1. Mike Pouncey will be the third Dolphin Center in the Hall of fame. Nobody on this team has played better, including Reggie Bush. The start to his career is similar to Jake Long's. Let's hope that he stays healthy. If he does..I say 8-10 pro bowl appearances, and a trip to Canton. 2. Reggie Bush kills the "RB is overvalued" argument. Not many backs have that acceleration that he has when finding a crease. Not many more can hit "homeruns" like he can. If Pouncey is our best player, Bush is our signature / billboard player. IMO, the groundwork for his contract extension should be laid out. Let's hope he doesn't want to break us. 3. The Dolphin front seven: Where elite RB's go to die. it all starts with our Tackle Tandem, and the Dolphin ends that can run with anybody. Odrick included. 4. One sore spot in that front seven has been Karlos Dansby. Not on this day. he lived up to his billing, and save for one bad angle/slow start on a run, and one embarrassing play, He was solid, and solid is good. 5. Reshad Jones is slow. But he can play football. He moved well in space, and he always packs a punch. It remains to be seen if his perceived "slowness" is due to the mental part of his game, or his physical ability. For now, optimism on Reshad Jones gets a boost. 6. Brian Hartline is very capable, and it is a good sign that he can thump poor competition. He has always shown that, which makes him a solid #2. Next to the word "Value" should be a picture of Hartline. Another contract negotiation worth following. 7. Upon further review, Richie Incognito is an ******* and a flat out thug. But he is "ours" and it feels good to have that guy on our side. You WIN with guys like him. He's mean, and effective. 8. Won't mention Jake Long, because he is expected to be excellent every week and he usually is. But you really don;t expect Jonathan Martin to be steady and consistent, but this was a vast improvement from week 1 and a reason for optimism going forward. 9. Coach Philbin seemed much more involved and intrusive with his assistants, and I say that in a good way. I prefer the more hands on type to the delegator. One interesting moment in the 1st quarter (opening drive): Reggie Bush asks out of action in the middle of the drive. He gets waved back in. This is one of my pet peeves, and under Coach Philbin, I have seen players told to get back in the huddle more in 6 games than I saw in the previous 10 years. The game just started, why are you asking out of the game? Feel free to add:
I'll also add that his next few runs weren't very good after he asked out. Maybe he should have been allowed to have a rest.
I actually thought Reggie was waving off being subbed out? He had just ripped off a couple nice runs and had a rhythm going and it looked more to me like he was waving his hand saying "No, let me stay in"
Reggie Bush had a great game, don't get me wrong, but there were times early on (2nd quarter in particular) that he struggled find and/or hitting the correct hole to get to. Lamar Miller looked more decisive in that regard. And for the guff he's getting about the one missed blitz pickup, he had one on the very first drive of the game when he spelled Reggie where he absolutely saved Tannehill from getting destroyed. Agree that Mike Pouncey is the most impressive Dolphins thus far this year. Randy Starks is a close second. I thought it was Kevin Burnett that got stiff-armed into oblivion, not Dansby. Dansby played very well save for the TD pass Oakland had, but Chris Clemons' takes the cake for taking by far and away the worst angle I've ever seen an NFL safety take on that play. If anything, in regards to the LB corps, if you asked me which one I'd pick to upgrade over, at this point it's Kevin Burnett. The secondary worries me in pass coverage. I think they were mighty fortunate to have been playing the Raiders yesterday and not someone with a better passing game. Reshad Jones had some nice plays. But, color me jealous after seeing what 49ers S Dashon Goldson did in their game last night. I'd kill to have him, or someone like him, play FS for Miami next season and move Jones to more of an in-the-box role. Brian Hartline. Nice game. Keep it up. Jonathan Martin played pretty well yesterday as well. I'm interested in seeing how good this line becomes if they can stay healthy. Some of Kevin Coyle's schemes and player rotations are a bit confusing, but it's hard to argue against having the best ypc allowed average in the NFL having faced Arian Foster and Darren McFadden in two consecutive weeks.
Special Teams in general. We gave up a long return but Fields owned the field position battle which allowed us to put the game away. Thigpen has a nice burst and has been solid on returns and the coverage units just get it done every single time. Kudos to Rizzi.
Thing with Reggie B and backs in general is they can win games, they can make huge plays, but the 250ish/4ypa type who cannot hit Hr's is the old way. New Rb is a long time CFL prototype, small, and extremely fast, can house it on any touch.
WEEK 2: Brandon Marshall: 11 catches/143 yards Brain Hartline: 12 catches/161 yards And he didn't require 3/4 of all attempts to get it.
I would have to take a look at it. The signal for a player trying to come off the field is him tapping the side or top of his own helmet. Is that what you saw?
Agree on Reggie and his style of running back, disagree on the obsolescence of a big bruiser. If you have a consistent 4.0 ypa 250 dude who can hammer it in, he'll be successful. The bruiser just can't carry a horrible team, if he's not capable of any big plays, because he'd have to be the primary offense generator.
If other people say they saw the sideline waving him back in I believe that. However I didn't....and I never saw him make a move towards the sideline. I saw him raise his hand above his head with his palm sort of outward toward the sideline rather than waving someone in or doing as you said. But I only saw it in real time so I could very well be incorrect as Section said. Its also possible we are talking about separate points in the game as well I suppose. I guess its just hard for me to believe that with how hard Reggie works he would want to come out of the game after three or four great carries on the first drive.
Interceptions Drew Brees/4 Matt Cassell/3 Jay Cutler/5 Ryan Fitzpatrick/3 Andrew Luck/3 Eli Manning/3 Mathew Stafford/4 Ryan Tannehill/3 Michael Vick/6 Brandon Weedon/4 Just a stat, doesn't this seem like a high rate of interceptions? Tannehill had one bad game so far but he has good company and some beating him at it. Edit: Bradford was wrong Thanks CK
I'm not sure if it's really a big trend or if it's just that certain guys you wouldn't expect (Vick, Stafford, Brees, Manning) are the culprits. Aaron Rodgers has been pretty dead from a fantasy perspective as well. Also Sam Bradford only has 1 pick to date. He's coming around nicely this year. I was real disappointed in his 2011 because I was extremely high on him as a QB coming out.
Thanks I corrected that. Tannehill needs to keep from having those bad games it's a huge difference with no turnovers, 3 is just to much to overcome even for most really good teams.
It's true, you may not wish to hear it, what we are seeing now is what I've seen for yrs in the CFL. As for the 250ish back who goes for 4 ypc..why run them when you can pass for 6 ypa? Where is the bruiser going?
The quirky trend for me was how Week 2 was totally opposite Week 1 for the rookie QBs. Brandon Weeden went from having a DREADFUL performance against the Eagles, with a rare 5 passer rating, to having a really good day against the Bengals with a 115 passer rating. And he didn't compile the latter by only throwing the ball 20 times or something like that, he threw even more passes against the Bengals than he did the Eagles. You want to talk about a total turnaround. Andrew Luck also went from a 53 in Week 1 to a 107 in Week 2. Russell Wilson went from a 62 in Week 1 to a 115 in Week 2. And of course Tannehill went from a 39 in Week 1 to a 91 in Week 2. Robert Griffin was the opposite. He had an inhuman 140 in Week 1 followed by a human 86 in Week 2.
I'll be rooting for Weedon to top that this week, against the Bills. Luck has to play Jacksonville so he should do good. Wilson impressed me he looked as if he belonged out there this week but has Monday night against Green bay next.
I think we got the best Pouncey brother. Not meant as slight to Maurkice, but I like Mike better in all ways now that he has cleaned up his shotgun snaps. They look so crisp, I kind of wondered if the twins swapped uniforms. Considering Maurkice has been a 2nd team and 1st team All Pro in his two seasons, it is certainly reasonable to think Mike can fight him tooth and nail for that honor from here on out.
My dream is for Mike to convince Maurkice to sign a contract down here in Miami when his contract is up in Pittsburg. They are super close and are Florida boys so there is a chance (albeit a small one) that it happens.
Toss in our first home opening win since 05, and there were long scoring plays and I hope it generates some buzz.
That'd be conditional upon Maurkice accepting a change to a less prestigious position (guard). Not sure if he'd want that.
This was a beauty. I am nursing some sunburn and hangover symptoms, but what a game. It was great seeing big plays busted on offense. Our special teams have come so far...its amazing. The Raiders got good pressure on RT, and they have weapons. There is just no excuse for it, but for the 2nd time in as many years, Carson Palmer was just abysmal. No excuse for him to be this bad at this point in his career. He connected on some decent longish passes but in the 2nd half, just couldn't hit anything. And we capitalized.
