My questions on the game:

[fin-atic]

First of all I have not seen the game, so I can only react to what I have read in the media. I return tomorrow and am gettign a copy to watch. So my questions are these:

1. The papers report that Denver lost several starters due to injury. Most importantly in their secondary. Most of the second half they could not play nickle coverage, and a safety was playing corner. That was when we broke the game open. How big of a factor did that seem to be? Were we making great plays or were they blowing coverage?

2. A lot of praise I read for Ronnie Brown, but 59 yards on 22 carries doesn't sound that good. What was the story?

3. Randy McMichael seemed like he had a big game. Correct?

4. It doesn't seem like the OLine opened up many holes, how did they play? pass protect?

5. Are we getting too carried away with this win?

6. It seems like Linehan's play calling was superb. Reverses, JT playing TE, long balls. True/not true?

I am elated about this game. Most importantly from a team confidence and morale boost. We needed it so bad after the rough preseason.

Thanks to all of you who went and cheered so loud that you made a difference.

 

[welderpat]

1 More than the injurys I would say they wilted in the heat.

2 Brown showed improvement throughout the game.


3 Randy aint going 4-12 again. He had a great game

4 Run blocking sucked,Pass blocking medium

5 No We never were a 4-12 team we had a 0-16 coach,ask Pitt

6 No more wadball :rofl3: :rofl3:

 

[LarryFinFan]

but

1) They lost starters in the secondary, that's true. They also wilted in the heat. They stopped up the middle quite well.
2/4) The OL was mediocre at best and needs to improve. I'll also say that Ricky would have had a better game than Brown, because is more adept at cutback runs which might have been open. That said, Brown was met in the backfield virtually every play...He had a decent day, considering his lack of preseason time. Also, he needs to remember this isn't Kansas (Auburn) anymore, don't run up to the line and stop with the big boys. He had a tendency to try to dance around and spin. Just keep those legs moving...but he'll improve on that. Gus had very little time on most plays. And we found out that Gus cannot throw on the run, like Ears and AJ were adept at.
3) Randy had a good game, but not spectacular. He still dropped (for him) a couple. They would have been great catches, but we're used to him making them). Gus was throwing behind his receivers all day.
5) We aren't as good as this one win and the jests aren't as bad as their loss. But there is improvement. And the D looked very good. ZT and JT were beasts. The secondary played fairly well. Madison had his best game in 2 years.
6) I posted a line in the game thread yesterday that it was such a great feeling to have a real offensive coordinator...his play calling was spot on...His design for attacking Denver's D was awesome. We will enjoy watching him at work for this season, whether we win 12 games or just this one....

Hope this helped...good win, good game...minimal injuries from what I've heard..

 

[phunwin]

1. The papers report that Denver lost several starters due to injury. Most importantly in their secondary. Most of the second half they could not play nickle coverage, and a safety was playing corner. That was when we broke the game open. How big of a factor did that seem to be? Were we making great plays or were they blowing coverage?

While I think that helped us, I thought Gus was throwing pinpoint balls out there. The 60 yard catch and run TD to Booker, for example, was really well covered; Gus placed the ball perfectly.

2. A lot of praise I read for Ronnie Brown, but 59 yards on 22 carries doesn't sound that good. What was the story?

The jury's still out. It seemed like Denver was betting on us playing wad ball, and so they stacked the line against Brown. Really, his use today was as a decoy more than anything. But I would have liked to see him run more aggressively. Too many times he was juking for no good reason.

3. Randy McMichael seemed like he had a big game. Correct?

He played well, but I don't think he was spectacular or anything.

4. It doesn't seem like the OLine opened up many holes, how did they play? pass protect?

The OL can't pass protect much better than this. A couple Denver guys breathed on Frerotte, but that was it. I think he might have been knocked down once. Frerotte helped a lot by not holding the ball too long.

5. Are we getting too carried away with this win?

Probably, but after a 4-12 season, I think it's okay to get a little carried away. :)

6. It seems like Linehan's play calling was superb. Reverses, JT playing TE, long balls. True/not true?

True. He opened up the playbook and kept Denver guessing. BTW, I think Minnesota misses him more than they might let on.

 

[SarahAnn]

The OL can't pass protect much better than this. A couple Denver guys breathed on Frerotte, but that was it. I think he might have been knocked down once. Frerotte helped a lot by not holding the ball too long.

I thought our OL looked weak most of the game. They were not opening holes for the RB as all our big running plays were to the sides. Morris did have that one run up the middle for the TD but it looked more like the D was asleep and expecting pass then it did our OL did something.

You're right OUR OL cant pass protect much better than what they did today though, I still thought it was bad, at one point we had 6 offensive penalties for 30 yards, all of which were offsides. That I believe was in the Second Quarter and whatever was said to them worked cause they didnt jump the gun much the second half if at all.

 

[3Ply Stagliano]

1. It was a bit of both. Miami appeared to be playing well but the Denver secondary wasn't looking too good by the end of the game. As was mentioned, they looked like they were exhausted and just wanted to get the game over with.

2. I didn't think he was outstanding but he did well a couple of times. He made a superb catch of a ropey pass and that was pretty impressive but he also seemed a little hesitant at times. The problems he was having seemed to be what you would expect from someone playing his first pro football game and aren't a long term worry whereas the abilities he showed were impressive and will be good for many years to come.

3. McMichael had a reasonable game but I wouldn't say he was a huge factor in the game. If he was a bit of a nobody TE coming from nothing, you would say he had an amazing game but you get used to him having good performances and this was just another one. So I reckon anyway.

4. Just as a note, I thought the O-Line appeared to be pass protecting a lot better than last year. There were plenty of plays where Gus Frerotte had enough time to do what he wanted and it showed in his play. Perhaps it's because Denver's pass rush is fairly insipid but it (the pass blocking) wasn't too bad and certainly appeared a lot better than I had feared. Their run blocking wasn't dominant but I didn't think it was as bad as I feared it may have been either.

5. Of course, but where's the harm in that? Enjoy it as much as you can.

6. Other than that strange backwards pass/fumble (although I guess we never got to see what it was supposed to be), it was effective and kept the Denver defence off-balance so, in hindsight, it was very good playcalling. If it had backfired and Miami's offence had been terrible, we would all be saying what horrible playcalling it was. Thankfully it didn't and we all think Linehan is wonderful. Asides from how effective it was, it was really entertaining offence to watch and I can't remember when I've been able to say that about Miami since... Well, since you know when.

 

[derek]

1) Denver did lose Anderson and Bailey, BUT, Bell did better at HB and Chambers was getting open against Bailey anyway.

2) As stated by others, he improved during the second half. No one seems to be mentioning that his pass blocking was great.

3) Another day at the office, nothing huge.

4) Run blocking needs improvement.

5) This game has made optimistic that we are turning a corner.

6) I would agree. Not just the play selection, but the fact that we finished the job instead of going conservative.

I think next week will be a better test of where we're at, and week 3 even better.

 

[DolphinsFan4evr]

were getting a little carried away, because denver played soo bad.
but its still an improvement.
saban will help solidify.