- Joined
- Jan 5, 2009
- Messages
- 30,987
- Reaction score
- 1,249
Positives
* Knowshon Moreno made quite a first impression. He finished with 64 yards on 10 carries. He ran hard. He broke tackles. He had exceptional vision. Moreno had an excellent run and came back the next play and stoned the oncoming blitzer. Great night for the new Dolphin.
* The running game, led by Moreno, had its best game of the young season. Along with Moreno, Lamar Miller (34 yards on 7 carries), Damien Williams (33 yards on 7 carries) and Orleans Darkwa (70 yards on 6 carries) helped the team to earn 200 yards on the ground on 35 carries. The running was atrocious the first two weeks, but came alive tonight. Williams and Darkwa, ran hard all night. Each of the backs had a TD.
* RG Shelley Smith made a huge difference tonight. He was tremendous in the run game and held his own in the passing game.
* Overall, the starting line with Smith had a very solid night running the ball and in pass pro.
* How great was it to see Charles Clay back? He made a difference early with a catch down the seam. He also threw a nice block on an explosive run. He got a lather tonight and the staff got him out of the game…it was a good balance. Clay seems to play with more and more confidence as time goes on.
* The team did a nice job getting Mike Wallace involved. He was targeted early and often. Wallace had 67 yards on 6 catches. It was important to feed him some tonight after a quite start the first two weeks.
* Matt Moore showed some moxie tonight. He came in and completed a bomb to Damian Williams on a beautifully thrown ball after the offense had been shooting itself in the foot all night. After leading his charges to a TD, Moore gave points back with a pick six. However, Moore is never deterred. He tossed a TD to Gator Hoskins and when the team got the ball back with about five minutes, he led the team down the field for the decisive score. Moore was 12 of 19 for 172 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT.
* What a catch on ball thrown behind him by Jarvis Landry.
* Gator Hoskins made a great catch and effort to score a TD.
* The offense finished with a gaudy 490 total yards. Total yards can be a very overrated stat. However, almost eclipsing 500 yards is something to take notice off.
* Tonight was a great, great, great test for the Dolphins defense. Dallas has a strong QB and multiple weapons. Miami's defense answered the bell. The overall tackling improved from the week prior, generally won the LOS, and a solid pass rush. To keep that offense from scoring a TD is ultimately impressive.
* Miami finished holding Dallas to 6-16 on 3rd down.
* Cam Wake was a stud during the preseason's "dress rehearsal". He finished with two sacks and was a force on the Cowboys passing game.
* Olivier Vernon earned a sack and forced a fumble on a play in which LB Phillip Wheeler pressured Tony Romo and the downfield coverage was sticky.
* Credit has to go to Wheeler as a blitzer. He was very effective in that capacity tonight.
* TE Jason Witten was held to one catch. Miami did not let the talented TE produce.
* The starting DB's seemed to play together well tonight. Throws were contested and we did not see receivers running free.
* While he was beaten for a TD, CB Jamar Taylor had some good plays throughout the game.
* I like the window dressing and variety that Bill Lazor is showing.
* Lazor had a master piece of play calling on the final TD. While aided by a few penalties, Lazor demonstrated patience and balance as the team drove for winning TD without the aid of a kicker.
* Joe Philbin made the right decision to go for it on the first possession in the 2nd Half. The offense needed to get their reps in and simply needed to be challenged. They picked up that first down.
* While I was disappointed to see Jason Trusnik get the call first for the ailing Koa Misi at LB, I was pleased to see Philbin mix in some other LB's with the starters.
* Philbin made an immediate challenge to a catch by Dez Bryant that happened in front of the bench. Philbin did not have a chance to consult a replay with the Cowboys getting to the line quick and the head coach tossed his challenge flag anyways. He won the possession for his defense.
Negatives
* The team lost the turnover differential 3 to 0. Not acceptable.
* Ryan Tannehill had a blah night. He seemed to check some balls down on a few occasions when perhaps he could have let the play develop further. He did not connect with a wide open Mike Wallace though it is hard for me to get on Tannehill on that ball as Wallace seemed to not be able to track the ball. Tannehill was at fault for an awful throw while threatening to score. He intended to go to Hartline, but the throw came up way short. On that play, there was wide open receiver running underneath, but for whatever reason he did not go with the ball to him. RT makes some odd decisions sometimes.
* Dion Sims did not put the ball way and fumbled the ball as the offense was marching down the field. He had the first down, but did not finish the play.
* Matt Moore tried to rush an alley screen in which he did not have a grip on the ball. He should have tossed the ball away, but tried to continue the play and threw a pick six.
* Dallas Thomas was stink out loud bad tonight. Philbin gave Thomas a shot with the #1's and he was awful. He allowed a pressure and a hit of RT. He was bad in the running game. I would argue the placing of Thomas into the game killed the momentum the offense was having.
* Brian Hartline has been weak this summer. He has two easy drops in the last two games. Hartline needs to remind himself he is a "blue collar" receiver that needs to do the little things to succeed.
* Jason Fox looks shot.
* The defense is simply not getting turnovers. The ultimate equalizer in the game of football is creating turnovers. The defense is simply not getting it done. On O.V.'s FF, the ball was on the ground, yet nobody came up with it. Other times, the defense is just not really close to the football.
* Jamar Taylor bit bad on the lone TD Dallas' offense scored.
* Special teams had a poor night. First, the coverage units yielded a long return. Then, Landry fumbled a punt (but was recovered). While an illegal formation by Dallas killed the play, Miami allowed pressure up the middle for a blocked punt. Combine that effort, with another kicker getting injured and it is safe to say that the special teams did not pull their own weight.
* I was hoping the starting offense would get three scores…maybe two TD's and FG, but because of sloppy play, they were only to get a mere 3 points.
* How was there not a review on the Orleans' run prior to his TD run to win the game? It should have come from upstairs, but nothing came down. You could see Philbin was livid.
* The worst performance of the night was by NFL.COM and its Preseason Live. For two weeks, I lived through the home broadcast of Atlanta and Tampa Bay. Finally, we get the home crew and for some bizarre reason, the Cowboys broadcast comes though from the 2nd quarter on.
Overall Assessment
* The debate is over for RG. Shelley Smith played well and Dallas Thomas was abysmal. The line will be Albert, Colledge, Satele, Smith, James. I do think Billy Turner can compete for snaps at LG and has a great upside. However, the idea of stability is more important right now. Colledge has got the lion share of the snaps this summer and has some chemistry with Albert and Satele. It is time to go with this group into Week One.
* I truly question whether it is worth using a roster spot on Dallas Thomas. Who sees any upside with this player? Keep Turner, Nate Garner, Sam Brenner and Mike Pouncey.
* With that said, the team still needs to look for a swing OT. It is huge position on a roster. They tried Ja'wuan James at LT. However, I feel he should concentrate on RT alone this season.
* Knowshon Moreno showed with one performance tonight that he is the team's best back. Miller has a role and might thrive as the "second guy". However, Moreno showed the ability to run with patience and attacked the openings. He broke tackles and was fun to watch in the passing game.
* Damien Williams should get a chance on the 53 man roster. Not only does he do a nice job as a RB, he seems to have an idea what to do in the passing game. He certainly has ran as hard as he could.
* It is probably time to cut ties with Daniel Thomas. I really had high hopes for him, but it is time to turn the page. Keep Moreno, Miller and Williams and after Week One, pick up a vested vet if you are worried about depth at the position. Maybe by cutting Thomas, the team could keep some X-factor speed in Marcus Thigpen. What ever the roster configuration is, it is time Thomas is not a part of it.
* I am not sure where he fits in the grand scheme of what this team wants to do, but I like Damian Williams. He is explosive and seems to have great hands. Williams can return kicks and punts too. As the sixth receiver, I am not sure if he is even active on game day. It will come down to how good he is in covering a kick. What ever the case maybe, Williams has had an excellent summer.
* Gator Hoskins is a specimen that needs a long look IMO.
* Dennis Hickey needs to look for a veteran kicker tomorrow. Yes, they can wait until cuts are over, but I would actively look at a David Akers or Rian Lindell. Get some veteran blood in the mix with the season approaching.
* Rod Marinelli had the Tony Sparano look going on the sidelines.
* I am still confused on the ruling that the Cowboys used their "4th Timeout" after a late injury.
* The starting offense did have some things going for it, but just could not capitalize. Between the Sims fumble, the appearance of Dallas Thomas, Wallace not finding the football and the Tannehill pick, the offense came up empty on drives that could have earned points.
* This team needs to become opportunistic. Whether is finishing drives on offense, creating turnovers or making a tackle, they need to understand the situations they are in. Until they have that "killer instinct", the team will be inconstant in their results.
* Knowshon Moreno made quite a first impression. He finished with 64 yards on 10 carries. He ran hard. He broke tackles. He had exceptional vision. Moreno had an excellent run and came back the next play and stoned the oncoming blitzer. Great night for the new Dolphin.
* The running game, led by Moreno, had its best game of the young season. Along with Moreno, Lamar Miller (34 yards on 7 carries), Damien Williams (33 yards on 7 carries) and Orleans Darkwa (70 yards on 6 carries) helped the team to earn 200 yards on the ground on 35 carries. The running was atrocious the first two weeks, but came alive tonight. Williams and Darkwa, ran hard all night. Each of the backs had a TD.
* RG Shelley Smith made a huge difference tonight. He was tremendous in the run game and held his own in the passing game.
* Overall, the starting line with Smith had a very solid night running the ball and in pass pro.
* How great was it to see Charles Clay back? He made a difference early with a catch down the seam. He also threw a nice block on an explosive run. He got a lather tonight and the staff got him out of the game…it was a good balance. Clay seems to play with more and more confidence as time goes on.
* The team did a nice job getting Mike Wallace involved. He was targeted early and often. Wallace had 67 yards on 6 catches. It was important to feed him some tonight after a quite start the first two weeks.
* Matt Moore showed some moxie tonight. He came in and completed a bomb to Damian Williams on a beautifully thrown ball after the offense had been shooting itself in the foot all night. After leading his charges to a TD, Moore gave points back with a pick six. However, Moore is never deterred. He tossed a TD to Gator Hoskins and when the team got the ball back with about five minutes, he led the team down the field for the decisive score. Moore was 12 of 19 for 172 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT.
* What a catch on ball thrown behind him by Jarvis Landry.
* Gator Hoskins made a great catch and effort to score a TD.
* The offense finished with a gaudy 490 total yards. Total yards can be a very overrated stat. However, almost eclipsing 500 yards is something to take notice off.
* Tonight was a great, great, great test for the Dolphins defense. Dallas has a strong QB and multiple weapons. Miami's defense answered the bell. The overall tackling improved from the week prior, generally won the LOS, and a solid pass rush. To keep that offense from scoring a TD is ultimately impressive.
* Miami finished holding Dallas to 6-16 on 3rd down.
* Cam Wake was a stud during the preseason's "dress rehearsal". He finished with two sacks and was a force on the Cowboys passing game.
* Olivier Vernon earned a sack and forced a fumble on a play in which LB Phillip Wheeler pressured Tony Romo and the downfield coverage was sticky.
* Credit has to go to Wheeler as a blitzer. He was very effective in that capacity tonight.
* TE Jason Witten was held to one catch. Miami did not let the talented TE produce.
* The starting DB's seemed to play together well tonight. Throws were contested and we did not see receivers running free.
* While he was beaten for a TD, CB Jamar Taylor had some good plays throughout the game.
* I like the window dressing and variety that Bill Lazor is showing.
* Lazor had a master piece of play calling on the final TD. While aided by a few penalties, Lazor demonstrated patience and balance as the team drove for winning TD without the aid of a kicker.
* Joe Philbin made the right decision to go for it on the first possession in the 2nd Half. The offense needed to get their reps in and simply needed to be challenged. They picked up that first down.
* While I was disappointed to see Jason Trusnik get the call first for the ailing Koa Misi at LB, I was pleased to see Philbin mix in some other LB's with the starters.
* Philbin made an immediate challenge to a catch by Dez Bryant that happened in front of the bench. Philbin did not have a chance to consult a replay with the Cowboys getting to the line quick and the head coach tossed his challenge flag anyways. He won the possession for his defense.
Negatives
* The team lost the turnover differential 3 to 0. Not acceptable.
* Ryan Tannehill had a blah night. He seemed to check some balls down on a few occasions when perhaps he could have let the play develop further. He did not connect with a wide open Mike Wallace though it is hard for me to get on Tannehill on that ball as Wallace seemed to not be able to track the ball. Tannehill was at fault for an awful throw while threatening to score. He intended to go to Hartline, but the throw came up way short. On that play, there was wide open receiver running underneath, but for whatever reason he did not go with the ball to him. RT makes some odd decisions sometimes.
* Dion Sims did not put the ball way and fumbled the ball as the offense was marching down the field. He had the first down, but did not finish the play.
* Matt Moore tried to rush an alley screen in which he did not have a grip on the ball. He should have tossed the ball away, but tried to continue the play and threw a pick six.
* Dallas Thomas was stink out loud bad tonight. Philbin gave Thomas a shot with the #1's and he was awful. He allowed a pressure and a hit of RT. He was bad in the running game. I would argue the placing of Thomas into the game killed the momentum the offense was having.
* Brian Hartline has been weak this summer. He has two easy drops in the last two games. Hartline needs to remind himself he is a "blue collar" receiver that needs to do the little things to succeed.
* Jason Fox looks shot.
* The defense is simply not getting turnovers. The ultimate equalizer in the game of football is creating turnovers. The defense is simply not getting it done. On O.V.'s FF, the ball was on the ground, yet nobody came up with it. Other times, the defense is just not really close to the football.
* Jamar Taylor bit bad on the lone TD Dallas' offense scored.
* Special teams had a poor night. First, the coverage units yielded a long return. Then, Landry fumbled a punt (but was recovered). While an illegal formation by Dallas killed the play, Miami allowed pressure up the middle for a blocked punt. Combine that effort, with another kicker getting injured and it is safe to say that the special teams did not pull their own weight.
* I was hoping the starting offense would get three scores…maybe two TD's and FG, but because of sloppy play, they were only to get a mere 3 points.
* How was there not a review on the Orleans' run prior to his TD run to win the game? It should have come from upstairs, but nothing came down. You could see Philbin was livid.
* The worst performance of the night was by NFL.COM and its Preseason Live. For two weeks, I lived through the home broadcast of Atlanta and Tampa Bay. Finally, we get the home crew and for some bizarre reason, the Cowboys broadcast comes though from the 2nd quarter on.
Overall Assessment
* The debate is over for RG. Shelley Smith played well and Dallas Thomas was abysmal. The line will be Albert, Colledge, Satele, Smith, James. I do think Billy Turner can compete for snaps at LG and has a great upside. However, the idea of stability is more important right now. Colledge has got the lion share of the snaps this summer and has some chemistry with Albert and Satele. It is time to go with this group into Week One.
* I truly question whether it is worth using a roster spot on Dallas Thomas. Who sees any upside with this player? Keep Turner, Nate Garner, Sam Brenner and Mike Pouncey.
* With that said, the team still needs to look for a swing OT. It is huge position on a roster. They tried Ja'wuan James at LT. However, I feel he should concentrate on RT alone this season.
* Knowshon Moreno showed with one performance tonight that he is the team's best back. Miller has a role and might thrive as the "second guy". However, Moreno showed the ability to run with patience and attacked the openings. He broke tackles and was fun to watch in the passing game.
* Damien Williams should get a chance on the 53 man roster. Not only does he do a nice job as a RB, he seems to have an idea what to do in the passing game. He certainly has ran as hard as he could.
* It is probably time to cut ties with Daniel Thomas. I really had high hopes for him, but it is time to turn the page. Keep Moreno, Miller and Williams and after Week One, pick up a vested vet if you are worried about depth at the position. Maybe by cutting Thomas, the team could keep some X-factor speed in Marcus Thigpen. What ever the roster configuration is, it is time Thomas is not a part of it.
* I am not sure where he fits in the grand scheme of what this team wants to do, but I like Damian Williams. He is explosive and seems to have great hands. Williams can return kicks and punts too. As the sixth receiver, I am not sure if he is even active on game day. It will come down to how good he is in covering a kick. What ever the case maybe, Williams has had an excellent summer.
* Gator Hoskins is a specimen that needs a long look IMO.
* Dennis Hickey needs to look for a veteran kicker tomorrow. Yes, they can wait until cuts are over, but I would actively look at a David Akers or Rian Lindell. Get some veteran blood in the mix with the season approaching.
* Rod Marinelli had the Tony Sparano look going on the sidelines.
* I am still confused on the ruling that the Cowboys used their "4th Timeout" after a late injury.
* The starting offense did have some things going for it, but just could not capitalize. Between the Sims fumble, the appearance of Dallas Thomas, Wallace not finding the football and the Tannehill pick, the offense came up empty on drives that could have earned points.
* This team needs to become opportunistic. Whether is finishing drives on offense, creating turnovers or making a tackle, they need to understand the situations they are in. Until they have that "killer instinct", the team will be inconstant in their results.
