Optimistic Review of Dolphins/Steelers

[Louis Oliver]

Ok...Everyone is probably sick of these but I watched that game 4 times on TIVO and I need to post my thoughts.

Here are my observations and conclusions about the Dolphins after week 1.

1) Steelers were stacking the line early against Dolphins to take away the run. They were challenging Dolphins receivers to beat one-on-one coverage and were jumping all running plays.

2) Dolphins went to the pass to deal with the stacked boxes. For the most Part Steelers had difficulty stopping Daunte from being effective. This was not bad play calling by Mularkey but taking what the defensive was giving them.

3) Dolphins offensive line did a good job pass protecting against Steelers for 54 minutes. The 2 sacks that were given up were when RB's got matched up on pash-rushers. Darian Barnes missed on Joey Porter and Ronnie Brown had to block Aaron Smith. There is no way Ronnine Brown can block a 290 pound defensive end. This must have been a scheming blunder. The last 6 minutes of the game the entire team fell apart.

4) Ronnie Brown did a good job w/ limited holes. A 235 pound guy that can make people miss and then bowl the guy over is very good. He did not get much to work w/ at all. The Steelers were predicting the running plays well.

5) Dolphins killed themselves w/ Penalties on 3rd down. Questionable hands to the face on Lehan and Questionable Pass interference on Goodman lead to a score.

6) With the exception of about 5 running plays the Dolphins did a good job on Willie Parker and the Steelers running game. One was a missed tackle by Zack that went for about 40 yards. That won't happen much this season.


Most of this stuff is what we have all heard already. But I am just tired of the Doom and Gloom. I am really excited about this years team. I think we are a year away from Super Bowl contention, but we are AFC east title contenders THIS YEAR! Daunte Culpepper made some poor throws in the game ( 5 to my count ) and locked on to receivers. But he made some plays that no Dolpins QB had made Since Marino. Guys if he cuts down on the mistakes we have a real weapon here.

Ronnie Brown is a great Back. Look around the league. Alot of teams struggled. Shaun Alexander had problems w/ Detroit when nobody was blocking for him. Ronnie Brown is the real deal.

Bottom line: Steelers are a very good team that make good teams look bad. We are fine.

 

[The Aqua Crush]

thank you for that post. exactly my thoughts. you pointed it out very nicely and I agree, we have a good team and I as well am sick of the doom and gloom

 

[redclamcrowder]

Excellent post... I couldn't agree with you more on your points... the Fins will be just fine, and I expect big things from them this year (really the sky is the limit... I just dont see them having an average year)...Buffalo should be the perfect cure to our problems:D

 

[westernnyphinfa]

Ok...Everyone is probably sick of these but I watched that game 4 times on TIVO and I need to post my thoughts.

Here are my observations and conclusions about the Dolphins after week 1.

1) Steelers were stacking the line early against Dolphins to take away the run. They were challenging Dolphins receivers to beat one-on-one coverage and were jumping all running plays.

2) Dolphins went to the pass to deal with the stacked boxes. For the most Part Steelers had difficulty stopping Daunte from being effective. This was not bad play calling by Mularkey but taking what the defensive was giving them.

3) Dolphins offensive line did a good job pass protecting against Steelers for 54 minutes. The 2 sacks that were given up were when RB's got matched up on pash-rushers. Darian Barnes missed on Joey Porter and Ronnie Brown had to block Aaron Smith. There is no way Ronnine Brown can block a 290 pound defensive end. This must have been a scheming blunder. The last 6 minutes of the game the entire team fell apart.

4) Ronnie Brown did a good job w/ limited holes. A 235 pound guy that can make people miss and then bowl the guy over is very good. He did not get much to work w/ at all. The Steelers were predicting the running plays well.

5) Dolphins killed themselves w/ Penalties on 3rd down. Questionable hands to the face on Lehan and Questionable Pass interference on Goodman lead to a score.

6) With the exception of about 5 running plays the Dolphins did a good job on Willie Parker and the Steelers running game. One was a missed tackle by Zack that went for about 40 yards. That won't happen much this season.


Most of this stuff is what we have all heard already. But I am just tired of the Doom and Gloom. I am really excited about this years team. I think we are a year away from Super Bowl contention, but we are AFC east title contenders THIS YEAR! Daunte Culpepper made some poor throws in the game ( 5 to my count ) and locked on to receivers. But he made some plays that no Dolpins QB had made Since Marino. Guys if he cuts down on the mistakes we have a real weapon here.

Ronnie Brown is a great Back. Look around the league. Alot of teams struggled. Shaun Alexander had problems w/ Detroit when nobody was blocking for him. Ronnie Brown is the real deal.

Bottom line: Steelers are a very good team that make good teams look bad. We are fine.

Good take although I would contend that we should have run the ball straight ahead on 3 and 2 in the 4th qrt, the shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line, and even if we only got a yard we would have had an opportunity to go for a 4th and short to ice the game.

One question i Do have for you is, did you see the hold on the reverse play? It certainly looked like our DB was tackled but NBC nor the commentators even mentioned it?

Thanks for the post.

 

[PhinsRock]

Good post, I am also tired of the doom and gloom posts. We'll be fine, we should go 10-6 or 11-5 and make the playoffs either way, that's pretty solid for me as a fan.

Sure we have some rough spots, but from what I saw in most games this weekend, so does practically every other team in the NFL.

 

[jlfin]

Good take although I would contend that we should have run the ball straight ahead on 3 and 2 in the 4th qrt, the shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line, and even if we only got a yard we would have had an opportunity to go for a 4th and short to ice the game.

One question i Do have for you is, did you see the hold on the reverse play? It certainly looked like our DB was tackled but NBC nor the commentators even mentioned it?

Thanks for the post.

I still think Ronnie could have gotten that 1st down on 3rd and 2 if he had just put on the jets and tried to get outside. Instead he stopped and stutter stepped. You can't do that against a stong pursuit defense like the Steelers. Hopefully his position coach will correct that.

 

[BlueFin]

Bottomline........with 6 minutes left in the game we had the lead and a chance to ice the defending world champions, we may have lost but were not that far away.

 

[Louis Oliver]

I still think Ronnie could have gotten that 1st down on 3rd and 2 if he had just put on the jets and tried to get outside. Instead he stopped and stutter stepped. You can't do that against a stong pursuit defense like the Steelers. Hopefully his position coach will correct that.

I don't think Barry Sanders could have gotten out of that one. The Steelers sent everybody on a run blitz and they didn't get fooled by the fake. The Phins may have gone to the well once too often w/ that play.

 

[Louis Oliver]

Good take although I would contend that we should have run the ball straight ahead on 3 and 2 in the 4th qrt, the shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line, and even if we only got a yard we would have had an opportunity to go for a 4th and short to ice the game.

One question i Do have for you is, did you see the hold on the reverse play? It certainly looked like our DB was tackled but NBC nor the commentators even mentioned it?

Thanks for the post.

It looked like a block in the back to me and you can see Saban screaming on the sidelines about it. NBC did not review it. But with TIVO you can. I don't understand enough about the rule, but it was very close. I can see why the ref didn't call it. But technically it might have been a foul.

 

[dolfan91]

this still doesn't take away the fact that on all three steeler TD passes the secondary had major breakdowns .. more specifically tillman .. if the mistakes don't happen miami wins the game...

 

[furball4]

I don't think I'd call the Goodman interference "questionable". Maybe the officials miss that sometimes, but he locked up the receiver's arm for about 15 yards. That and the Tillman interference were both blatant as far as I'm concerned. We're lucky we only got burned on one of them. I think the ref could see that Tillman's man didn't have the right balance/position/angle/leverage to make the catch anyway.

Also, I don't like what I saw from Chambers. I watched his misses in slow-mo today and he was just not getting it done for us. That outside shoulder pass in the end zone... the DB didn't break that up. It burst right through Chambers' hands and off his face mask. *Then* the DB's hand came up between Chambers. Chambers just hadn't reacted fast enough and wasn't ready to make that catch. Across the middle on a long bullet the ball passed very close to him but he didn't make a try - again, he was out of stride or not expecting it. And the long sideline pass, he wasn't really open, but he had the jump on his coverage for a second. Any one of those would have been a clutch catch, for sure, but all three were makeable and he came down with zero.