Miami in close games under Philbin

[roy_miami]

That is what I'm talking about!! Rodgers with the closeout proving the best defense is a good offense that can make a first down or two. If the other QB can't get on the field then he can't even get a single yard let alone game winning points. We all saw it front and center, and that is what Tannehill should have been able to do once or twice this season. Hell, just once or twice in his career would be nice, he's still 0 for 9. And in just the Packers games I saw Rodgers did it twice, once against Brady and now the one against Romo.

 

[Fins1971]

That was an incredible drive by Rodgers to play keep away.

That game played out almost exactly like our Green bay loss.

Green Bay takes lead with TD. (Miami takes lead with RT TD)
Green Bay defense holds and return lead and ball to Rodgers (Miami defense holds them to FG and returns ball to offense with lead)
Green Bay run out clock with 4 minute drive (We all know what happened to Miami-Punt-collapse)

 

[roy_miami]

What I'm realizing is its not the close games that separate great teams (though they all do better than average at close games) its the games that are decided by 8 or more points. Including playoffs Wilson is a decent 14-12 in games decided by 7 or less, but he's an incredible 27-1 in games decided by 8 or more. How some other QBs stack up in games decided by 8 or more (regular season only):

Rodgers: 50-15
P. Manning: 108-38
Brady: 102-24

Romo: 49-26
Luck: 15-11
Flacco: 44-13
Cam Newton: 21-15

Dalton: 22-12
Kaepernick: 20-10
Rivers: 60-24
Matt Ryan: 34-23
Eli: 58-48
Tannehill: 12-13
Orton: 24-23
Fiedler: 27-13
Henne: 5-30
Bledsoe: 51-42
Brady's first 3 seasons: 19-8
Sanchez's first 3 seasons: 16-10

 

[maralieus]

What irritates me about this team is they made all of their weaknesses from 2013 a strength, but then allowed all of their strengths to become a weakness. Rz defense went down the tubes. Last year what were we against playoff teams?? Looking back we were 4-2. Pretty awesome! But then in 2013 we were 4-6 against the crappy teams! So what do we do this year!? We go 7-3 against the non playoff teams! Great job guys you turned that weakness around, now all you have to do is play almost as well against playoff teams this year. How did that go? 2014 record vs playoff teams. 1-5. Nice. What about the rz? Last year we were 11th in rz efficiency. This year 20th. Last years defensive rz efficiency. 5th. This year 16th. 3rd downs. Defense went from 15th at 38% to 28 at 44%. Itd like the entire team got better between the twenties and much much worse near the endzone. Both for offense and defense it seems.

 

[Fins1971]

What irritates me about this team is they made all of their weaknesses from 2013 a strength, but then allowed all of their strengths to become a weakness. Rz defense went down the tubes. Last year what were we against playoff teams?? Looking back we were 4-2. Pretty awesome! But then in 2013 we were 4-6 against the crappy teams! So what do we do this year!? We go 7-3 against the non playoff teams! Great job guys you turned that weakness around, now all you have to do is play almost as well against playoff teams this year. How did that go? 2014 record vs playoff teams. 1-5. Nice. What about the rz? Last year we were 11th in rz efficiency. This year 20th. Last years defensive rz efficiency. 5th. This year 16th. 3rd downs. Defense went from 15th at 38% to 28 at 44%. Itd like the entire team got better between the twenties and much much worse near the endzone. Both for offense and defense it seems.

Fix one thing, break another. It never ends....

 

[royalshank]

Not looking into details and just speaking from of the cuff, I tend to think it has to do with the offense changing the gameplan and ditching aggressiveness and worrying more about not making a mistake then closing out the game. Similar to when defenses go prevent after holding opponents all game, then all of a sudden they march downfield as if they were playing a pee wee team.

Like in the Green Bay game this year... We threw the ball on 2nd down and ran it on third. If aggressiveness was the style like second down, you trust the QB and throw it again. Had they run it both times the clock is at 2 min warning when we punt and Green Bay uses another timeout, then Rodgers would have been 25 or so seconds less to work with, chucking to the end zone from around the 30 instead of from the 8. Or if we passed it twice had the chance to get that 8 yards and pick up the first and kneel down. This stuff lies on coaching and play calls late.

I agree w this. In watching the playoff games you see the top coaches being aggressive in these situations. The game is changing - it's almost as if you want to have the ball last and be behind. So if you have the lead, play offense, stay aggressive and try not to over-rely on your defense.

 

[CO-Gator]

One has to think how differently those games would have played out for an Andrew Luck quarterbacked football team.