Well, Miami is 5-5 and currently holds the 7th spot in the AFC playoffs. Given the way they've played this year, 5-5 is exactly right. Miami's about as close to being 6-2 as they are to 2-6. The next 3 games are absolutely critical if Miami is to hold onto some playoff hope. I mean, at this point, every game is critical for Miami's playoff hope. I'll spare any personal narrative for this thread and just get straight into it. This week, we're back to "Good", "Bad", and "Bizarre". Good: - Usually I start off with something on offense and work my way into the defense, but this is something I think is very good. How's this for a quick stat? For the first time since week one of this year, Miami held it's opponent under 20 points. Let that sink in for a while. - Ryan Tannehill is pretty good. He's been basically the entire offense for the better part of this season. Yes, he made a bonehead play by going out of bounds in the 4th quarter. I think he'll learn. You could see him mouthing "Sh!t" on the sidelines immediately after; he knew he screwed the pooch there. There's still 2-3 plays a game that make me scratch my head, but this kid is pretty damn good. For the terrible receivers he dealt with in 2012 to the terrible offensive line and coaching he's dealt with and is still dealing with this year, this kid has gone out and won games. And he's getting better. - Daniel Thomas has a pulse. One of his better efforts. Ever. - Rishard Matthews might be my favorite receiver on the team. I think he and Brandon Gibson, provided he fully recovers, have brighter futures on this team moving forward than Mike Wallace or Brian Hartline. - Charles Clay had a pretty nice game today. - I'm not really sure what to make of the O-line. It wasn't pretty, not that O-line play typically is, but they did fairly well today. Part of that is due to San Diego having absolutely no capable pass-rushers whatsoever, but for a makeshift unit, that was respectable. That said, I'm still scared about Carolina's defense. - Randy Starks needs to be re-signed. I don't care what scheme Miami plays, who the coaches are, who the general manager is, this man is the best DT Miami has, and he's the best by a pretty wide margin. - Jared Odrick had some nice moments. - Dion Jordan might have more impact that hasn't shown up in the stat sheet than any defensive rookie I can recall. He's going to be good. - Chris Clemons had his standard performance. - Brent Grimes had his best game as a Dolphin today. - Caleb Sturgis was shaky, but shaky worked today. Bad: - Ryan Tannehill running out of bounds in the 4th quarter deserves mention here. It was THAT bad. - Lamar Miller didn't have a very good game today running the ball. He should study some tape of Clinton Portis and Jamaal Charles this offseason. If he can mix those two together, that'd be what I'm looking for out of him. - Brian Hartline deserves mention here. He had some good moments. He had some really poor moments. - Bryant McKinnie probably had his roughest day today. I'm not sure if that's got something to do with playing next to Sam Brenner, but I've got him for two of the three sacks (Tannehill running out of bounds was 4). One was a missed assignment, one was him getting beat 1-on-1. - Olivier Vernon had a big sack late on the last drive. D.J. Fluker pretty much beat the crap out of him up until that point. - It's a double-edge sword here. For only the second time in 10 games, Miami's defense held someone under 20 points. Kevin Coyle's scheme is horrid. You all know I think that and I've said it every week since the Atlanta game. It is what it is at this point I guess. Here's to hoping he's long gone next year. I mean seriously, how do you not try and incorporate Dion Jordan more? If anything, he better receive more snaps based on OV's lacking performance today. I will say, Dion Jordan did see a few reps at OLB today. To quote Jerrell Root, "It gives me a chubby." - Nolan Carroll was pretty bad today. I mean seriously, give that guy two hooks instead of hands. Maybe he can stab the ball out of midair. - Reshad Jones. Woof. I'm not sure what else to say. He's not been used the same way as last year...but that doesn't excuse his play. Bizarre: - Isn't it bizarre if you hold someone under 20 points, you most likely win in the NFL? - It's very bizarre how Miami used Sam Brenner and Danny Watkins today. Jim Turner is a bizarre individual and I'm a little frightened at what kind of grotesque reports we'll hear about after he's interviewed by Ted Wells. - It's bizarre the more Dion Jordan gets on the field, the less time opposing quarterbacks have to throw. Imagine if he were lined up opposite Cameron Wake on a regular basis. - It's bizarre that Miami actually came out well today. - I found it bizarre that that many people were in attendance today. - Tweet from Jeff Darlington during pregame warmups: "Dark Poetry, Jeff Ireland walks by Darius "Dolphins Make Me Cry" Rucker on field while #Fireland Banner flies overhead." Dolphins football baby.
Grimes had a better game vs Bengals than today...imo but everything else is spot on. And Wake deserves to be in the "good" pile.
Strongly disagree. His run support against the Bengals was putrid. He didn't miss opportunities today. He also gave up few completions and yards against by my count today than he did against Cincinnati. The game-saving knockdown was very impressive. Probably the most impressive INT I've seen a Dolphin player make since Vontae Davis intercepting Mark Sanchez on a 2pt conversion back in 2009.
He also threw a laser to Brian Hartline who was falling down (no surprise) as he was trying to catch, and he got his own arm caught. I'm not sure if it's Tannehill's deep ball per se, or merely a severe lack in chemistry between he and Wallace. Yeah, it needs improvement, but I'm not sure it's as all around bad as it seems.
2 INT including a 94 yd TD...the guy was exhausted on those run plays after the D was out there for the entire 3rd quarter....come on...
An Andy Dalton misfire for a pick-6 isn't all that impressive when you've seen Andy Dalton play. Again, today was his best game. Great, all around, complete game today.
Not sure how it's "chemistry" I mean the dude has 3-4 yards on guys....throw a ball and let him run under it. It's a flaw in RT's game that hopefully gets fixed.
Well...you could say the same thing for the Bengals run game, that it was good. The defense wasn't entirely exhausted today either...everything need to be placed in context otherwise nothing is objective.
I think you gave Nolan Carroll too much credit. He was a lot worse than you thought he played. Ellerbe has been an enigma to me. He has been dreadful in run support. Almost every single tackle he makes is 10 yds down the field. Our run defense has been bad.
It was. San Diego spent the day running it at Olivier Vernon - away from Grimes' typical side. Grimes today, was better than he was against the Bengals.
I agree. IMO the issue is not his deep ball. He has thrown some bombs to Hartline, Clay and even Matthews before. The issue with Wallace is total lack of chemistry. If you remember during the preseason and early season, Tannehill was actually overthrowing Wallace quite a bit. Right now, I think he's just trying too hard to just place the ball for him, instead of just airing it out and letting Wallace run down the ball. I also think Tannehill has some strong lack of trust for Wallace. Wallace does not help him out one bit. If the ball is not place perfectly in stride, Wallace simply does nothing to fight for it. If he helped his QB and showed some willingness to fight for balls and simply display a "just throw me the ball I'll claw and scratch for it and I won't let the defense have it no matter what" attitude, the chemistry and trust issue would have naturally started to dissipate.
Ryan just needs more touch on his deep throws, like I said...loft it up and let #11 run underneath it. More to do with physics than chemistry.
If he were OVERthrowing him, then maybe this holds water. How does under throwing him indicate a lack of trust?
You can say Vernon was stonewalled all game, but his sack was the play of the game. Without it SD kicks a field goal and then they wouldn't have needed a TD at the end. Good to see the guys keep fighting. Ronin, hope all is well following that storm that hit your area.
Dalton is a very competent QB...but nevermind that, you cannot discredit a pick 6 due to a bad QB throw/bad QB...nevermind a 94 yd pick 6. It was a huge play...
Like I said, he does not trust him, so he feels he has to place the ball perfectly. He is too worried about placement, instead of just letting instinct and natural chemistry dictate how he needs to just chuck it and let him burn to it. You can see when he goes deep for Wallace, his throwing motion shows him trying to place the ball, instead of just putting mustard on it and just bombing it.
Thanks Rocky. All is well. Most of the heavy stuff went either north or south of the city; I live about 10 miles north of downtown and most of it was well north of me. Never heard thunder or saw lightning, just a lot of rain.
Side note, but this Broncos vs. Chiefs game is pretty good so far. I envision Miami playing Cameron Wake and Dion Jordan like the Chiefs play Justin Houston and Tamba Hali. A man can dream, right?
You and me both. I actually think this speaks a lot on Wallace's attitude. He is the veteran player in this duo. He should take the initiative and force the relationship with his young QB. He should be the one dogging and harassing Ryan to get this fixed. He needs to be the Reggie Wayne to Tannehills Andrew Luck.
[TABLE] [TR] [TD="width: 50%, align: right"]Pass attempts[/TD] [TD="width: 50%, align: left"]1,376[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="width: 50%, align: right"]Pass completions[/TD] [TD="width: 50%, align: left"]844[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="width: 50%, align: right"]Percentage[/TD] [TD="width: 50%, align: left"]61.3[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="width: 50%, align: right"]TD–INT[/TD] [TD="width: 50%, align: left"]63-39[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="width: 50%, align: right"]Passing yards[/TD] [TD="width: 50%, align: left"]9,654[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="width: 50%, align: right"]Passer rating[/TD] [TD="width: 50%, align: left"]85.9[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] Terrible? I guess Stafford is "Mediocre" by your scale?
Throw out all the numbers you want, he is single handily holding that team back. Even Bengals fans hate him.
Tanny did make a heady play on the last drive by scrambling for positive yards and sliding down. As for the 3rd down play where he ran out of bounds, I would really like to know WTF that play was all about.
lol Fans here hate Ryan too. QBs are the most hated players in the league by their own fans. If you are a QB...unless you are Peyton or Dan...you will be hated by a good portion of your own fans until you produce a SB ring...and even then...Big Ben is in the hotseat after being the face of the franchise for so long... I'll stick to my stats though, thanks.
I am at a loss for words when I keep on hearing how good Ellerbe has been playing. I really just don't see it. I single in on him on almost every play and he makes no play near the line of scrimmage. Actually most of his plays are 7 yards off the line. I literally re-watch every run snap on my dvr and I do not see what is good about his play.
Of which he holds part of the blame. Listen I'm not excusing the lack of execution on Ryan with the Wallace deep throws. He needs to get it figured out. All I'm saying is they both need to get it figured out, not just Ryan.
- You and maynard both raise a very salient point about Tannehill sliding and staying in bounds. That was very heady. But it goes back to those head-scratching decisions; if he does it once, why didn't he do it again? I think he knows he messed up and will learn. The more he uses his legs, the better. I don't mean this to slight Tannehill, but I think I've seen several posters (CK, DJ, FinD, maybe a few others) equate Tannehill to Jake Plummer in Denver. I think he could be like Jay Cutler under Shanahan. Move him around, get him an O-line and a running game, and I bet he takes off. - I'll withhold comments on the protection. Tampa Bay got pressure when they needed it. San Diego didn't have anyone who could rush. Carolina, however, has a lot of talent in that front 7. Maybe the best 4-3 front 7 in the NFL. We'll see how they handle it. - I like Dannell Ellerbe. I think he's misused in this scheme and he'd be a better fit as a "Moe" LB in a 3-4, like he was in Baltimore. He was good today, better than the past two weeks certainly.
He's beaten up on weaker teams. Going into this year Dalton was 17-4 against non-playoff teams and 2-11 against playoff teams. Watch his games from this year against Cleveland, Baltimore, Miami. Watch his games against Baltimore and Pittsburgh last year and 2011. Tell me if you like what you see.