First preseason game means nothing?? | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

First preseason game means nothing??

Jeep

Jeep

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The most obvious is the lack of defense.. With the additions we have acquired this off season.. we all expected a dominating defense.. No.. not just a good defense or an above average defense...

We/I expected the defense to swarm all over the offense and force 3 n outs, like they were going out of style...

What we saw (or heard) was our first string defense playing catch-up to the Bucs 2nd string QB.. Running around the field like they wore cement laced football cleats... No resemblance at all of a dominating defense. The Bucs could pretty much run at will and pass at will with a minor interruption of one or two good defensive plays...

It is obvious that our soft spot is still the linebackers.. runs up the middle hurts us and passes to the TE's hurt us.. I will give TB a little credit because they are SuperBowl Champs and this is their 2nd pre-season game.. but come on guys.. lets be realistic here.. our defense could not stop them... in fact.. this is the really scary part... we couldnt even slow them down..


On the offense... this is where pre-season really means nothing!! Ricky only had two runs, Feidler wasnt playing and I believe I heard the team didnt even set out with a game plan..

On the bright side, Tolver and Stemke sure looks good.. dont they??
 
As one who watched the first half, and is still watching the 2nd half, I disagree with your assessment. Sorry.
 
Dang it.. the first half of my post is missing... grrrrrr

Anyways.. I was in total shock listening to the game.. and I guess I was trying to make some sense of what went wrong..

Since your able to view the game (CK) whats your take on what went wrong?
 
I actually think the defense looked alright. They had lapses though.

Sammy Knight for instance, was out of place on a few gainers that moved the chains. A step short I guess.

Zach Thomas, is looking late reacting to RBs comin out of the backfield. They run up the field, Zach gives them cushion, then the RB cuts and the ball is there, and Zach is playing catch up. Got the Bucs like 7 yards or so each time.

Junior should not be coverin Pittman deep down the sideline, still it was a mistake on Junior's part I believe he can get better coverage than THAT...but it was a good throw too.

Even so, the Bucs had to punt on the first drive, Miami gets the ball with good field position...then Griese tosses it high on a WR screen to where Mac has to jump 3 feet in the air and as soon as Mac comes down and gets squared he's got a defenders helmet in the gut right where the ball is. A milisecond later and it would have been an incomplete, a milisecond before and Randy probably would have been able to hold it. Thats why I blame it on Griese. Mac shouldn't have had to do an olympic vertical jump to get the ball.

So then the Bucs have a short field to work with...start in our territory. And you know what? Even with the big completion to Pittman, we hold them to a field goal. Oh I know it goes down as a touchdown, but this is a preseason game and on 3rd and 6, we held them to a 4th down. Gruden does not take points off the board like that going for it at the beginning of what should be a tough game against a tough opponent. They went for the 4th and inches, and Alstott got it by the skin of his teeth (I dont think Chester was in or JT). Thats when Pittman ran through a hole in the middle and danced a bit and got the touchdown. The Phins you could tell knew the drive should have already been over. But, Knight was out of position in run support on the Pittman TD so thats not good.

From there it wasn't really the defense, it was Griese taking bad sacks because he waited way too damn long. Basically the first team D held the Bucs to a punt, then held the Bucs to a FG on a short field, in a real game. I don't think thats bad.

It was a lot of second teamers in the game when the Bucs scored their next TD.
 
Originally posted by ckparrothead
I actually think the defense looked alright. They had lapses though.

Sammy Knight for instance, was out of place on a few gainers that moved the chains. A step short I guess.

Zach Thomas, is looking late reacting to RBs comin out of the backfield. They run up the field, Zach gives them cushion, then the RB cuts and the ball is there, and Zach is playing catch up. Got the Bucs like 7 yards or so each time.

Junior should not be coverin Pittman deep down the sideline, still it was a mistake on Junior's part I believe he can get better coverage than THAT...but it was a good throw too.

Even so, the Bucs had to punt on the first drive, Miami gets the ball with good field position...then Griese tosses it high on a WR screen to where Mac has to jump 3 feet in the air and as soon as Mac comes down and gets squared he's got a defenders helmet in the gut right where the ball is. A milisecond later and it would have been an incomplete, a milisecond before and Randy probably would have been able to hold it. Thats why I blame it on Griese. Mac shouldn't have had to do an olympic vertical jump to get the ball.

So then the Bucs have a short field to work with...start in our territory. And you know what? Even with the big completion to Pittman, we hold them to a field goal. Oh I know it goes down as a touchdown, but this is a preseason game and on 3rd and 6, we held them to a 4th down. Gruden does not take points off the board like that going for it at the beginning of what should be a tough game against a tough opponent. They went for the 4th and inches, and Alstott got it by the skin of his teeth (I dont think Chester was in or JT). Thats when Pittman ran through a hole in the middle and danced a bit and got the touchdown. The Phins you could tell knew the drive should have already been over. But, Knight was out of position in run support on the Pittman TD so thats not good.

From there it wasn't really the defense, it was Griese taking bad sacks because he waited way too damn long. Basically the first team D held the Bucs to a punt, then held the Bucs to a FG on a short field, in a real game. I don't think thats bad.

It was a lot of second teamers in the game when the Bucs scored their next TD.
Click to expand...

Good assessment...just one place i gotta disagree....when Pittman beat Seau down the sideline it was a HORRIBLE throw...Pitt had to totally stop and catch the ball right above the turf...had he caught it in stride it was a TD all the way.
 
I guess its a different game on the internet radio vs TV.. Thanks CK

cant wait until Sunday to see it for myself.........
 
You know, Leonard Henry could make this team if only he learned to block out of the backfield. He can run but when he's in there he needs to be able to pick up a blitzer. He personally let up a sack.

Anyway. Knight also showed why we got him. He got a good lick or two in, and he cause Aaron Stecker's fumble that was recovered by the Bucs.

Omare Lowe looks like a good tackler.

Kevin Stemke looks like a good power punter but with not a whole lot of control...but still good in the face of danger.

Donald Lee had a drop but looked pretty good otherwise.

Sam Simmons looked good against top notch competition, a real good SLOT guy he looked like. He got pummeled though and lost the ball but honestly, I expect nobody to keep that ball with a hit like that (he got flipped over literally and came down on his neck). But he got back up showing some real toughness.

JR Tolver nearly made a RIDICULOUS diving one-handed TD catch in which it looked like the CB covering him might have been holding back his other arm. Otherwise, he had a great run-after-the-catch play where he caught it sideline short, dodged two would-be tacklers, and took it up for a first down. Plus, he had a nice gainer down the sideline.

I didn't think the OL looked bad at all. I think they had a little confusion on a blitz pickup or two. But the Bucs tossed the book at the Phins offensively and defensively tonight, and the Phins obviously were just going very vanilla. I dont think they uncovered any of the stuff they did against the Titans, those zone coverages and whatnot.
 
It's already been said by Wanny that they were going to play a plain vanilla defense because they did not want to give away the new defensive schemes to be used by Zach and Junior as well as our DB's. Thus the simplistic look and mediocre play. It's nothing guys. Why are you sweating it?
 
If I remember correctly if the ball would have been thrown in stride to Pittman, the safety would have been there. I think I have it on tape, and I'll consult the tape.
 
everyone plays vanilla in pre-season....


meaning the Bucs were playing vanilla offense. I didn't see or listen to the game, idk know what the score is, but I can tell you for certain that TB was playing vanilla as well.
 
Well I'm not sweatin it. Just on a few plays there were guys makin mistakes. That you have to correct. Penalties you have to correct and they hurt us tonight. That can't be a habit. When Zach is giving a ton of cushion to a RB out of the backfield and it results in a consistent 7 or 8 yard gain, thats a problem. That needs to be fixed.

BTW, JT in the little time he played, looked like an absolute beast...which is REALLY relieving cuz I feared an "off" year by him which we absolutely could not afford.

Ogun also looked good tossing around the RT a bit, and Jay Williams of course took some lower level competition and showed them why Williams is a bigtime contributor.
 
No way ck...he was wide open down the side line...I don't have tape but, I made sure I watched the replay closely.....unless the safety was JUST out of frame, there was nobody there...
 
No Moulds, Tampa was not. You really have to watch the game. Jaws noted more than once how many formations and wrinkles the Bucs were tossing out there, even when Chris Simms was in the game in the 2nd half. The Bucs really did bring out a lot of wrinkles dude, seriously...offensively and defensively. The Bucs ran a flea flicker, ran a reverse in the 2nd half. They've done everything but a halfback pass.

The most complicated play Miami tossed out there was a rollout.

BTW I keep forgetting to mention...Otis Grigsby is looking real good against lower tier talent. I mean, its not sayin he's a starter in the NFL, but he belongs on our roster. He's making plays.
 
Originally posted by IceStorm
Why are you sweating it?
Click to expand...


Look everybody.. it is only pre-season and we all know what they say about pre-season.. it means NO-THING!!!

So I will resort to a cautious sweating.. wiping the brow and hoping the sweat doesnt reveal my bald spot.. j/k


First.. its an inner-state rivalry.. we all are spose to hate Sapp and da Bucs..

Second.. the first half of the first quarter is our first showing of the 2003 Phins..

Third and most importantly.. we are like step-children here.. we are football deprived and we want to relive that perfect season.. 21-0 counting preseason.. :)
 
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