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Monday Sports Buzz 9/21

Daytona Fin

Daytona Fin

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We’ll post Dolphins news, thoughts and reaction in this space all day, sifting through the wreckage of this unacceptable 23-20 loss to Jacksonville, so check back frequently:



The Dolphins knew if their young players and depth didn’t play as well as they hoped (prayed?), they could have legitimate concerns at the cornerback spot opposite Brent Grimes and serious shortcomings on their offensive line.

Those problems have indeed materialized.

What the Dolphins never could have envisioned is that they would be unable to sack the quarterback.

You know how many sacks Dolphins veterans have made through two weeks? Not a single one. Miami’s only sack came from rookie Jordan Phillips against Washington.

Sunday’s inability to get to Blake Bortles was astonishing considering Bortles was sacked more than any other quarterback in the league last season and five times in Week one against Carolina. Sunday marked his first NFL game in which he wasn’t sacked at all and the first time he posted a passer rating of 100 or better (102.2).

The Dolphins and the Chargers are the only teams with just one sack; the Bears, Raiders and Colts (who played Monday) have none. Conversely, the Patriots have 11.

Miami tied for 16th in the league with 36 sacks last season and expected that figure would increase substantially because of the addition of Ndamukong Suh (8.5 sacks last season and 36 over his first five seasons), and the fact that Olivier Vernon and others would be single-blocked far more often than a year ago.

Vernon sacked Bortles once on Sunday but the play was nullified by a Walt Aikens hands-to-the-face penalty.

According to Pro Football Focus, the Dolphins generated 15 quarterback hurries on Sunday --- including six by Earl Mitchell, three by Derrick Shelby and two by Vernon --- but not a single one of them materialized into a sack.

There have been some extenuating circumstances: Vernon was limited to 30 snaps against Washington because of an ankle injury and Wake played just 15 of 73 snaps Sunday because the Dolphins apparently didn’t believe he was particularly effective after dealing with a hamstring earlier in the week.

The Dolphins said Wake was not injured Sunday and Wake said afterward that any questions about his lack of playing time should be directed to the coach. Hmmmm.

How bad is the Dolphins’ one-sack-every-two-game pace? Consider that the team that finished last in the league in sacks last season, Cincinnati, still managed 20.

The Dolphins couldn’t have expected problems with their pass rush, but they probably should have braced themselves for shortcomings in their secondary.

After coming up short in a late bid to sign free agent Buster Skrine (who joined the Jets) and opting to take DeVante Parker instead of trading down for a cornerback in the draft, the Dolphins hoped that some combination of Brice McCain, Jamar Taylor, Zack Bowman, Will Davis and rookies Bobby McCain and Tony Lippett would be good enough to supplement Brent Grimes.

So far, it hasn’t been, aside from a terrific interception from Brice McCain in the opener.

Brice McCain, who has been starting on the boundary, allowed four of seven passes thrown against him to be caught on Sunday for 80 yards, including a 54 yard pass to Allen Robinson, in which McCain oddly ran past the play and didn’t try to make a play on the ball. Though two games, 7 of 11 passes thrown against McCain have been caught for 129 yards and a 96.4 passer rating.

Taylor allowed two of four passes to be caught for 26 yards (and has a 92.4 passer rating against him through two weeks), but the bigger problem has been his penchant for penalties resulting in first downs. He has committed three of those, including an illegal contact infraction on a 3rd and nine. A few plays later, Robinson beat Walt Aikens for a 46-yard touchdown, pushing the Jaguars’ lead to 17-6.
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### PFF said Jelani Jenkins and Koa Misi graded out the best of Dolphins defensive players, and Aikens and Brice McCain the worst… Among offensive players, Jason Fox and Dallas Thomas graded out worst.
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http://miamiherald.typepad.com/spor...-not-surprising-shortcomings-exploited-i.html
 
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Even PFF knows that Dallas Thomas has gone from suck to blow.
 
The McCain long completion was terrible. I've never seen an NFL corner be in perfect position and just keep running while the ball is being caught behind him. It should of been an easy interception or at worst a pass break up.
 
The Dolphins said Wake was not injured Sunday and Wake said afterward that any questions about his lack of playing time should be directed to the coach. Hmmmm.
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So if Wake was not injured, was he benched?
 
Suh not running the plays Coyle puts in and Wake telling the mdia to ask the coach why he didn't play...WOW, gonna be a longggggg season as it implodes around Philbin and Coyle.

---------- Post added at 11:54 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:54 AM ----------
AEGBRG said:
So if Wake was not injured, was he benched?
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That's my question as well...
 
I am going to beat a dead horse and say we should of signed Mathis. You can guarantee $60 million to Suh but can't find 3-4 million to sign a pro bowl guard at a position you desperately need help at. Typical Dolphins.
 
AEGBRG said:
I am going to beat a dead horse and say we should of signed Mathis. You can guarantee $60 million to Suh but can't find 3-4 million to sign a pro bowl guard at a position you desperately need help at. Typical Dolphins.
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Mathis said he wanted to play for a contender and he chose Denver.
 
Daytona Fin said:
Mathis said he wanted to play for a contender and he chose Denver.
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It's my understanding that we offered him even less than Denver, though. If we had offered him more money, I think we could have signed him. That said, it's all moot now. Joe made his bed and now he has to sleep in it.
 
Regulus said:
The McCain long completion was terrible. I've never seen an NFL corner be in perfect position and just keep running while the ball is being caught behind him. It should of been an easy interception or at worst a pass break up.
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McCain was actually in decent coverage there, but he was just way to short compared to Robinson to get up and play the well thrown ball.... no pressure on Bortles allowed him to also throw a nice deep ball there. McCain pretty much played solid, was with the WRs for the most part... he got beat inside for the TD but was just a little late on coming around to the ball, once again Robinson using his size to shield well.

same with Grimes who slipped a bit guarding Robinson early in the game, Robinson used his frame and size to go up and get the deep ball in front of Grimes and the safety
 
Daytona Fin said:
Mathis said he wanted to play for a contender and he chose Denver.
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We could of signed Mathis -- the team just would of had to pay more to get him than Denver. The organization choose not to, and a lot of pink slips will eventually be handed out because of that decision.

---------- Post added at 11:04 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:03 AM ----------
J. David Wannyheimer said:
It's my understanding that we offered him even less than Denver, though. If we had offered him more money, I think we could have signed him. That said, it's all moot now. Joe made his bed and now he has to sleep in it.
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Yep.
 
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