I knew the Phins were going to get crushed in this one because after losing ISA for the season and Maxwell out we just didn't have the defense to stop the Steelers anymore. Before the season, if we were imagining a secondary with Lippett, a second round rookie with like five starts, a street free agent, and Michael Thomas at safety, you would have rightfully expected it to be one of the worst in football. This defense isn't the one that excelled in the middle of the season. With the injuries to key players that it had along with the lack of depth left by poor roster management and poor drafting over the last few years, there's a good portion of that defense that is flat out not NFL caliber seeing significant time in a playoff game. And as we saw in a lot of games last year, if pass rush isn't at least complemented by other parts of the defense, it can be easily neutralized by the other team's offense simply gameplanning to not give it opportunities, and when you face a team like the Steelers, easily having the talent to do it. It's how the Ravens beat us, and it's how the Pats beat us over, and over, and over. Michael Thomas had a lucky easy INT, but he's been a disaster for weeks. Rambo played really well for stretches but hasn't taken a good angle on a runner or receiver for nearly a month. Safety isn't considered an impact position unless you have an all pro there, but I learned in 2007 just how bad it can be if you don't have at least a competent safety. And that's really, really bad.
I knew defensively this was going to be a bloodbath. I knew the run game was going to have a harder time going this time because we haven't moved people off the ball in all but one game (Buf) since Pouncey has gone out. You can only expect an offense with a backup QB on the road to be able to overcome so much. I like Moore a lot, and if the game is competitive and he's not asked to do too much, you can win with him, and he can win some games in ways that I'm not sure Tannehill can do. But I knew this one would be an early deficit, and it being 20-3 before the offense has even had its third possession is tough to ask any QB to overcome against a quality opponent. The more we had to overcome on offense, the more the fact that we were playing with a backup QB who isn't completely in sync with the offense and isn't accustomed to having to overcome a specific gameplan against him would be exposed. It sucks that we had three turnovers. It sucks that the announcing crew could see from the get go of the game that we couldn't protect for empty sets and we still went with it in key situations repeatedly with disastrous results.
I think we all knew that one way or another this team wasn't SB bound. We had some things exposed today but for once we know we have a staff that is capable of causing a mediocre roster to over achieve. Here's to the future.
I knew defensively this was going to be a bloodbath. I knew the run game was going to have a harder time going this time because we haven't moved people off the ball in all but one game (Buf) since Pouncey has gone out. You can only expect an offense with a backup QB on the road to be able to overcome so much. I like Moore a lot, and if the game is competitive and he's not asked to do too much, you can win with him, and he can win some games in ways that I'm not sure Tannehill can do. But I knew this one would be an early deficit, and it being 20-3 before the offense has even had its third possession is tough to ask any QB to overcome against a quality opponent. The more we had to overcome on offense, the more the fact that we were playing with a backup QB who isn't completely in sync with the offense and isn't accustomed to having to overcome a specific gameplan against him would be exposed. It sucks that we had three turnovers. It sucks that the announcing crew could see from the get go of the game that we couldn't protect for empty sets and we still went with it in key situations repeatedly with disastrous results.
I think we all knew that one way or another this team wasn't SB bound. We had some things exposed today but for once we know we have a staff that is capable of causing a mediocre roster to over achieve. Here's to the future.
