Saban and staff drop the ball.

[texasPHINSfan]

Hey guys,
i'm putting this one squarely on the shoulders of Saban and his crew. why? Penalties, turnovers. We have had 10+ penalties every game this year, and going into this game were leading the league in penalties, even AFTER the bye week. You would *think* that would be a HUGE thing the coaches would hone in on. We had over 100 yards AGAIN on penalties. Want to guess how many of those were drive killers? How much would 100 yards would have helped us? You think 5 less yards of penalties might have kept Lindell from knockin' that FG that put them over the top?

The number of penalties shows a total lack of concentration. While it would be too easy to blame the players, you have to realize that if you are gonig to blame all the players, you really need to blame the coaches. It is apparent our guys were ill-prepared for this contest, even with two weeks to study and get ready. I realize Holcomb was a new QB they couldn't study, but he didn't exactly "tear us up" with his 170 yards. Holcomb didn't beat us. The Bills didn't beat us. We beat ourselves. We lost the ball 8 times, 5 of which the Bills came up with. That is ridiculous. If you ask me, i think we are the better team. If you remove all turnovers from both sides, i think we win that game. Think about this: we only lost by four points even with 4 MORE turnovers. I am surprised we hung in there, if you ask me Linehan was the only coach who earned his check today. Despite our player's every attempt at losing the game, Linehan kept it close. This season we are hard-core in the negative in turnover ratio, just like last year.... only we are 2-2 instead of 0-4. Some luck, some coaching...

Some players did well. I don't fault Frerotte on this loss. 3 picks is bad, but two were hail-mary type of bombs. i'm more concerned of the short-yardage picks that would be just horrible throws. Frerotte had us on pace to score another TD there in the waning seconds of the game anyway, so i don't entirely blame him. Ronnie was trying to carry the entire offense as no one was doing anything.... i don't fully blame him either. His fumble came at an inopportune time, but you can't put the loss all on him. He gave a GREAT effort.

Bottom line: Why should we absolve Saban and his crew for the same things that happened last year? We raped Wanny and his crew last year for these same things. I am not saying "fire Saban", or "Saban sucks". I am saying that Saban is to blame for this. Rookie coach, growing pains. He is learning just like Travis Daniels, Channing Crowder, Ronnie Brown, and Matt Roth. Chalk up this loss to Saban, and lets move on.

Saban learns and grows from this. Remember, he is still getting acquainted with our team, seeing how they do in different situations and under pressure.

Next week we defeat the Bucs!

 

[cltchperf]

yeah, Gus made some really nice throws, I think he will rebound next game, Miami definilty did not lose becuase of him, the whole team overall screwed up with penalties and ints and fumbles

 

[Pocoloco]

ok... so what's the point here? should we get our pitchforks and torches and go find Saban now, or later? The team is still going in the right direction, not the wrong one.

 

[texasPHINSfan]

ok... so what's the point here? should we get our pitchforks and torches and go find Saban now, or later? The team is still going in the right direction, not the wrong one.

LoL...

you sir, clearly did not read the post! i'll show you again...

I am not saying "fire Saban", or "Saban sucks". I am saying that Saban is to blame for this. Rookie coach, growing pains. He is learning just like Travis Daniels, Channing Crowder, Ronnie Brown, and Matt Roth. Chalk up this loss to Saban, and lets move on.

Saban learns and grows from this. Remember, he is still getting acquainted with our team, seeing how they do in different situations and under pressure.

Next week we defeat the Bucs!

 

[byroan]

Finally! Someone says crew. Saban isn't the only coach. It makes you wonder what the OL and DL coaches are teaching their players. Saban's just the main guy so he gets the most blame, but the other coaches shouldn't get a free pass.

Edit: I forgot to say, Great post!

 

[CitizenSnips]

i agree that saban messed up here. two weeks of preparation and losing, i mean its just not right. I don't think his gameplanning was wrong, but he didn't do something right. I don't know exactly what it was, because im not a player in that lockerroom, but something just didn't happen.

 

[texasPHINSfan]

I don't think his gameplanning was wrong, but he didn't do something right. I don't know exactly what it was...

concentration.

the players didn't have it.

 

[adamprez2003]

I kinda agree with this perspective from the Bills

The 2-2 Dolphins, while not yet at the level where they can overcome every bit of their own idiocy, are improved enough to challenge other flawed teams in hostile environments. They did so against the Jets and now against the Bills. Now they have to find a way to win one of these games if they plan to be surprise AFC East winners, since no less than a 3-3 division record is likely to get that done.

We can take something really positive, if we take a trusty Bills defensive back at his word.

"Night and day, night and day," Troy Vincent said when asked to compare the 2004 Dolphins, who were swept by the Bills, to the current edition. "I think Brown is a hell of a back. Their defense, they are right back in the thick of things, where they used to be. They are playing ball-control offense. I can't say enough about [Randy] McMichael and [Chris] Chambers and [Marty] Booker. And they keep you on your toes, keep you thinking, where is the ball going next?"

Notice Vincent said nothing about Frerotte. He praised our receivers, our rookie running back, and our play calling but nothing about our QB. When we get a QB to play here we can add 10 to 14 points pwer game to our totals

 

[texasPHINSfan]

I kinda agree with this perspective from the Bills

The 2-2 Dolphins, while not yet at the level where they can overcome every bit of their own idiocy, are improved enough to challenge other flawed teams in hostile environments. They did so against the Jets and now against the Bills. Now they have to find a way to win one of these games if they plan to be surprise AFC East winners, since no less than a 3-3 division record is likely to get that done.

We can take something really positive, if we take a trusty Bills defensive back at his word.

"Night and day, night and day," Troy Vincent said when asked to compare the 2004 Dolphins, who were swept by the Bills, to the current edition. "I think Brown is a hell of a back. Their defense, they are right back in the thick of things, where they used to be. They are playing ball-control offense. I can't say enough about [Randy] McMichael and [Chris] Chambers and [Marty] Booker. And they keep you on your toes, keep you thinking, where is the ball going next?"

Notice Vincent said nothing about Frerotte. He praised our receivers, our rookie running back, and our play calling but nothing about our QB. When we get a QB to play here we can add 10 to 14 points pwer game to our totals

wrong thread? :D

 

[adamprez2003]

wrong thread? :D

Ok . I'll put it another way. The penalties couldve been overcome. They're not what lost us the game. Being unable to make plays on offense cost us the game

 

[LittlePaulie]

Ok . I'll put it another way. The penalties couldve been overcome. They're not what lost us the game. Being unable to make plays on offense cost us the game

While I agree we could have come out making some plays! When you have penalties of 5 yards here and 10 there on every drive you can't hold momentem especially on the road. While I believe we are a work in progress and am not ready to fire people and burn the house like fools. We do need to right the ship!

 

[yankeehillbilly]

After 1 game of double digit penalties you can look to the players. After two, look to the position coaches. But after 3 weeks of 10 or more penalties and a bye week and the head coach hasnt stepped in to correct the problem and we actually get worse and I say its time to blame the head coach. Especially when the majority of the penalties are lack of discipline penalties....false starts, offsides, unsportsmanlike, delay of game. If the assistants just aren't good enough to teach discipline, well....who hired these bum assistants? We railed on Wanny for hiring Tony Wise. Why shouldnt we rail on Saban for hiring Houck if Houck cant teach his group to not move till the ball is snapped?

 

[phinking]

I was one of those disgruntled fans who wanted Don Shula out back in the early 90's. But god do I miss him now. These coaches we've had since he left are some of the biggest frauds I've ever seen. 18 penalties? I think Nick Saban must be teaching these
guys how to commit penalties, and not avoiding them.

 

[adamprez2003]

The reason the penalties don't kill us the way they would other teams is our defense is good enough to overcome them. Maybe I'm wrong but it seemed the defense commited most of the penalties. I was in a bar watching (and drinking) so I might be wrong. It seems to me the problem we have had up to now was with offensive penalties, mainly on the oline. I dont remember too many penalties on the offense this game especially the oline. I bring that up only to point out that I think Houck got his message through about the penalties but it seems that the rest of the team caught the disease. I think we'll have a relatively penalty free game next week. Less than 8 is my prediction

 

[yankeehillbilly]

The reason the penalties don't kill us the way they would other teams is our defense is good enough to overcome them. Maybe I'm wrong but it seemed the defense commited most of the penalties. I was in a bar watching (and drinking) so I might be wrong. It seems to me the problem we have had up to now was with offensive penalties, mainly on the oline. I dont remember too many penalties on the offense this game especially the oline. I bring that up only to point out that I think Houck got his message through about the penalties but it seems that the rest of the team caught the disease. I think we'll have a relatively penalty free game next week. Less than 8 is my prediction

6 Penalties on offense, 4 on the offensive line.
Defensive penalties hurt us bad though. Kept Buffalo drives alive.
No team is consistantly good enough to overcome penalties. More times than not, they will kill you.
I certainly hope we have fewer than 10 penalties next week. If not you gotta wonder what exactly Saban's policy on penalties is.