Observations from the 46 yd line

[FinHopeful]

I went to the game at Reliant Stadium and had seats on the 46 yd line. I live in Texas, so I do not have a lot of opportunities to go to a Dolphins game. The one thing that is apparent when you decide what to watch (instead of a producer of a TV broadcast) is the individuals that give effort every play. Some will surprise you most will not

1. Wes Welker
2. Jason Taylor
3. Zack Thomas
4. Will Allen
5. Ronnie Brown
6. Daunte Culpeper (except for blocking on that reverse)

Unfortunately, they are the only ones .....

Notes:

* Ronnie Brown dances on short yardage and is in too much of rush on most plays. He is giving full effort, but he is not always wise in how he invests it.
* Daunte is making metal mistakes. He is rusty on his progressions (finding the open man), and he is not fully shifting his weight onto that front leg. Having said all of that. I WILL NOT FAULT HIS EFFORT.
* Will Allen is making mistakes, but he is playing very hard. I am satisfied with that.
* I am convinced that consistency of effort is the number one factor in determining games. I agree with Nick on that one.
* I am convinced that running Ronnie a few more times in the third quarter would have had a very positive effect.
* I was very disappointed in the play of Randy McMichael. Where did the fire go? It may not be obvious on TV, but his effort was not even close to consistent.

 

[Rebar71]

Notes:

* Ronnie Brown dances on short yardage and is in too much of rush on most plays. He is giving full effort, but he is not always wise in how he invests it.
* Daunte is making metal mistakes. He is rusty on his progressions (finding the open man), and he is not fully shifting his weight onto that front leg. Having said all of that. I WILL NOT FAULT HIS EFFORT.
* Will Allen is making mistakes, but he is playing very hard. I am satisfied with that.
* I am convinced that consistency of effort is the number one factor in determining games. I agree with Nick on that one.
* I am convinced that running Ronnie a few more times in the third quarter would have had a very positive effect.
* I was very disappointed in the play of Randy McMichael. Where did the fire go? It may not be obvious on TV, but his effort was not even close to consistent.

* - Ronnie does dance too much. He is still trying to find the best running lanes outside of the deigned play. That said - he is a BEAST and it will come. We saw that from Ricky a lot too during his second season behind a poor run-blocking line.

* - for the most part, I think Daunte is fine. Even, watching other games with QBs of the same ilk, Daunte is not giving up any more sacks in the same situations. It's just that the OL gives him same much less time on many more plays... the situation looks worse than it is.

* - consistency of effort... unfortunately, I have to watch every game on TV, so I can't see the whole field...

* - running Ronnie more - DEFINATELY! He may be still adapting to the NFL, but his power and speed are undeniable. In spite of his rookie lack of vision, and the OL's lack of blocking, he is still averaging 3.5 YPC. And if the OL wasn't letting the DL in the backfield at the hand-off, he would be MINIMUM 4.5 YPC average in spite of what he still has to learn.

* - Randy Mac - again, can't comment on some of it. But he is definately not as involved in the passing game as he should be. And we've been hearing a lot about his poor blocking.

In addition, the WRs don't seem to be able to get even when the OL does manage to give Daunte 3+ seconds. It's rare but it has happened. Daunte ends up having to tuck it in and run for his life anyway. Again, I've only seen the games on TV, so I can't watch the whole field - but WTF?!

 

[ralexand]

Thanks for the impressions.

 

[DUB]

I felt like for the first time thos year Randy made a good contribution. Did you see him taking plays off or what?

 

[finfan54]

I for one have not been impressed with mcmicheal his entire career here. He has been all about potential. But the beating the wife thing (twice), and then the comment about him being unhappy about blocking tells me we should think about trading his overpaid ars to someone else for a draft pick to get a quality linemen without an injury history.

Its called take the loss to move ahead. Randy Mcmicheal is a bit of a head case. I know alot of people will shout and scream about that but the guy has really not been that great.

 

[FinHopeful]

Wow! He did not have that bad of a game. He is just only playing hard on about 60% of the plays. That is horrible given what he is paid, but I would not trade him until there is someone better.

 

[COMEBACKRICKY]

hey i was at the game too, (35 yard line)!
it was a great experience!! it was also the first game i went to since i live in texas. you may have even noticed me. i was wearing the green Daunte culpepper jersey and evreytime the dolphins made a first down id get up and yell "firstdoowwwnn DOLPHINS!" to make fun of that gay little chant they do.

But yeah, i noticed a lot of the same things. It is obvouis when you go to the game to see you puts more effort or not. i dont think zach thomas took of his helmet, and DC was pacing the sidelines the whole game. The problem that i saw was our oline. i would just look at them and not at the ball, and let me tell you guys, its BAD. our tackles were being manhandled by seth payne and mario williams, and i mean manhandled. as for ronnie, i think thats why he has to "dance" a lot, because hes just trying to find a decent hole.

 

[Canadianfishfan]

I for one have not been impressed with mcmicheal his entire career here. He has been all about potential. But the beating the wife thing (twice), and then the comment about him being unhappy about blocking tells me we should think about trading his overpaid ars to someone else for a draft pick to get a quality linemen without an injury history.

Its called take the loss to move ahead. Randy Mcmicheal is a bit of a head case. I know alot of people will shout and scream about that but the guy has really not been that great.

I agree.. I dont get all the McMike hype...I have forever been waiting to make a game breaking play for all the accolades he gets. He drops as many balls as donald lee... And his blocking sucks....

Give me jason radar!

Had to edit... the radar thing.. its sarcasm...