Post Game Thoughts

[maralieus]

Anyone else think that play right before halftime that the refs stopped the clock WAAAAY early??

 

[dolfan91]

I’m not sure, but it looked like the turf had something to do with the James injury. He looked like he couldn’t get his footing down anchor on that play, he looked like he was slipping. And sure enough as soon as James left, the Raiders took advantage. It was James who pointed out that things changed this year with the o-line technique from last season. Not sure what that was all about, but it could be a major reason the line has looked so bad this year.

 

[Mike13]

To be fair, DVP had his facemask grabbed on the play you are referring to. Shockingly, it was not called.

But yeah he disapeared for most of the damn game

 

[miamiron]

Yes, Miami has a number of needs, BUT Tannehill and 2 above average OGs and this team is 6-2.

Where's the beef @ guard?
Here's the beef @ guard
Cody O'Connell, G, Washington State
Height: 6-9. Weight: 354.

 

[tay0365]

Here are my post game thoughts, in no particular order:

- The Dolphins lost the football game.

- Michael Thomas is a nice special teams player, but an absolutely dreadful safety. Any time that our defense is forced to rely on Michael Thomas, our defense stinks. Memo to Mike Tannenbaum, safety is an important position.

- Reshad Jones should not be asked to do the job of a free safety. He is a great strong safety, but he is not a good free safety. Maybe we should just go get a free safety? Trader Mike? Hello? I'd slit a nun's throat for Brock Marion back there right now.

- The personal foul called on Jones that led to Oakland's last touchdown was truly one of the most pitiful calls I have ever seen in any sport at any level of competition. I see people calling for cuts and jobs to be had over stuff on this board all the time, well how about for that? One of those zebras needs to lose his job, and also be publicly flogged for that call.

- Mike Pouncey needs to be the first cap casualty of the off-season. Do I even need to explain why?

- Devante Parker, nice highlight reel catch in garbage time. How about taking your 3rd down route to the sticks and then coming down with a contested football?

- Donkey Kong Suh is a great football player and if this team cuts him for 3.9 million dollars in cap savings, we are the dumbest morons on the entire planet.

- Bobby McCain has quietly developed into a competent slot corner. Credit to DBs coach Lou Anarumo for developing yet another young cornerback who needed a lot of work, who will now surely leave the team in free agency after we've spent three-plus years making him respectable.

- Jay Cutler and Julius Thomas were the two best players on offense tonight.

- Kenyan Drake, it is better to have died as a small boy than to put that football on the ground.

- Tunsil's a bust until he proves otherwise. Sorry, he's been that bad that I have to use the B word until he makes me look stupid for using it. Please make me look stupid, Laremy.

- Hey Matt Burke, maybe you should take some time off from moonlighting as an extra on Duck Dynasty and call some coverages that account for #87. Just a thought.

- Ultimately, the biggest thing I notice with the Miami Dolphins -- and this is ever since Jeff Ireland took over as General Manager -- is that we are just chock full of football players who are both dumb and can't handle pressure. That's a bad combination. I know this might seem like an overreaction, but I would look closely at every single player who committed an egregiously stupid penalty tonight and start thinking about how quickly they can be replaced.

As always very well written, and great points, except that highlighted part. I agree with the part of them again not showing to be very mentally competent, but if anything, they do show that for the most part, they have finally shown to be a really good pressure team at the end with the way they can win close games.

The thing that has hurt them in a huge way this year is they need to play 4 quarters, instead of allowing the defense to keep it close or within reach, then try to win it at the end. I know losing Tannehill for the year hurt, and yet again the O-line looks inconsistent at best, and terrible way too much, but if Cutler continues to play the way he did last night, nobody can use him as an excuse anymore.

We need better guard play, and if Tunsil does not start looking like the stud LT we thought he was, he may need to go back to LG where he looked comfortable, and we may need to get a better more competent LT.

 

[datruth55]

- Reshad Jones should not be asked to do the job of a free safety. He is a great strong safety, but he is not a good free safety. Maybe we should just go get a free safety? Trader Mike? Hello? I'd slit a nun's throat for Brock Marion back there right now.

We won't be looking for safety. Remember Tannenbaum signed McDonald to a long term contract before he even put on a Dolphins uniform. We have no idea how well he will play with Jones, but we do know they will be playing together for the foreseeable future. Two strong safeties making it work, for better or worse thanks to Tannenbaum and Grier.

 

[J. David Wannyheimer]

Thanks for the write up. Don't know how you can call this team chokers w our recent record in close games?!

That's a really fair point. More than anything i was thinking about why we're so godawful in primetime games, especially with committing such an insane number of penalties. I can't imagine that our preparation for a Sunday night game is any different than it is for a Sunday afternoon game, so the only thing I can think of is that the players themselves just can't handle the pressure of being on that stage.

I'd love to hear some other potential explanations for it.

 

[tay0365]

Bushrod and Pouncey better be on another roster next year.

I used to be a big Pounsey fan, but we absolutely need to replace him. He is is dominating, and gets hurt, or stays healthy, but is very unspectacular...get another center.

 

[jessejames123]

Cutler looked his best so far but damn, dink and dunk city last night. How many passes did we throw past 10yds? 2-3? Oakland has all these backup CB's in and all we do is throw short crap to the RB's. This is fine if there's no confidence in the QB, but at least chuck it out there once a quarter or something, try to get a PI on a backshoulder. D wasnt threatened at all.

Cutler had adequate protection the majority of the game and yet nothing downfield. The ball to Devante was horrible. The one he caught in garbage, Devante had to make a superman grab. Not one ball to Stills downfield from what I remember.

The O skill players seemed to show up, but hindered by OLINE and their penalties.

The D got ZERO pressure the majority of the game. I watch a lot of football (other teams) and why is it when Miami has the opposing O at 3rd and long they always rip us for a long pass. These completions arent even contested most of the time, WR is wide open sipping tea in the zone. I mean 1st and 25 last night in their own territory leads to a TD within a few plays. Embarrassing.

Penalties were unacceptable. Field sucked. In front of a home crowd in primetime.


WHY DO WE ALWAYS SUCK IN PRIMETIME GAMES. SO EMBARRASSING. THIS IS WHY THE MEDIA NEVER EVEN TALKS ABOUT US.


Get RT back. Fix the ENTIRE interior OLINE.

 

[royalshank]

Not a win, but I was pleasantly surprised with Cutler's play last night. He had good command of the offense and made some decent throws. I liked how he tried to move latterly in the pocket instead of backing up and throwing off his back foot. Like a lot of other offenses, it's obvious our Achilles heal is 3rd and long, so those bone headed holding calls on Landry and Pouncey really hurt because our defense gave us great field position. Overall, I see improvement, but we sure have a lot of work to do.

P.S. After listening and really enjoying Romo teaching me a bunch of stuff that was happening during the Cowboys/Chiefs game, I couldn't stand Michaels and Collinsworth coverage of our game. It was like I was watching NBC Sporting News instead of a Dolphins game. It seemed like they had a story and wanted to talk about everything except what was happening on the field. It was way to commercialized for my liking.

I too am really enjoying Romo as a broadcaster. He's a bit raw but you are getting real insight. He seems like a good guy as well.

 

[SF Dolphin Fan]

Nice post. Agree with most.

That call on Jones was so crucial. If Miami held Oakland to three points there it's an entirely different game. Not a well officiated game at all IMO. There was a non-call on what could easily have been pass interference on a pass to Parker that would have kept a Miami drive alive.

Agree on Suh. The guy had a game changing play, unfortunately the offense couldn't take advantage. Constantly double-teamed and still makes his presence felt.

Nice game by Cutler. He was on target all day. Game calling was good, but would have liked to see a few more deep shots. That might have happened if the team didn't continually dig a hole with false starts and holding penalties.

Thomas had his best game as a Dolphin. My only complaint was on a second down pass where he easily could have got to the first down marker, but went out of bounds a bit too soon. Miami converted so not a huge deal, but have to be smarter there.

Drake looked explosive, but the fumble was a huge momentum killer after that perfect onside kick.

 

[kingfin23]

We will be the 1st team. To punt the football 3rd at 11

 

[datruth55]

Thomas had his best game as a Dolphin. My only complaint was on a second down pass where he easily could have got to the first down marker, but went out of bounds a bit too soon. Miami converted so not a huge deal, but have to be smarter there.

I think Thomas was more concerned with stopping the clock and saving as much time as possible. If he goes for the 1st and gets tackled inbounds, Dolphins lose 35-45 more seconds on the clock.

The bigger killer was the timeout they had to use on the 2-point conversion...what the freak was that about?

 

[datruth55]

Oh and one other thing...did anyone catch Cutler screaming at the top of his lungs at Landry cause he lined up on the wrong side of the formation....and Thomas on the same play. They had to switch sides.

I love Landry's passion but the kid is dumb as rocks.

 

[CA Dolfan]

Here are my post game thoughts, in no particular order:

- The Dolphins lost the football game.

- Michael Thomas is a nice special teams player, but an absolutely dreadful safety. Any time that our defense is forced to rely on Michael Thomas, our defense stinks. Memo to Mike Tannenbaum, safety is an important position.

- Reshad Jones should not be asked to do the job of a free safety. He is a great strong safety, but he is not a good free safety. Maybe we should just go get a free safety? Trader Mike? Hello? I'd slit a nun's throat for Brock Marion back there right now.

- The personal foul called on Jones that led to Oakland's last touchdown was truly one of the most pitiful calls I have ever seen in any sport at any level of competition. I see people calling for cuts and jobs to be had over stuff on this board all the time, well how about for that? One of those zebras needs to lose his job, and also be publicly flogged for that call.

- Mike Pouncey needs to be the first cap casualty of the off-season. Do I even need to explain why?

- Devante Parker, nice highlight reel catch in garbage time. How about taking your 3rd down route to the sticks and then coming down with a contested football?

- Donkey Kong Suh is a great football player and if this team cuts him for 3.9 million dollars in cap savings, we are the dumbest morons on the entire planet.

- Bobby McCain has quietly developed into a competent slot corner. Credit to DBs coach Lou Anarumo for developing yet another young cornerback who needed a lot of work, who will now surely leave the team in free agency after we've spent three-plus years making him respectable.

- Jay Cutler and Julius Thomas were the two best players on offense tonight.

- Kenyan Drake, it is better to have died as a small boy than to put that football on the ground.

- Tunsil's a bust until he proves otherwise. Sorry, he's been that bad that I have to use the B word until he makes me look stupid for using it. Please make me look stupid, Laremy.

- Hey Matt Burke, maybe you should take some time off from moonlighting as an extra on Duck Dynasty and call some coverages that account for #87. Just a thought.

- Ultimately, the biggest thing I notice with the Miami Dolphins -- and this is ever since Jeff Ireland took over as General Manager -- is that we are just chock full of football players who are both dumb and can't handle pressure. That's a bad combination. I know this might seem like an overreaction, but I would look closely at every single player who committed an egregiously stupid penalty tonight and start thinking about how quickly they can be replaced.

- Play-calling was good tonight. You can't blame the coach for the same group of stupid, choke-prone players for stupidly choking yet again. They did it under the old coaching staff and they'd do it under a brand new one, too. They're just stupid chokers.

- The Dolphins lost the football game.

And those are my thoughts on the game. Some people are really mad about the result, some people are renouncing their fandom, some people are crying about Jay Ajayi, and some people think the NFL is rigged. I don't know. It was a football game. Some things were good, and some things were bad. It wasn't a bad football game, and that's far more than I can say for every other Dolphins game we've seen in primetime lately.

I guess I'll take it.

Good points. There was good and bad. The good is we scored points and weren't shut out.