- Joined
- Jan 5, 2009
- Messages
- 30,987
- Reaction score
- 1,249
Positives
Negatives
Overall Assessment
- They seemed to have got out of the game with no major injuries.
- The team played hard and aggressive even though “nothing was on the line”.
- Even turnover differential.
- Miami was 8-17 on 3rd down for 47%. A great percent considering how long some of the situations were.
- 438 total yards.
- Great 2 minute offense at the end of the half that led to a TD pass to DeVante Parker and gave the Pats no time to score before the half.
- Excellent 4 minute offense to kill the clock and got a field goal to go up 10 points with 2 minutes left.
- Ryan Tannehill had a phenomenal game today. He was money all game long. He went 25-38 for 350 yards, 2 TD’s, 0 interceptions and 112.8 QB Rating. Tannehill had a clutch TD pass right before the end of the half to DeVante Parker. I loved the way that the coaching staff trusted Tannehill at the end of the game. Looking to kill the clock, Tannehill had a big scramble to get another set of downs. On the same drive, Tannehill rolled against the grain and hit Dion Sims for a big gain and a first down. Tannehill was accurate and in command throughout.
- DeVante Parker was stellar today. He had 106 yards on 5 catches for 21.2 average. He also had a TD. He had a spectacular catch that was bounced in the air which he came down with a 46 yard catch. Great day for the rookie. Parker also had a clutch 3rd down catch early in the game.
- Jarvis Landry was a tough physical receiver. 74 yards on 4 catches. I also love when he decleated Malcolm Butler on a block.
- Greg Jennings. He had 74 yards on 4 catches. Very clutch and smooth today.
- Quietly, Dion Sims had a really nice game...40 yards on 3 catches.
- Damien Williams had a nice catch and run, faking out defenders along the way to a first down (38 yards 3 catches).
- Pass protection. Tannehill typically had a clean pocket. They only gave up a sack. Tannehill showed a strong pocket presence today to help matters.
- Good for Jamil Douglas to bounce back from a brutal end of the game last week. He was good enough in the pivot. Plus, props to Jacques McClendon to coming in late and holding down the center position.
- Run defense: The Pats had 70 yards on 27 carries for a 2.6 average.
- The defense was 4-14 on 3rd down. Held the Pats to 29% on the money down.
- Red Zone defense. The Pats were 1-2 in the red area. What is most impressive is the Patriots only got in the Red Zone twice.
- The Pats had only 196 total yards.
- Held Tom Brady to 12-21 for 134 yards and 76.3 QB Rating.
- Great work against Rob Gronkowski today. 18 yards on 2 catches.
- Pass rush. They had two sacks. The rush had constant pressure and hits on the Brady. Brady took a ton of punishment today.
- The offense got stopped short on a 4th down. The defense responded by forcing a punt.
- Ndamukong Suh was physical and active. 4 TOT, 3 solo, 1 TFL, .5 sack, and 2 QB hits. Suh laid a hit on Brady that the QB wore the rest of the game.
- Olivier Vernon had 6 TOT, 3 solo, .5 sack and 3 QB hits.
- Derrick Shelby came up big today with 5 TOT, all solo and 2 TFL’s. He also had a QB hit.
- Neville Hewitt had a great game today. He was active and all over the place. He read plays well along with doing well in coverage. He had 6 TOT, 4 solo, 1 TFL and I PD.
- Tony Lippett defending a deep pass.
- Michael Thomas’ big stick.
- Damontre Moore had a key PBU on 3rd down on the Pats 2nd drive in the 2nd half.
- Matt Darr’s punting.
- Stephen Gostkowski miss. Reshad Jones gets a lot of the credit for this along with Brice McCain on a few occasions
- Scored points before the half and did not let the Pats double up possession/points.
- The team was strong in dealing with adversity.
- Great challenge by Dan Campbell on the called on the field incompletion of a catch by Jennings.
- Zach Taylor stayed committed to the run.
- Love the play design on the Jordan Cameron TD.
- Loved that Taylor continued to attack in the 4 minute drill.
- The Jets lost and missed the playoffs.
- Aqua on aqua uniform look.
Negatives
- Penalties. 93 yards on 10 penalties. Simply too many. OV had a roughing the passer penalty. Jason Fox had a personal foul. Two nice Jarvis Landry returns on the same possession were wiped out by penalties to Tyler Patmon and Damien Williams.
- Red Zone offense. They were 2-4 in the red zone.
- Too many 3rd and longs.
- Miami struggled with short yardage plays. They missed on a key 4th down in the 2nd half and could not punch it in down close in the 4th. They had to settle for a FG and a 10 point lead.
- Kenny Stills: gave up running on a deep ball and had a drop on a very catchable ball.
- Jay Ajayi was slow to the hole today.
- 9 yard sack after a long pass to Greg Jennings.
- Gave up a TD on the opening drive out of halftime. A big play of 68 yards helped set up the score. Jones missed the tackle.
- Suh jumping offsides.
- Andrew Franks missed from 46 yards.
- Not sure where the uptempo went. After strong success early along with last week versus the Colts, Miami went away from the no huddle. Plus, New England was very thin on the Dline. I think they missed a chance to run them ragged.
Overall Assessment
- I do not want to hear that the Patriots “did not try”. The Pats ran the ball in order to keep a fierce pass rush off of their QB. They did keep some injured players out of the game, but think of what Miami was without? They were without their starting center, RT, productive WR, DT, DE, SLB and WLB. Miami had just as many productive players out.
- The Pats should have kept running the ball like the first half. Once they “opened it up” their QB started to get whacked and was running for his life.
- I wonder if the Pats were distracted by having the Winter Classic at Gillette Stadium. The Pats had to leave early for Florida than they typically do. Plus, Bill Belichick skating around the ice this week irked me. His team had a game to play and they were not ready to go.
- Good to see so many Patriots fans go home unhappy from Sun Life Stadium.
- Great game for Ryan Tannehill going into the offseason. He was fantastic today and after a very uneven season, Tannehill showed what he was capable of.
- A great response from Tannehill after a week of controversy courtesy of Miko Grimes. Tannehill turned in one of his best games of the 2015 campaign.
- Good for Dan Campbell. Campbell is a good man and took over a brutal situation. He did the best he could with it. Finishing 5-7 is probably not going to be enough to get the job. One wonders if he was 7-5 and had a stronger finish, if he could have got the job. He will end up on his feet. In fact, I would love to have a new head coach that is so secure that he would be willing to keep Campbell on in some capacity. While I understand it could be an awkward situation, Campbell represented the Dolphins in a classy and professional way.
- I do not think I ever have agreed with Mike Carey. Whether as a referee or analyst, I swear I am always opposite of him. That Greg Jennings catch was completely obvious. Ed Hochuli was completely correct that Jennings caught the ball and made a football move. For Mike Carey to sit there and lecture the viewers that we need learn the rule so it will not be as controversial in the future and have Hochuli overrule the call on field and contradict Carey was priceless.
- We won “our bowl game”. I do not want to hear about “meaningless wins” or “our draft position was hurt”. This was a solid win in which the future stars of the team shined. No question, there is a ton of work to do. However, the team got a nice win to end the season. The Pats could very well win the Super Bowl again and the Miami Dolphins beat them.
- Love to spoil. The Fins knocked the Pats out of the #1 Seed in the AFC. The Pats are so tough at Gillette Stadium. That they might have to go to Denver for an AFC Championship game, I love that. Again, the Pats would still be my pick to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl because the AFC is so bad. However, I am so happy Miami possibly made that march to the final game more difficult.
- Bring on the coaching search. The days and weeks ahead are going to wild and filled with debate. Should be interesting.
