Philosophical Changes I'd Love to See

[Ray R]

More garbage

I guess he has been reduced to the "spin cycle". - LOL

 

[fansinceGWilson]

Maybe just maybe, the last 5-6 games the injuries started piling up to the point that we weren’t the same team. Keep in mind, many players played hurt and shouldn’t have been playing under normal circumstances. But pick and choose how you want to look at it

The O deteriorated in almost every 2H and, from there, every 4Q throughout the last 12 or more games, against good teams or bad. For injuries to be the cause, injuries would have to happen at the beginning of every 2H and more at the beginning of every 4Q, It is untenable to claim the O would do better in 1H, but worse in 2H due to injuries, or penalties, or dropped passes, or a poor OL.
Certainly injuries hurt over the course of the year. No denying that. And the O failed miserably against 'good' Ds, but that's for another thread. But, one more observation. The O performed worse in 2H when the score was close and/or Miami was trailing. There are very few factors that can account for a poor performance nearly every 2H.

 

[where's th'fish]

I saw the title of this thread and I thought we were going to really get down to it with logical positivism.

 

[Highzenga]

The O deteriorated in almost every 2H and, from there, every 4Q throughout the last 12 or more games, against good teams or bad. For injuries to be the cause, injuries would have to happen at the beginning of every 2H and more at the beginning of every 4Q, It is untenable to claim the O would do better in 1H, but worse in 2H due to injuries, or penalties, or dropped passes, or a poor OL.
Certainly injuries hurt over the course of the year. No denying that. And the O failed miserably against 'good' Ds, but that's for another thread. But, one more observation. The O performed worse in 2H when the score was close and/or Miami was trailing. There are very few factors that can account for a poor performance nearly every 2H.

I’m not going to verify those stats but I’ll take your word for it. We seem to excel when the plays are scripted at the beginning of games. Mcdaniel definitely needs to improve in regards to making adjustments throughout the game. Hopefully we can improve on that

 

[fansinceGWilson]

I’m not going to verify those stats but I’ll take your word for it. We seem to excel when the plays are scripted at the beginning of games. Mcdaniel definitely needs to improve in regards to making adjustments throughout the game. Hopefully we can improve on that

here we agree and that has been my point since last fall. Mcd has proven himself to be a very good play caller when he has plenty of time to call/script plays AND/OR he has a comfortable lead. He can do it and fans have evidence. His problems arise when he's under stress.
SIDE NOTE: I listened to an OC several yrs ago say as soon as he calls a play, he's thinking about the next play under different conditions (e.g., 2nd and 2 or 2nd and 12).
Mcd seems to think of the next play after seeing the result of the previous play. This adds to his stress which fuzzes up play-calling. This is why I've said he needs a vet OC to teach him how to be an OC outside of calling plays. I think he can do it if he get out of his own way.
And I agree on adjustments. How many times did fans see 3 high with CBs playing off and Mcd consistently calls intermediate routes? Or 4 defenders covering TH every play (no exaggeration) and Mcd consistently made TH the 1st read? Again a vet OC to force Mcd to call what works - NOT what he wants.

 

[SF Dolphin Fan]

One Philosophical change i would like to see is to discontinue the rewarding of mediocrity. Crossman and Bailey should be at the Citgo.

Lol remember when TJ Mcdonald was extended by miami before even playing a meaningful down?

Agree.

 

[Highzenga]

here we agree and that has been my point since last fall. Mcd has proven himself to be a very good play caller when he has plenty of time to call/script plays AND/OR he has a comfortable lead. He can do it and fans have evidence. His problems arise when he's under stress.
SIDE NOTE: I listened to an OC several yrs ago say as soon as he calls a play, he's thinking about the next play under different conditions (e.g., 2nd and 2 or 2nd and 12).
Mcd seems to think of the next play after seeing the result of the previous play. This adds to his stress which fuzzes up play-calling. This is why I've said he needs a vet OC to teach him how to be an OC outside of calling plays. I think he can do it if he get out of his own way.
And I agree on adjustments. How many times did fans see 3 high with CBs playing off and Mcd consistently calls intermediate routes? Or 4 defenders covering TH every play (no exaggeration) and Mcd consistently made TH the 1st read? Again a vet OC to force Mcd to call what works - NOT what he wants.

They definitely forced it to hill a lot last year. Hill is the alpha in the locker room and he wants the ball. While he is the best wr in the league, they need to feed it to other guys to open it up for Hill.

 

[DOLFANMIKE]

Here are a few..

1. More Man-to-Man Coverage on Defense
Generally, this team won on defense and I'm pretty happy with this group. But the better quarterbacks picked zone apart. I think with Miami's pass rush, going to more man would create turnovers and more negative plays. Switch it up. Ramsey is good in a man system. Find another corner, if necessary, who also excels in man.

2. Focus on Building a Successful Short-yardage Game
A lot of us have been harping on this for years now. Have to be able to run the ball when everyone in the stadium knows it's a run.

Couple of points here. On the push play, Miami needs someone other than Tua, with his injury history. Maybe Skylar Thompson, but it doesn't even have to be a quarterback. It could be Seiler. This play is all about leverage, winning in the trenches, and flat out desire.

Fix the offensive line once and for all and maybe add a power back.

3. McDaniel Should Give Up Play Calling
If the non-competitive playoff loss showed one thing, it's that play calling needs to come off McDaniel's plate. He can still install the offense and be involved, but McDaniel needs help. No way we should be seeing clock management issues when the team should be in the 2-minute drill. Does Miami have a speed up offense?

That's basically it. Obviously, I'm not really going into personnel but do believe the team needs to add physical players.

Given our record breaking success over the past two years, I want whomever has been calling plays to continue to do it. I assume thats McDaniel. I understand we have had some struggles too, especially in the big games, but thats how it goes in football. There is a learning process in that that every team has to grow through. We are going to get there! Going to a new playcaller will just set us back and put us in a situation where we are starting from scratch again.

 

[Ray R]

They definitely forced it to hill a lot last year. Hill is the alpha in the locker room and he wants the ball. While he is the best wr in the league, they need to feed it to other guys to open it up for Hill.

I don't disagree with you but feel there is more to it than that.

By opening up Hill, the entire team benefits because this also allows for a greater variety of potentially successful plays.

This should be the team's goal for having a significantly better offense next year.

 

[Highzenga]

I don't disagree with you but feel there is more to it than that.

By opening up Hill, the entire team benefits because this also allows for a greater variety of potentially successful plays.

This should be the team's goal for having a significantly better offense next year.

Agreed. I didn’t feel like they involved waddle as much last year opposed to the year before

 

[fansinceGWilson]

Given our record breaking success over the past two years, I want whomever has been calling plays to continue to do it. I assume thats McDaniel. I understand we have had some struggles too, especially in the big games, but thats how it goes in football. There is a learning process in that that every team has to grow through. We are going to get there! Going to a new playcaller will just set us back and put us in a situation where we are starting from scratch again.

Agree with all that, but, in critical areas, I don't see improvement in Mcd. Still play types he doesn't use, still late getting plays in, still not certain he has 'hurryup' in his philosophy, still no in-game adjustments, still sees a play succeed but and then overuses it. Yes, some of that is newbie, but he's no longer a newbie. He should have progressed to 'adolescent play caller.'
Again, I see the talent and ability. I don't want a new OC. But someone with gravitas needs to sit down with him every week and force feed the needed changes. I'm s-o-o-o-o tired of seeing the O deteriorate over 60 minutes.

 

[Ray R]

Agree with all that, but, in critical areas, I don't see improvement in Mcd. Still play types he doesn't use, still late getting plays in, still not certain he has 'hurryup' in his philosophy, still no in-game adjustments, still sees a play succeed but and then overuses it. Yes, some of that is newbie, but he's no longer a newbie. He should have progressed to 'adolescent play caller.'
Again, I see the talent and ability. I don't want a new OC. But someone with gravitas needs to sit down with him every week and force feed the needed changes. I'm s-o-o-o-o tired of seeing the O deteriorate over 60 minutes.

That will only work if McDaniel will listen to this new OC.
It's time for McDaniel to quit having fun and let the coaching staff do its job.

 

[fansinceGWilson]

That will only work if McDaniel will listen to this new OC.
It's time for McDaniel to quit having fun and let the coaching staff do its job.

I'm more nuanced. For example, every OC has assistants in the sky box. 'The LDE bites on every play action.' The LCB is a backup and plays too soft.' Mcd has to be fed that stuff. He just seems to be addicted to exciting chunk plays and not what the D is giving (often referred to as 'dink and dunk'). And I'll agree, that falls under "having fun."
I think if he had an assistant to say 'you WILL call a run up the middle' or 'the D is so far off, run a shallow crosser' AND Mcd listen, I think he could improve dramatically in half a season. And I think Mcd is honest enough and competitive enough to listen. I've said a couple of times, he is a good play caller, but fuzzes up under pressure.

 

[Krush]

I'd love to see a mobile backup QB that can add another dimension to this offense.

 

[Krush]

Their offense was dogshit against good teams but keep pretending they weren’t!

The 48-20 was the real only offensive game that wasn't clicking, you have to account for a team with a great defense, KC has a great defense but the fins lost 21-14, Philly had a great defense, Refs decided that they weren't going to allow the fins to compete in that game. The Tennessee game was that the didn't close it out, everybody was hurt and they lose by 1 point, the difference between a mediocre defense and a great defense is only about 8 points. Fins need to rise to the moment physically I think they are a little at the line of scrimmage but that comes with an attitude to not being pushed around, the chiefs, Bills, Eagles pushed around the dolphins in there matchups, due to Raekwon Davis not being physical through the whole game, linebackers being wiped out by a TE and waiting on somebody else to make the play, Ramsey and Wilkins was the only two consistent plays that showed up last season for the fins.