- Joined
- Jan 5, 2009
- Messages
- 30,987
- Reaction score
- 1,249
Positives
Negatives
Overall Assessment
- The offense was much improved from past weeks. They ended up 7-16 on 3rd down (44%).
- Running game was very solid, 128 yards on 22 carries for 5.8 a rush.
- Liked how the offense responded the next drive after Dion Sims’ fumble.
- Lamar Miller. 89 yards on 12 carries for 7.4 per rush. His long was a spectacular 38 run through the middle of the Giants defense. He finished with 2 TD’s.
- Ryan Tannehill had a good night going 25-41 for 236 yards and 1 TD. His QB Rating was 85. Tannehill also used his legs effectively. RT showed some strong skills audibling to different plays. None was more evident than the TD strike to Kenny Stills. Tannehill got out of the play and ended up throwing a perfect ball to the Stills for 47 yards.
- Jarvis Landry was targeted a ton and had 11 catches for 99 yards (9.0 per reception).
- DeVante Parker’s block on Miller’s first TD run.
- Run defense. Held the Giants to 92 yards on 32 carries for 2.9 per rush.
- The defense held the Giants to three points after the Sims fumble.
- Olivier Vernon had 3 QB hits and a key one that forced a punt. Miami had great field position after. OV also had a TFL.
- Ndamukong Suh was very disruptive early. While I will discuss this later, Suh played way more snaps than any DT would be asked in the league. Plus, between being on the field a ton and in the humidity, I think he worked his tail off in the game despite the national narrative of his play.
- Reshad Jones’ fumble recovery.
- Brent Grimes had a PBU on 3rd down that forced a long FG attempt that went wide.
- Matt Darr had a great, great game. 4 punts downed inside the 20.
- Andrew Franks’ booming kickoffs.
- The second drive of the game, Dan Campbell went for it on 4th down and got a first down. The drive ended in a TD.
- While the play did not work, I like the attempt of the flea flicker.
- Throwback uniforms.
Negatives
- Even turnover differential. Miami needs to be on the plus side to have any chance to win. Miami turned it over on the opening possession and did not get nearly enough chances for takeaways on defense.
- Jarvis Landry undisciplined penalty. Landry killed great field position at midfield as Miami was trying to tie it late in the game.
- Tannehills’ 4th down miss of Landry. RT broke contain as Landry busted free behind the defense, but RT overshot him. The Fins never got the ball again.
- Dion Sims’ fumble. The offense had some momentum early and Sims killed some of the vibe with the fumble as the Fins were down 3-0 early.
- Dolphins drops. Sims had a drop down the hash. It was a good throw and a contested catch a TE needs to make. Sims dropped it. Damien Williams was wide open on wheel route, the ball was at Williams fingertips, but again, no catch. Williams also had no dive attempt either. On the flea flicker, Landry came back for the ball, but did not catch the ball that hit him between the numbers. On a key 3rd down late in the 4th, Tannehill hit Jordan Cameron down the middle. While he was contested, it is a ball an NFL TE needs to catch and Cameron dropped it. Huge drops this week stunted the offense. There were a total of 6 drops.
- Parker was invisible on the big stage against a bad pass defense. One frustrating play, was when RT broke contain, the QB lofted a nice ball to Parker. However, Parker did not work his way back enough and the pass was broken up by a Giants defender.
- Dallas Thomas. On one play, he got whipped so bad, RT was drilled and was lucky enough to have his arm coming forward for an incompletion. He also had a false start that changed a 3rd and 2 to a 3rd and 7. Thomas was terrible last night.
- Billy Turner’s holding call.
- Jason Fox’s holding call.
- Gave up 31 points.
- New York converted 5-11 on 3rd down (46 %).
- Red Zone defense. The Giants scored 3 TD’s on 4 trips into the red area.
- Gave up 429 total yards.
- Pass defense. They allowed gaudy numbers to be put up by Eli Manning. 27-31, 337 yards, 4 TD’s for 151.5 QB Rating. Beckham went off for 166 yards on 7 catches and 2 TD’s. The Giants YPA was 10.9.
- Late hits by OV and Jordan Phillips.
- Blown coverage by Jamar Taylor on the long TD to Odell Beckham Jr.
- Penalties. 12 penalties for a tune of 123 yards.
- Not using Lamar Miller in the 2nd half. Simply dumb coaching move. Miller was the best player for Miami in the first half and he got all of six touches after his second TD.
- What a terrible game plan against Beckham. No safety help for Grimes when covering Beckham. For some reason, a decision was made that Grimes was to “island him” and the Fins paid by giving up an explosive play. The only offensive weapon that could truly beat you and Miami played him often like he was a typical receiver. Even on Taylor’s blown coverage, he was supposed to run with OBJ by himself if Taylor was to execute it right. Terrible game plan this week by the coaching staff.
- The Fins did not finish the half. They had the lead, but allowed the Giants to score a TD in the closing seconds.
- I understand the team is not deep, but I think the team made some mistakes yesterday by not being in shape. It is not enough to say, “they live in this weather so they should be fine”. Something was missing in terms of their stamina. Very disappointing to see players make mistakes seemingly because of a lack of conditioning.
Overall Assessment
- Dan Campbell is not getting the head coaching job. Not a newsflash after losing last night. Campbell missed a golden opportunity to land this job if his team would have won last night. Imagine the narrative going around nationally and South Florida if the Fins had won. However, in the end, Campbell is not qualified for this job. I give him ton of credit for picking up the pieces that Joe Philbin left behind. He has done his best he could. However, at the end of the day, Dan Campbell cannot be the head coach next year. There is so little to him when it comes to strategy. Rarely has his coaching made a difference in a game. There are few wrinkles and adjustments, but rarely make for much of a change. His team is starting to get penalized with way too much regularity. I am also getting tired of him saying during the week “we have the answers for such and such”. Going into the Jets game it was that they had the answers for 3rd downs. This week was they had answers for OBJ. Never do any of his proclamations come true. Finally, he supposedly stands for a mentality of “running the ball”. However, the best player on his team last night was Lamar Miller. How does Miller only get 6 touches after his second TD. Miller said he was not injured. What is the philosophy behind that? The ball should have been fed to Miller not just in the run game, but also in the passing game. I am blown away by the fact that in the 4th we saw more of Williams and Jay Ajayi. The Giants and Tom Coughlin showed Miami something. With the game on the line, Coughlin used his two best players; Eli Manning and Odell Beckham Jr. to ice the game. Campbell and his staff on the other hand had Miller on the bench in a competitive game. While the defensive game plan is on Lou Anarumo, Campbell is ultimately responsible for it. It was a terribly conceived plan that showed little in the way of adjustments as the game went on. Campbell has put his heart and soul into this job. I give him so much credit for the effort he has put in. I personally root for him. However, his words and actions do not match and in the end he and the staff give no advantage on game day.
- You could see the desperate spot Dan Campbell is in to get the job. After the gut punch penalty on Landry that killed the final drive for Miami, I was waiting to see what Campbell would do with the young receiver. He knew Landry needed to be disciplined yet also knew that Landry had to be on the field to help the team. Campbell kept him out a play before returning him to the game. Again, I do not blame him, but it shows you that he knows he is coaching for his life. It was a situation that Landry needed to sit longer to make a point to him and the ball club. However, Campbell needed the talent on the field to give his team a chance.
- I do not care if the next coach is “liked” by the players. In fact, the successful ones are not typically liked by their players. However, they are respected. This team supposedly love Dan Campbell because he is a “player’s coach”. Well, if that is the case, go out and ball for him. Make those catches. Come up with a big play. Come up with a big stop. Do something to get him the job. In the end, the Dolphins need a head coach that is a leader and will create an effective culture that makes players accountable for their play and actions.
- Critics of in the media in regards to Suh are starting to bother me. There are few DT’s that play as much as he does. He is out there every snap and the cameras are rolling for that one play or two that he is not going at it 100%. Then they strike up the narrative that he makes a lot of money and is dogging it. It is such a lazy piece of journalism. Shame on Jon Gruden, Ray Lewis and the Mike Greenberg’s of the world for creating this yarn. It is such a shallow take.
- It is such a limited argument to blame Ryan Tannehill for last night. He played a solid game. Yes, he did miss Landry on a big play in big spot. I will keep saying he needs to get better in the 4th quarter to take the next step. However, Tannehill did some good things for his team and between a bad pass defense, a terrible defensive game plan, drops, penalties and the coaching staff icing Lamar Miller, Tannehill is way down the list of issues for me this morning. In fact, I think he was a reason they were competing in the game.
- While many want to see Parker involved more (and I do not have an issue with that), the guy that needs more looks is Kenny Stills. Stills has proven to be a legitimate deep threat in the NFL and on chances with the Fins. He has shown flashes of brilliance this year. Perhaps the game plan needs to utilize Stills more during the last few weeks of the season.
- Jarvis Landry is a good piece to the Dolphins going forward. However, the dumb penalties out of his frustration and anger are starting to hurt the team. I love emotion. It is needed. I hate “zombie” players. However, that being said, Landry is going over the line by doing things to hurt his team. Landry has to find the balance to playing with emotion versus making dumb mistakes on the field.
- Drafting a CB should be the team’s biggest priority. I am not ready to run Grimes out the door just yet. Grimes can still play. The problem is they are asking him to “write checks he can’t cash”. He needs safety help with some of these tough receivers and he rarely gets it. Grimes should stay and have another boundary CB added in the first or second round of the draft.
- I might say this every week, but one of the biggest needs Miami has this offseason that is not talked enough about is FS. Miami has been so bad opposite of Jones. I wonder how much a quality, instinctive FS would cover up some of the issues at CB.
- The Damontre Moore pickup. While I have never been a huge fan, Moore is still just 23 years old, makes just over $800,000 and is still under contract next year. Plus, this helps to have enough DE’s in the mix as some tough decisions have to be made this offseason at DE.
- Classy 50th year celebration. I enjoyed all the photos this week and the half time gala was awesome. The Dolphins history is matched only by a few franchises.
- The 72 logo should have been the uniform change years ago. I called for that when talk of a uniform change sparked up. Steven Ross, and at the time Mike Dee, missed a chance here. However, now they have a problem. The retros looked so good that now nobody will care for the new logo. The Fins branding label might even be rejected by the public. They should have made the move back to the 72 look years ago.
- I love when my team is on the big stage. It is fun to see the team we represent playing in a big spot. Problem is now that they will finish with a weak record, the idea of getting scheduled for an important game on a Sunday or Monday night becomes remote. The team has to become relevant again for that to happen.
- The trip to San Diego will be a disaster. First of all, if you think Eli Manning is an intelligent QB, wait until Philip Rivers and the Chargers offensive staff gets their hands on that Miami tape. Secondly, the Fins will be flat after a tough loss and being eliminated from the playoffs. They have to travel west to SD on a short week. Finally, the Chargers could be playing their last home game ever in San Diego. This has the markings of an embarrassing loss. The character a player is to play hard and effective with nothing left to play for in my opinion. Who are the players that prepared during the week? Who are the players that play physical? Who are the players that play extremely well Sunday? Compare that to those that phone the game in. The coaches will get credit or the heat depending on the performance. However, does the team show heart and play hard or do they mail it in?
