Wannstedt aggressive?..no, it can't be!

[Gladsadmad]

Don't get me wrong, I definitely don't think that Wannstedt is a great coach by any means. He may be above average at best. I can't excuse the fact that Wanny continues to run screen plays and draw plays every time the Dolphins have a 3rd and long..I hate that! But he hasn't always been conservative as many label him. Wannstedt has been aggressive on several occasions as the Dolphins head coach. It just seems that almost every time he takes a gamble it fails due to poor execution. That's probably why he's conservative most of the time (like most coaches).

Here are some examples of the aggressive Wannstedt:

2002 @ NE, Dolphins throw 3 straight times late in the 4th qtr with the idea that a 1st down would put the game away. They failed.

In the same game, the Dolphins went for a deep pass that could've given Miami a 28-10 lead in the 3rd qtr but it was overthrown and Mare missed the resulting FG attempt.

2003 vs. Texans, The Dolphins scored to go up by five, 20-15, with more than 12 minutes left to play. If they kick the extra point, they are up by six. But they wanted to go up by a touchdown, so they went for two (and failed).

In the same game, leading 20-18 with 4 minutes to go the Dolphins throw on 2nd &12 instead of playing it safe and working the clock. The poor pass was intercepted resulting in a loss.

2000 @ NY Jets, Immediately after the Jets tie the score at 30 in the 4th qtr, the Dolphins throw a 46 yard bomb to regain the lead.

2000 vs. Tampa Bay, trailing 16-13 and in FG range late in the game, the Dolphins try to pass for the win instead of running out the clock and settling for OT. A penalty and a terrible pass for an INT result.

2002 @ Bills, Late in the first half with the Dolphins up 14-10 and facing a 4th and 4 at the Bills 36, Miami coach Dave Wannstedt decided to gamble and go for it. Ray Lucas fumbled and Miami never recovered. A quote from Wanny..

"You know when you're on the road you're going to have to score points against Buffalo, you could just feel it out there. The momentum of the whole thing obviously swung into their favor, and that's what you've got to try to prevent.''...

It's hard to imagine that that gamble came from Mr.Conservative. I hope that with better offensive talent, Wannstedt will be less afraid and he will take more chances.

 

[MDFINFAN]

This won't change the naysayers mind, they believe we had all the talent in the world and we could be aggressive all the time..but I say, we didn't have the personnel to pull it off, and you've sited some examples, I site more, but I'd be wasting my time with people who really just don't understand that we just didn't have the personnel to aggressive, whether it's the qb, or the ol or the WR. It just wasn't there. And until this year's OL prove to be better, we still might not have the ability to be really aggressive.

 

[VJ1252]

Good post. The 2nd and 12 pass wasnt really aggressive because even if Miami had run on 2nd and 3rd Houston still would have had plenty of time.

 

[bakedmatt]

Don't get me wrong, I definitely don't think that Wannstedt is a great coach by any means. He may be above average at best. I can't excuse the fact that Wanny continues to run screen plays and draw plays every time the Dolphins have a 3rd and long..I hate that! But he hasn't always been conservative as many label him. Wannstedt has been aggressive on several occasions as the Dolphins head coach. It just seems that almost every time he takes a gamble it fails due to poor execution. That's probably why he's conservative most of the time (like most coaches).

Here are some examples of the aggressive Wannstedt:

2002 @ NE, Dolphins throw 3 straight times late in the 4th qtr with the idea that a 1st down would put the game away. They failed.

In the same game, the Dolphins went for a deep pass that could've given Miami a 28-10 lead in the 3rd qtr but it was overthrown and Mare missed the resulting FG attempt.

2003 vs. Texans, The Dolphins scored to go up by five, 20-15, with more than 12 minutes left to play. If they kick the extra point, they are up by six. But they wanted to go up by a touchdown, so they went for two (and failed).

In the same game, leading 20-18 with 4 minutes to go the Dolphins throw on 2nd &12 instead of playing it safe and working the clock. The poor pass was intercepted resulting in a loss.

2000 @ NY Jets, Immediately after the Jets tie the score at 30 in the 4th qtr, the Dolphins throw a 46 yard bomb to regain the lead.

2000 vs. Tampa Bay, trailing 16-13 and in FG range late in the game, the Dolphins try to pass for the win instead of running out the clock and settling for OT. A penalty and a terrible pass for an INT result.

2002 @ Bills, Late in the first half with the Dolphins up 14-10 and facing a 4th and 4 at the Bills 36, Miami coach Dave Wannstedt decided to gamble and go for it. Ray Lucas fumbled and Miami never recovered. A quote from Wanny..

"You know when you're on the road you're going to have to score points against Buffalo, you could just feel it out there. The momentum of the whole thing obviously swung into their favor, and that's what you've got to try to prevent.''...

It's hard to imagine that that gamble came from Mr.Conservative. I hope that with better offensive talent, Wannstedt will be less afraid and he will take more chances.

I'm really with you for the most part. If Jay Fiedler was my QB and he played the type of football that he did in the last Buffalo game last year, I wouldn't pass it in the 2nd half either. Jay failed the most, the OL didn't help (but I'll say that Ricky had it harder than Jay. The pass protection was leagues better than the run blocking), and Thompson didn't dazzle.

 

[enigmatics]

This won't change the naysayers mind, they believe we had all the talent in the world and we could be aggressive all the time..but I say, we didn't have the personnel to pull it off, and you've sited some examples, I site more, but I'd be wasting my time with people who really just don't understand that we just didn't have the personnel to aggressive, whether it's the qb, or the ol or the WR. It just wasn't there. And until this year's OL prove to be better, we still might not have the ability to be really aggressive.

Here, Here! ............ We've got a bargain-basement offense......at least during Wanny's tenure and it's no wonder we don't see them rank in the top 10 in total offense.

 

[Atila]

i love it how whenever someone presents a discussion on wanny they immediately assure everyone they think wanny sucks, haha i love it :)

 

[Y-TownPhinVet]

Good post! I'm sure there are many more examples, and many more failures, but also many accomplishments. It seems the failures tend to get more press than the accomplishments, but people tend to focus on the negative. :shakeno: Need look no further than some of the threads to prove that. Good post on a hot subject. :)

 

[Superself]

Most of these gambles were late in the game.
I consider being aggressive as doing something early to get a lead and staying that way. Its something you build up on throughout the game.
Not something that you treat as a light switch and expect everyone to snap into this mentality.

 

[Al13]

Good post. The 2nd and 12 pass wasnt really aggressive because even if Miami had run on 2nd and 3rd Houston still would have had plenty of time.

but then even if not converted a punt would have helped with field position

 

[Muck]

When we are agressive, THIS is the kind of thing that happens. And this is best case scenario.

 

[catapano]

yeah we suck

 

[34RWilliams]

During the 2002 and 2003 seasons our offense was Ricky Willaims because of one man Norv Turner. He built the offense around Ricky. Norv always uses the running game first and thats his philosphy. 3rd downs the screens and draws were used because of Norv and with him gone maybe just maybe the Phins wont be so predictable.

 

[FinFan57]

Perhaps we couldn't be more agressive on offense, but who's fault was that? Maybe we shouldn't have drafted Fletcher or Moore, especially Eddie Moore, when great WR's like Boldin were still on the board. Also, did Wanny really think an O-line with a used-up Mark Dixon, an injured Jamie Nails, and old, beat-up players like Tim Ruddy and Todd Perry were really going to get the job done?

Our offense died from neglect, more than anything else. Its a classic case of a defensive coordinator who puts everything into his defense and can't field a decent offense. I guess he thought his buddy Norv Turner was going to work magic without an O-line, and a QB Coach.

The only reason we were occasionally aggressive last year is that we had no choice. Our offense sucked so bad, we had to try something. We ran Ricky to death and how many times can you throw the ball to Chambers? Believe me, defensive coordinators we faced did not put a lot of thought into their game plans when they played us. They knew that if you stop Ricky, you stop the Dolphins.

I still say everything starts with the O-Line. If our O-line is much improved, as we all hope, then we're going to have a good year. If not, I hope Wanny's got a good real estate agent, because he'll be calling the movers in December.

 

[Gladsadmad]

i love it how whenever someone presents a discussion on wanny they immediately assure everyone they think wanny sucks, haha i love it :)

I just don't want to come off as a hypocrite. I've bashed Wanny at times in the past (like many others here) so I wanted to be clear that I'm not saying that he's great or anything. I just wanted to back up a point that he has good reason to be conservative when his gambles almost always blow up in his face.

 

[MDFINFAN]

I just don't want to come off as a hypocrite. I've bashed Wanny at times in the past (like many others here) so I wanted to be clear that I'm not saying that he's great or anything. I just wanted to back up a point that he has good reason to be conservative when his gambles almost always blow up in his face.

Amen