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Hayden Fox's Assessment: Week 13

Hayden Fox

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Positives
* Ryan Tannehill showed toughness on a few occasions. I am sure his teammates appreciated the toughness.
* RT showed well on the lone TD drive. He made good decisions and moved around well.
* Brian Hartline was very good today.
* The O-line was okay after Long's injury. Shows nice prep and coaching.
* The D kept the Fins in it today. The Pats were held to their lowest yardage total. They kept Tom Brady to his lowest QBR. The Fins pass D has been bad this year, but I was happy how they performed. The pass rush came to the dance with 4 sacks on Tom Brady.
* Cam Wake was dominating today. He is the best and most explosive player the Fins have. Excellent, excellent player.
* Reshard Jones is becoming a playmaker. His pick broke a 4 games streak of no turnovers. He was also around the ball all game. More players are needed like Wake and Jones.
* Koa Misi was very active
* Sean Smith was solid on the outside. Brandon Lloyd was a non-factor.
* Paul Soliai is warming up. Again he was a factor in the middle on run plays and push the pocket.
* I loved how the Fins O finished the half. Good clock management. Left the Pats with no time on the clock. Finishing halves are important and the Dolphins were strong in that area.
* Dan Carpenter was solid today. Seems to have found his groove.
* I thought Joe Philbin managed a good game. Made some nice decisions that helped keep his team in the game. The punt to pin the Pats was smart. The FG again was right on and more teams should do it like that. Finally, at thought he used his TO's too early at the end, but the more I thought about it he was right. Good day by Joe overall.
* Kevin Coyle called a good game. There were a few calls that did not work, but that happens vs. the Pats. Maybe he gave a blue print to slow the Pats down for the league. One can only hope.
* The Fins competed. I thought this could get ugly, but they hung tough. Real tough. Ultimately, they did not have enough, but the team played hard.

Negatives
* RT was too inaccurate. He missed on some throws that could have changed the complexion of the game. I have said for weeks that I hate the "he does not have weapons" talk. He does not have enough help, but when Brian Hartline is streaking by a defender, RT has to hit it for six.
* RT is excellent when he steps into his throw. He had some nice balls today, but not nearly enough.
* At times, early in the game, I think RT was a little tentative. That is why I liked how he showed some toughness on his runs.
* Jake Long. Ineffective play and now the injury.
* Davone Bess has questionable field awareness the last few weeks. He has caught the ball and gone backwards missing the 1st down by a few feet. Strange for a smart player.
* Not getting a TD after the Jones pick was huge. 7 was needed.
* The D wilted on the last drive. They needed a stop, but could not muster up one more after a game effort all day. Too many missed tackles on the last drive as well.
* Jimmy Wilson's roughing the punter penalty.
* Denney and Fields. Usually the operation is fine. Today, a low snap and Fields could not pick up the "wet eel".
* I do not think Miami attack Talib enough. Highly overrated player. He is physical and will PI when beat. Should have attacked him more.
* The call to go for the punt on Wilson's penalty was questionable. Get the ball back and play O.

Overall Assessment
* The team competed hard and hung with a good team. Not good enough, but some areas to happy with.
* I said it at the time and I will say it now, Jimmy Wilson's roughing penalty was a game changer. The Fins had the ball back and got off the field. The Pats got right back on the field and scored. Huge decision to rush the punt and undisciplined play by Wilson.
* If this game was a measuring stick, it shows there is more work to be done. The Fins do not suck. However, there is still a lot of work to do before getting in the league of the Pats.
* The reason the Fins teams of the past beat the Pats was because they had play makers. It has nothing to do with the heat of Miami. It was because of the likes of Jason Taylor, Zach Thomas, Pat Surtain and Sam Madison were game changers. The Fins need more players like Wake and Jones.
* It is also time to start drafting to beat teams in the division. Find players that the Pats will have a hard time defending and making plays against.
* Good to see the team even in the TO differential. However, this game called to be plus 3 or 4 to win.
* The offense needed to give more and did not come through. The game was their for the taking if a little more O. Not enough in the way of drives or big plays to win the game.
* I am not sure how to make the argument that Jake Long should be back. It will be interesting to see Jonathan Martin at LT the next four weeks vs. good pass rushers.
* Hats off to Coyle. I think he called a good game. He is doing well this year as a DC.
* 3 straight weeks special teams have given up big plays that led to points. It has to be cleaned up.
* The officiating was terrible. Calls such as Ron Winter (who runs like he has a dump in his pants) point the wrong way, a missed face mask on the Pats, a ridiculous PI on Dansby and missed holding calls on some Pats runs were all big plays. I will say it again: there is no difference between the "real guys" and the replacements.
* Dan Dierdorf's man love for the Patriots and Tom Brady is over the top. I can honestly say I hate him as analyst.
* Vince Wilfork's wife looks like Kevin James.
* Brandon Spikes is an *******. A complete thug and bum.
* Decent noise from Fin Fans at the Sun Life today at times.
 
Great post man!! I pretty much agree with everything u said.

Also I lol'd when I read: "Vince Wilfork's wife looks like Kevin James." :lol:
 
Decent write up.

The D wilted on the last drive. They needed a stop, but could not muster up one more after a game effort all day. Too many missed tackles on the last drive as well.

The D was absolutely exhausted on the last few drives, mainly due to bad offensive play. Overall, the D was fantastic today.

Jimmy Wilson's roughing the punter penalty

We beat ourselves today, which seems to be a common theme for most games this season. We've been giving up far too many penalties this season which have cost us time and time again.
 
Lloyd not being a factor didn't have much to do with Sean Smith. The Pats, unlike the Phins, take advantage of mismatches and create mismatches. Welker was covered by Wilson or a LB most of the day. Hernandez hada LB on him for most of the day as well. That's why they got most of the passes. ThePats are kings of mismatches. Miami needs to get Clay involved more. I also want to see Miller more. He has looked good in limited action. With Bush and Thomas being fumbling machines, why not play him more???
 
Good assessment overall. I definitely agree that Tannehill missed some big throws today..and Im sure he will be the first one to admit that. He also made some tough throws in some tight windows. I think the biggest problem of us lacking weapons is that its contributing to this conservative play calling from Sherman. This whole two WR sets until we get into 3rd long is really hurting Tannehill IMO. This defense could certainly use some upgrades...but lets be honest if we hold the Pats to 23 points and can't beat them...thats on the offense. Get playmakers...we have to
 
Dierdorff is ****ing obnoxious. Good write up as usual. Tannehill could not look off his receivers in the first half other than the TD drive. I felt that Tannehill made good decisions but didn't execute properly. He took some hard hits today, and it rattled him a little bit. His accuracy has to improve and he has to be more consistent on a week to week basis. The Offensive play calling was offensive at times. We get the ball after a 3 and out by Pats and we run it right into Wilfork two straight times for a loss of yards. That is not an acceptable way to conduct an offense and feed off of the momentum swing.

Jones is a straight up animal and week-in-and-week-out he is blossoming into a stud in front of our eyes. I remember how people wanted his head on a stake last season. Once he switched over to SS he became a beast. He was my favorite pick up from that draft and he's starting to come into his own.
 
For someone who was working all day and couldn't catch the game, this sort of nice summary is greatly appreciated. Nice write up.
 
Next week we got some angry 49ers at home. Great.
 
Good post... I like ground hogs!
 
Hated the play calling. Sherman needs to pick it up.
 
Great write up Hayden... I also thought that THill miised a lot of opportunities when he had the chance and they didnt take the chances often enough... my biggest question is why they are not going to Rashard Matthews more... he made a great catch on the last drive but was not thrown to before that as far as I saw anyhow.... good effort though... hope we draft well next year and pick up a deep threat in FA....
 
I thought it was a lifeless awful game for the most part. Completely opposite of last week when Miami and Seattle really battled.

First of all, for a touted sell out there were big patches of empty seats from the outset and it only got worse. I guess that's what qualifies as a big game these days.

Brady was off. I know there are situational angles that point to a team having a flat effort after two big scoring outputs. I cut the number of systems I use years ago to focus on the good stuff. Miami wasn't supposed to perform well as home underdog for the second straight game and coming off a win in the first one, and really I don't think the Dolphins played well. Both teams' skill position players seemed to be in a funk, with few exceptions.

It was a bad push. At least I won the first half. That's the norm.
 
I think if Martin shows he can man the LT spot, get a little bigger in the offseason, Jake is easily gone.
 
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