Okay understandably the last month has been all doom and gloom so there has been overreaction. This is not a thread to bitch and moan about the team, nor is it one to say that we will be okay. It's just me posting things that are legitimate gripes with the team that are cause for concern.
Ryan Tannehill's Fumbles Some of Tanny's interceptions have been bad... really bad... but they don't bug me as much. Interceptions will happen, even the greats like Peyton Manning will have bad days (Peyton at the height of his dominance with the Colts had a 6 INT game against the Chargers). Am I saying that INTs aren't a problem? No, but they aren't a big worry yet. The fumbles on the other hand? Yep. Tannehill I believe has 8 fumbles now; and that is all the fumbles the team has. Now some will argue the fumbles are from all the hits he's taking, and you can make a valid argument for that, but that is still way too many fumbles. I noticed a lot of his fumbles are from him having the ball low by his waist and defenders just hitting his hands. This has got to be fixed.
Blitz Pick-Up OL and TEs are awful at kicking out for blitzers. Quite a few times (especially against the Pats) the OTs will pinch inside and not notice blitzers. Daniel Thomas has failed to block his man 3 times (3rd went unnoticed as it was the sack against Buffalo). That's not good. Some may be on the QB, but not all of it.
Go/Go-Go It's been talked about at length, but it's pretty easy to pick up when we are running and when we are passing.
Special Teams Coverage/Blocking We start way too many drives inside our own 15. Some of that is on Thigpen making bad decisions, but the blocking has just been awful. Coverage on punts has also hurt us on some great kicks from Brandon Fields.
Receivers Can't Make the Tough Catch Not going to pick on just Mike Wallace (though he deserves some flak), but none of our receivers have been winning 50/50 balls or making catches that require effort. Not every throw can be perfect from the QB (no matter who it is), and our guys can't fight through contact.
Tackling We have missed a lot of TFLs that became big gains. I also witness to many guys going for big hits rather than wrapping up, and too many scrubs getting big gains in the run game.
Second Half Adjustments on Offense During the losing streak our offense just goes to the crapper in the 2nd half. We've abandoned the run when it's working, and when teams take away a pass that has been working we don't adjust. We can't run screens to save our lives.
Nolan Carroll Just.... Nolan Carroll. Gets tricked too easily and doesn't break for the ball.
There are some other concerns but just keeping this rather short to the big things I notice.
Silver Lining? Despite the issues and everybody piling on him, Ryan Tannehill is about to match his TD total from his rookie season. While in some areas he may have taken a step back, he is starting to develop chemistry with guys other than Hartline. Charles Clay has also developed himself into a nice asset for the offense. While he still isn't producing in the pass game, you have to admire that Michael Egnew has made himself into a solid lead blocker.
While our defensive stats aren't great, even during the losing streak, I think Kevin Coyle has made necessary adjustments on defense. During the Pats game we couldn't recover from 3 questionable penalties that led to 17 points, but for the most part this season our D does a better job in the 2nd half (for the most part)
At the end of the day, despite all the issues, we are still 1 game under .500 and if we win tonight we are still in the playoff hunt. That's not to say calm down or relax or anything like that, but it's just a reminder that things can be fixed. Will they? That remains to be seen. With the adversity the team is facing right now, the next couple weeks will tell you a lot about Joe Philbin as a head coach. If he can rally the team together, he's got a future here. If the team continues on the downward spiral changes will need to be made.
Ryan Tannehill's Fumbles Some of Tanny's interceptions have been bad... really bad... but they don't bug me as much. Interceptions will happen, even the greats like Peyton Manning will have bad days (Peyton at the height of his dominance with the Colts had a 6 INT game against the Chargers). Am I saying that INTs aren't a problem? No, but they aren't a big worry yet. The fumbles on the other hand? Yep. Tannehill I believe has 8 fumbles now; and that is all the fumbles the team has. Now some will argue the fumbles are from all the hits he's taking, and you can make a valid argument for that, but that is still way too many fumbles. I noticed a lot of his fumbles are from him having the ball low by his waist and defenders just hitting his hands. This has got to be fixed.
Blitz Pick-Up OL and TEs are awful at kicking out for blitzers. Quite a few times (especially against the Pats) the OTs will pinch inside and not notice blitzers. Daniel Thomas has failed to block his man 3 times (3rd went unnoticed as it was the sack against Buffalo). That's not good. Some may be on the QB, but not all of it.
Go/Go-Go It's been talked about at length, but it's pretty easy to pick up when we are running and when we are passing.
Special Teams Coverage/Blocking We start way too many drives inside our own 15. Some of that is on Thigpen making bad decisions, but the blocking has just been awful. Coverage on punts has also hurt us on some great kicks from Brandon Fields.
Receivers Can't Make the Tough Catch Not going to pick on just Mike Wallace (though he deserves some flak), but none of our receivers have been winning 50/50 balls or making catches that require effort. Not every throw can be perfect from the QB (no matter who it is), and our guys can't fight through contact.
Tackling We have missed a lot of TFLs that became big gains. I also witness to many guys going for big hits rather than wrapping up, and too many scrubs getting big gains in the run game.
Second Half Adjustments on Offense During the losing streak our offense just goes to the crapper in the 2nd half. We've abandoned the run when it's working, and when teams take away a pass that has been working we don't adjust. We can't run screens to save our lives.
Nolan Carroll Just.... Nolan Carroll. Gets tricked too easily and doesn't break for the ball.
There are some other concerns but just keeping this rather short to the big things I notice.
Silver Lining? Despite the issues and everybody piling on him, Ryan Tannehill is about to match his TD total from his rookie season. While in some areas he may have taken a step back, he is starting to develop chemistry with guys other than Hartline. Charles Clay has also developed himself into a nice asset for the offense. While he still isn't producing in the pass game, you have to admire that Michael Egnew has made himself into a solid lead blocker.
While our defensive stats aren't great, even during the losing streak, I think Kevin Coyle has made necessary adjustments on defense. During the Pats game we couldn't recover from 3 questionable penalties that led to 17 points, but for the most part this season our D does a better job in the 2nd half (for the most part)
At the end of the day, despite all the issues, we are still 1 game under .500 and if we win tonight we are still in the playoff hunt. That's not to say calm down or relax or anything like that, but it's just a reminder that things can be fixed. Will they? That remains to be seen. With the adversity the team is facing right now, the next couple weeks will tell you a lot about Joe Philbin as a head coach. If he can rally the team together, he's got a future here. If the team continues on the downward spiral changes will need to be made.