Upgraded, Downgraded, Stayed the Same...You be the Judge! | Page 6 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Upgraded, Downgraded, Stayed the Same...You be the Judge!

The biggest difference maker is going to be coaching and play calling.

McDaniels can go from calling a perfect game to calling a clunker surprisingly often in the 2 years he’s been here. It’s so strange to us all because he can be so brilliant some times that we think WHY or WHAT HAPPENED when in reality, it may just be inexperience.

We need him to take the step into better in game adjustments, play calling, and looking savvy out there. He needs to come off a little more wise and under control with how he dictates the game… if he can, we are superbowl bound.
 
SF Dolphin Fan said:
Good post. I hope there's still another level in this group and it's a team that can go far in the postseason.

I feel like before injuries really decimated this roster, Miami had a chance. I know the narrative was that the Dolphins didn't match up with the better teams. But I do think a large part of that was due to injuries.

The season finale against Buffalo was a good example of that. With half the starters missing on defense, Miami still almost beat the Bills.

But have to find a way to move past the "almost" and get it done.
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There are two way to look at the Bills game. BUF allowed 21 to the Pats and 22 to the Chargers. Not impressive. Conversely, they held the Cowboys to 10 and KC to 17.
On the flip side, a decimated Miami D held BUF to 14, DAL to 20, NYJ (yeah, I know) to zero.
The high scoring Miami O, OTOH, averaged 20ppm over the last 5, scoring 3 TDs only once. And, yes, the O had injuries too.
I'm far more concerned with the upgrades on O.
I agree, Miami has to move from 'almost' to 'done.' Too many times they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
 
Atila said:
The biggest difference maker is going to be coaching and play calling.

McDaniels can go from calling a perfect game to calling a clunker surprisingly often in the 2 years he’s been here. It’s so strange to us all because he can be so brilliant some times that we think WHY or WHAT HAPPENED when in reality, it may just be inexperience.

We need him to take the step into better in game adjustments, play calling, and looking savvy out there. He needs to come off a little more wise and under control with how he dictates the game… if he can, we are superbowl bound.
Click to expand...

It seems Mcd gets too emotional in play calls. reference to Broncos game. There was *NO* reason to call the no-look shovel pass. He just got caught up in the emotion and adrenaline. On the flip side, he became paranoid at the end of every close game. I agree, he needs to be "more wise and under control." He clearly has the talent, both his and the team's. This is no longer a 'newbie' problem, it's a personality problem.
And Weaver. If he's 'first of season' VF, Miami is a top team. If he's post TENN, not so much.
 
SF Dolphin Fan said:
Good post. I hope there's still another level in this group and it's a team that can go far in the postseason.

I feel like before injuries really decimated this roster, Miami had a chance. I know the narrative was that the Dolphins didn't match up with the better teams. But I do think a large part of that was due to injuries.

The season finale against Buffalo was a good example of that. With half the starters missing on defense, Miami still almost beat the Bills.

But have to find a way to move past the "almost" and get it done.
Click to expand...

"Get 'er Done".
A great motto that just "Cracks" me up. - LOL
 
fansinceGWilson said:
There are two way to look at the Bills game. BUF allowed 21 to the Pats and 22 to the Chargers. Not impressive. Conversely, they held the Cowboys to 10 and KC to 17.
On the flip side, a decimated Miami D held BUF to 14, DAL to 20, NYJ (yeah, I know) to zero.
The high scoring Miami O, OTOH, averaged 20ppm over the last 5, scoring 3 TDs only once. And, yes, the O had injuries too.
I'm far more concerned with the upgrades on O.
I agree, Miami has to move from 'almost' to 'done.' Too many times they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
Click to expand...
Agree. The defense kept Miami in games late in the season, while the offense really struggled.

For all the negatives on Fangio, the defense actually gave Miami a small window of a chance against Kansas City in the playoffs. That was with seven starters out. The offense was dreadful in that game.

Hopefully, McDaniel has something else up his sleeve on offense. My impression when he was hired was a heavy run attack. We've seen the run game improve so that's encouraging, but I think it needs to advance to another level still. Meaning specifically improving in short yardage.

Brewer is rated highly as a run blocker, Paul fits the system. I think the offensive line is the key and I'm not overly optimistic there. But I also want to see how it plays out.
 
I totally agree that the OL is once again a major issue going into the season. The loss of Hunt and Williams was a big hit to this unit and Armstead hasn’t been able to remain injury free in years. His age and injury history certainly doesn’t give me a lot of confidence that he will be available for the entire season.

I think getting 10 games out of Armstead is about the best we can hope for and I just don’t know if Paul will be ready in his rookie season to be effective if Armstead misses games.

The loss of Wilkins on the DL is HUGE. He was one of the top defensive linemen in the league and they basically replaced him with a lot of backup caliber defensive linemen. I think his loss will be felt in the ability to stop the run and getting pressure up the middle. I think his loss will also have a negative affect on Sieler because he will draw more attention by the opposing teams offensive line without Wilkins next to him.

While many of the units on the team appear stronger. You win and lose in the trenches and the Dolphins don’t appear to be nearly as strong in the trenches in 2024 as they were in 2023.
 
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fansinceGWilson said:
There are two way to look at the Bills game. BUF allowed 21 to the Pats and 22 to the Chargers. Not impressive. Conversely, they held the Cowboys to 10 and KC to 17.
On the flip side, a decimated Miami D held BUF to 14, DAL to 20, NYJ (yeah, I know) to zero.
The high scoring Miami O, OTOH, averaged 20ppm over the last 5, scoring 3 TDs only once. And, yes, the O had injuries too.
I'm far more concerned with the upgrades on O.
I agree, Miami has to move from 'almost' to 'done.' Too many times they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
Click to expand...
Two years in a row it was the O not the D that let us down in the end.
 
Atila said:
The biggest difference maker is going to be coaching and play calling.

McDaniels can go from calling a perfect game to calling a clunker surprisingly often in the 2 years he’s been here. It’s so strange to us all because he can be so brilliant some times that we think WHY or WHAT HAPPENED when in reality, it may just be inexperience.

We need him to take the step into better in game adjustments, play calling, and looking savvy out there. He needs to come off a little more wise and under control with how he dictates the game… if he can, we are superbowl bound.
Click to expand...

Bingo. People keep talking about injuries and o-line but this team does nothing if McD decides to lose his mind and call insane plays again. We'd have 3 awful incompletions immediately and the defense would be back on the field in like a minute.

Can't be consistently putting your team in that position, coach. He has to develop a better feel for the game or have someone screaming in his year not to call some funky, slow developing play on 3rd and 4th down.

Take what the game is giving you would be my advice in that regard.
 
BobDole said:
Bingo. People keep talking about injuries and o-line but this team does nothing if McD decides to lose his mind and call insane plays again. We'd have 3 awful incompletions immediately and the defense would be back on the field in like a minute.

Can't be consistently putting your team in that position, coach. He has to develop a better feel for the game or have someone screaming in his year not to call some funky, slow developing play on 3rd and 4th down.

Take what the game is giving you would be my advice in that regard.
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There's definitely part of me that thinks this rebuild would have been further along with a veteran coach.

Miami's talent level, says deep playoffs IMO. Not two straight years of first round and out.

Granted, there's no doubting that McDaniel is learning on the job and doing some things exceptionally well. This offense was really clicking before injuries, as the Dolphins spent most of the year without at least two starters on the offensive line.

I'm also impressed with the quality of assistant coaches McDaniel has brought in. That was a big problem for Flores.

But you are right. McDaniel needs to react faster in those clutch situations. From my viewpoint, it looks like McDaniel doesn't trust the short-yardage run game. I'm also not convinced Miami has improved significantly there, although maybe it's more about committing???

To me, those are the things that are killing drives. The Dolphins make a lot of big, chunk plays but struggle to keep the chains moving when short yardage presents itself.
 
SF Dolphin Fan said:
There's definitely part of me that thinks this rebuild would have been further along with a veteran coach.

Miami's talent level, says deep playoffs IMO. Not two straight years of first round and out.

Granted, there's no doubting that McDaniel is learning on the job and doing some things exceptionally well. This offense was really clicking before injuries, as the Dolphins spent most of the year without at least two starters on the offensive line.

I'm also impressed with the quality of assistant coaches McDaniel has brought in. That was a big problem for Flores.

But you are right. McDaniel needs to react faster in those clutch situations. From my viewpoint, it looks like McDaniel doesn't trust the short-yardage run game. I'm also not convinced Miami has improved significantly there, although maybe it's more about committing???

To me, those are the things that are killing drives. The Dolphins make a lot of big, chunk plays but struggle to keep the chains moving when short yardage presents itself.
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The glaring area for me at a cursory glance is red zone efficiency... especially when less than 10 yards to the goal line. I feel (and I am sure someone will correct me) we left quite a few points behind due to not being able to punch it in for six.
 
JamesWsenior said:
The glaring area for me at a cursory glance is red zone efficiency... especially when less than 10 yards to the goal line. I feel (and I am sure someone will correct me) we left quite a few points behind due to not being able to punch it in for six.
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Are you saying that even though Mostert falls forward for at least 2 yards on every touch you're against corner fade jump-balls to undersized wide receivers in the endzone from their 3 yard line?

What are you, a foking idiot? (:sarcasm:) 😂

I
 
marino13zach54 said:
Are you saying that even though Mostert falls forward for at least 2 yards on every touch you're against corner fade jump-balls to undersized wide receivers in the endzone from their 3 yard line?

What are you, a foking idiot? (:sarcasm:) 😂

I
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Yeah I want Ingold leading the way behind Stephenson, Webb, delenbach and that pro bowl right guard we used to have - too sleepy to remember his name. But yeah jam it in hard . Hunt for the win. **** after seeing the size of Paul, give him the ball 😂
 
Ray R said:
Actually, we didn't so much as lose some good players as we were outbid for them. I would have said "we may have lost our edge", since we don't really know what these new guys will do.

Why not wait until the season begins before trying to assess these new guys talent. We can't even be sure the players we field are even on the team yet.
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Uncle Ray kind of plodding through the semantical jungle! Outbid, or lost, or value decertified doesn’t matter.... The roster no longer contains the 2 best players we had on the LOS. Beyond that – even the most silly among us can’t say the bargain bin players we picked up are of the same quality. Just like Wal-Mart ain’t Bloomingdale’s.

As far as “assessment,” pretty much everything on here is “speculation” until we get to the end of the season and evaluate the overall product. But it’s a typically a safe bet that lower quality components don’t create higher performance. Quality matters Ray. Maybe not size all the time – but quality is a proven winner! And I like winners Ray!

When it comes to everything this franchise does I’m absolutely from Missouri! Prove IT on the field or shut up. I don’t need the hype. I don’t need the blue shy. And please omit the juvenile cultish insistence that everything must be framed in a positive vector to avoid offending the fragile fan boys among us!

Just show me the wins – especially against strong competition. Do that and I’ll be happy to give praise.

:oops:
 
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