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Statistical Evidence of Shoddy Coaching / Coaching Lost This Game

Da 'Fins

Da 'Fins

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Coaching Lost This Game

First, I think this was a huge game as our season goes. We needed to be 3-0 against our division with two December games in Buffalo and New England. And we needed the AFC victory. It was a terrible game to lose. Inexcusable, imo. Especially, when we had so many chances to win.

Say what we want about the inconsistent play of Fiedler and others (the OL is soft and a huge weakness), we would have won the game had Wannstedt not gone into a shell each time we got near the 20 in the 4th Q and then in OT.

I have supported Wannstedt and I like him as a person, but he did NOT play to Win! He was afraid of losing. He played afraid.

Going for a FG on 3rd down? If we had the ball on the 5 yard line, fine. But, from the same spot we had one blocked b/c Mare couldn't get the ball up? That was mindboggling stupidity!

I'm sorry, he blew it. He needs to have the guts to shoulder the blame on this one. If he doesn't stand up at the press conference and say, "I blew it on this play, and our play calling was too predictable," then he's not being a stand up guy on this one.
 
I would add to the above the handoff to Ayanbadejo on 2nd and 1 down near the goal line earler in the game. That is the time for RW, not to get cute with your playcalling.
 
He really doesn't have much to work with. You have a high school QB playing behind a weak, limp noodle line. Your only real choice is to try and get it in the hands of your star athlete, Ricky.

He is scared to let the QB throw it because he has a tendency to hit the other team with the ball.
 
Originally posted by fin-atic
He really doesn't have much to work with. You have a high school QB playing behind a weak, limp noodle line. Your only real choice is to try and get it in the hands of your star athlete, Ricky.

He is scared to let the QB throw it because he has a tendency to hit the other team with the ball.
Click to expand...

This is not the case, imo. Our stats on 1st down were absurdly atrocious and predictable. When we did throw the rare pass on 1st down, we were 7-9 for 102 yards, 6 1st downs and no INT's. When RW ran it on 1st down, we were 22 carries, 74 yards, for a 3.36 average. So, which was more effective?
 
Statistical Evidence of Shoddy Coaching

The ESPN quote posted in another thread made me take a closer look at this game. Here's what I found:

Going into the game, the Dolphins ran the ball 65% of the time on 1st down (#1 in the league), making them a highly predictable offense, which New England both expected and exploited. And, we accomodated them nicely! I went through the play by play to see what we did in this game and here's the results:

In this game, Miami ran the ball 22 out of 31 times (71%) on 1st down, an even higher percentage than their average going in (playing right into the hands of NE's game plan! Please!). They gained 74 yards for an average of 3.36 yds (it would have been worse if not for the OT, 18 carries for 53 yds - 2.94 yds a carry on 1st down! Unbelievable bad!!!)! Is that acceptable? Hardly. :fire:

When they passed on 1st down, they were 7-9 for 102 yards with 6 first downs and no interceptions. Those are good stats for anyone! Why didn't they pass more on first down? Furthermore, we gained 20 first downs. After those 20 first downs, how many times did we pass the ball? Three (15%)! Is that predictable or what? I'm not saying we should pass all the time, but if you want teams to back off (as the coaches keep saying) - you have to pass when they expect run! We should have passed at least 40% of the time on 1st down, if not 45-50%. Definitely more after we got a 1st down. We Ran the ball 85% of the time after getting a 1st down! Come on! :fire:

The Dolphins coaches played it extremely "close to the vest" and still lost! Is there any doubt we got out-coached? I am dumbfounded as to how these guys who are purported to be intelligent men cannot see this. Coaches around the league have to be laughing at this. I mean, Belichick has to love game planning for us since he knows exactly what we will do and we play right into his hands! It is inexcusable!

31 first down plays:
22 runs to Ricky Williams (71%!)

1-10 - RW: 2 yrds. (Start of Drive - SOD)
1-10 - RW: - 1 yrd.
1-10 - RW: 2 yrds. (SOD)
1-10 - RW: 18 yrds. (SOD)
1-10 - Pass to Chambers - complete 11 yrds; fumble. (SOD)
1-10 - RW: 7 yrds. (SOD)
1-10 - RW: 0 yrds.
1-10 - RW: 6 yrds. (SOD)
1-5 - RW: 2 yrds.
1-10 - Pass to Thompson - complete 17 yrds. (SOD)
1-10 - RW: 3 yrds.
1-10 - RW: 9 yrds.
1-10 - Pass to McMichael - complete 22 yrds. (SOD)
1-10 - RW: -1 yrd.
1-10 - RW: - 4 yds.
1-10 - Pass incomplete (SOD)
1-10 - Pass to McKnight complete 16 yrds. (first pass play on 1st down after getting a 1st down on a previous play - i.e., not at the start of a drive).
1-10 - RW: 3 yrds.
1-10 - RW: 1 yrd. (SOD)
1-10 - RW: 0 yrds. (SOD)
1-10 - RW: 0 yrds
1-10 - Pass to McMichael - complete 16 yrds.
1-10 - Pass to Ayanbadejo 1 yrd.
1-10 - RW: 1 yd.
1-10 - RW: 4 yrds.

OT:
1-10 - Pass incomplete (SOD)
1-10 - RW: 10 yrds.
1-10 - RW: 13 yrds.
1-10 - RW: 1 yd.
1-10 - Pass to McMichael complete 19 yrds. (SOD)
1-10 - RW: -2 yds.

:yell: :yell: :yell: :yell:
 
You're right, 100%. Wanny is a horrible coach, Bates is not much better, Armstrong is pitiful and Turner is unimaginative and overrated. This whole coaching staff needs to go.
 
I actually believe that Turner has tried to be too imaginative.

In the 4th qtr against Buffalo he gave it to Ricky the entire drive (unimaginative).

In the 4th qtr against New England we got there exploiting the Harrison/Mcmichael matchup. If they compensated or made adjustments for Mcmichael, Thompson or Chambers should have been the mark. Turner went back to Ricky trying to keep the defense honest and avoid a turnover when we got within field goal range.

No defense plays against the Dolphins with any respect for the passing game. Don't use your imagination. Use what they give you. They are giving us the pass. Take it.
 
GREAT POST MAN!!!! I've been saying this for a while now. I started a thread last week about the play-calling on offense and everyone wanted to put the blame primarily on our o-line. Now I know our offensive line is not blocking well, but when a defense knows what your going to do on offense, you can have the best blockers in the world and the results would be minimal.

I put more blame primarily on Turner. It's his job to keep the defense guessing and off balance. He's not doing that. Before we played the Pats we averaged running the ball on first down 65% of the time and what did Norv do against the Pats.........run on first down 71% of the time. C'mon that is absolutely RIDICULOUS!!!!!

The thread I started last week was in favor of implementing the 3 WR set more into the gameplan to spread out the opposing defense on our running downs. CK Parrothead and I had a discussion on this last week and he said "they use the 3 WR set quite a bit." That is true, but Turner uses it mainly when it's 3rd and long. Of course you use it then, but you're not going to fool anybody with it, they know your'e gonna do it then. I watched that game closely on formations called on 1rst down and he went with that awful max protect at least 85-90% of the time. The first time he went with the 3 WR set on first down was half way into the 2nd quarter and you know what NE did?.........They called timeout because they wern't ready for something like that on first down.

With an offensive line that is not blocking well, you cannot go max protect and allow the defense to bunch up, which is what I've been saying all alone and now Belichick just confirmed that is what he did against us in his post game comments. He is also quoted as saying "everybody knows what we're gonna do".......So true, so true.

THERE'S A CHANGE THAT NEEDS TO BE MADE, AND IT STARTS W/NORV TURNER. I'm not saying replace him. He has to stop playing in a shell and spread the D out using a formation other then that stinking max protect.

BOTTOMLINE.........He's too damn predictable and not just everyone knows it, but they are saying it in post game comments after they play him.
 
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One post script to that last comment.

If I was the offensive coordinator and had watched my QB throw three interceptions, I'd be a little conscious of the pass in field goal territory too.

The Dolphins are who they are. They are not a passing team. Every defense we face tells us as much.

3 interceptions from a rookie secondary. Professional receivers should not let that happen. Professional QB's should not let that happen.

Get ready. The line of scrimmage will be stacked next week and the following week too.
 
Re: Coaching Lost This Game

Originally posted by Da 'Fins
First, I think this was a huge game as our season goes. We needed to be 3-0 against our division with two December games in Buffalo and New England. And we needed the AFC victory. It was a terrible game to lose. Inexcusable, imo. Especially, when we had so many chances to win.

Say what we want about the inconsistent play of Fiedler and others (the OL is soft and a huge weakness), we would have won the game had Wannstedt not gone into a shell each time we got near the 20 in the 4th Q and then in OT.

I have supported Wannstedt and I like him as a person, but he did NOT play to Win! He was afraid of losing. He played afraid.

Going for a FG on 3rd down? If we had the ball on the 5 yard line, fine. But, from the same spot we had one blocked b/c Mare couldn't get the ball up? That was mindboggling stupidity!

I'm sorry, he blew it. He needs to have the guts to shoulder the blame on this one. If he doesn't stand up at the press conference and say, "I blew it on this play, and our play calling was too predictable," then he's not being a stand up guy on this one.
Click to expand...

That's been my biggest biiitch about Wannstedt. That playing not to lose attitude will bit you in the *** more often than not. But all of that PLUS the inability of the O to score (heaven forbid) more than one TD/gm !!
 
Originally posted by zachseau13
I would add to the above the handoff to Ayanbadejo on 2nd and 1 down near the goal line earler in the game. That is the time for RW, not to get cute with your playcalling.
Click to expand...

Actually, that wasn't really a bad call. You do things like that when the whole world expects Ricky. unfortuantely, it just didn't work out. But did you notice an abundance of Ricky on 1st downs yesterday? (translation... lack of faith in our passing gm) but even so, we need to throw more on first down at least to give the d something to think about.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Originally posted by Da 'Fins


This is not the case, imo. Our stats on 1st down were absurdly atrocious and predictable. When we did throw the rare pass on 1st down, we were 7-9 for 102 yards, 6 1st downs and no INT's. When RW ran it on 1st down, we were 22 carries, 74 yards, for a 3.36 average. So, which was more effective?
Click to expand...

You are correct, however, the reason it was more effective was because they were looking Ricky. Had the Ricky/pass been more balanced on 1st, i doubt the results would have been the same.
 
Originally posted by ZOD
One post script to that last comment.

If I was the offensive coordinator and had watched my QB throw three interceptions, I'd be a little conscious of the pass in field goal territory too.

The Dolphins are who they are. They are not a passing team. Every defense we face tells us as much.

3 interceptions from a rookie secondary. Professional receivers should not let that happen. Professional QB's should not let that happen.

Get ready. The line of scrimmage will be stacked next week and the following week too.
Click to expand...

Hey ZOD, I'm not sure if you were responding to my last post or not because the threads got merged. I'm not saying go to a passing game, just use a different formation that would spread out the defense and run the ball, that would help our mediocre o-line out with the blocking scheme. And if they want to crowd the box while we are in a 3 WR set, then pass on them....like someone said earlier, "take what they give us". My solution is primarily to open up some holes in the running game that LBs and S had been pluggin' up because we allow them to crowd the box with the max protect formation. If we spread them out, they will have a much harder crowding the box on us and it will leave them vulnerable.
 
Originally posted by Da 'Fins


This is not the case, imo. Our stats on 1st down were absurdly atrocious and predictable. When we did throw the rare pass on 1st down, we were 7-9 for 102 yards, 6 1st downs and no INT's. When RW ran it on 1st down, we were 22 carries, 74 yards, for a 3.36 average. So, which was more effective?
Click to expand...

When quoting these stats, are you at ALL aware that a big part of the success of those 1st down pass plays was because the run had been committed to so strongly? The reason they tried the run, run, run, run, pass, was so the pass would be successful when they DID throw the ball.
 
Originally posted by FinaticalOne


Hey ZOD, I'm not sure if you were responding to my last post or not because the threads got merged. I'm not saying go to a passing game, just use a different formation that would spread out the defense and run the ball, that would help our mediocre o-line out with the blocking scheme. And if they want to crowd the box while we are in a 3 WR set, then pass on them....like someone said earlier, "take what they give us". My solution is primarily to open up some holes in the running game that LBs and S had been pluggin' up because we allow them to crowd the box with the max protect formation. If we spread them out, they will have a much harder crowding the box on us and it will leave them vulnerable.
Click to expand...

Using alot of different formations will screw with a Ds head as much as anything else. if we are constantly changing formations, you'll catch the D in alot of mismatches and if nothing else, they'll burn alot of tOs otherwise unnecessarily. How many WRs do we have? Use them, especially the speed guys. I know turner rarely uses 3 WRs sets but one formation that would open up things for Ricky is a 4, count'em, 4 WR formation, 2 spilt wide on either side of the field. That effectively eliminates most of their LB corp. ricky could do alot of damage to their dime pkg because we would basically have them even up on OL blocking since the safeties would be "cheating" back to respect the WR speed, especially if a pass or 2 was hit. If Ricky hits a draw, even if the middle gets plugged up and bounces outside, he's got good ydg before the rest catches up with him. And "theoretically, if one thing gets going the other will also. but we're falling back into the same ole same ole of the past several yrs....................becoming too vanilla and predictable...again. Like i was harping on last week after the win at Jax, this o hAS to step up and start putting points on the board cuz we can't expect the D to be there and be perfect everytime out. And we all know it came to pass and when it was on the O, they failed miserable......again.
 
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