RoninFin4
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Week One: What I think we learned (so far)
*Do note that I watched the game at a crowded sports bar and had to fight Browns, Bengals and Steelers fans just to get the game on – so if I missed something please forgive me as I don’t have access to TiVo or NFL Network.*
Well Dolphans – it was a tough pill to swallow in our week one loss to the Jets, but it was quite clear the better team won. I’ll come clean, I thought New York was going to beat us by more than what they did, and they very well could have had they not gotten so conservative with playcalling once they were up 20-7. I said it on here, and on other boards that I thought our games against Kansas City and Jacksonville weren’t quite indicative of what would transpire against the Jets…and it pains me to say I told you so on this occasion as we’re 0-1, the only team in the East to lose. I’m going to shoot it straight as to how I saw it, so if you’re looking for a bunch of positives – this may not be for you.
It wasn’t all bad though. There were some things that turned out to be pretty pleasant in my opinion – if you can take something as a Jets loss to be pleasant. However, and not to invoke Saban, but our “competitive spirit” was definitely evident. I can’t think of how many times last season when we would’ve been down 20-7 today in the late 3rd quarter and we would’ve just caved in. I’ll be honest, at that point I called my buddy (a huge Jets fan – not sure why I’m his friend) and said, here it is, 27-7. I was proven wrong; Miami fought back and it came down to one last final play (we’ll get to that scenario in a little while). I’m impressed with the way the guys fought back. Five, six, 10 weeks from now, that’s a game we’re going to pull a “W” out of. We’re not ready, not just yet.
THE GOOD
Kendall Langford – I think we have seen the tip of the iceberg today. He was the most consistent Dolphin getting pressure on the QB, he had a sack, and a few tackles in the game. He reminds me of a young, healthy, Richard Seymour.
Phil Merling – I think he too is going to be a player, however, it’s going to take some time for him to really shine through (perhaps a move to LOLB next year in place of Roth) but he did make a few nice plays today.
Davone Bess – The undrafted man from Hawaii was often the only WR on the field – not sure if that’s good for him, or bad for everyone else. Ted Ginn where are you? He had a nice return on the opening kickoff and had some nice plays over the middle. I still question why we ran a fade to him…
The TE’s – Anthony Fasano played like I only imagined he could. It’s a steal to have gotten him and Ayodele for merely a 4th. Kudos to David Martin. I originally pegged you to get cut, and here you were catching a TD to bring us back into the game. Your blocking, while not spectacular, got the job done, and while knocking on wood, I don’t believe I saw a drop from you.
THE BAD
My worst fear came into fruition today – the O-line was not very good. There’s no way around it. Jenkins owned Satele and Thomas, and Satele and Smiley, whoever double-teamed him got eaten. There’s a reason Jon Gruden thanked the Jets for taking Jenkins out of Carolina – we found out the hard way today. Jake Long had two penalties that both negated 1st downs. The right side of the line and the backs (Ronnie Brown and Patrick Cobbs) were very poor at blitz pickup, resulting in 3 sacks to that side by my count – man I wish I had TiVo…but I digress. The running game was abysmal, totaling a paltry 49 yards, and we went 3-13 on 3rd down conversions – YIKES!
Boomer said it on another board, but we have the NFL’s worst corps of WR. That is a F-A-C-T FACT everyone. When Greg Camarillo gets 3 catches for 30 yards, and he’s only your 3rd leading receiver (the others were two TEs and a RB) there is cause for concern. Let’s face it – Darrelle Revis OWNED Ted Ginn, and Dwight Lowery looks like a player. Major improvement needs to be seen here. Chad Jackson anyone? Couldn’t hurt. Not after today in my opinion.
Pass rush – I think this was written on the wall as soon as we traded JT. While a major proponent of the move, we simply don’t have enough pass rush. Joey Porter looked old. Matt Roth just isn’t a good football player. Period. I was a little mystified that Crowder and Ayodele didn’t blitz more – that was one thing I took from preseason that I thought could be useful today; guess not.
Tackling & Penalties – these things can be coached upon. I hope I won’t have to write about this next week.
Special Teams – the coverage units were pretty good. Brandon Fields had a costly shank. A kickoff out of bounds. Ted Ginn wasn’t out there until the second half, and when he was, he let it bounce on more than one occasion…he needs to step it up, not only as a WR, but as a returner as well.
THE UGLY & BIZARRE
3 of 13 on 3rd down conversions. ‘Nuff said.
49 total rush yards. ‘Nuff said, though we did appear to have some success once we abandoned the run in the early 4th quarter however…
Playcalling – here’s the bizarre part of today’s game. Mike Nugent being hurt was the best thing that happened to the Jets. If he's in, they almost assuredly kick a FG on 4th and 13 in the early 2nd quarter. They go for it and our secondary botches coverage and Randy Starks and Joey Porter are too late in taking Favre down. Now, Favre's magic TD was pretty sickening (where were our DB's?) but I think that changes the dynamic of the game if Nugent were still in at that point. 10-7 would've been a lot better than 13-7 going into halftime.
Also, going for it on 4th and goal after not running it once from the 8 yard line was a little bizarre. If you take a FG there, it's 20-17 on that final drive. Had Nugent been in on the 4th & 13, it's probably 17-17 on that final drive and we were in FG range even before the "pass interference" penalty. Just some food for thought on hidden points left out there, and inexplicably gained (by the Jets on their 2nd TD) and ultimately Favre's magic prevailed in the end. With a chance to send it into OT at 20-20 on the last drive, and the defense finally being able to stop the run at that point; I think we would’ve pulled it out.
I still don’t understand not running it on 1st & goal from the 8…that sack on that play by Calvin Pace pretty much ended that drive. The playcalling on the 4th down wasn’t bad, Lowery made a great play, but again, not to harp on Saban – why not take the 3 points? Obviously hindsight is 20-20, and I can somewhat understand the call at that point in the game being down 20-7, but you make it 20-10, you only would need a FG on that final drive.
Burning those two timeouts early weren’t helpful either. At this point the bar was very loud and was only playing audio to the Bengals at Ravens game, so I don’t really have any idea what the situation was…from what I saw it looked like Ronnie went in motion either too soon or the wrong way – not sure about the other.
THINGS I’D LIKE TO SEE AGAINST THE CARDINALS
- Let Ronnie Brown start if 100% healthy. If not, at least give him more carries – he seemed more effective against the Jets than Ricky. At last check, SF had been running well vs. the Cardinals so that brings me to point #2.
- Don’t abandon the run. I realize the Jets had us in a pretty good pickle at that point, and I think Pennington rebounded nicely from a dismal first half to lead us back. Again, it all comes to that 1st and goal from the 8. Surely at least one or two runs will get you positive yards.
- Chris Crocker is absolutely garbage! Jason Allen is what they call a gamer…he might not practice well, but when the lights come on, he’s a player. Oh, to have Antonio Cromartie right now…
- The WR’s actually make a contribution. Ted Ginn, that means you. We have to find more ways to get him the ball. I’ve yet to see a screen thrown to him either last year or in the game today. That was his bread and butter at Ohio State. Throwing fades to Davone Bess is madness. Ernest Wilford or Brandon London should be assigned that duty. I know Wilford was inactive, but surely there’s got to be a reason we’re keeping him around at that salary…I hope. Again, Chad Jackson anyone?
- I’d like to sign James Marten ASAP. When Carey went down, I about left. Ike Ndukwe has no business being a swing tackle in the NFL. Thankfully Carey was alright (not having audio didn’t help my cause at the time), but clearly, we’re in pretty deep stuff if either Carey or Long goes down.
- Better tackling.
- Less penalties.
- Not leaving points on the board/better redzone playcalling. I think these two go hand-in-hand, and IMO, are what caused us to lose the game. Taking 3 points off the board and failing to convert on 4th down (please tell me Greg Camarillo is not our best option) and the calls once we got close at the end of the game. We’d moved the ball up the field with 4 WR’s the whole drive, and suddenly two TE’s come in, with play action fakes of all things. We’re going to throw in that spot, it’s not fooling anyone and it took a few seconds off the clock we might’ve still had if it weren’t an INT on the “pass interference” call (to each his own on that judgment).
CONCLUSION
Okay, okay, before I get carried away. It’s only week one, and its one game. Half of the 32 teams are going to be 0-1. I never would’ve thought that having your kicker get hurt would aid a team so much in getting a win…but I guess that’s why Brett Favre has the magic that he does, all the great ones do. We’ll just have to live with that one. However, we didn’t lose our fight, we didn’t cave. Of more important note, the D actually held their own and gave us a few key stops in the 4th quarter when at this point last year, they’d have turned to mush and been run over.
I think that if we can stop the run better, and get Ronnie and Ricky going and control the clock (I think we were only short on TOP by like 3 minutes – amazing when our run game was so poor) we should be able to grind one out against Arizona. If, and this is the biggest of all big “IF” ‘s Tom Brady is out for an extended period of time, and Coach Sparano gets these guys motivated for back-to-back road games (BTW I wasn’t impressed at all with the Patriots today) a 2-1 start by the bye isn’t that far fetched.
EDIT - Just saw, Brady has a torn ACL - done for the year.
