Zim’s Grades For The Game: Game 15 Edition

[Joe Dolfan]

Gase is failing at the Jets and RT had multiple head coaches not just Gase meaning that RT was not capable of carrying the Dolphins offense.
I like RT for many reasons personally but the excuses for our failures were generally on the other players not RT.
With Tua it's the same time. Yes it's his rookie season but he is not moving the ball at times and it's been up to our defense, special teams and even our running game last week to carry the team more than Tua.

While we have to have more weapons for Tua to succeed you have to ask how would those same players would help Fitz.

I don't know his Wonderlic, but I've seen people reference it. I've also seen people reference Marino's wonderlic, but I don't know that either.

I've seen athletic QBs play at an MVP level with rumors of a poor wonderlic, but doesn't that make sense? Athletic ability does wonders in that capacity, doesn't it?

The problem is that Tua isn't athletic. Perhaps that just means it'll take him a bit longer to get up to speed.

I've noticed people have complained how "the playcalling is hamstringing Tua," or that "the playcalling opened up when Fitz entered the game." Perhaps there's a reason for that?

 

[Dolph N.Fan]

0/10 on 3rd downs when the other team has Waller. WOW! Defense brings it every week.

 

[biggrouper]

Tonight we didn't play at the standard that we have set for ourselves as a team and it showed. I think your grades are spot on and could even be worse. We had better get the trenches sorted out before Buffalo because even if their starters sit their depth will beat us if we don't...

 

[Digital]

Thanks @DZimmer000 for your analysis and making this thread each week. Largely I agree with your analysis, so sorry for always only pointing out where I disagree ... but such is the nature of an internet message board!

Glad you noted how much better the offense performed when Fitz came in, because one aspect of being a QB is leadership, and it seems the team has tremendous belief in Fitz. That being said, I think Tua has a real strength in leadership as well, and know the team will get behind him in time. Also, I think your grade is a little harsh on Tua ... he wasn't bad, he was just a game manager, and tonight, that was not enough to win. So, we brought in the gunslinger Fitzmagic, and he pushed us over the top with his aggressive style.

The key to tonight's game was that neither team was turning over the ball. Just shows you how dependent our offense is in defensive takeaways from Xavien Howard (INT's) and Emanuel Ogbah (forced fumbles). Without those, our defense is not dominant. Let's also give credit where due, because Derek Carr was a real reason the Raiders outplayed us for large stretches of the game. And, our offensive line--which is young and cobbled together--took some lumps tonight.

There are a lot of teaching moments from this game, but good teams find a way to win even in an ugly game, and we did that, so I'm not going to be as harsh on our coaching staff as you.

 

[Dolph N.Fan]

Tonight we didn't play at the standard that we have set for ourselves as a team and it showed. I think your grades are spot on and could even be worse. We had better get the trenches sorted out before Buffalo because even if their starters sit their depth will beat us if we don't...

Seems like it was yesterday that we were saying Miami just needs to get to Week 17 10-5, and they did it. If we said after last season that Miami would be 10-5 on Week 17 a win away from making the playoffs we'd take that all day every day. What a turn around, and the scary thing is the rebuild isn't complete.

 

[Feverdream]

Seems like it was yesterday that we were saying Miami just needs to get to Week 17 10-5, and they did it. If we said after last season that Miami would be 10-5 on Week 17 a win away from making the playoffs we'd take that all day every day. What a turn around, and the scary thing is the rebuild isn't complete.

I'm absolutely delighted with where we are now.

We are so close... and yet, we still have 4 picks in the first 2 rounds and money under the cap.

Most of our rookies are already playing well... almost all of our FAs were hits... this has been a blast!

 

[eMCee85]

Let me be clear. The Miami Dolphins did NOT deserve to win this game. That is a fact and it is indisputable. The saying is “Good teams find a way to win”. Well....We found a way. Absolutely amazing win. On to the grades:

QB’s - C + : I really should be splitting this grade. Tua gets a D. He just doesn’t seem comfortable in a traditional huddle offense yet. I don’t understand why the play calling is so conservative with Tua. He should be in a hurry up 90% of the time. He is way more comfortable in a fast paced offense. Fitz gets the A. What a comeback. The completion to Hollins while having his facemask violated by Arden Key was a moment in time. OK.....Let’s talk about the QB situation. I know this isn’t going to be a popular opinion.....But Tua isn’t a starter in this league right now. 91 Yards in 3 + quarters in a game that we have to have doesn’t cut it. That’s just reality.

RB’s - B : Gaskin is a really good back. He ran hard, caught the ball and had 2 TD’s. The OL didn’t help him too much on a lot of those runs. The TD catch was great. He deserves the B. Ahmed was decent as well tonight.

WR’s - C : For 3 + quarters we could get separation to save our lives. I’m pretty sure our receivers could have been covered by Stephen Hawking in the first half. Just terrible. The 4th Quarter with Fitz was a different story. We really miss Parker. The question is.... Is it Tua or do we have a legitimate lack of talent ? I’m gonna say an equal amount of both.

TE’s - C : Again, where were they for 3 quarters? Shaheen with a horrible attempt at a block at the 3 cost us. Then the 4th Quarter hits and Fitz finds Gesicki all over the place. Not bad.... But not really good with our season on the line.

OL - D - : AWFUL GAME. Do Jackson and Flowers know each other? I mean, have they met yet? Obviously they hate each other, because they’re not talking out there. They missed hand offs on stunts at least 5 times. The run blocking was mostly ****. I’m not impressed. Even on Fitz’s throw to Hollins at the end, Key was in the backfield in a split second. This unit did not have a good game.

DL - B - : No pressure tonight by this unit. They made some good stops and held on 3rd down all game. They did OK stopping the run. The 4th down stop by Sieler was awesome. I’ll give the B - because they did enough to win.

LB’s - B - : Van Ginkel with 2 sacks and a pass defensed. Nice job there. Van Noy was average tonight in general. Baker with a sack. Not bad over all.

DB’s - C + : Well....Jones definitely didn’t earn his check tonight. I thought Rowe was abused by Waller all night so that sucked. X got this unit the grade here. And by the way..... The PI call on Jones was pure BULLSHIT.

ST’s - B - : The punt coverage was not good tonight. Haack was decent. Sanders with a few FG’s including the clutch Game Winner. Not bad, but we have to cover better on punts.

Coaching and Front Office - D - : Are you kidding me with this coaching performance tonight? I thought it was awful. We won, so they don’t get the F, but they should have if Fitz doesn’t pull off the miracle. For some reason Gailey insists on squeezing Tua into a square hole. PUT HIM IN THE NO HUDDLE!!! How hard is that to see? He doesn’t play well when we huddle up and the defense can bring crazy blitzes and coverages. I’m just not impressed with Gailey right now. On defense, we got conservative again. Especially on the 1st and 20. Why rush only 3? We keep doing that. Our defense was dominating when we we’re bringing pressure on every other play. We need to go back to that. As for the miracle ending...... Flores should send Gruden a fruit basket after this game. Not because Gruden is obviously eating way too many cheeseburgers, but because he didn’t put the ball in the end zone at the end. How stupid was that? You always make a team go the entire field if you can. STUPID. Thank You John Gruden for being a complete moron.

Putting Tua in a no huddle for a who entire game is not feasible. This kid needs to learn to play in the NFL or try again somewhere else. He just does not look like he has the "it" factor

 

[biggrouper]

Seems like it was yesterday that we were saying Miami just needs to get to Week 17 10-5, and they did it. If we said after last season that Miami would be 10-5 on Week 17 a win away from making the playoffs we'd take that all day every day. What a turn around, and the scary thing is the rebuild isn't complete.

I wasn't trying to be negative about where we are. We are 3 games ahead of my preseason projection.

I think we can win next week. We will have to bring more in the trenches to do it but we CAN.

The truly great part of this season in that our Head coach has shown that he can get these guys playing better after a bad game and he can make the adjustments needed. I am s excited about this direction we are going!!!

 

[Dolph N.Fan]

I wasn't trying to be negative about where we are. We are 3 games ahead of my preseason projection.

I think we can win next week. We will have to bring more in the trenches to do it but we CAN.

The truly great part of this season in that our Head coach has shown that he can get these guys playing better after a bad game and he can make the adjustments needed. I am s excited about this direction we are going!!!

Oh no I wasn’t say You were being negative. Just saying like you, how the expectations are basically increasing with every win so fast so soon. Flores definitely has set a standard that we know Miami can play to.

 

[Sirspud]

Putting Tua in a no huddle for a who entire game is not feasible. This kid needs to learn to play in the NFL or try again somewhere else. He just does not look like he has the "it" factor

Tua succeeds mostly with play action, no huddle, and empty set. Sure, you SHOULD be incorporating things that your QB excels at to make everyone's life easier, but if you can't just stand back on normal plays, read the defense, find a receiver and deliver a throw on time and on target consistently, you just aren't a starting QB. With Tua we're having to manufacture offense from a limited set of conditions that he has managed to have some success at.

 

[DZimmer000]

Putting Tua in a no huddle for a who entire game is not feasible. This kid needs to learn to play in the NFL or try again somewhere else. He just does not look like he has the "it" factor

I disagree a little....He doesn’t look like he has “it” yet is the way I would put it. My problem with Tua right now is he looks EXACTLY the same as he did in game 2 of his career. I don’t see any progress right now. That’s my concern. I still think Gailey is trying to put a round peg in a square hole with Tua....But there’s no improvement from week to week. Stats aren’t everything.... But 91 yards in a game you have to win isn’t good. He looked exactly like he did in the Denver game.

 

[LANGER72]

Tua was horrible tonight.
Flores was right to pull him in favor or Fitz.
Against a team like LV you can get away with that.
Next week if Tua starts it may not be for long. Buffalo might bury us in the 1st quarter

 

[Alnur]

Sure, but they aren’t even running the blitz packages anymore. it’s one thing if you’re bringing them and they aren’t getting home. Tip your cap . They’re not even running them anymore

A major reason for the success defensively this year has been bringing constant pressure from multiple areas and playing tight man on the back end. I’ve seen more rush 3 zone the last 2 weeks than the entire month prior combined

The raiders played max protect which limited our blitz packages.

 

[Alnur]

I don't know his Wonderlic, but I've seen people reference it. I've also seen people reference Marino's wonderlic, but I don't know that either.

I've seen athletic QBs play at an MVP level with rumors of a poor wonderlic, but doesn't that make sense? Athletic ability does wonders in that capacity, doesn't it?

The problem is that Tua isn't athletic. Perhaps that just means it'll take him a bit longer to get up to speed.

I've noticed people have complained how "the playcalling is hamstringing Tua," or that "the playcalling opened up when Fitz entered the game." Perhaps there's a reason for that?

Tua was a dual threat QB. who ran option and boots all the time. He is playing and being safe.

 

[Wittykat]

Let me be clear. The Miami Dolphins did NOT deserve to win this game. That is a fact and it is indisputable. The saying is “Good teams find a way to win”. Well....We found a way. Absolutely amazing win. On to the grades:

QB’s - C + : I really should be splitting this grade. Tua gets a D. He just doesn’t seem comfortable in a traditional huddle offense yet. I don’t understand why the play calling is so conservative with Tua. He should be in a hurry up 90% of the time. He is way more comfortable in a fast paced offense. Fitz gets the A. What a comeback. The completion to Hollins while having his facemask violated by Arden Key was a moment in time. OK.....Let’s talk about the QB situation. I know this isn’t going to be a popular opinion.....But Tua isn’t a starter in this league right now. 91 Yards in 3 + quarters in a game that we have to have doesn’t cut it. That’s just reality.

RB’s - B : Gaskin is a really good back. He ran hard, caught the ball and had 2 TD’s. The OL didn’t help him too much on a lot of those runs. The TD catch was great. He deserves the B. Ahmed was decent as well tonight.

WR’s - C : For 3 + quarters we could get separation to save our lives. I’m pretty sure our receivers could have been covered by Stephen Hawking in the first half. Just terrible. The 4th Quarter with Fitz was a different story. We really miss Parker. The question is.... Is it Tua or do we have a legitimate lack of talent ? I’m gonna say an equal amount of both.

TE’s - C : Again, where were they for 3 quarters? Shaheen with a horrible attempt at a block at the 3 cost us. Then the 4th Quarter hits and Fitz finds Gesicki all over the place. Not bad.... But not really good with our season on the line.

OL - D - : AWFUL GAME. Do Jackson and Flowers know each other? I mean, have they met yet? Obviously they hate each other, because they’re not talking out there. They missed hand offs on stunts at least 5 times. The run blocking was mostly ****. I’m not impressed. Even on Fitz’s throw to Hollins at the end, Key was in the backfield in a split second. This unit did not have a good game.

DL - B - : No pressure tonight by this unit. They made some good stops and held on 3rd down all game. They did OK stopping the run. The 4th down stop by Sieler was awesome. I’ll give the B - because they did enough to win.

LB’s - B - : Van Ginkel with 2 sacks and a pass defensed. Nice job there. Van Noy was average tonight in general. Baker with a sack. Not bad over all.

DB’s - C + : Well....Jones definitely didn’t earn his check tonight. I thought Rowe was abused by Waller all night so that sucked. X got this unit the grade here. And by the way..... The PI call on Jones was pure BULLSHIT.

ST’s - B - : The punt coverage was not good tonight. Haack was decent. Sanders with a few FG’s including the clutch Game Winner. Not bad, but we have to cover better on punts.

Coaching and Front Office - D - : Are you kidding me with this coaching performance tonight? I thought it was awful. We won, so they don’t get the F, but they should have if Fitz doesn’t pull off the miracle. For some reason Gailey insists on squeezing Tua into a square hole. PUT HIM IN THE NO HUDDLE!!! How hard is that to see? He doesn’t play well when we huddle up and the defense can bring crazy blitzes and coverages. I’m just not impressed with Gailey right now. On defense, we got conservative again. Especially on the 1st and 20. Why rush only 3? We keep doing that. Our defense was dominating when we we’re bringing pressure on every other play. We need to go back to that. As for the miracle ending...... Flores should send Gruden a fruit basket after this game. Not because Gruden is obviously eating way too many cheeseburgers, but because he didn’t put the ball in the end zone at the end. How stupid was that? You always make a team go the entire field if you can. STUPID. Thank You John Gruden for being a complete moron.

I agree on the QB situation... I'm a DieHard Alabama Fan and Tua isn't the Tua that I watched... Something is wrong with him or the game plan...Something has got to give...