Interesting observation, but who's at fault?

[roy_miami]

I find it interesting that most of our losses came against above average defenses and most of our wins came against below average defenses, I feel like this is meaningful in some way but I don't know if it can be attributed more to the coaching staff or the GM. I'm leaning towards the GM right now and it could be analogous to a great Formula One driver in a crappy car. He'll beat all the other crappy cars but no matter how good he drives he still won't be able to beat the best cars. Thoughts?

Defense DVOA Rank.
3 Carolina--L
4 @Bills--L
4 Bills--L
5 Cincinatti--W
6 @Tampa Bay--L
8 Baltimore--L
11 @New Orleans--L
13 @New York Jets--W
17 @ Indianapolis--W
19 @New England--L
19 New England--W
21 @Pittsburgh--W
25 @Cleveland--W
31 Atlanta--W
32 San Diego--W

 

[J. David Wannyheimer]

Our offense isn't very good. We don't run the ball, sometimes we can't run the ball, we can't pass protect, we don't have a real TE to play from the line, our boundary wide receivers are as physical as a roll of tissue paper, and we elect to try to run our offense as a shotgun spread passing attack with a 2nd year QB who flat out isn't good enough to compensate for all of this stuff -- at least not on a consistent basis.

Everyone's at fault.

 

[hoops]

i think you will find most your losses came against below average qbs also...at least qbs that i think are not very good...only bad qb we have beaten was geno smith...

good job carry us defense :rolleyes2:

 

[J. David Wannyheimer]

Well I think the reason that we have been able to beat good QBs and lost to bad QBs is that our defense is pretty good at stopping the downfield pass and pretty bad at stopping screens and rushes.

Tom Brady had one bad day against us and one not good enough day against us because up until our CBs got hurt (in both games), they really couldn't throw the ball to the wideouts effectively. And instead of just running the ball and throwing screen passes, they just kept trying...

I think that if Rex makes the decision to run the ball 50+ times in this game, the Jets will keep it close and possibly win.

 

[Ruckus45]

I think your poll isn't very complete. It seems to be just trying to blame Ireland and Sherman.

 

[ANUFan]

I find it interesting that most of our losses came against above average defenses and most of our wins came against below average defenses, I feel like this is meaningful in some way but I don't know if it can be attributed more to the coaching staff or the GM. I'm leaning towards the GM right now and it could be analogous to a great Formula One driver in a crappy car. He'll beat all the other crappy cars but no matter how good he drives he still won't be able to beat the best cars. Thoughts?

Everyone's partly to blame here and I think enough has been tossed at Ireland so I'll avoid that explanation. Now, I'm not a big fan of the coaching staff and I think once more your observation emphasizes their lack of creativity. Specifically, the inability to adapt to their opponent, Pre-Game, In-Game and Post-Game(See Bills). Essentially, they play everyone the same way and pretty much expect the same results. We are a passing team so no matter what we intend to pass against our opponent. Ironically, that opponent maybe #1 in the league against the pass and #30th against the run.

The only time this season I've EVER seen this coaching staff offensively come out with something new is in the Bengals game. Mind you this was not by choice but because of growing pressure to run the damn ball. Showing a sincere effort not only in the number of attempts but out of a few different packages. I especially love the "BIG", "FB" and "D TE", sets. Simply gorgeous stuff. Ofcourse they quickly reverted and went back to passing and running those garbage hand-offs that they call an attempt at running the ball.

 

[where's th'fish]

I don't like the poll, either, but I like the list. I wonder what happens if you make a list by passrush, because I read somewhere before the Bills game that we struggled against good passrushing teams and so the Bills game wouldn't be easy.

 

[SkapePhin]

I think it is both!

It comes down to the OL. When there isn't constant pressure on the QB, the Dolphins win because the offense performs well. When the OL breaks down, it shuts down our offense. The OL is garbage (on Ireland) but the coaches don't seem to be able to adjust to counter the weakness of the OL in those games, in fact, they seem to install gameplans that pretend like the OL isn't a problem (on Sherman).

 

[ANUFan]

I think it is both!

It comes down to the OL. When there isn't constant pressure on the QB, the Dolphins win because the offense performs well. When the OL breaks down, it shuts down our offense. The OL is garbage (on Ireland) but the coaches don't seem to be able to adjust to counter the weakness of the OL in those games, in fact, they seem to install gameplans that pretend like the OL isn't a problem (on Sherman).

Bingo!

 

[Shouright]

I think what we're looking at is a coaching staff that feels its system is what will make the team win, ultimately, and is putting that system in place despite the mismatches between it and the players that currently exists, in the hope that those mismatches will be corrected next year, and the system will be ready to take off due to the experience certain players are getting in it as we speak.

In other words, I think the team's goals are longer-term than winning now. Although the coaches of course want to win now, I think a greater priority for them is getting their system in place and getting the players accustomed to playing in it, with the goal being winning bigger in the future.

So, although the coaches might be able to mitigate the deficiencies in talent they're grappling with this year by flexing their system to match the talent, to the tune of perhaps more wins, I don't think that's necessarily the goal for this particular year.

The most prominent area in which this is the case is, I believe, their instruction to Ryan Tannehill to hang in the pocket and make his reads, despite whatever pressure he's experiencing. That's obviously a "get used to the system and work within it" priority, rather than a "win now" one, and the sacks he's experienced as a result are a big reason why the team has sputtered by and large on offense.

 

[Finland]

I felt in the off season we focused too much on the defence and not enough on the offence. Long, Bush, Dansby etc. I figured their plan was to shut down offences and not have the explosive offence we wanted. Seems that is what happened. So I guess Ireland. Sherman did not help.

 

[Jeep]

I totally 100% blame the coaching staff... When going against a stronger defense... you must figure out a way to get the advantage... Its called being "creative" Instead it looks like Sherman and company shows up to the game.. says "Here we are, you know what we can and cant do... now try and stop us" for which the defense does..

 

[Mudder1310]

I think this topic is overblown. If you consider that Miami has had a chance to win every game except 2 there's not really much to consider. In fact a flag here or there and Miami beats both Carolina and Baltimore. I don't think there is enough discrepancy between the games to show any tendency except that Buff has our number and NO is awesome at home.

 

[Shouright]

I think this topic is overblown. If you consider that Miami has had a chance to win every game except 2 there's not really much to consider. In fact a flag here or there and Miami beats both Carolina and Baltimore. I don't think there is enough discrepancy between the games to show any tendency except that Buff has our number and NO is awesome at home.

I think there's plenty of evidence available to suggest that Miami is but an average team overall, and has greater difficulty against better teams than against worse teams.

 

[Spiff]

I think what we're looking at is a coaching staff that feels its system is what will make the team win, ultimately, and is putting that system in place despite the mismatches between it and the players that currently exists, in the hope that those mismatches will be corrected next year, and the system will be ready to take off due to the experience certain players are getting in it as we speak. In other words, I think the team's goals are longer-term than winning now. Although the coaches of course want to win now, I think a greater priority for them is getting their system in place and getting the players accustomed to playing in it, with the goal being winning bigger in the future. So, although the coaches might be able to mitigate the deficiencies in talent they're grappling with this year by flexing their system to match the talent, to the tune of perhaps more wins, I don't think that's necessarily the goal for this particular year. The most prominent area in which this is the case is, I believe, their instruction to Ryan Tannehill to hang in the pocket and make his reads, despite whatever pressure he's experiencing. That's obviously a "get used to the system and work within it" priority, rather than a "win now" one, and the sacks he's experienced as a result are a big reason why the team has sputtered by and large on offense.

I think this post is as accurate as any. At least I hope it is and I can imagine Joe Philbin is the type of guy to pull this off.