ckparrothead
Premium Member
2009 Preseason Game 1 - 50 First Half Observations PLUS Full Game Eval
FULL GAME EVALUATION
Some more evaluation, that includes the second half...
Outstanding Performances
CB Sean Smith
He was truly a man amongst boys and I’m not just saying that because I like him. I believe he had one ball completed on him for 5 yards, the whole game. That one ball was a 3rd & 7, so he let the receiver have his 5 yards and then tackled him so that he wouldn’t get the first down. The Jaguars didn’t go after him heavily, but they didn’t stay away from him either. He was in with the starters for the first quarter, and then came back in the game again in the third quarter. He caused a coverage sack in the first quarter against the starters because he redirected Torry Holt’s route so strongly that Garrard had to keep waiting for Torry to get to the top of his route and then got taken down. What was even more impressive, aside from the 5 yard ball which is really a win for him in my eyes since he prevented the first down, was that when he went back in the game against the third string, it didn’t even look fair anymore. He easily intercepted Todd Bouman’s ball intended for the 6’1” Tiquan Underwood in the back of the end zone in man coverage, with no safety help. Bouman was playing well, too. It’s only going to be a matter of time before teams decide they don’t even try that kind of ball against Sean Smith.
WR Ted Ginn, Jr.
I really did not go into the game thinking I’d see a lot from Ginn but he was actually very impressive. Two catches for 26 yards doesn’t look like a dominant stat line but figure in a 34 yard pass interference on Brian Williams that Ginn drew by getting so open on a fly route that Williams had no time to look back for the ball before he got in Ginn’s face and interfered, and Ginn still nearly caught the thing. He only played one quarter and was responsible for 74 yards of offense (26 catching, 34 yard interference, 14 yards rushing). He caught three balls that were not well placed at all by Pennington, one behind the line of scrimmage on a screen that went for -1 yards but was nullified by penalty. He got open on a variety of routes, against both Brian Williams and Rashean Mathis. The deep interference play should have been a 97 yard touchdown but Pennington underthrew him, which gave Williams the chance to interfere. This is the Ted Ginn I wish would show up every week, but in 2008 he only showed up for something like four consecutive weeks in the third quarter of the season.
OLB Cameron Wake
I think I can officially get excited about this kid. He is absolutely dynamic. Don’t pay attention to the stat line. He had pass rushes where he gave Tra Thomas and Tony Pashos, two starting quality OTs in this league, a really hard time. Even more impressive was the range his athleticism blesses him with. He gave Thomas a tough time from a standup position, he beat Pashos and others several times bending the arc on a speed rush with his hand starting out in the dirt, he rushed well from the left and from the right, he strung together a spin move that got my attention very quickly, and he even used his hands well as an OLB when a run came to his side, staying stout and forcing the play toward help. Oh, and he added two special teams tackles. What a find. This guy is going to make some plays. When Tony Sparano said he has the best first step amongst all of the OLBs, including two of the most productive edge rushers in NFL history, he wasn’t whistling Dixie. He was Freeney-like. The ceiling on this guy is pretty high when he learns the pro game a little better and how to recognize a few things, play games with the offensive linemen, etc. He will absolutely need work on dealing with double teams. An H-Back came up and chipped him on one play after he’d engaged Pashos in a speed rush, and literally leveled him to the ground.
QB Pat White
I cheated. Before I watched the full second half I started to look at the game stats because I was already writing a review of the game (not this one, obviously). I saw his stat line (2 of 7 for 14 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT, 7 runs for 20 yards) and thought whoa boy…he must have continued his sucky practice performances into the game. I couldn’t have been more wrong. It was amazing, but 4 of his 5 incomplete balls were drops that went right into the hands, as it had started raining very heavily at this part of the game. Patrick Turner dropped two, Anthony Kimble popped one up that was intercepted (not White’s fault at all), and Anthony Armstrong also dropped one that hit his hands. The only inaccurate ball he threw was a turf ball where the OL let LB pressure come right up the gut and Pat scrambled a little then turfed it to a running back, and I think he did that on purpose because the back wasn’t necessarily open and he wasn’t going to be able to escape the blitzing linebacker. And his running looked good even though it only averaged 2.9 yards a carry. He scrambled 8 yards on a 1st & 10. He scrambled 2 yards on a 3rd & 3, good enough for a measurement and a go-for-it on 4th down. He scrambled 10 yards on a 2nd & 8, and 2 yards on a 3rd & 1. Then he kneeled down twice in victory formation. All in all, we’re talking about 12 plays, and only two were unsuccessful. One was a throwaway where the OL let a blitz go right up the middle, and the other was when he came up just a foot short of converting a first down on a scramble. The rest of the stat line is dominated by drops and kneel-downs. He did his job, absolutely, and he looked like a strong leader out there. He absolutely needs work on his snaps from under Center though. He’s slow getting out of the stance, because he’s worried about mishandling the snap. Only time and reps can fix that.
Decent Performances
QB Chad Henne
He had his up and down moments. He was 7 of 11 for 94 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT, but should have had 2 TD passes. A very well thrown ball to Ricky Williams in the end zone was just cleanly dropped by Ricky. It was perfectly placed and an excellent decision, but Ricky just flubbed it. He had three real errors I saw in the game. On his second pass of the night, he threw a curious one toward an area of the field where Hartline was well covered but was heading somewhere else. Maybe we chalk that up to a miscommunication. On the interception, he was pressured and he threw it into coverage, and it was curious as to what he saw there. There was another moment, just before the dropped TD to Ricky, where Henne didn’t manage the clock well enough and it resulted in a false start.
RB Lex Hilliard
9 runs for 42 yards and he ran hard, fast, and got up the field without dancing. He added 1 solo and 1 assisted tackle on special teams. I've been pumping this kid's chances of making the team ever since I saw his highlights on Aquavision and saw how much faster he looked compared with a year ago. He catches the ball, he makes plays on special teams, he runs hard and fast, and he is very physical. Good find for Jeff Ireland.
TE Ernest Wilford
That had to feel good for him. He wasn’t in the game long but when he got in, they put him in motion and he got open against a safety, pulled a Dustin Keller…broke the tackle and went 33 yards for the TD.
KR Chris Williams
He definitely had some rookie jitters. He didn’t always catch the ball clean, muffed one, caught a punt inside the 10 yard line (big no-no) and actually went backwards (even bigger no-no) which backed the offense up to its own 2 yard line. But when he settled down and returned the ball, wow he’s fast and he’s a good returner. I believe he was a two-time All American. He averaged 32 yards per return on 4 returns, and none were longer than 41 yards…so what impressed me was the consistency.
The Defense
Jason Taylor is up to 259 pounds and looks damn good. Porter showed up. Ferguson showed up. Randy Starks did very well. Quentin Moses looked really good, which surprised me…looked like a different player. Paul Soliai did well. Tony McDaniel did well. Channing Crowder and Akin Ayodele dominated when they were out there. Gibril Wilson did well. Tyrone Culver played well. Kendall Langford played very good ball. CB Nate Jones came in and played safety during the first quarter and he was outstanding at that spot, very surprising to me. He's quickly becoming an extremely effective blitzer from DB positions. Lionel Dotson and Rodrique Wright caught my eye as pass rushers. J.D. Folsom had a good read and interception. Chris Clemons was around the ball just like he has a reputation for being in practice, and I liked him. Reggie Torbor played well. I know it sounds like I am naming too many people but I jotted down notes on all of them and they all did their job exceptionally at times, and none really embarrassed themselves.
Poor Performances
CB Eric Green
The guy had a target on his back the whole time. He seemed to be responsible for half of Jacksonville’s passing offense. He’s just not competing hard enough. He reminds me of Jason Allen, except even Jason Allen outshined him last night and made a few plays while not giving any up.
CB Vontae Davis
Stupid, stupid penalties. On a fair catch, Vontae went up and faux-tackled the guy, didn’t knock him down or anything but fully ran into him and grabbed him. They threw the flag. He also drew a penalty in coverage on a play. Other than that, Troy Williamson seemed to be on him all day and was really showing him the ropes, winning the hand battles, getting open, etc. It was a tough first day for the rookie, but at least he kept fighting and competing, was very physical and kept some balls from being completed.
OL Run Blocking
More of the same from a year ago, these guys need to shape up quickly. Sparano once said, when asked whether pass blocking or run blocking is more difficult to develop, that pass blocking is more difficult to develop individually from a talent perspective, and run blocking is more difficult to develop from a unit chemistry standpoint. Well, the OL could obviously pass protect, they’re full of multi-millionaires so they had better, but again they lacked cohesiveness on run blocking. If every OL is doing his job on run blocking only 80% of the time, then on every run play you have someone not doing their job and the potential for a blowup. That’s the bottom line. On this play it was Carey, on this it was Long, on this it was Smiley, on this one it was Grove, etc. The only guys that seemed to not have those kinds of blowups were the guys competing with each other for the start, Shawn Murphy and Donald Thomas.
Team Hands
This is mostly directed at Patrick Turner (who had at least three drops), Ricky Williams (one), Anthony Kimble (one) and Anthony Armstrong (one). Brian Hartline caught the only catchable ball thrown his way for 20 yards, but he caught it with his body and allowed it into his groin. You can’t have drops, especially ones that pop up for interceptions. I don’t care if a torrential downpour suddenly opened up in the second half. This is football. Get used to it.
Lousaka Polite
He really did not impress me as a lead blocker, and I am starting to wonder if Miami didn’t make a mistake giving a fullback, that doesn’t lead block particularly well, an extension just because he found some short yardage carrying magic last year. The position screams for better competition.
FIRST QUARTER
1. Right away William Kershaw and Lex Hilliard make STs tackles on kick returns. They'll need the STs prowess to make it.
2. Cameron Wake playing on starting STs kick coverage.
3. Chris Williams returning punts. He had one for 4 yards that was not bad, then he muffed one, then stupidly fielded one inside the 10 yard line, ran BACKWARDS, and got tackled at the 2 yard line. Ouch rook, ouch.
4. Ted Ginn making some pretty impressive catches. These balls are awkwardly placed and he's getting them. Looks fast. Created a lot of separation over the middle in man coverage against a damn good corner Rashean Mathis. Got open on a vertical against Brian Williams with the offense backed against its own goal line, but Pennington underthrows and instead of a long completion, Ginn draws the interference from Williams who was beaten too badly to look back for the ball before trying to defend Ginn. After that, he's drawing extra attention from the defense. He's doing very well. Even ran well on a WR reverse.
5. Davone Bess is a favorite target, still very quick, but Pennington isn't getting the ball to him well. He's blocking very well, once again. When the Dolphins get out to the perimeter, they run behind Bess, and he's got his CB invariably 5-6 yards upfield.
6. Shawn Murphy and Donald Thomas rotating offensive series. Murphy looks pretty decent but not overly powerful. He's making his blocks though, definitely. Donald Thomas more powerful, shows it on a pass protection against Ellison, and also pulled really well on another run play that went nowhere because the left side of the line didn't hold up its end of the bargain. On the other hand, Murphy fights back with a heck of a job crossing from his right side to the left perimeter on a WR reverse to Ginn and barely reaching and pancaking a DB that would have been able to take a shot at tackling Ginn. Excellent work on that play. Truly.
7. Vernon Carey was definitely doing well. Jake Grove was mixed, not holding his block long enough one one run play but doing well on others. Justin Smiley and Jake Long were mixed. Long couldn't get a drive block going on one play that ruined a run, and on another he grasped at air as Groves put an inside move on him and went right to the runner.
8. Sloppy. Already a holding penalty on Ricky Williams, and on the very next play Pennington and Bess botch a handoff. Yes, I said Bess. And not a reverse, it was a shotgun split backfield.
9. Speaking of innovation, there's definitely a lot of innovation going on out on both sides of the ball for the Dolphins. On offense they are messing with motion, continuing the jet screen philosophy except extending it, getting a guy in motion so that he would have a running start on blocking out in front of a WR screen. There was that shotgun split backfield hand-off to Davone Bess that got botched. An actual non-Wildcat jet screen to Ricky from Chad Pennington gained big yardage. David Martin is being used a lot split wide.
10. Lousaka Polite is really struggling with his lead blocks.
11. On defense, you want to see another innovation? Check out Nate Jones playing an entire series in place of Yeremiah Bell at safety. Pat Kirwan said he didn't like Miami playing with two 'buzz' safeties, well evidently when the offense goes into a pass heavy personnel package on normal first and second downs, Miami can just counter with a cornerback at free safety.
12. On passing downs we're already seeing a lot of Channing Crowder blitzing, and he's doing it damn well.
13. Randy Starks is also playing out of his mind, pass rushing very well.
14. Joey Porter and Jason Taylor both doing a fine job at OLB positions, as well as at DE positions in pass rush sets.
15. Channing Crowder and Akin Ayodele both blowing up plays as linebackers and looking good doing it. Hate to keep praising the defensive players, but they're shutting the Jaguars offense down.
16. Will Allen let one up to Torry Holt as the feisty veteran gets him on an out route. Seriously that is one of the only good plays the Jags have on offense so far.
17. Sean Smith raped Torry Holt on an earlier play which forced a coverage sack. No penalty was called for but Smith definitely had hands on Holt and was redirecting him at will. My God, this kid could be so good it's ridiculous.
18. Ronnie and Ricky were not running with any particular authority. The inside running is still not getting going.
19. Pretty decent pickup of an overload blitz package by the right side of the OL which is outplaying the left side, much to my surprise. Gave Pennington enough time to one-hop one to an open Davone Bess up the field. Right read, good timing, bad throw.
20. A few Greg Camarillo sightings with the first team offense on 3-WR and 1-WR sets.
21. Holy crap Nate Jones is a good blitzer. Shifty little bugger shot up the B gap off a nickel CB blitz and got lost between the OLs, forced a fumble as he and Jason Taylor (playing LDE) met at the QB.
22. Jason Taylor is 255-259 lbs??
23. What is with Pennington in this quarter? He's thrown a few one-hoppers. The ball placement on some other balls was bad. Had a botched hand-off to Bess. Ginn got open in single cover against Brian Williams but Pennington just couldn't exploit it. They drew the interference but how often can you count on that? He's running the offense, but it isn't scoring points.
24. Dan Carpenter nailed a big field goal. Guess he makes them during the games and not so much practice.
25. Jason Ferguson looks pretty lively for a preseason game.
SECOND QUARTER
26. Toward the end of the first quarter and at the beginning of the second, it looked to me like Ronnie Brown was starting to gear up and get into it more. He bulled an extra yard or two in the last carry before the first quarter, and he really created some extra yards on an outside toss to start the second quarter.
27. John Nalbone already in with the second team offense, right at the start of the second quarter. Not a particularly good block to start things off. Gets a much better block the next time around. Starting to get impressed with the kid. They split him out wide a few times and the way he got off the ball I could swear he was a wide receiver. I started looking at my guide to see who #86 was even though I knew damn well who #86 was.
28. Brian Hartline already in with the second team offense, right at the start of the second quarter. Converts a 3rd & 8 from the slot, but body catches the ball into the crotch the whole way.
29. Shawn Murphy still in with his unit on this offensive drive. Switching series, not switching quarters. Rest of the series went OK for Murphy. Thomas in on the next series, not grabbing a ton of distinction, a little lax on one play but then doing a nice job clearing the nose tackle out of the hole on another play (with Grove's help chipping at the start). Sort of on one play, off one play, as the next run play he couldn't sustain as well.
30. Brandon London in the ball game at WR toward the start of the second quarter. Really shuffling them up now.
31. Patrick Turner now getting some action at the start of the second. Gets a nice 10 yard pickup on a 5 yard hitch against Brian Williams, love how he looks the ball in with his hands, squares himself up the field, then explodes to the right to try and get a little YAC (about 4 yards). Excellent form.
32. On a 3rd & 5, your skill positions were Turner (6'5", 220), London (6'4", 214) and Hartline (6'2", 186). John Nalbone was the TE. It was a run up the gut. This could be exactly what I was thinking as far as a big WR package that includes Hartline in the slot, used to match these bigger WRs on smaller DBs for the purposes of running. The Dolphins stick with this 'big' look on the next series, too.
33. Vontae Davis sighting and it isn't good. He bumped and grabbed the player who called for a fair catch, drawing the penalty. Just got too excited in his first action of the game. He thought it was practice, he broke down and did the fake-tackle move you do at practice and they flagged him for it. He already sets to work making up for it on the next play, coming over and doing what he does best, breaking inward from the perimeter to take an open angle and make the tackle. Troy Williamson catches a deep in on Vontae later in the quarter during two minute. On another catch by Williams, the ball went to Culver's man but Culver deflected it and Troy Williamson caught it. You wouldn't necessarily pin that on Vontae except a replay showed that Williamson dominated the hand-fight between he and Davis, spun Davis off balance and won the route battle which left him free to look for the ball.
34. Second string defense is fully in effect on their first series of the second quarter. Looks like Charlie Anderson, William Kershaw, Reggie Torbor, Quentin Moses from left to right at the LB spots. DBs from left to right are Vontae, Gibril Wilson, Chris Clemons, and Eric Green. On the DL, Kendall Langford and Randy Starks are both in, still. Paul Soliai is in at NT. Interesting which plays stick around from first string to second string. Perhaps the coaches feel they need extra work.
35. Paul Soliai right away looking powerful, folding an OL backward, looks like Manuwai. Next play he does a great job getting off a block to give chase to a back. He's really disrupting.
36. Starks is continuing his positive play from the first quarter. It's not quite every play, but he's doing a very good job out there.
37. First Cameron Wake sighting on defense, comes on a 3rd down and it's a good one. He goes right up on the veteran Tra Thomas and gives him a real tough time from a standup start. If Bouman got rid of the ball a half second later, he's sacked by Wake. YIKES! Welcome to the NFL moment for Cam. Begins a pure speed rush against the RT and then gets LEVELED by a Tight End who runs up and chips him just as Wake makes contact with Tony Pashos. Less effective on a few of the next pass rushes. Using mostly speed, he's got this head-down starting blocks stance, looks like he's running the 100 meters. There it is. That speed rush finally gets Tony Pashos and Wake turns the corner on a 3rd & Long, nearly drops Bouman for a sack. Bouman just barely flopped the ball out.
38. On that third down, btw, there was an exotic 2-3 front with Starks and McDaniel as the DLs, Wake and Anderson as the OLBs. Reggie Torbor the MLB.
39. Tyrone Culver was late in his pick up of Jarett Dillard on a third down conversion. Makes a nice pass deflection in man coverage during two minute work, but ball bounces up and is caught by Williamson. On a safety blitz, he does a nice job shucking a chip block and getting his hands up to block the passing lane, tipping a ball that could have otherwise gone for a touchdown.
40. Jacksonville offense having more luck against the second string defense. One reason? Eric Green. Troy Williamson gets open on a sluggo for a good grab against him. Nate Hughes grabs a slant on him. Toward the end of the second quarter when Miami puts mostly third string in the game, Eric Green still gets picked on with another pass to Nate Hughes. On another play he should be thankful Tyrone Culver tipped the ball on a blitz because it was coming out to Eric Green's pickup and Green slipped on the ground and was late to Rashad Jennings, who would have caught a TD on the play no doubt. Instead, Culver tipped it up and it went straight toward Green, who dove but couldn't come up with it. Still picking on Eric Green even when Jacksonville false starts. Threw on him in the end zone, not everyone realized the play was whistled dead, Green never fully turned around to look for the ball but managed to get his hand up in time to knock it away. Lucky. I know this is a horrible thing to say but he's starting to look like Jason Allen. And Jack Del Rio must have gotten Tony Sparano's message about ordering his offense to take a run at certain DBs during some practice sessions, because the Jags are taking a run at Eric Green today.
41. Quentin Moses really does look pretty decent back pedaling out into coverage, and he covers a lot of ground. I can see why he bats a lot of passes in practice. Does a good job crashing the tight end Matt Roth style on a run and squeezing the ball carrier. Another excellent play from him against the run from the strong side on a 3rd & 1, really standing up to trash and allowing Gibril Wilson and Reggie Torbor to knife in there for a big stop. Very impressed by Moses right now.
42. Here's a sight. Langford double-teamed by RG and RT right off the snap to try and clear the hole, he goes nowhere. Like kicking a rock that is rooted into the ground. That's how it's done, folks. Allows all the other defenders to run downhill to the ball.
43. Charlie Anderson having less success as a pass rusher over Tra Thomas than you'd like.
44. Chris Williams still returning kicks and finally shows them a little something, nearly breaking off a touchdown but couldn't beat Josh Scobee and went out of bounds. Didn't catch a rolling ball cleanly on a squib on a kickoff return to end the half, got leveled by a linebacker.
45. Jake Grove doing a little better now in his fourth series, knocks a big boy Atiyyah Ellison to the ground springing Ricky wide right. On another run play though with single blocking responsibility, fails to open the hole for Polite on the FB give.
46. Ricky also running with more authority in this quarter, delivering a nice stiff arm on a run to the outside. Spins out of backfield contact on another broken blocking play. On another broken block on 3rd & 1, he hit the intended hole, it wasn't there, stayed on his feet, redirected to the other side of the play and was caught by a DB without his pads squared yet two yards shy of the hole, and still turned the corner and piggybacked the DB for a first down. Very nice work. On the other hand, he got open on a wheel pattern into the end zone but dropped a clean overhead ball straight into his hands that would have been a touchdown.
47. Justin Smiley really struggling to run block against Rob Meier on one play. Vernon Carey also struggling to a hole's integrity on one play, whiffs on a block and lets a man into the backfield for a free shot at Ricky on another play. Some more sloppy blocking from Smiley on a few more plays, one of which he got knocked backward off the ball on short yardage. Carey carried the play by sticking to his block through the whistle and Ricky took advantage of the cleared area to redirect to him, convert the first down.
48. Chad Henne's been in the whole quarter thus far and seemed to really lock on to a well covered Hartline on one pass, went right back to him on the ensuing third down. Got the ball to him nicely to convert the down. Throws a little low on another third down on a crossing pattern by David Martin but again converts with good rhythm. Not good game management down by the goal line. Didn't manage the clock well enough, had to run up to Grove to tell him to hurry it, and when Grove looked back, he was flagged for the false start. Henne bounced back with a great throw on a wheel pattern to an open Ricky Williams for a touchdown, but the ball was dropped.
49. Nate Jones made a heck of a play at the end of the half in two minute against a WR screen to Nate Hughes. He broke down, avoided a big OL looking to mow him down, and exploded into the ball carrier's body stopping him dead in his tracks for only a 6 yard gain, inside the 10 yard line, inbounds with 22 seconds left on the clock.
50. Toward the end of the half, the Dolphins look like they've brought out some third stringers. Tearrius George out there, Erik Walden, Courtney Bryan, Tony McDaniel, Phil Merling. Reggie Torbor still out there, as is Vontae and Eric Green. McDaniel does a good job closing gaps against the run during two minute, and even does a good job turning and running up the field against a screen.
1ST QUARTER OFFENSE: 18 plays, 64 yards, 3.6 yards per play. 25 yards rushing on 8 carries.
1ST QUARTER DEFENSE: 12 plays, 31 yards, 2.6 yards per play. 13 yards rushing on 4 carries.
First Half ONLY - Impressions
Not happy with the showing of the first string offensive line, particularly in run blocking. Same story, different year. If every player is doing his job well 80% of the time, you're guaranteed to have one guy blowing it on any given play. Not good enough. Remember, when asked about what is easier between pass blocking and run blocking, Tony Sparano said that pass blocking is harder from an individual talent level, and run blocking is harder from an overall unit chemistry perspective. This first game really exemplified that sentiment. This unit is obviously talented enough, and that really showed in the pass protection. But, they're not playing consistently enough as a unit and that showed in the first half running, which was generally poor except for a few runs to the outside. The first round of the Shawn Murphy vs. Donald Thomas battle for me ends in a very close draw which I did not expect at all. I did not expect Murphy to look as good as he did. He did not have the sexy power that Thomas does, but he showed some pretty remarkable foot speed getting out to the perimeter on that Ginn reverse, which was a big play for the offense on a day that was not full of big plays. I wanted the competition to be over quickly for the sake of chemistry but the fact of the matter is, Murphy's being a pest. In a good way.
What can you say about the defensive front? These guys were dominant. Truly. Jason Taylor, Joey Porter, Randy Starks, Cameron Wake and Quentin Moses all drew distinction from me for very good reasons. Paul Soliai did well in limited reps. Jason Ferguson did well in limited reps. Channing Crowder and Akin Ayodele were outstanding. Even Reggie Torbor did well. Kendall Langford was outstanding. Tony McDaniel was pretty good.
In the backfield, I thought Sean Smith was superb. It looked just plain unfair what he did to Torry Holt on that one coverage sack. Yeremiah Bell and Gibril Wilson were also pretty good, and Will Allen only let up the one to Torry Holt. Who really stood out though? Nate Jones. You get a big, fat, gold star. He came in and played free safety in place of Yeremiah Bell and he did an absolutely outstanding job. Not only that but they brought him in on those blitzes we're all use to seeing and I'll be damned if that tiny sumbytch doesn't get lost among all those big bodies and look like the only guy that can see among a forest of lumbering blind giants. Tyrone Culver had an early mistake that he made up for by deflecting two balls very nicely.
Guys that had a challenging day on defense include Eric Green, who was really the worst player of the first half and I mean that, as well as Vontae Davis. Davis wasn't bad like Eric Green was bad, but Troy Williamson, once upon a time considered a first round bust, really showed him the ropes. I was not thoroughly impressed with Charlie Anderson. Chris Clemons didn't stand out one way or the other.
On offense, taking aside the offensive line, I thought Ricky Williams had an outstanding showing except for that touchdown drop at the end. Come to think of it he also had a holding penalty which helped prevent an earlier touchdown, so maybe I shouldn't single him out as doing well after all.
The two best players on offense during the first half were, IMO, Ted Ginn and Chad Henne. Ginn was making excellent grabs and threatening deep just like he should, not to mention getting open over the middle which is something he didn't do enough of in 2008, and then threatening well on reverses which is something he absolutely did in 2008. Henne was smooth and in rhythm. He had a few bad throws, one he forced right away into some multiple coverage, but once he got that one out of the way he made some nice throws and directed what SHOULD have been a touchdown drive on his only drive of the half, if not for Ricky's drop. Out of 6 throws, only one was a bad throw, and he didn't take any sacks. But, he did have that clock management snafu toward the end. Still, he made up for it with a would-be TD throw...
Pennington looked off to me. His throws were not well placed. He and Bess had the botched hand-off. Not BAD really, but definitely off.
Another guy that stood out to me a little more is John Nalbone. He blocked decently and when this guy is lined up wide, he gets off the line like a wide receiver. Very impressed with him. Turner did well with his one catch of the half. Hartline had that big 20 yard catch but he gets a minus mark for body catching it into his groin. Bess looked like Bess.
Loved the offensive and defensive innovations. I think I can see some of the concepts they put to use being run by some different personnel when push comes to shove during the season. Great to see.
FULL GAME EVALUATION
Some more evaluation, that includes the second half...
Outstanding Performances
CB Sean Smith
He was truly a man amongst boys and I’m not just saying that because I like him. I believe he had one ball completed on him for 5 yards, the whole game. That one ball was a 3rd & 7, so he let the receiver have his 5 yards and then tackled him so that he wouldn’t get the first down. The Jaguars didn’t go after him heavily, but they didn’t stay away from him either. He was in with the starters for the first quarter, and then came back in the game again in the third quarter. He caused a coverage sack in the first quarter against the starters because he redirected Torry Holt’s route so strongly that Garrard had to keep waiting for Torry to get to the top of his route and then got taken down. What was even more impressive, aside from the 5 yard ball which is really a win for him in my eyes since he prevented the first down, was that when he went back in the game against the third string, it didn’t even look fair anymore. He easily intercepted Todd Bouman’s ball intended for the 6’1” Tiquan Underwood in the back of the end zone in man coverage, with no safety help. Bouman was playing well, too. It’s only going to be a matter of time before teams decide they don’t even try that kind of ball against Sean Smith.
WR Ted Ginn, Jr.
I really did not go into the game thinking I’d see a lot from Ginn but he was actually very impressive. Two catches for 26 yards doesn’t look like a dominant stat line but figure in a 34 yard pass interference on Brian Williams that Ginn drew by getting so open on a fly route that Williams had no time to look back for the ball before he got in Ginn’s face and interfered, and Ginn still nearly caught the thing. He only played one quarter and was responsible for 74 yards of offense (26 catching, 34 yard interference, 14 yards rushing). He caught three balls that were not well placed at all by Pennington, one behind the line of scrimmage on a screen that went for -1 yards but was nullified by penalty. He got open on a variety of routes, against both Brian Williams and Rashean Mathis. The deep interference play should have been a 97 yard touchdown but Pennington underthrew him, which gave Williams the chance to interfere. This is the Ted Ginn I wish would show up every week, but in 2008 he only showed up for something like four consecutive weeks in the third quarter of the season.
OLB Cameron Wake
I think I can officially get excited about this kid. He is absolutely dynamic. Don’t pay attention to the stat line. He had pass rushes where he gave Tra Thomas and Tony Pashos, two starting quality OTs in this league, a really hard time. Even more impressive was the range his athleticism blesses him with. He gave Thomas a tough time from a standup position, he beat Pashos and others several times bending the arc on a speed rush with his hand starting out in the dirt, he rushed well from the left and from the right, he strung together a spin move that got my attention very quickly, and he even used his hands well as an OLB when a run came to his side, staying stout and forcing the play toward help. Oh, and he added two special teams tackles. What a find. This guy is going to make some plays. When Tony Sparano said he has the best first step amongst all of the OLBs, including two of the most productive edge rushers in NFL history, he wasn’t whistling Dixie. He was Freeney-like. The ceiling on this guy is pretty high when he learns the pro game a little better and how to recognize a few things, play games with the offensive linemen, etc. He will absolutely need work on dealing with double teams. An H-Back came up and chipped him on one play after he’d engaged Pashos in a speed rush, and literally leveled him to the ground.
QB Pat White
I cheated. Before I watched the full second half I started to look at the game stats because I was already writing a review of the game (not this one, obviously). I saw his stat line (2 of 7 for 14 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT, 7 runs for 20 yards) and thought whoa boy…he must have continued his sucky practice performances into the game. I couldn’t have been more wrong. It was amazing, but 4 of his 5 incomplete balls were drops that went right into the hands, as it had started raining very heavily at this part of the game. Patrick Turner dropped two, Anthony Kimble popped one up that was intercepted (not White’s fault at all), and Anthony Armstrong also dropped one that hit his hands. The only inaccurate ball he threw was a turf ball where the OL let LB pressure come right up the gut and Pat scrambled a little then turfed it to a running back, and I think he did that on purpose because the back wasn’t necessarily open and he wasn’t going to be able to escape the blitzing linebacker. And his running looked good even though it only averaged 2.9 yards a carry. He scrambled 8 yards on a 1st & 10. He scrambled 2 yards on a 3rd & 3, good enough for a measurement and a go-for-it on 4th down. He scrambled 10 yards on a 2nd & 8, and 2 yards on a 3rd & 1. Then he kneeled down twice in victory formation. All in all, we’re talking about 12 plays, and only two were unsuccessful. One was a throwaway where the OL let a blitz go right up the middle, and the other was when he came up just a foot short of converting a first down on a scramble. The rest of the stat line is dominated by drops and kneel-downs. He did his job, absolutely, and he looked like a strong leader out there. He absolutely needs work on his snaps from under Center though. He’s slow getting out of the stance, because he’s worried about mishandling the snap. Only time and reps can fix that.
Decent Performances
QB Chad Henne
He had his up and down moments. He was 7 of 11 for 94 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT, but should have had 2 TD passes. A very well thrown ball to Ricky Williams in the end zone was just cleanly dropped by Ricky. It was perfectly placed and an excellent decision, but Ricky just flubbed it. He had three real errors I saw in the game. On his second pass of the night, he threw a curious one toward an area of the field where Hartline was well covered but was heading somewhere else. Maybe we chalk that up to a miscommunication. On the interception, he was pressured and he threw it into coverage, and it was curious as to what he saw there. There was another moment, just before the dropped TD to Ricky, where Henne didn’t manage the clock well enough and it resulted in a false start.
RB Lex Hilliard
9 runs for 42 yards and he ran hard, fast, and got up the field without dancing. He added 1 solo and 1 assisted tackle on special teams. I've been pumping this kid's chances of making the team ever since I saw his highlights on Aquavision and saw how much faster he looked compared with a year ago. He catches the ball, he makes plays on special teams, he runs hard and fast, and he is very physical. Good find for Jeff Ireland.
TE Ernest Wilford
That had to feel good for him. He wasn’t in the game long but when he got in, they put him in motion and he got open against a safety, pulled a Dustin Keller…broke the tackle and went 33 yards for the TD.
KR Chris Williams
He definitely had some rookie jitters. He didn’t always catch the ball clean, muffed one, caught a punt inside the 10 yard line (big no-no) and actually went backwards (even bigger no-no) which backed the offense up to its own 2 yard line. But when he settled down and returned the ball, wow he’s fast and he’s a good returner. I believe he was a two-time All American. He averaged 32 yards per return on 4 returns, and none were longer than 41 yards…so what impressed me was the consistency.
The Defense
Jason Taylor is up to 259 pounds and looks damn good. Porter showed up. Ferguson showed up. Randy Starks did very well. Quentin Moses looked really good, which surprised me…looked like a different player. Paul Soliai did well. Tony McDaniel did well. Channing Crowder and Akin Ayodele dominated when they were out there. Gibril Wilson did well. Tyrone Culver played well. Kendall Langford played very good ball. CB Nate Jones came in and played safety during the first quarter and he was outstanding at that spot, very surprising to me. He's quickly becoming an extremely effective blitzer from DB positions. Lionel Dotson and Rodrique Wright caught my eye as pass rushers. J.D. Folsom had a good read and interception. Chris Clemons was around the ball just like he has a reputation for being in practice, and I liked him. Reggie Torbor played well. I know it sounds like I am naming too many people but I jotted down notes on all of them and they all did their job exceptionally at times, and none really embarrassed themselves.
Poor Performances
CB Eric Green
The guy had a target on his back the whole time. He seemed to be responsible for half of Jacksonville’s passing offense. He’s just not competing hard enough. He reminds me of Jason Allen, except even Jason Allen outshined him last night and made a few plays while not giving any up.
CB Vontae Davis
Stupid, stupid penalties. On a fair catch, Vontae went up and faux-tackled the guy, didn’t knock him down or anything but fully ran into him and grabbed him. They threw the flag. He also drew a penalty in coverage on a play. Other than that, Troy Williamson seemed to be on him all day and was really showing him the ropes, winning the hand battles, getting open, etc. It was a tough first day for the rookie, but at least he kept fighting and competing, was very physical and kept some balls from being completed.
OL Run Blocking
More of the same from a year ago, these guys need to shape up quickly. Sparano once said, when asked whether pass blocking or run blocking is more difficult to develop, that pass blocking is more difficult to develop individually from a talent perspective, and run blocking is more difficult to develop from a unit chemistry standpoint. Well, the OL could obviously pass protect, they’re full of multi-millionaires so they had better, but again they lacked cohesiveness on run blocking. If every OL is doing his job on run blocking only 80% of the time, then on every run play you have someone not doing their job and the potential for a blowup. That’s the bottom line. On this play it was Carey, on this it was Long, on this it was Smiley, on this one it was Grove, etc. The only guys that seemed to not have those kinds of blowups were the guys competing with each other for the start, Shawn Murphy and Donald Thomas.
Team Hands
This is mostly directed at Patrick Turner (who had at least three drops), Ricky Williams (one), Anthony Kimble (one) and Anthony Armstrong (one). Brian Hartline caught the only catchable ball thrown his way for 20 yards, but he caught it with his body and allowed it into his groin. You can’t have drops, especially ones that pop up for interceptions. I don’t care if a torrential downpour suddenly opened up in the second half. This is football. Get used to it.
Lousaka Polite
He really did not impress me as a lead blocker, and I am starting to wonder if Miami didn’t make a mistake giving a fullback, that doesn’t lead block particularly well, an extension just because he found some short yardage carrying magic last year. The position screams for better competition.
FIRST QUARTER
1. Right away William Kershaw and Lex Hilliard make STs tackles on kick returns. They'll need the STs prowess to make it.
2. Cameron Wake playing on starting STs kick coverage.
3. Chris Williams returning punts. He had one for 4 yards that was not bad, then he muffed one, then stupidly fielded one inside the 10 yard line, ran BACKWARDS, and got tackled at the 2 yard line. Ouch rook, ouch.
4. Ted Ginn making some pretty impressive catches. These balls are awkwardly placed and he's getting them. Looks fast. Created a lot of separation over the middle in man coverage against a damn good corner Rashean Mathis. Got open on a vertical against Brian Williams with the offense backed against its own goal line, but Pennington underthrows and instead of a long completion, Ginn draws the interference from Williams who was beaten too badly to look back for the ball before trying to defend Ginn. After that, he's drawing extra attention from the defense. He's doing very well. Even ran well on a WR reverse.
5. Davone Bess is a favorite target, still very quick, but Pennington isn't getting the ball to him well. He's blocking very well, once again. When the Dolphins get out to the perimeter, they run behind Bess, and he's got his CB invariably 5-6 yards upfield.
6. Shawn Murphy and Donald Thomas rotating offensive series. Murphy looks pretty decent but not overly powerful. He's making his blocks though, definitely. Donald Thomas more powerful, shows it on a pass protection against Ellison, and also pulled really well on another run play that went nowhere because the left side of the line didn't hold up its end of the bargain. On the other hand, Murphy fights back with a heck of a job crossing from his right side to the left perimeter on a WR reverse to Ginn and barely reaching and pancaking a DB that would have been able to take a shot at tackling Ginn. Excellent work on that play. Truly.
7. Vernon Carey was definitely doing well. Jake Grove was mixed, not holding his block long enough one one run play but doing well on others. Justin Smiley and Jake Long were mixed. Long couldn't get a drive block going on one play that ruined a run, and on another he grasped at air as Groves put an inside move on him and went right to the runner.
8. Sloppy. Already a holding penalty on Ricky Williams, and on the very next play Pennington and Bess botch a handoff. Yes, I said Bess. And not a reverse, it was a shotgun split backfield.
9. Speaking of innovation, there's definitely a lot of innovation going on out on both sides of the ball for the Dolphins. On offense they are messing with motion, continuing the jet screen philosophy except extending it, getting a guy in motion so that he would have a running start on blocking out in front of a WR screen. There was that shotgun split backfield hand-off to Davone Bess that got botched. An actual non-Wildcat jet screen to Ricky from Chad Pennington gained big yardage. David Martin is being used a lot split wide.
10. Lousaka Polite is really struggling with his lead blocks.
11. On defense, you want to see another innovation? Check out Nate Jones playing an entire series in place of Yeremiah Bell at safety. Pat Kirwan said he didn't like Miami playing with two 'buzz' safeties, well evidently when the offense goes into a pass heavy personnel package on normal first and second downs, Miami can just counter with a cornerback at free safety.
12. On passing downs we're already seeing a lot of Channing Crowder blitzing, and he's doing it damn well.
13. Randy Starks is also playing out of his mind, pass rushing very well.
14. Joey Porter and Jason Taylor both doing a fine job at OLB positions, as well as at DE positions in pass rush sets.
15. Channing Crowder and Akin Ayodele both blowing up plays as linebackers and looking good doing it. Hate to keep praising the defensive players, but they're shutting the Jaguars offense down.
16. Will Allen let one up to Torry Holt as the feisty veteran gets him on an out route. Seriously that is one of the only good plays the Jags have on offense so far.
17. Sean Smith raped Torry Holt on an earlier play which forced a coverage sack. No penalty was called for but Smith definitely had hands on Holt and was redirecting him at will. My God, this kid could be so good it's ridiculous.
18. Ronnie and Ricky were not running with any particular authority. The inside running is still not getting going.
19. Pretty decent pickup of an overload blitz package by the right side of the OL which is outplaying the left side, much to my surprise. Gave Pennington enough time to one-hop one to an open Davone Bess up the field. Right read, good timing, bad throw.
20. A few Greg Camarillo sightings with the first team offense on 3-WR and 1-WR sets.
21. Holy crap Nate Jones is a good blitzer. Shifty little bugger shot up the B gap off a nickel CB blitz and got lost between the OLs, forced a fumble as he and Jason Taylor (playing LDE) met at the QB.
22. Jason Taylor is 255-259 lbs??
23. What is with Pennington in this quarter? He's thrown a few one-hoppers. The ball placement on some other balls was bad. Had a botched hand-off to Bess. Ginn got open in single cover against Brian Williams but Pennington just couldn't exploit it. They drew the interference but how often can you count on that? He's running the offense, but it isn't scoring points.
24. Dan Carpenter nailed a big field goal. Guess he makes them during the games and not so much practice.
25. Jason Ferguson looks pretty lively for a preseason game.
SECOND QUARTER
26. Toward the end of the first quarter and at the beginning of the second, it looked to me like Ronnie Brown was starting to gear up and get into it more. He bulled an extra yard or two in the last carry before the first quarter, and he really created some extra yards on an outside toss to start the second quarter.
27. John Nalbone already in with the second team offense, right at the start of the second quarter. Not a particularly good block to start things off. Gets a much better block the next time around. Starting to get impressed with the kid. They split him out wide a few times and the way he got off the ball I could swear he was a wide receiver. I started looking at my guide to see who #86 was even though I knew damn well who #86 was.
28. Brian Hartline already in with the second team offense, right at the start of the second quarter. Converts a 3rd & 8 from the slot, but body catches the ball into the crotch the whole way.
29. Shawn Murphy still in with his unit on this offensive drive. Switching series, not switching quarters. Rest of the series went OK for Murphy. Thomas in on the next series, not grabbing a ton of distinction, a little lax on one play but then doing a nice job clearing the nose tackle out of the hole on another play (with Grove's help chipping at the start). Sort of on one play, off one play, as the next run play he couldn't sustain as well.
30. Brandon London in the ball game at WR toward the start of the second quarter. Really shuffling them up now.
31. Patrick Turner now getting some action at the start of the second. Gets a nice 10 yard pickup on a 5 yard hitch against Brian Williams, love how he looks the ball in with his hands, squares himself up the field, then explodes to the right to try and get a little YAC (about 4 yards). Excellent form.
32. On a 3rd & 5, your skill positions were Turner (6'5", 220), London (6'4", 214) and Hartline (6'2", 186). John Nalbone was the TE. It was a run up the gut. This could be exactly what I was thinking as far as a big WR package that includes Hartline in the slot, used to match these bigger WRs on smaller DBs for the purposes of running. The Dolphins stick with this 'big' look on the next series, too.
33. Vontae Davis sighting and it isn't good. He bumped and grabbed the player who called for a fair catch, drawing the penalty. Just got too excited in his first action of the game. He thought it was practice, he broke down and did the fake-tackle move you do at practice and they flagged him for it. He already sets to work making up for it on the next play, coming over and doing what he does best, breaking inward from the perimeter to take an open angle and make the tackle. Troy Williamson catches a deep in on Vontae later in the quarter during two minute. On another catch by Williams, the ball went to Culver's man but Culver deflected it and Troy Williamson caught it. You wouldn't necessarily pin that on Vontae except a replay showed that Williamson dominated the hand-fight between he and Davis, spun Davis off balance and won the route battle which left him free to look for the ball.
34. Second string defense is fully in effect on their first series of the second quarter. Looks like Charlie Anderson, William Kershaw, Reggie Torbor, Quentin Moses from left to right at the LB spots. DBs from left to right are Vontae, Gibril Wilson, Chris Clemons, and Eric Green. On the DL, Kendall Langford and Randy Starks are both in, still. Paul Soliai is in at NT. Interesting which plays stick around from first string to second string. Perhaps the coaches feel they need extra work.
35. Paul Soliai right away looking powerful, folding an OL backward, looks like Manuwai. Next play he does a great job getting off a block to give chase to a back. He's really disrupting.
36. Starks is continuing his positive play from the first quarter. It's not quite every play, but he's doing a very good job out there.
37. First Cameron Wake sighting on defense, comes on a 3rd down and it's a good one. He goes right up on the veteran Tra Thomas and gives him a real tough time from a standup start. If Bouman got rid of the ball a half second later, he's sacked by Wake. YIKES! Welcome to the NFL moment for Cam. Begins a pure speed rush against the RT and then gets LEVELED by a Tight End who runs up and chips him just as Wake makes contact with Tony Pashos. Less effective on a few of the next pass rushes. Using mostly speed, he's got this head-down starting blocks stance, looks like he's running the 100 meters. There it is. That speed rush finally gets Tony Pashos and Wake turns the corner on a 3rd & Long, nearly drops Bouman for a sack. Bouman just barely flopped the ball out.
38. On that third down, btw, there was an exotic 2-3 front with Starks and McDaniel as the DLs, Wake and Anderson as the OLBs. Reggie Torbor the MLB.
39. Tyrone Culver was late in his pick up of Jarett Dillard on a third down conversion. Makes a nice pass deflection in man coverage during two minute work, but ball bounces up and is caught by Williamson. On a safety blitz, he does a nice job shucking a chip block and getting his hands up to block the passing lane, tipping a ball that could have otherwise gone for a touchdown.
40. Jacksonville offense having more luck against the second string defense. One reason? Eric Green. Troy Williamson gets open on a sluggo for a good grab against him. Nate Hughes grabs a slant on him. Toward the end of the second quarter when Miami puts mostly third string in the game, Eric Green still gets picked on with another pass to Nate Hughes. On another play he should be thankful Tyrone Culver tipped the ball on a blitz because it was coming out to Eric Green's pickup and Green slipped on the ground and was late to Rashad Jennings, who would have caught a TD on the play no doubt. Instead, Culver tipped it up and it went straight toward Green, who dove but couldn't come up with it. Still picking on Eric Green even when Jacksonville false starts. Threw on him in the end zone, not everyone realized the play was whistled dead, Green never fully turned around to look for the ball but managed to get his hand up in time to knock it away. Lucky. I know this is a horrible thing to say but he's starting to look like Jason Allen. And Jack Del Rio must have gotten Tony Sparano's message about ordering his offense to take a run at certain DBs during some practice sessions, because the Jags are taking a run at Eric Green today.
41. Quentin Moses really does look pretty decent back pedaling out into coverage, and he covers a lot of ground. I can see why he bats a lot of passes in practice. Does a good job crashing the tight end Matt Roth style on a run and squeezing the ball carrier. Another excellent play from him against the run from the strong side on a 3rd & 1, really standing up to trash and allowing Gibril Wilson and Reggie Torbor to knife in there for a big stop. Very impressed by Moses right now.
42. Here's a sight. Langford double-teamed by RG and RT right off the snap to try and clear the hole, he goes nowhere. Like kicking a rock that is rooted into the ground. That's how it's done, folks. Allows all the other defenders to run downhill to the ball.
43. Charlie Anderson having less success as a pass rusher over Tra Thomas than you'd like.
44. Chris Williams still returning kicks and finally shows them a little something, nearly breaking off a touchdown but couldn't beat Josh Scobee and went out of bounds. Didn't catch a rolling ball cleanly on a squib on a kickoff return to end the half, got leveled by a linebacker.
45. Jake Grove doing a little better now in his fourth series, knocks a big boy Atiyyah Ellison to the ground springing Ricky wide right. On another run play though with single blocking responsibility, fails to open the hole for Polite on the FB give.
46. Ricky also running with more authority in this quarter, delivering a nice stiff arm on a run to the outside. Spins out of backfield contact on another broken blocking play. On another broken block on 3rd & 1, he hit the intended hole, it wasn't there, stayed on his feet, redirected to the other side of the play and was caught by a DB without his pads squared yet two yards shy of the hole, and still turned the corner and piggybacked the DB for a first down. Very nice work. On the other hand, he got open on a wheel pattern into the end zone but dropped a clean overhead ball straight into his hands that would have been a touchdown.
47. Justin Smiley really struggling to run block against Rob Meier on one play. Vernon Carey also struggling to a hole's integrity on one play, whiffs on a block and lets a man into the backfield for a free shot at Ricky on another play. Some more sloppy blocking from Smiley on a few more plays, one of which he got knocked backward off the ball on short yardage. Carey carried the play by sticking to his block through the whistle and Ricky took advantage of the cleared area to redirect to him, convert the first down.
48. Chad Henne's been in the whole quarter thus far and seemed to really lock on to a well covered Hartline on one pass, went right back to him on the ensuing third down. Got the ball to him nicely to convert the down. Throws a little low on another third down on a crossing pattern by David Martin but again converts with good rhythm. Not good game management down by the goal line. Didn't manage the clock well enough, had to run up to Grove to tell him to hurry it, and when Grove looked back, he was flagged for the false start. Henne bounced back with a great throw on a wheel pattern to an open Ricky Williams for a touchdown, but the ball was dropped.
49. Nate Jones made a heck of a play at the end of the half in two minute against a WR screen to Nate Hughes. He broke down, avoided a big OL looking to mow him down, and exploded into the ball carrier's body stopping him dead in his tracks for only a 6 yard gain, inside the 10 yard line, inbounds with 22 seconds left on the clock.
50. Toward the end of the half, the Dolphins look like they've brought out some third stringers. Tearrius George out there, Erik Walden, Courtney Bryan, Tony McDaniel, Phil Merling. Reggie Torbor still out there, as is Vontae and Eric Green. McDaniel does a good job closing gaps against the run during two minute, and even does a good job turning and running up the field against a screen.
1ST QUARTER OFFENSE: 18 plays, 64 yards, 3.6 yards per play. 25 yards rushing on 8 carries.
1ST QUARTER DEFENSE: 12 plays, 31 yards, 2.6 yards per play. 13 yards rushing on 4 carries.
First Half ONLY - Impressions
Not happy with the showing of the first string offensive line, particularly in run blocking. Same story, different year. If every player is doing his job well 80% of the time, you're guaranteed to have one guy blowing it on any given play. Not good enough. Remember, when asked about what is easier between pass blocking and run blocking, Tony Sparano said that pass blocking is harder from an individual talent level, and run blocking is harder from an overall unit chemistry perspective. This first game really exemplified that sentiment. This unit is obviously talented enough, and that really showed in the pass protection. But, they're not playing consistently enough as a unit and that showed in the first half running, which was generally poor except for a few runs to the outside. The first round of the Shawn Murphy vs. Donald Thomas battle for me ends in a very close draw which I did not expect at all. I did not expect Murphy to look as good as he did. He did not have the sexy power that Thomas does, but he showed some pretty remarkable foot speed getting out to the perimeter on that Ginn reverse, which was a big play for the offense on a day that was not full of big plays. I wanted the competition to be over quickly for the sake of chemistry but the fact of the matter is, Murphy's being a pest. In a good way.
What can you say about the defensive front? These guys were dominant. Truly. Jason Taylor, Joey Porter, Randy Starks, Cameron Wake and Quentin Moses all drew distinction from me for very good reasons. Paul Soliai did well in limited reps. Jason Ferguson did well in limited reps. Channing Crowder and Akin Ayodele were outstanding. Even Reggie Torbor did well. Kendall Langford was outstanding. Tony McDaniel was pretty good.
In the backfield, I thought Sean Smith was superb. It looked just plain unfair what he did to Torry Holt on that one coverage sack. Yeremiah Bell and Gibril Wilson were also pretty good, and Will Allen only let up the one to Torry Holt. Who really stood out though? Nate Jones. You get a big, fat, gold star. He came in and played free safety in place of Yeremiah Bell and he did an absolutely outstanding job. Not only that but they brought him in on those blitzes we're all use to seeing and I'll be damned if that tiny sumbytch doesn't get lost among all those big bodies and look like the only guy that can see among a forest of lumbering blind giants. Tyrone Culver had an early mistake that he made up for by deflecting two balls very nicely.
Guys that had a challenging day on defense include Eric Green, who was really the worst player of the first half and I mean that, as well as Vontae Davis. Davis wasn't bad like Eric Green was bad, but Troy Williamson, once upon a time considered a first round bust, really showed him the ropes. I was not thoroughly impressed with Charlie Anderson. Chris Clemons didn't stand out one way or the other.
On offense, taking aside the offensive line, I thought Ricky Williams had an outstanding showing except for that touchdown drop at the end. Come to think of it he also had a holding penalty which helped prevent an earlier touchdown, so maybe I shouldn't single him out as doing well after all.
The two best players on offense during the first half were, IMO, Ted Ginn and Chad Henne. Ginn was making excellent grabs and threatening deep just like he should, not to mention getting open over the middle which is something he didn't do enough of in 2008, and then threatening well on reverses which is something he absolutely did in 2008. Henne was smooth and in rhythm. He had a few bad throws, one he forced right away into some multiple coverage, but once he got that one out of the way he made some nice throws and directed what SHOULD have been a touchdown drive on his only drive of the half, if not for Ricky's drop. Out of 6 throws, only one was a bad throw, and he didn't take any sacks. But, he did have that clock management snafu toward the end. Still, he made up for it with a would-be TD throw...
Pennington looked off to me. His throws were not well placed. He and Bess had the botched hand-off. Not BAD really, but definitely off.
Another guy that stood out to me a little more is John Nalbone. He blocked decently and when this guy is lined up wide, he gets off the line like a wide receiver. Very impressed with him. Turner did well with his one catch of the half. Hartline had that big 20 yard catch but he gets a minus mark for body catching it into his groin. Bess looked like Bess.
Loved the offensive and defensive innovations. I think I can see some of the concepts they put to use being run by some different personnel when push comes to shove during the season. Great to see.
