ckparrothead
Premium Member
Hey folks I taped the first bit of the game. It wasn't long before my tape ran out cuz I had the Titans scrimmage on there already. So I'll give you all that I've got (which is the first 30 minutes)
Already very first play 1st and 10 we've got a run up the left side toward JT who was baited into running deep into the backfield. But he wasn't successfully trapped, Pittman ran by JT, but JT just turned around with that stop-on-a-dime-and-turn body of his and accelerated right back up to Pittman and caught him from behind to make it only like a 4 yard gain.
Next play 2nd and 7. You tell me they aren't throwing wrinkles here? Alstott is lined up near left like a WR, and Dilger is dragged from the right side of the field where the WRs are bunched up, to the right side of the field just wide of Alstott as the play is snapped. Madison has to cover Jurevicious outside of Alstott. Alstott runs up about 7 yards and turns around to meet the ball on a 3 step drop quick hitch. Alstott in the slot...hmmm...anyway Madison looked upset at the end of the play. Either he knew what was goin on before it happened and was p!ssed cuz he realized he should have jumped Alstott's route, or he somehow blew a coverage (didnt look like he did).
Next play 1st and 10. Got some trips on the right hand side (3 WRs in triangle, Dilger one of them in back) with a wideout to the left also. One guy deep in the backfield. Dilger sweeps over toward the left just as the play begins and fakes like he's blockin for Pittman who fakes like he's gettin the ball to the left. BJ takes the fake and begins rolling right but JT had already tossed away his chip block like it was nothing and Ogun had disposed of his blocker as well and they both converged like pincers on BJ who just had to toss the ball away.
2nd and 10 the Bucs line up Off I weakside and just run a plain old fashioned lead run to the left hand side. Tackle is made by Zach Thomas with help from Larry Chester for 4 yards.
Note: On the first, third, and fourth plays the Dolphins were in their base 4-3 defense. The 2nd play had a multiple wideout set and the Phins were in their pretty standard nickel approach. No kinks whatsoever.
Next play 3rd and 6. Bucs line up with empty backfield except one man is lined up deep behind the line of scrimmage about 5 yards behind the left tackle. I forget what this formation is called, but I've seen it before. We got a slot receiver out to the right as well as a TE off RT. Two guys out wide. Our D lines up a little different this time. Zach is about as deep as a safety, mirroring the guy that is lined up 5 yards behind LT. We have three corners pressed at the line of scrimmage, and one safety covering the left side deep (where the two WRs are). Junior Seau the 2nd LB is lined up right in between the LDT and Ogunleye and plays press on the Tight End. On the play the guy semi in the backfield leaks out, puts a chip on JT, and Zach comes up to him in coverage. Man coverage on the Wides. JT, in a very demoralizing fashion, gets blows right off the chip as if nothing happened, and pushes Roman Oben straight backward toward Brad Johnson, where Ogunleye also is bulling his lineman, and once again pincer mode. BJ has to get rid of the ball too early to a WR dragging toward the QB along the line of scrimmage who was covered EXCELLENTLY by Alphonso Roundtree. Oh, did I mention that Jason Taylor got HELD by Roman Oben on the play? Thats right, he got all up in BJ's face even though he had a RB chipping on him, and Roman Oben holding him. This is what I mean when I say JT looked like a beast.
Now comes a 4th and 6 punt and this play FUMED me. Bucs punt it straight to Charlie Rogers who amid traffic begins to cut toward a hole developing on the right hand side that could have allowed him to break it BIG. But as he dodged a would-be tackler, the guy stuck out his hand and blatantly grabbed hold of Charlie Rogers' face mask and nearly rips his HEAD off. Rogers goes down immediately, and NO PENALTY. I think the refs believed the guy had gotten Rogers by the pads, but on replay it was CLEARLY the face mask and Rogers really could have been hurt because of how fast the guy was flying when he grabbed hold of the face mask and therefore how fast Rogers' head jerked.
NOTES: You wanted defensive dominance? Doesn't get much better than this. The Bucs got a first down...sure enough. But the Jets didn't stop the Bucs on their opening drive over in Tokyo. The defense played straight up vanilla no kinks whatsoever while the Bucs tossed a few formations in there designed to get good mismatches, and we still dominated because JT was a beast and Ogun was a beast, and the Surtain-less coverage (with Alphonso Roundtree gettin some action) was too dang good.
Now to our first drive. 1st and 10. Classic Norv Turner. Wideouts mirrored left and right on the LOS. Chambers right, Derrius left. McMichael lines up off the line to the right outside of the tackle. Backfield is Off I Weak (left). Bucs appear to be in classic Cover 2...but they are not. As the ball is snapped, all three linebackers shift right and toward the line of scrimmage. The WSLB (Brooks I'm guessing) played like a down lineman while Simeon Rice stunted inside, the RDT also went left, the LDT played outside containment toward left, and the LDE covered Ricky out of the backfield. McMichael drags in motion to the left hand side before the play and helps pass block with Rob Konrad...together picking up the stunt play very nicely. Jamie Nails pulled right, and Ricky Williams faked a carry to the right hand side then leaked for a pass (covered by the LDE). Whoever the LDT was got past Todd Perry, and Nails tried to pick him up as he pulled right, but didn't do so good a job. Still the play was obviously not disrupted because Griese was able to fire the ball off to the right hand side to Chris Chambers who jumped in the air and was doin his darnedest to use his body to fight off the defender and shield the ball, but to no avail as the defender (Brian Kelly) was able to get his hand around Chambers a little to barely knock the ball away. Griese's play-action fake was very Marino-esque (you should know what I mean by that). Good throw, but had it been just a teensy bit to the left more, Chambers coulda had it in his stomach for a catch.
2nd and 10. Standard 3 WR formation. Derrius outside left, Chambers outside right...Simmons in the left slot. McMichael lined up outside RT stays in to block. Ricky in the backfield, moves to the right and helps McMichael block. Bucs are lined up in classic Cover 2, and this time they stay that way. Dixon has a little trouble blocking his man (I assume its Rice) but Griese fires off a nice ball to Sam Simmons who look like he ran a classic slot Hitch route. Sam caught it, ran for an extra 5 yds or so. First down.
1st and 10. Another pretty vanilla play. Two TE formation left. Donald Lee lined up outside LT, McMike lined up outside and behind Lee. Off I Strong (left) backfield formation. One receiver by his lonesome out on the weakside (right). Right runs toward the left, runs into some traffic, cuts toward middle a little more and then just lowers down and bulls the pile around for another couple yards. Perry pulled left and ran right into Mark Dixon who may have been pushed back a little too far by his man (it was Sapp)....Perry could barely recover enough to help out with some seal blocks. Wade got a good push upfield, so did Nails who released upfield like a Center (maybe a little overzealous). Lee looked good with his block and McMike just sorta made sure his CB didn't get into the mix to make a tackle. About 2-3 yards. Obviously a little trouble with Warren and the gang up front not cooperating with the Phins OL.
2nd and 8...the FUMBLE PLAY. Ok my bad, I mistook this play for a screen. It wasn't. Classic Two TE setup (which apparently, Norv will be lookin to use some more this year) with the TEs this time set up to the Right. Two Wides. Ricky in backfield. McMike lined up as outter most TE on right side. He runs out shallow for an out route toward the sideline and the D forgets about him. Lee did a good job blockin. Ricky did a good job blockin. Mark Dixon, did not do such a good job. Dont know who his man was but he was in Griese's face by the end of the play...but I think he gave Griese enough time because from the way Griese fixed his stare onto McMike the entire play, I believe this was designed to go to him. Anyway R-Mac beats Derrick Brooks to the outside and the CB Brian Kelly was covering the WR. Griese throws the ball really high forcing McMike to turn all the way around toward Griese and jump HIGH in the air for it (his vertical skills are supreme for a TE). By this time Brian Kelly had sniffed the play out and peeled off his WR and by the time McMike landed and turned around, Kelly had his helmet right in R-Mac's gut knockin the ball out. Derrick Brooks TRIED afterwards to pretend that he was gonna give Brian Kelly the "fake credit" for the fumble but it was really him that knocked it out. Uh uh. It was Kelly. Kelly knocked it out with his hand and head, and Dwight Smith recovered it. Bad throw from Griese on two counts. One he locked onto McMike which I'm sure signaled Kelly enough to peel off his WR a little early. Second he threw the ball so high that it left McMike to be tackled immediately after catching it. The Bucs BTW were in a classic Cover 2 again. And for what its worth, Donald Lee had some good hustle running over to Brian Kelly after he picked up the ball and bringing him back down to the ground and he also caused Kelly to drop the ball.
Bucs get the ball again...D'OH! 1st and 10 on the Miami 45 yard line....NICE SHORT FIELD for them. SON OF A BYTCH. This is the Michael Pittman pass play. Vanilla offense? Think again. Try this on for size. Two tight end formation to the Right. Jurevicious is TE #1 lined up outside the RT. Actual TE (prolly Dudley) lined up outside of Joe. Remember that weird formation before I mentioned with Pittman lined up 5 yards behind the LT? I say its weird because its too wide to be considered the backfield. Well guess what. Now Pittman and Alstott are BOTH lined up there, side by side right next to each other bunched up. There's also a WR lined up wide to the left. I don't know if this was a mistake, or if the phins intended to line up like this just because its preseason, or if they actually would line up like this in the regular season but the Phins lined up in their base Classic Cover 2 formation. Anyway Jurevicious pops out and cuts to the inside. I think the actual TE blocked, he might have released who knows but he did nothin much. Alstott ran forward from this funny position (bizarro backfield) and cut inside to his right. Now here's the real kicker and this was NOT easy to see. The WR to the left lets assume its Keyshawn. He runs a kind of weird post pattern drawing the deep help of the safety on that side of the field. I say its a "weird" post pattern because h purposely drags his CB (I believe it was Madison) to the inside just a little bit, so that as Seau is watching Pittman coming out of the bizarro backfield and Seau is moving to his right and backward to cover Pittman as he runs out and up, Seau runs smack into Sam Madison for a classic Pick Play. Yeah, thats why Seau was so late to the catch. Keyshawn had not only cleared the CB and Safety, but he cleared Seau from making the play too. As inFINS said, the ball could have been thrown a lot better all things considered cuz in stride, Pittman would have been able to grab a TD especially with the safety (Marion) caught payin too much attention to Keyshawn for containment. The pick play worked...they didnt bump and fall down or anything but it stopped Junior up just long enough so that Pittman got a good distance on Junior who is slower than Pittman obviously. Folks there was a reason Junior was so far behind Pittman on that play. He got picked by Keyshawn and Sam Madison...but then again these are the kind of things a savvy utility pro bowl guy like Keyshawn will do to you. But, on the flipside, the Phins insisted on playing a base Cover 2 here while the Bucs were obviously pulling out some new kinks in their playbook that were probably designed to look good against a base defense like Cover 2.
1st and 10 from 18 yard line. Jumbo I set with two Wides. TE motions from left to right, Phins in base Cover 2 formation...Mike Alstott carries Right side for a couple yards tackled by Brock Marion.
2nd and 7 at the 15. 4 wide set with two TEs. Keyshawn wide left with another WR left slot. TE Dudley lined up outside RT in up position, Yoder to the Right wide. This is a pretty classic Spread Formation play, single back toss fake. BJ snaps and fakes a pitch to the left side while he has some OL men pull to the left. Dudley takes on Ogun one-on-one and Ogun follows BJ as BJ rolls to the right side (Yoder released up). Morlon Greenwood follows BJ out to the right side also. Eventually Ogun releases off Dudley and goes for BJ, who then pitches it to Dudley because Greenwood is also looking for the QB rather than covering Dudley for Ogun. Dudley doesn't catch it, but it looked overall like a very busted play and Zach was ready to pummel Dudley if he caught it.
3rd and 7. Bucs are in an Off I set with 2 WRs and a TE but the guy in the TE position I believe is a WR so its 3 WRs, with Ken Dilger lined up as the fullback right. So accordingly Dolphins have a nickel package in. Alphonso Roundtree is in the game which I assume, means Madison was not because I saw Buckley and Jamar in the play. Anyway Dilger runs out to the flat around the sideline and BJ tries to hit him but Dilger drops it. Ogun and JT both fired off the snap like lightning and one of them was held but I think they both were offsides. Ogun was gettin right in Brad's grill though as he released the ball. Not sure whether it was JT or Ogun being held but I think it was Ogun who pushed his offensive lineman so far into Brad Johnson's pelvis it looked like a prison rape scene.
Offsetting. Lets try this again. 3rd and 7. I may have been mistaken before. Either Roundtree is being subbed in for Jamar Fletcher on this play, or Roundtree is getting play as a Safety. Either way play starts out another pretty classic 3 WR formation nothin special, two right one left. This one is a little hard to diagnose...I think we might be lined up in Dime here I only see Zach Thomas on the field only LB I think. Sam Madison is in at RCB and McCardell is lined up on his side left. Jamar Fletcher is lined up deep over #86 lined up at TE. I see Roundtree lined up far right on a WR, and I see TBuck lined up just inside him on the slot WR. This really looks like a heavy zone coverage goin on here because Keenan drags to the right across the field, so Sam Madison disengages him and points at SOMEONE to take Keenan as he moves across the field, while Sam follows #86 who has released on an out and up covered by Jamar Fletcher. Sam most likely in my opinion was pointing for #24 Sammy Knight to take Keenan as he dragged across the field, but Sammy looks like he was covering the Slot WR who had just cut to the left portion of the field. TBuck disengaged from that Slot WR just in time to run back and tackle Keenan as he caught the ball. Meanwhile in the backfield JT and Ogun were at it again, forcing BJ to run out of the pocket to his right. But it worked, he completed a nice pass to Keenan...but Keenan didn't get the first down...TBuck tackled him short of it. The only thing is I'm tryin to figure out who should have had Keenan as he dragged to that side of the field. My only observation is that Brock Marion was apparently nowhere on that field, didnt see him the entire play. Looked like we had 10 men out there. Still, the defense rejoiced as they had come up with a big stop on 3rd and 7.
OH, but this is PRESEASON. Jon Gruden decides to go for it on 4th and inches. Folks, during a real game he would not do this. I know you think Jon is such a fiery good coach and all so (some of you) think to yourselves that he might go for it in that situation for real but he is not Steve Spurrier ok? Playing the dolphins, he would know it was set to be a TOUGH, CLOSE, game...and there is no WAY he would take points off the board by going for it....just to attempt to go up 7 points in the first quarter. This is especially true because its in Miami, and a stop would be a complete crowd juicer...the equivalent of return TD. So anyway its 4th and inches. The Bucs line up in a jumbo goal line I formation, and run right with Alstott. Seau rushes from wide right (DEFENSIVE RIGHT) while Zach plugs on the left side. Ogun released a little low but came pretty close to getting hold of Alstott as he leaped over Ogun. Brock comes in from the right side and does a good job colliding with Alstott near the 1st down marker....but Alstott gets the first by about a foot.
1st and Goal from about 7 yards out. I formation with two wides to the left and TE lined up right. Ran straight up the right guard, who did a great job moving Bowens out of the way. Zach got hit and blocked by the fullback. Sammy Knight bit on the cutback, overpersued to the left hand side and was helpless when Pittman made a nice cutback to hit the hole. Brock Marion, not sure what he was doin deep right, probably worryin about those two WRs. Great blocking on the play, we got beat.
Well thats how they got the first TD there. That might be enough play-by-play for now.
But take a little heart. The defense DID hold the Bucs offense twice...once with a short field. And they did it pretty much in the base Cover 2 the entire time except a few nickel and dime coverages called for because of the Bucs blatant use of a bunch of the new kinks in their playbook.
Already very first play 1st and 10 we've got a run up the left side toward JT who was baited into running deep into the backfield. But he wasn't successfully trapped, Pittman ran by JT, but JT just turned around with that stop-on-a-dime-and-turn body of his and accelerated right back up to Pittman and caught him from behind to make it only like a 4 yard gain.
Next play 2nd and 7. You tell me they aren't throwing wrinkles here? Alstott is lined up near left like a WR, and Dilger is dragged from the right side of the field where the WRs are bunched up, to the right side of the field just wide of Alstott as the play is snapped. Madison has to cover Jurevicious outside of Alstott. Alstott runs up about 7 yards and turns around to meet the ball on a 3 step drop quick hitch. Alstott in the slot...hmmm...anyway Madison looked upset at the end of the play. Either he knew what was goin on before it happened and was p!ssed cuz he realized he should have jumped Alstott's route, or he somehow blew a coverage (didnt look like he did).
Next play 1st and 10. Got some trips on the right hand side (3 WRs in triangle, Dilger one of them in back) with a wideout to the left also. One guy deep in the backfield. Dilger sweeps over toward the left just as the play begins and fakes like he's blockin for Pittman who fakes like he's gettin the ball to the left. BJ takes the fake and begins rolling right but JT had already tossed away his chip block like it was nothing and Ogun had disposed of his blocker as well and they both converged like pincers on BJ who just had to toss the ball away.
2nd and 10 the Bucs line up Off I weakside and just run a plain old fashioned lead run to the left hand side. Tackle is made by Zach Thomas with help from Larry Chester for 4 yards.
Note: On the first, third, and fourth plays the Dolphins were in their base 4-3 defense. The 2nd play had a multiple wideout set and the Phins were in their pretty standard nickel approach. No kinks whatsoever.
Next play 3rd and 6. Bucs line up with empty backfield except one man is lined up deep behind the line of scrimmage about 5 yards behind the left tackle. I forget what this formation is called, but I've seen it before. We got a slot receiver out to the right as well as a TE off RT. Two guys out wide. Our D lines up a little different this time. Zach is about as deep as a safety, mirroring the guy that is lined up 5 yards behind LT. We have three corners pressed at the line of scrimmage, and one safety covering the left side deep (where the two WRs are). Junior Seau the 2nd LB is lined up right in between the LDT and Ogunleye and plays press on the Tight End. On the play the guy semi in the backfield leaks out, puts a chip on JT, and Zach comes up to him in coverage. Man coverage on the Wides. JT, in a very demoralizing fashion, gets blows right off the chip as if nothing happened, and pushes Roman Oben straight backward toward Brad Johnson, where Ogunleye also is bulling his lineman, and once again pincer mode. BJ has to get rid of the ball too early to a WR dragging toward the QB along the line of scrimmage who was covered EXCELLENTLY by Alphonso Roundtree. Oh, did I mention that Jason Taylor got HELD by Roman Oben on the play? Thats right, he got all up in BJ's face even though he had a RB chipping on him, and Roman Oben holding him. This is what I mean when I say JT looked like a beast.
Now comes a 4th and 6 punt and this play FUMED me. Bucs punt it straight to Charlie Rogers who amid traffic begins to cut toward a hole developing on the right hand side that could have allowed him to break it BIG. But as he dodged a would-be tackler, the guy stuck out his hand and blatantly grabbed hold of Charlie Rogers' face mask and nearly rips his HEAD off. Rogers goes down immediately, and NO PENALTY. I think the refs believed the guy had gotten Rogers by the pads, but on replay it was CLEARLY the face mask and Rogers really could have been hurt because of how fast the guy was flying when he grabbed hold of the face mask and therefore how fast Rogers' head jerked.
NOTES: You wanted defensive dominance? Doesn't get much better than this. The Bucs got a first down...sure enough. But the Jets didn't stop the Bucs on their opening drive over in Tokyo. The defense played straight up vanilla no kinks whatsoever while the Bucs tossed a few formations in there designed to get good mismatches, and we still dominated because JT was a beast and Ogun was a beast, and the Surtain-less coverage (with Alphonso Roundtree gettin some action) was too dang good.
Now to our first drive. 1st and 10. Classic Norv Turner. Wideouts mirrored left and right on the LOS. Chambers right, Derrius left. McMichael lines up off the line to the right outside of the tackle. Backfield is Off I Weak (left). Bucs appear to be in classic Cover 2...but they are not. As the ball is snapped, all three linebackers shift right and toward the line of scrimmage. The WSLB (Brooks I'm guessing) played like a down lineman while Simeon Rice stunted inside, the RDT also went left, the LDT played outside containment toward left, and the LDE covered Ricky out of the backfield. McMichael drags in motion to the left hand side before the play and helps pass block with Rob Konrad...together picking up the stunt play very nicely. Jamie Nails pulled right, and Ricky Williams faked a carry to the right hand side then leaked for a pass (covered by the LDE). Whoever the LDT was got past Todd Perry, and Nails tried to pick him up as he pulled right, but didn't do so good a job. Still the play was obviously not disrupted because Griese was able to fire the ball off to the right hand side to Chris Chambers who jumped in the air and was doin his darnedest to use his body to fight off the defender and shield the ball, but to no avail as the defender (Brian Kelly) was able to get his hand around Chambers a little to barely knock the ball away. Griese's play-action fake was very Marino-esque (you should know what I mean by that). Good throw, but had it been just a teensy bit to the left more, Chambers coulda had it in his stomach for a catch.
2nd and 10. Standard 3 WR formation. Derrius outside left, Chambers outside right...Simmons in the left slot. McMichael lined up outside RT stays in to block. Ricky in the backfield, moves to the right and helps McMichael block. Bucs are lined up in classic Cover 2, and this time they stay that way. Dixon has a little trouble blocking his man (I assume its Rice) but Griese fires off a nice ball to Sam Simmons who look like he ran a classic slot Hitch route. Sam caught it, ran for an extra 5 yds or so. First down.
1st and 10. Another pretty vanilla play. Two TE formation left. Donald Lee lined up outside LT, McMike lined up outside and behind Lee. Off I Strong (left) backfield formation. One receiver by his lonesome out on the weakside (right). Right runs toward the left, runs into some traffic, cuts toward middle a little more and then just lowers down and bulls the pile around for another couple yards. Perry pulled left and ran right into Mark Dixon who may have been pushed back a little too far by his man (it was Sapp)....Perry could barely recover enough to help out with some seal blocks. Wade got a good push upfield, so did Nails who released upfield like a Center (maybe a little overzealous). Lee looked good with his block and McMike just sorta made sure his CB didn't get into the mix to make a tackle. About 2-3 yards. Obviously a little trouble with Warren and the gang up front not cooperating with the Phins OL.
2nd and 8...the FUMBLE PLAY. Ok my bad, I mistook this play for a screen. It wasn't. Classic Two TE setup (which apparently, Norv will be lookin to use some more this year) with the TEs this time set up to the Right. Two Wides. Ricky in backfield. McMike lined up as outter most TE on right side. He runs out shallow for an out route toward the sideline and the D forgets about him. Lee did a good job blockin. Ricky did a good job blockin. Mark Dixon, did not do such a good job. Dont know who his man was but he was in Griese's face by the end of the play...but I think he gave Griese enough time because from the way Griese fixed his stare onto McMike the entire play, I believe this was designed to go to him. Anyway R-Mac beats Derrick Brooks to the outside and the CB Brian Kelly was covering the WR. Griese throws the ball really high forcing McMike to turn all the way around toward Griese and jump HIGH in the air for it (his vertical skills are supreme for a TE). By this time Brian Kelly had sniffed the play out and peeled off his WR and by the time McMike landed and turned around, Kelly had his helmet right in R-Mac's gut knockin the ball out. Derrick Brooks TRIED afterwards to pretend that he was gonna give Brian Kelly the "fake credit" for the fumble but it was really him that knocked it out. Uh uh. It was Kelly. Kelly knocked it out with his hand and head, and Dwight Smith recovered it. Bad throw from Griese on two counts. One he locked onto McMike which I'm sure signaled Kelly enough to peel off his WR a little early. Second he threw the ball so high that it left McMike to be tackled immediately after catching it. The Bucs BTW were in a classic Cover 2 again. And for what its worth, Donald Lee had some good hustle running over to Brian Kelly after he picked up the ball and bringing him back down to the ground and he also caused Kelly to drop the ball.
Bucs get the ball again...D'OH! 1st and 10 on the Miami 45 yard line....NICE SHORT FIELD for them. SON OF A BYTCH. This is the Michael Pittman pass play. Vanilla offense? Think again. Try this on for size. Two tight end formation to the Right. Jurevicious is TE #1 lined up outside the RT. Actual TE (prolly Dudley) lined up outside of Joe. Remember that weird formation before I mentioned with Pittman lined up 5 yards behind the LT? I say its weird because its too wide to be considered the backfield. Well guess what. Now Pittman and Alstott are BOTH lined up there, side by side right next to each other bunched up. There's also a WR lined up wide to the left. I don't know if this was a mistake, or if the phins intended to line up like this just because its preseason, or if they actually would line up like this in the regular season but the Phins lined up in their base Classic Cover 2 formation. Anyway Jurevicious pops out and cuts to the inside. I think the actual TE blocked, he might have released who knows but he did nothin much. Alstott ran forward from this funny position (bizarro backfield) and cut inside to his right. Now here's the real kicker and this was NOT easy to see. The WR to the left lets assume its Keyshawn. He runs a kind of weird post pattern drawing the deep help of the safety on that side of the field. I say its a "weird" post pattern because h purposely drags his CB (I believe it was Madison) to the inside just a little bit, so that as Seau is watching Pittman coming out of the bizarro backfield and Seau is moving to his right and backward to cover Pittman as he runs out and up, Seau runs smack into Sam Madison for a classic Pick Play. Yeah, thats why Seau was so late to the catch. Keyshawn had not only cleared the CB and Safety, but he cleared Seau from making the play too. As inFINS said, the ball could have been thrown a lot better all things considered cuz in stride, Pittman would have been able to grab a TD especially with the safety (Marion) caught payin too much attention to Keyshawn for containment. The pick play worked...they didnt bump and fall down or anything but it stopped Junior up just long enough so that Pittman got a good distance on Junior who is slower than Pittman obviously. Folks there was a reason Junior was so far behind Pittman on that play. He got picked by Keyshawn and Sam Madison...but then again these are the kind of things a savvy utility pro bowl guy like Keyshawn will do to you. But, on the flipside, the Phins insisted on playing a base Cover 2 here while the Bucs were obviously pulling out some new kinks in their playbook that were probably designed to look good against a base defense like Cover 2.
1st and 10 from 18 yard line. Jumbo I set with two Wides. TE motions from left to right, Phins in base Cover 2 formation...Mike Alstott carries Right side for a couple yards tackled by Brock Marion.
2nd and 7 at the 15. 4 wide set with two TEs. Keyshawn wide left with another WR left slot. TE Dudley lined up outside RT in up position, Yoder to the Right wide. This is a pretty classic Spread Formation play, single back toss fake. BJ snaps and fakes a pitch to the left side while he has some OL men pull to the left. Dudley takes on Ogun one-on-one and Ogun follows BJ as BJ rolls to the right side (Yoder released up). Morlon Greenwood follows BJ out to the right side also. Eventually Ogun releases off Dudley and goes for BJ, who then pitches it to Dudley because Greenwood is also looking for the QB rather than covering Dudley for Ogun. Dudley doesn't catch it, but it looked overall like a very busted play and Zach was ready to pummel Dudley if he caught it.
3rd and 7. Bucs are in an Off I set with 2 WRs and a TE but the guy in the TE position I believe is a WR so its 3 WRs, with Ken Dilger lined up as the fullback right. So accordingly Dolphins have a nickel package in. Alphonso Roundtree is in the game which I assume, means Madison was not because I saw Buckley and Jamar in the play. Anyway Dilger runs out to the flat around the sideline and BJ tries to hit him but Dilger drops it. Ogun and JT both fired off the snap like lightning and one of them was held but I think they both were offsides. Ogun was gettin right in Brad's grill though as he released the ball. Not sure whether it was JT or Ogun being held but I think it was Ogun who pushed his offensive lineman so far into Brad Johnson's pelvis it looked like a prison rape scene.
Offsetting. Lets try this again. 3rd and 7. I may have been mistaken before. Either Roundtree is being subbed in for Jamar Fletcher on this play, or Roundtree is getting play as a Safety. Either way play starts out another pretty classic 3 WR formation nothin special, two right one left. This one is a little hard to diagnose...I think we might be lined up in Dime here I only see Zach Thomas on the field only LB I think. Sam Madison is in at RCB and McCardell is lined up on his side left. Jamar Fletcher is lined up deep over #86 lined up at TE. I see Roundtree lined up far right on a WR, and I see TBuck lined up just inside him on the slot WR. This really looks like a heavy zone coverage goin on here because Keenan drags to the right across the field, so Sam Madison disengages him and points at SOMEONE to take Keenan as he moves across the field, while Sam follows #86 who has released on an out and up covered by Jamar Fletcher. Sam most likely in my opinion was pointing for #24 Sammy Knight to take Keenan as he dragged across the field, but Sammy looks like he was covering the Slot WR who had just cut to the left portion of the field. TBuck disengaged from that Slot WR just in time to run back and tackle Keenan as he caught the ball. Meanwhile in the backfield JT and Ogun were at it again, forcing BJ to run out of the pocket to his right. But it worked, he completed a nice pass to Keenan...but Keenan didn't get the first down...TBuck tackled him short of it. The only thing is I'm tryin to figure out who should have had Keenan as he dragged to that side of the field. My only observation is that Brock Marion was apparently nowhere on that field, didnt see him the entire play. Looked like we had 10 men out there. Still, the defense rejoiced as they had come up with a big stop on 3rd and 7.
OH, but this is PRESEASON. Jon Gruden decides to go for it on 4th and inches. Folks, during a real game he would not do this. I know you think Jon is such a fiery good coach and all so (some of you) think to yourselves that he might go for it in that situation for real but he is not Steve Spurrier ok? Playing the dolphins, he would know it was set to be a TOUGH, CLOSE, game...and there is no WAY he would take points off the board by going for it....just to attempt to go up 7 points in the first quarter. This is especially true because its in Miami, and a stop would be a complete crowd juicer...the equivalent of return TD. So anyway its 4th and inches. The Bucs line up in a jumbo goal line I formation, and run right with Alstott. Seau rushes from wide right (DEFENSIVE RIGHT) while Zach plugs on the left side. Ogun released a little low but came pretty close to getting hold of Alstott as he leaped over Ogun. Brock comes in from the right side and does a good job colliding with Alstott near the 1st down marker....but Alstott gets the first by about a foot.
1st and Goal from about 7 yards out. I formation with two wides to the left and TE lined up right. Ran straight up the right guard, who did a great job moving Bowens out of the way. Zach got hit and blocked by the fullback. Sammy Knight bit on the cutback, overpersued to the left hand side and was helpless when Pittman made a nice cutback to hit the hole. Brock Marion, not sure what he was doin deep right, probably worryin about those two WRs. Great blocking on the play, we got beat.
Well thats how they got the first TD there. That might be enough play-by-play for now.
But take a little heart. The defense DID hold the Bucs offense twice...once with a short field. And they did it pretty much in the base Cover 2 the entire time except a few nickel and dime coverages called for because of the Bucs blatant use of a bunch of the new kinks in their playbook.
