Defense Was Terrible but.... | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Defense Was Terrible but....

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Sirspud

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....I will gave some credit to the defense and to Boyer. They completely got crushed for 3+ quarters but after the game went to 35-14 they only allowed 3 points the rest of the game, and Boyer was able to bring some looks to bear that got Lamar out of rhythm. We know in today's NFL it's a passing league, and how many times do you see a team that's way down have a little surge, only for that momentum to be completely shifted back again as the lead gets extended again. And this against a team that is just perfectly built to play with a lead - just one guy gets out of position and the QB can gash you for a big play. Guys held contain, tackled well, made them fight for yards, and Boyer for once kept them off balance. It wasn't a full game effort or anything, but its inspiring to see them play hard, and see how much chance the Ravens had to take back or end the game, and we just didn't let them do it.

After over 20 seasons as a diehard fan, seeing many seasons where we just missed the playoffs and only 2 where we made it, I've learned that most teams are gonna have a few games that aren't really in contention one way or another, but the good teams in this league are the ones that can take a couple games a year where they got outplayed or shouldn't have won and still made it happen. While the mediocre teams like the Philbin-coached teams are the ones that have a fair number of games a year that they definitely should have won but they let their opponent take it away. Today, we won a game where based on three quarters of football we shouldn't have. Defense deserves credit for grinding it out and not giving up.
 
Reminds me of the Bengals/Chiefs game in the playoffs. Looked like an almost laughably easy win for the Chiefs, then the Bengals D stepped up and shut them down in the second half to secure the win. Very encouraging signs here that our coaching staff can adjust like that. I don't know the last time I've seen that. For the past, oh I dunno, 18 or so years, it seems once we're down, the coaching staff just gives up completely
 
Ravens were ready for cover 0 which was Lamars achillies hill last yr. We run the same defense with the same players. You know this was one of the games he heavily filmed studied on the offseason since we embarrased him last yr. Defensive issues were more familiarity and a offseason of film study. This will not be as much of an issue with other teams.
 
The defense was not terrible. I was at the game - the phins gave a way the opening lkickoff and a Lamar Run - A Bateman TD - and a Duverney bomb - that’s 28 points on a special teams play plus 3 big offensive plays…guys were out of position when others were selling out -

Being at the game the D actually played great minus 3 big plays - those 3 TDS were all Lamar and he played amazing on all 3 plays….perfect really - and don’t forget Lamar is a South Florida native and Miami stupidly passed on him as a prospect….

The D made them work - stopped them on the goal line and on 2 or three 4th downs….they stopped Kenyon Drake and the Ravens running completely….the o line kept Lamar clean but Lamar played really well besides 3 plays - Fumbled snap on the goal line, lackadaisical effort on a 4th and 1 which change of possession resulting in dolphins scoring and Xs dropped pick 6.

The Ravens are likely a better team then Miami or it’s. Very close….the Ravens are a very very talented and well coached team….

Miami’s game plan was named meat lovers pizza in the trunk - if you get the Tommy Boy reference the team stayed relaxed even in a hostile stadium down 28 to 7 and seemingly hopeless…from there our D helped us out score the 35 to 10….they were actually great besides 2 breakdowns…
 
Sirspud said:
....I will gave some credit to the defense and to Boyer. They completely got crushed for 3+ quarters but after the game went to 35-14 they only allowed 3 points the rest of the game, and Boyer was able to bring some looks to bear that got Lamar out of rhythm. We know in today's NFL it's a passing league, and how many times do you see a team that's way down have a little surge, only for that momentum to be completely shifted back again as the lead gets extended again. And this against a team that is just perfectly built to play with a lead - just one guy gets out of position and the QB can gash you for a big play. Guys held contain, tackled well, made them fight for yards, and Boyer for once kept them off balance. It wasn't a full game effort or anything, but its inspiring to see them play hard, and see how much chance the Ravens had to take back or end the game, and we just didn't let them do it.

After over 20 seasons as a diehard fan, seeing many seasons where we just missed the playoffs and only 2 where we made it, I've learned that most teams are gonna have a few games that aren't really in contention one way or another, but the good teams in this league are the ones that can take a couple games a year where they got outplayed or shouldn't have won and still made it happen. While the mediocre teams like the Philbin-coached teams are the ones that have a fair number of games a year that they definitely should have won but they let their opponent take it away. Today, we won a game where based on three quarters of football we shouldn't have. Defense deserves credit for grinding it out and not giving up.
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That's on the coaching staff to keep the team in the game... basically the game was over but the coaching staff kept coaching and the team kept playing believing the game wasn't over!
 
Michael Morris said:
Ravens were ready for cover 0 which was Lamars achillies hill last yr. We run the same defense with the same players. You know this was one of the games he heavily filmed studied on the offseason since we embarrased him last yr. Defensive issues were more familiarity and a offseason of film study. This will not be as much of an issue with other teams.
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Yeah, I absolutely knew that Lamar meant it when he said he was gonna be ready for it. Not only is Harbaugh just not the type of guy who gets outcoached very much, that loss last year was just humiliating for them, and in all seriousness may have cost Lamar a lot of money because of the way it exposed him. They had a lot of good ideas in place and while I know that Lamar can be exposed for his field vision at times, I'm well aware of how good of a play maker he can be, and that he is perfectly capable of delivering plenty of passes on time and on schedule.

I understand what you are saying, but for a team with this one's defensive reputation, we've had an inordinate amount of games besides the Ravens where we just haven't shown up at all - like the Bucs and Bills for instance. And those games aren't just games where a good QB has a good game. I mean, they're games where basically every time the opponent touches the ball it's a quick TD. It's beyond horrific, but people's idea of our defense seems to be entirely based on how well we can play against QB's who don't belong in the NFL.
 
Sirspud said:
Yeah, I absolutely knew that Lamar meant it when he said he was gonna be ready for it. Not only is Harbaugh just not the type of guy who gets outcoached very much, that loss last year was just humiliating for them, and in all seriousness may have cost Lamar a lot of money because of the way it exposed him. They had a lot of good ideas in place and while I know that Lamar can be exposed for his field vision at times, I'm well aware of how good of a play maker he can be, and that he is perfectly capable of delivering plenty of passes on time and on schedule.

I understand what you are saying, but for a team with this one's defensive reputation, we've had an inordinate amount of games besides the Ravens where we just haven't shown up at all - like the Bucs and Bills for instance. And those games aren't just games where a good QB has a good game. I mean, they're games where basically every time the opponent touches the ball it's a quick TD. It's beyond horrific, but people's idea of our defense seems to be entirely based on how well we can play against QB's who don't belong in the NFL.
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Fins D is a bit better than average
Biggest strength which makes us look like a better D than what we are is that they are good causing turnovers. They don’t cause turnovers like today they struggle
There’s a lot of work that needs to be done to improve. I wasn’t sold on Boyer staying after Flores was canned
 
I'm worried about the pass rush. Dolphins defense can't get to the QB unless they blitz a LB or Safety. Jaelen Phillips and Ogbah are not living up to the expectations. The secondary is very good when they can pressure the QB but when a QB has time, they can easily shred this secondary.

We need to fix this soon.
 
EasyRider said:
Fins D is a bit better than average
Biggest strength which makes us look like a better D than what we are is that they are good causing turnovers. They don’t cause turnovers like today they struggle
There’s a lot of work that needs to be done to improve. I wasn’t sold on Boyer staying after Flores was canned
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I am a big fan of Boyer staying on. Not that I think he's all world or that I think he's a finished product. I just see how much damage it causes to teams when they are changing systems over and over, and the guys you've drafted and signed for one system are suddenly dead weight or at least suddenly playing in ways that are not to their best strength. It's part of why bad teams tend to stay bad - if you already had a roster that wasn't good enough, it just makes the job harder if you're having to replace players you already had.

I definitely don't think the D needs to be re-built from the ground up or anything, just that they aren't as good as their reputations because they have been way too fortunate to face bad QB's which are easily dominated by the style of D we play, and that isn't necessarily indicating of the ability of the D against better QB's.
 
BenchFiedler said:
I'm worried about the pass rush. Dolphins defense can't get to the QB unless they blitz a LB or Safety. Jaelen Phillips and Ogbah are not living up to the expectations. The secondary is very good when they can pressure the QB but when a QB has time, they can easily shred this secondary.

We need to fix this soon.
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I am worried too. I will say this though - to my memory the pass rush started pretty slow last year too, and then got a lot better.
 
They stepped up in the second half…4th down call by Harbaugh was beyond dumb. Take the field goal…but regardless thanks coach!!
 
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