Langford’s only gaffe is his dropped INT, McDaniel is an underrated gem, and Odrick looked good for all of five minutes before he got injured. (Shades of Donald Thomas there. Spooky.) Ryan Baker has developmental potential but deserves that practice squad spot for now. I’d really like to get Marques Douglas back. Grade: B+ ILB: Karlos Dansby and a bunch of guys. Channing Crowder needs to get over his Matt Roth’s Disease. Grade: D+ OLB: Wake is a missile charging off the edge. Koa Misi is merely average. Alama-Francis could be a nice depth player for some time. But why is Quentin Moses still on this team? Grade: B CB: Vontae Island is stealing business from Revis Archipelago. Jason Allen is a perfect fit in this defense, but he needs longer cleats. Sean Smith looks pretty good as the third CB. I don’t know what Benny Sapp is doing on this team, and apparently neither does he. When Will Allen comes back, this will be the most complete unit on the team. Grade: A- SS: Yeremiah Bell plays like a linebacker. The problem is that Dustin Keller, Jermichael Finley, Todd Heap, Greg Olsen, Zach Miller, Aaron Hernandez, Tony Scheffler, and Brandon Pettigrew can all beat linebackers. Culver is disappointing after looking good in spot duty last year. Also, Bell is near or at the top of the NFL in missed tackles. Grade: C FS: Let me know when Chris Clemons demonstrates ball skills. I’m busy putting Reshad Jones’ face on the side of milk cartons. Grade: D+ K: I’m not really comfortable with Carpenter. He hasn’t had any meltdowns, but he’s nowhere near automatic. Also, his kickoffs are nothing special. I’m still not sure why we got rid of Jay Feely. Grade: Seriously? P: Why’d we get rid of Donnie Jones again? Fields still takes too long to get his punts off and they still lack hangtime. Grade: Damn you Randy Mueller
I really don't have a problem with Fields' punts or the time it takes him to kick. As for Reshad Jones, he's only been in on STs.
I do. He gets the snap and takes four steps and an eternity to get the ball off. I can’t recall any other punter needing that sort of overhead. And he certainly doesn’t keep the ball in the air very long. I know.
QB- Henne is what he is right now. He's a high end developmental prospect who shows flashes of absolute brilliance. He's had some "WTF" moments but they are getting further and further apart. I have no issues with him moving forward. Let's see the kid grow and go through his growing pains. We'll never "know" until we know and the only we'll "know" is if he plays all year. Grade: C RB- I honestly don't know what the hell is going on with this group. Ronnie looked GREAT weeks 1 and 2 but the coaches stubborness reduced his carries and Ricky got the workload and put it on the ground. Last week Ricky was FEELING it but we decided we were going to play run and shoot and give Ronnie the carries. I don't think Henning has any feel for who is on and who should be getting the work load. Lex Hilliard is just a "guy" who is not that good at his job and Lou Polite has been DREADFUL in almost every phase for a few weeks. His pass protection has been awful. Grade: D OL - Jake is the best in the game although he has had a couple of bad moments, he's still an All Pro. Carey has been serviceable but I'm really concerned about him longterm. I think the edge of the cliff is coming, I hope we find someone before it's too late. Incognito has been better then I anticipated but I'd like to see him replaced. John Jerry is so vital, it just reinforces our lack of depth. Will we ever figure out the interior line? Grade: Pass protection: B Run blocking: C- TE- Fasano is finding some seams and his blocking is always good. I think he'd be one of the best #2 tight ends in football, unfortunately we have nothing else worth mentioning at the position. Grade: Fasano B but when you take into account the revolving door at the position you have to give it a C- WR- Brandon Marshall is a BEAST. An absolute stud, top 3 at the position in the league. Bess is the most underrated slot in football, second only to that guy in New England. He's an 80 catch receiver every year if he gets his looks. Hartline has been a bit of a disappointment thusfar in 2010 but he's a smart guy and he'll find his way. Wallace is a damn intriguing player. I have a feeling about him. Grade: B DL - Randy Starks is simply not as visible this year. I don't know whether it is the way he readied himself to play the nose and then got moved to end or not but he does not look as explosive to me. Odrick looked great, for a half, we need him back. Big Paul has grown into what we all want him to be, a REALLY good rotational nose who can be dominant, the issue is our depth is forcing him to play too many snaps. I'd argue that Kendall Langford has been our best player, he's been excellent. Tony McDaniel was missed last week. Our depth is AWFUL and it has shown the last 2 weeks. We are wearing down big time in 2nd halfs, we need Odrick back. Grade: C LB - The last 4 weeks have shown, I hope, just how under appreciated Channing Crowder is by all Dolphin fans. While most were *****ing about what he WASN'T no one was paying attention to what he WAS. We miss him. Karlos Dansby is what we all expected, he won us the game week 2. He was invisible last week though. He's our defensive leader though. He's see's it and pulls the trigger. If Cam Wake holds up he's a 15 sack player and will be in the Pro Bowl. He can be unblockable with his sheer speed around the corner. At the end of the year I'm willing to bet he leads the league in holding penalties against. Koa Misi is quietly playing really well. He needs to hold the edge better though in my opinion, it's hurting our run defense. Dobbins has been dreadful. Carpenter was good against Minnesota but has gotten progressively worse. The depth is awful, which goes for pretty much this whole roster, we are really thin. Grade: C+ Secondary - Vontae Davis is in the high rent district of corners. He's a shutdown guy who tackles like a safety. Can't say enough about the guy. Jason Allen has been brilliant and bad. If he can find a happy medium he'll start for years, if he can't he'll always be a "woulda coulda" guy. I've seen indifference from Sean Smith. He should realize that he is one good game away from starting again and take his job back. Bennie Sapp is what he is, a fringe guy. Nolan Carroll gets an incomplete. How nice would it be to have Will Allen in a week or two? Thanks Ireland. Yermiah Bell looked like an All Pro week 1, a good starter week 2, a decent player week 3 and a guy who should be cut week 4. He needs to be better. Chris Clemons has been there when needed. It's been quiet back there and that in itself is an upgrade over last year. Grade: C+ Special teams - I don't feel like being nauseous so I'll pass on reviewing this band of idiots. You look at all that and it looks pretty good in my opinion. A solid C/C+ which is what I'd expect from a team that is 2-2 that should be 3-1 or could be 1-3. Our special teams killed us last week and a few tough moments hurt us week 3. Our depth is hurting us badly right now and some of our coaching decisions have been poor.
that was a thouroughly enjoyable read. and yes i still miss Donnie Jones. I join you in your damnation of Mueller
i look at it this way ... this 1st half of the season was easily a 4-4, 5-3 prediction. we are 2-2, agreeing that losing the 2 games to the JESTS and PATSYS hurts muchly. however, we are not a .500 team -- whilst we 'could' be 4-4 at the turn, i still believe we finish no worse than 10-6 for the year, as we will steamroll through the 2d half of the season. the OL still needs to jell, Henne and the WRs are not on the same page yet, our DL need Odrick back - and we still need improved OLB holding the edge ... and J. Allen needs to get off the slip and slide .... sounds like a lot -- but all can be achieved -- EXCEPT possibly the OLBs .... still believe CAM is a one trick pony -- but an absolutely exceptional one
Grades: QB- (C) & a C won't cut it in 2010. he's got to step up immediately RB- (C) it all starts was in the trenches: offensive line has to consistently open up running lanes, then the RB's will force the defense up to stop them, opening up the passing game OL- (D) right guard & center problems, timing & chemistry problems w/ installing an entire interior line unit. the offensive line has to open running lanes consistently & create the right pocket consistently for passing. biggest problem on offense is the front five, not Henne or the running game. Incognito & our BookEnds are stellar, but we need a quick fix @ center & right guard. I blame Sparano for the situation. TE- (D) Fasano is the apparent only functioning TE in a system that relies heavily on a 2-TE-set FB- (A) Polite is anything but, and is one of my favorite players. He whiffed on a block last week, one of the few I have seen. Short yardage is MONEY. agreed WR- (C+) the stable has not played to potential. why? the QB? weak running game? offensive line? I'd check all-the above, all the choices are interrelated. considerable talent & opportunity is being squandered OC- (D-) the guy is trying to put a square peg into a round hole by forcing Henne to play a game better suited to Pennington. he should know better. also his insistence on running the WildCat has cost us valuable downs & momentum in crucial games. the surprise of the Single Wing has come & gone. to use it effectively you need a QB who is a running threat to keep the game honest like the Jets (I forget his name) , a MichaelVick- type or PatWhite. collectively, I'd give the defense (B+) & special teams (F) would like to throw in another grade here: head coach (D-) the parcellian experiment @ head coach is self-destructing before our very eyes. the guy makes too many bad decisions on & off the field. he has taken a team that should contend & reduced its potential to mediocrity
this team is can compete talent-wise, but has to settle for mediocrity because of bad coaching. within the entire organization the only two I would not replace asap are Ireland & Nolan ...
He had a punt blocked in the 2007 preseason. That’s where the Cameron “fail forward fast” press conference originated. He was talking about Fields.
He cuts it pretty close. And remember, my point is that for all the setup time he takes, his hangtime isn’t very good. He clearly has a strong leg, but the ball isn’t staying in the air long enough for the coverage units to get far enough down the field.
