Ok, I'm not big on these "My Post-Game Thoughts" kinds of threads, but I thought I would take a look at what happened with my "Keys."
When the Dolphins are on offense:
1. Attack the Perimeter.
Grade: D
They tried a few times but something always seemed to go wrong. From a mixup between Bush and Henne on one play to Fasano making a poor block which allowed his man to pick off Pouncey, who was pulling, on another. Bush not being able to break Ninkovitch's tackle on a flare. Little things derailed this plan, and when push came to shove they didn't commit to it, prefering -- inexplicably -- to run inside almost exclusively in the 2nd half. It didn't work and it's not going to work. They didn't use a single WR screen that I saw (also inexplicable, given we have good RAC wide receivers). We also only tried one RB screen. Just bizarre.
2. Exploit how they play Bush.
Grade: D
I thought the use of Bush overall was substandard. We didn't find creative ways to get him matched up on linebackers enough. We didn't get him in space enough. They basically used him like they would any running back, and that's both stupid and a waste. Ahmad Bradshaw could have done every "special" play they had planned and can also run up the middle.
3. Don't get TOO aggressive.
Grade: A
Henne's command was palpable and the Patriots were never able to bait him into making a mistake. We'll see how it goes from here on in but it was a very encouraging performance, obviously. I'm not one to spike the ball prematurely and declare victory but I think all those posters who were talking about Henne as if he was one of the worst quarterbacks in the league and a guy who needed to be replaced at any cost certainly should be taking a long look in the mirror today. For posters like myself and RobertHorry, this part of the night was fun to watch (though it wasn't perfect, certainly).
4. Who's in the Pats' secondary?
Grade: INC
This was more of a question that a suggestion, so it doesn't get a grade. One thing that certainly surprised me was how well Ras I Dowling played. I mean, the guy has talent, but he didn't break apart like the T-1000 in Terminator 2, which was odd. Henne did take advantage of FS James Barrett once on the touchdown to Hartline, and exploited matchups pretty well all night. Marshall got the best of McCourty, which was good to see considering he faces Jonathan Joseph this week.
5. Reacting to changes.
Grade: C
We threw the ball well but our inability to find ways to run the ball pissed me off. As I said in the VIP chat after the game, our failure in short yardage was really the downfall of our offense and maybe the game. We didn't use Larry Johnson in short yardage, which was perplexing. The only short yardage play that worked was the old Lou Polite fullback dive with Lex Hilliard, yet we did it once successfully and then abandoned it. All in all, our offense reminded me a lot of the Saints' offense on Thursday night. A huge passing performance laid low by an inability to convert in short yardage in the red zone.
When the Dolphins were on defense.
1. Contain Hernandez and Welker.
Grade: F
Only because there isn't a grade lower than F. Our coverage guys lost their man on man matchups consistently. My warnings about keeping Nolan Carroll off the field also proved prescient, sadly. He was awful. As others have noted, Jones was very poor. The communication was lacking all night. We couldn't force enough incompletions to regroup, leading to a zombie-like state on defense where we were pretty much in the same defense play after play. Watching the Patriots' offense -- especially Hernandez and Welker -- against our defense was like watching Gerry Cooney punch a slumped over Ken Norton, Jr. 15 times in the head.
2. Exploit the focus on Wake.
Grade: F
Wake himself had one of his worst games as a pro, in my opinion. And his inability to beat Solder consistently destroyed any chance we had to build on that. The only guy who got even something remotely similar to consistent pressure was Randy Starks.
3. Conditioning on the defensive line.
Grade: F
Our conditioning overall was poor. But our inability to get pressure and force incompletions was a factor here, as I thought it would be.
4. Don't get too pass happy.
Grade: D
Woodhead was able to run pretty consistently, especially early on... enough at least to keep our defense honest, which hurt us in other ways. We weren't getting to Brady but we were also undisciplined in our rush lanes, which is like adding an ugly face to a bad personality.
5. Watch for Woodhead and Ridley out of the backfield.
Grade: INC
This ended up not being a factor in the game.
Overall these ended up being many of the major factors in the game. I didn't think pass protection would be a huge issue in this game, and though it wasn't good it wasn't one of the things the game turned on (next week is a much bigger test). I certainly didn't realize that Reshad Jones would be so bad, though I preferred to have Clemons in this game for his soundness and intelligence. I knew the Patriots would run a quick pace but I didn't know they would run it this much, so that was something I missed (though the conditioning issue was one of my "keys"). I didn't see Fasano being as big a factor in the game as he was, so good for him. I knew short yardage would be a problem but I didn't expect it to be this big a problem. But apparently it is, and I don't think Daniel Thomas is going to fix it.
