How we failed in the 1st half - Analysis

[Dr. Phin]

It's an exaggeration but let's not pretend this isn't a trend. Your blowing it off is equally as short sighted as the thought that one deep ball ended the game.

What I meant was at that point the Bills had no respect for the deep pass anymore. It allowed them to just play a single high safety all game and bring the other down for run support and "roaming" ...it compressed the field. THAT IS A VERY BAD THING WITH THIS OFFENSE. You could see in in the play-calling after that too. We didn't try anything longer than about 15 yards for the rest of the first half.

 

[Dr. Phin]

We did not try a deep pass again until late in the 3rd quarter. I noticed on the tv telecast that 9 buffalo defenders were within 15 yards on almost every play.

They were playing the short passing and running game because they didn't respect our long passing ability.

It makes a huge difference being able to connect on those plays at least a quarter of the time (25%)

We tried 2 more late in the game when it was over and ended up 0-4 on long pass attempts.

YOU GOT IT. They played up and made it more difficult for the short game and running game. It also wasn't that we missed the deep pass...it was that we missed it SO BADLY.

 

[fishfanmiami]

Our longest pass completion was 18 yards and the longest run was 8. Don't win many games with that offensive output.
We did not lose the game with that missed long passes to Wallace but when your QB can not complete balls down field it sure dictates coverage and reduces you to dinking and dunking which is what we did.

 

[J. David Wannyheimer]

If the other team is going to give up the deep pass because they don't respect it, you dial it up. I guarantee if you take 5 or 6 shots a game, you will hit on a couple. Instead, we take 2, get one awful throw and one drop, and go "meh, **** it."

Good effort, Dr Phin. That must have taken a ton of time. Another throw that stood out to me was that simple screen that RT threw way over the head of Dion Sims. What the heck was that? Obviously there were a number of other throws detailed here in other threads.

There was a defender right there. You watch that play and tell me what happens if Tannehill doesn't throw that one high?

 

[Dr. Phin]

If the other team is going to give up the deep pass because they don't respect it, you dial it up. I guarantee if you take 5 or 6 shots a game, you will hit on a couple. Instead, we take 2, get one awful throw and one drop, and go "meh, **** it."



There was a defender right there. You watch that play and tell me what happens if Tannehill doesn't throw that one high?

You can put that on both of them. Sims also stopped moving to the outside. If he kept running, maybe he hits him in stride...

 

[J. David Wannyheimer]

You can put that on both of them. Sims also stopped moving to the outside. If he kept running, maybe he hits him in stride...

I know this is going ot be a very controversial and edgy opinion but I think the defense deserves credit on that play.

The defender sniffed that thing out and played it beautifully. If Tannehill doesn't loft that ball, that's a pick six, IMO. And what the heck can Sims really do there? He's stuck between a rock and a hard place. If he runs outside, he can't try to break up / tackle an interception.

 

[roy_miami]

Good break down. Did the QB do anything in the half that would make you say he went above and beyond? It doesn't seem like it to me. If the line got beat it was a sack. The read options resulted in nothing. And no perfect read/throws resulting in big plays. You need the QB to step up once in a while just to give the rest of the team some hope if nothing else.

Ryan Tannehill is the Lamar Miller of the QB position. Sure Miller might have similar numbers but the difference between Moreno and Miller is palatable.

 

[MD]

Not even close. If missed deep passes "ended" games, teams would stop trying them, because they are completed at a very low rate.

Especially in Miami.

 

[Austin Tatious]

There was a defender right there. You watch that play and tell me what happens if Tannehill doesn't throw that one high?

I didn't keep the tape but I may have missed that. In real time it looked like he could have lofted it in there. It looked ugly but I didn't go back and look and dissect it. My main point though is that we can talk around it all we want, RT needs to get accurate asap.

 

[GasPed]

Sure Miller might have similar numbers but the difference between Moreno and Miller is palatable.

I think you meant "palpable", but your point is right on. ("Palatable" means acceptable, and the difference between Miller and Moreno is definitely not that.)

 

[FinHopeful]

Good job with the breakdown! I have mentioned this in other posts, but here is my prioritized list of problems

1. Special teams.
2. Offensive line (interior line)
3. Running backs
4. Wide receivers routes and stone hands
5. Tannehill ball location and tendency to do too much.

Let me clarify on Tannehill, he played poorly. He just was not the biggest problem for the Buffalo game. I do think he panicked and tried to do too much at times, but he was not the big problem for this game.

Just for fun, my two game prioritized list:

1. Special teams
2. Wide receivers routes and stone hands
3. Tannehill
4. Offensive line
5. Running backs

 

[Dsteve]

Hoops said it best, Lamar Miller is garbage. He can't catch, he can't block and has ZERO vision. Unless there's a truck sized hole, he goes down like a cheap whore. I'd also like to see Williams start.

All the praise of Lazor from the OP for adjusting....I don't get it. We won last week RUNNING the ball. As soon as Moreno went down, we gave up running those zone run which really act as the conventional run game and make the spread, shotgun every rip, style of offense viable in the NFL. Second half we came out and ran the ball, we scored on the first two drives but the special teams and D let us down. There's no reason to abandon the run when you're only down 6 or 9 points. The unbalanced play calling lets the defense tee off on us. Jerry Hughes was screaming off the edge and our interior line was getting beat on the regular until we ran the ball.

The deep ball miss wasn't as bad as the haters are making it out to be. could have been more out in front and this theme of RT17 missing deep balls is getting old. The drops, poor plays on the not perfectly thrown balls and walking out of bounds on easily catchable balls is getting old too.

Team loss, attribute it to poor coaching. On the plus side, Lazor made an adjustment at half but it just didn't break our way.

 

[WVDolphan]

EXCELLENT write up and a nice job of putting on the tape and breaking down the film. You are an official guru IMHO.

A couple of points......

1) Great job of pointing out how teams have no respect for the long ball. We usually get plenty of chances at these because at this point, pretty much every team in the league knows Tannehill can not complete the throw, especially the teams in our division.

The effect this has on our entire offense can not be understated. It allows the defense to take away so much more that we actually COULD do if our QB could just complete one of these passes here and there. The effects are exponential in that if Tannehill ever hits one of those early, the opposition has to rethink things and start to respect it throughout the game whether we try another one or not. It just allows so much more to open up. Couple that with the fact it is 7 points for our side. START Matt Moore.

2) That throw in the dirt was pathetic. Little plays like that can have a huge effect, even if the drive does not result in a score. It would have been nice to at least sustain a drive and give our defense a chance. The defense holding them to 3 FGs in the first half was amazing. Buffalo's avg starting field position was somewhere around the 45 yard line thanks to the incompetence of our QB. When you go back to last season, it was absolutely amazing that our defense held so many teams to 23 points or less. 13 of 16 games. WOW. Just think of how many games we couldve won with a competent QB who can hit an occasional deep ball. Not only would the offense have averaged several MOORE points per game, the defense likely wouldve yielded a few less.

3) The 3rd and 25. These are the plays I do not mind seeing a QB throw it 50 yards downfield. If it gets intercepted, it is virtually a nice punt. Chuck the ball deep instead of taking another sack. If it gets intercepted, someone make a tackle. Give our WRs a chance to make an impact play in that spot.

 

[Dsteve]

everything this guy says is invalid because he thinks moore is legit NFL QB. go troll some where else

 

[Dr. Phin]

Good break down. Did the QB do anything in the half that would make you say he went above and beyond? It doesn't seem like it to me. If the line got beat it was a sack. The read options resulted in nothing. And no perfect read/throws resulting in big plays. You need the QB to step up once in a while just to give the rest of the team some hope if nothing else.

Ryan Tannehill is the Lamar Miller of the QB position. Sure Miller might have similar numbers but the difference between Moreno and Miller is palatable.

The only thing that I can really point to is that he had a couple of good throws between defenders on the left side. Got behind the underneath coverage and in front of defender.