- Joined
- Jan 5, 2009
- Messages
- 30,987
- Reaction score
- 1,249
Positives
Negatives
Overall Assessment
- Plus 1 turnover differential.
- Ryan Tannehill made some nice throws during the game. The throw to Jarvis Landry before the end of the half was huge at the time. His rocket to Jordan Cameron was on the money right before the end of the half. RT had a nice touch throw to Kenny Stills for six. Before that throw to Stills, he had the presence of mind to throw away a ball after a bad snap.
- Red Zone defense. Held the Cowboys to 1-3. Got an interception on one of those trips.
- Ndamukong Suh was dominant again. He often wasted OG Zach Martin. He had 7 TOT, 4 solo and 1 TFL.
- Olivier Vernon had a great game going against one of the best OT’s in football. OV finished with 1 sack, 5 TOT, 3 solo, and 2 TFL’s. He constantly pressured Tony Romo.
- Reshad Jones was active. 8 TOT, 7 solo and 2 TFL.
- Brent Grimes interception. Grimes was generally very good against Dez Bryant.
- Derrick Shelby had himself another nice game. He had a clutch sack after Dallas started on a short field and helped force a Dallas field goal.
- Neville Hewitt interception.
- Matt Darr put two punts inside the 10. On the opening drive, he put one inside the five.
- Great blitz call on the Grimes interception with Hewitt bringing pressure on Romo.
- Bryant’s taunting penalty that ended up putting the Fins on a short field near the end of the first half.
- Tribute to Rishard Matthews’ family member that died in the line of duty.
Negatives
- Tannehill’s pick six. Terrible read and decision.
- Got no points off of Hewitt interception.
- 1-11 on 3rd down. Completely awful.
- Miami got 210 total yards of offense. Unacceptable.
- Landry drop in the first quarter. The ball was a bit underthrown by Tannehill. The fact of the matter was it was opportunity to move the ball into the scoring area that went unfulfilled.
- Jason Fox was awful. He had two holding penalties that killed first downs.
- Dallas Thomas blowing a block on a QB keeper that could have gone for big yards.Plus, he ended up yielding a ton of pressure throughout the game.
- Mike Pouncey skidding a snap by RT.
- Pouncey had a momentum killing chop block penalty.
- 3rd down defense...the Cowboys converted 7-14.
- Dallas got 386 total yards.
- 166 yards rushing for Dallas. 4.4 per attempt.
- Dallas had 7.3 yards per reception.
- 4th quarter, 3rd and 13 and Miami needing the ball back, Dallas runs a draw that goes for a first down.
- After Miami tied up the game, the defense gave seven points right back to them.
- Jamar Taylor was atrocious today. He had a holding penalty that killed a sack. He also was beaten for a TD Terrance Williams and routinely beaten by him.
- Landry botching a kick return that ended up with Miami taking over inside the five.
- Darr personal foul penalty.
- Too many penalties. 79 yards on 10 penalties.
- Lost time of possession 38:50 to 21:10.
- Terrible decision to punt the ball in the 4th quarter. The team was down ten points and at midfield. They punted and got the ball back with all of a minute left in the game. Down two scores, you cannot punt there.
- The team did not run the ball enough against a defense that is bad against the run. Running the ball is what Miami does best on offense. Dallas struggles vs. the run. Miami averaged 5 yards a carry today. Yet, Miami ran the ball all of 14 times in a close game.
- The defensive alignment that had Hewitt lined over Bryant with Aikens over the top. Romo hit Bryant for a TD on that play.
Overall Assessment
- Four straight weeks this team has been down double digits in the game. You cannot live that way.
- This team plays zero complimentary football...zero. One phase of the game puts another in a vicegrip. Outside of the Titans and Texans game, this team has not played off of each other. This is one area that if improved could make all the difference in the world.
- Why is it that vital players always seem to make it back for games with Miami? Guaranteed that Nick Mangold and Darrelle Revis play for the Jets next week. Guaranteed Andrew Luck makes it back for our game with the Colts. It never fails. Miami needs to start making their own breaks, but they get nothing handed to them.
- I am tired of the zero to two TD output each game by this offense. This issue involves everyone….including the OC, the QB, the line, receivers, TE’s and RB’s. Everyone is at fault. This offense seems to have no chance to score more than 14 to 17 points.
- The Tannehill pick six was a complete kick to the gut. The game was even and rolling fine. RT throws a terrible pass to Rolando McClain that is returned for a TD. The interception created a terrible tone for the team.
- Tannehill is not getting better. First, he is never the reason this team wins. He is not making others around him better. His game is uneven at best. We can sit here and blame the OC. We can have the silly debate about audibles. We can blame the line. We can blame the receivers. The bottom line is Tannehill needs to start taking steps forward as a QB. I am a Tannehill supporter, but I am going to make excuses for his play either. RT should be the team’s QB, but he needs to start being accountable for his play. Demand a higher level of performance.
- Jamar Taylor needs to come off of the field. Play Brice McCain. Play Bobby McCain. Try Zach Bowman. Experiment with Tony Lippett. Taylor has had his chances and his results are filled with penalties and broken coverages.
- I still want to see a replay of Landry’s botched kickoff. IF he was out of bounds while he was touching the ball initially, that is a flag and the ball should have been at the 40. We saw one replay. Two things: Landry should caught the ball in the air, obviously. That is two weeks in a row, Miami cannot return a kickoff appropriately. Secondly, the returners should have been coached up to be out of bounds while picking up the ball to get the ball to the 40. IF Landry was out of bounds while touching the ball, that is terrible if the coaching staff did not notice.
- So much for those 3rd down adjustments Campbell talked.
- Dan Campbell still has a great chance at this job. However, he needs to start showing better. First, he needs to get better with clock management issues. The Buffalo game had the timeout situation.This game had “the punt”. No way down ten can a team punt the ball. They needed to score on that possession and get the ball back from the defense for a chance to win or tie the game. He needs to show an aggressiveness in his decision making. From there, his team needs to start to show actual improvements each week. Let’s see the offense start to score in the mid twenties each week. Let’s see the defense start stopping the run. Let’s see the giveaway/takeaway differential be on the plus side. Let’s see some of the stars along with young players demonstrate improvement. Campbell can still get this job, but he needs to start showing he is evolving into head coaching material.
- Enough from Kelvin Sheppard about running the table and going 10-6. How about talking about winning a division game? How about trying to get back to .500? How about simply trying to get better as a team?
- I am also tired of hearing from players about how they “want to win for Dan Campbell”. If true, start showing it. Start showing it with better blocking and tackling. Show it by not making mental errors. Show it by making plays. There is a lot of talk from this group, but more action is needed.
- Crazy. After a Patriots win vs. Buffalo. Miami is still one game out from the other Wild Card teams...granted a slew of other teams are with them. However, the Dolphins are still in the mix. I want to see how this team responds going into a hostile environment against a struggling team themselves. It is a must win for both teams. The season is on the line next week in New York. Win and stay in. Lose and it is play for pride and start to determine who the next coach will be. It is a huge week for this staff and roster this week.
