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Observations From the Game Last Night

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72PhinFan

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I was at the game last night and it wasn't good. Many on this site would normally call me a homer; but I have some real concerns. All these observations are about the first team.
  1. Unless Pouncy missed a dozen line calls, the OL has problems that Long won't fix. It is the most glaring weakness the Dolphins have. They were bad.
  2. Unless the Defense comes up with an immediate in your face pass rush, good QBs will carve it up with 6-10 yds passing. Freeman missed at least 6 open receivers he should have hit. Wake is a liabiltiy in Pass Defense if he is not rushing the passer. Brady will eat this pass defense alive.
  3. This Defense better learn how to come up with the big play turnover. Just one in the first half might have been enough to enter the locker room with a lead and perhaps win if this was regular season, even with the ineptness of the OL.
Now for some good things.

  1. Henne looked good. When he was given time, he found the open receiver easily. That pass to Marshall was one of the best passes I've seen him throw. He missed Gates on the same pattern a little later. It was off by a couple of yards but Gates was open. The FS was late on that one as well. This tells me that Henne is either reading the defense correctly, looking off the FS, Tampa Bay's FS sucks, or any combination of the three.
  2. The ease with which TB scored their touchdown not withstanding, the Dolphins are going to be solid against the run, especially the DEs.
  3. Marshall is running hard and will live up to his nickname. He is the best player outside of Long Miami has on offense. He looked significantly more valuable than Bush last night but that may be a product of the OL. Yes, he fumbled but that seemed a product of trying to gain as many yards as he possibly could. I don't see it as significant.
Except for Henne's improvement, all these observations have been made time and time again by others on this site. You wonder how the Front Office can seem to be so complacent on these issues. If someone as ignorent as me to the inner workings of football dynamics can see these things, you wonder why the front office can't. I don't believe Sparano or Ireland are stupid. If it's stubornness and pride, then they will get what that usually brings-- failure. Another losing season. And they won't be here next year.
 
I have to wonder if Sparano was all that good an offensive line coach and all that good at evaluating offensive line personnel when he was with Dallas. I sure haven't heard any compelling arguments in favor of it.
 
The continued woefulness of the O-line is far and away the most disappointing aspect of this regime. Draft picks, free agency, lineup changes constantly used for 4 years now and we still don't have a good line.

To get such little results from soooo much effort and money is almost ridiculous.
 
I agree the pass to Gates was placed perfectly. The corner had an armbar on Gates messing up the timing. Gates complained to the official about it and he was right. Next play Marshall gets the same armbar and the PI is called. Thems the breaks for a rookie though.
 
One thing that the Dolphins definitely needs to institute is a goal line play that doesn't involve running up the middle. I'm sure they can find a play or two and utilize Clay in those situations...
 
Kdawg954 said:
Yea I saw the same thing . . . people getting mad at Henne, I thought that pass to Gates was a fantastic throw. Gates just didn't catch it.
Click to expand...

I didn't have the best angle. It looked about a yard off but that could have been because of where I was sitting.
 
Da Phinishisher said:
I agree the pass to Gates was placed perfectly. The corner had an armbar on Gates messing up the timing. Gates complained to the official about it and he was right. Next play Marshall gets the same armbar and the PI is called. Thems the breaks for a rookie though.
Click to expand...

I thought I saw that and had the same reaction on the PI right after. Missed call on the Gates throw. I just didn't remember when I wrote the post
 
72PhinFan said:
I was at the game last night and it wasn't good. Many on this site would normally call me a homer; but I have some real concerns. All these observations are about the first team.
  1. Unless Pouncy missed a dozen line calls, the OL has problems that Long won't fix. It is the most glaring weakness the Dolphins have. They were bad.

    [*]Unless the Defense comes up with an immediate in your face pass rush, good QBs will carve it up with 6-10 yds passing. Freeman missed at least 6 open receivers he should have hit    . Wake is a liabiltiy in Pass Defense if he is not rushing the passer. Brady will eat this pass defense alive.
  2. This Defense better learn how to come up with the big play turnover. Just one in the first half might have been enough to enter the locker room with a lead and perhaps win if this was regular season, even with the ineptness of the OL.
Now for some good things.

  1. Henne looked good. When he was given time, he found the open receiver easily. That pass to Marshall was one of the best passes I've seen him throw. He missed Gates on the same pattern a little later. It was off by a couple of yards but Gates was open. The FS was late on that one as well. This tells me that Henne is either reading the defense correctly, looking off the FS, Tampa Bay's FS sucks, or any combination of the three.
  2. The ease with which TB scored their touchdown not withstanding, the Dolphins are going to be solid against the run, especially the DEs.
  3. Marshall is running hard and will live up to his nickname. He is the best player outside of Long Miami has on offense. He looked significantly more valuable than Bush last night but that may be a product of the OL. Yes, he fumbled but that seemed a product of trying to gain as many yards as he possibly could. I don't see it as significant.
Except for Henne's improvement, all these observations have been made time and time again by others on this site. You wonder how the Front Office can seem to be so complacent on these issues. If someone as ignorent as me to the inner workings of football dynamics can see these things, you wonder why the front office can't. I don't believe Sparano or Ireland are stupid. If it's stubornness and pride, then they will get what that usually brings-- failure. Another losing season. And they won't be here next year.
Click to expand...

I was at the game also and i definitely agree with that, freeman was letting balls get away from him and if that was Brady we would have been toast. The OL was a wreck, forget the fact there is no long, the problems exceed LT and need to be fixed ASAP. On a positive note Henne looked good minus his fumble, was making the right reads when allowed time, and was jumpin around on the field in the huddle and clapping his hands. This is not robo chad anymore, you can just see a 180 in terms of "visible" enthusiasm. This was my first game in eight years and be it preseason or not that touchdown to marshall had me going CRAZY, hell of a pass, catch, and stiff arm.

GO FINS!!!!!
 
I'd be interested to know how many missed calls were made on the offensive line - a lot of responsibility falls on the center and over-thinking can cause false-steps and a lack of surge at the point of attack. Luckily, those are things that can be corrected via experience; however, I didn't get to see the game so I can't comment on how bad the O-Line actually was.
 
Gates has to make a play on the ball! I said that last week and I'll say it again this week. If it's a little out of his way he doesn't make an effort to catch that ball. I like that catch he had a few plays later though. That O-line has to be seriously addressed. It was like watching that Bears game last year where Pigpen was running for his life on every play.

A few observations that I mentioned last night are a few of the observations that everyone sees:

1)The O-line. Period.
2)We need to address those short passes on D.
3)We can't get it going in the Third quarter. That was a huge problem last year (among a bunch of other stuff), we would come out flat after half time.

On the other side of the coin:

1) Henne is progressing...Finally...For now. I can't remember the last time he had 2 good games back-to-back
2)Marshall, except for that bone-headed fumble that changed the momentum of the game.
3) I like that our D is a bend-not-break unit. We'll give up a ton of yards underneath, but we won't break when it matters.
 
mialuv13 said:
Gates has to make a play on the ball! I said that last week and I'll say it again this week. If it's a little out of his way he doesn't make an effort to catch that ball. I like that catch he had a few plays later though. That O-line has to be seriously addressed. It was like watching that Bears game last year where Pigpen was running for his life on every play.

A few observations that I mentioned last night are a few of the observations that everyone sees:

1)The O-line. Period.
2)We need to address those short passes on D.
3)We can't get it going in the Third quarter. That was a huge problem last year (among a bunch of other stuff), we would come out flat after half time.

On the other side of the coin:

1) Henne is progressing...Finally...For now. I can't remember the last time he had 2 good games back-to-back
2)Marshall, except for that bone-headed fumble that changed the momentum of the game.
3) I like that our D is a bend-not-break unit. We'll give up a ton of yards underneath, but we won't break when it matters.
Click to expand...

On 3): Killer BS. I wasn't a fan.
 
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