Samphin
Dolphins Homer
Well, a scene seen too many times last year showed itself again this year on Sunday. Miami lost to the Jets in a close battle where they had too many penalties, couldn't run the ball and wore the defense down to the breaking point. But, to tell you the truth? I am not too worried about it. Why? I will tell you why, along with some other observations from the game.
-The defense played pretty good. I was dismayed to see them play so far off the receivers since Pennington was throwing the slowest ball ever past five yards, but for the most part, they seemed to hold evryone in check. The Jets really didn't have any amazing stats or anything. I would have liked to have seen them paly more bump and run. However, when they finally did, Reggie Hoawrd slipped and fell and the Jets picked up 25 yards on a third and long inside their 10...go figure.
-I think Travis Daniels has earned himself a start. They may not make the switch until after the bye week, but he looked a lot better than Howard. The Jets did it right and went right after Howard, and it payed off.
-We have to be the unluckiest team when it comes to fumbles. It seems ever week the other team puts it on the carpet where if we had a guy there, we could take it to the house, yet, the other team always seems to recover them.
-Speaking of which, how funny was it to see the Jets fumble TWICE on the first play from scrimmage after their troubles last year? I was laughing so hard...until the penalty was explained...
-I am not saying anything, but Carnell Williams and Braylon Edwards look pretty good...just saying is all. Ronnie is dancing way too much. However, the good news is he seems to have recognized it ( or the coaches recognized it for him ) and stated that he will do better. He does a very good job picking up blitzes though...if only we could make them pay for blitzing...
-I may have to come to the realization that Chambers is not a legit number 1 receiver. Number 1 receivers do not drop those passes he dropped yesterday. We were driving before a penalty knocked us into 2nd and 20. Frerotte finds Chambers for what should have been a first down or a very makeable third and short. What does Chambers do? He lets it bounce off his chest and into the turf. Instead of being in field goal range at a minimum, we ended up punting after Morris dropped a pass that could have gone for some yardage on the next play.
-Speaking of which, I want to see Sammy Morris run the ball more. He is hitting the holes with authority and actually moving the line of scrimmage. Ronnie either needs to have a stellaer week in practice, or I put Morris in the starting lineup.
-I see a problem with all of our receivers catching the ball with their chest. We really need to have the coaching staff nip this in the bud and get those arms outstretched before it turns into an epidemic.
-In an odd moment, Vernon Carey went from being demoted off the starting squad, to being promoted to the most important spot on the squad. It was a good move by Saban though. Abraham was terrorizing McIntosh and Carey seemed to do better against him.
-If anyone read my keys to the game piece last week, you would have seen that one of the keys was to throw short passes, and quick passes to negate the pash rush. We did very little of that, which hurt us. Gus got happy feet and had to run. He doesn't throw too well while on the run. It hurt us. We should have had some more quick routes and passes if you ask me.
-McMichael is going to have a huge season this year. A struggling offenses best friend is a good tight end. Randy is going to benefit from Chambers's demise in my opinion. PAY THE MAN!
-Seau is still a beast. Nobody better say he has lost a step...because he might sack you before you finish the sentence.
-Donnie Jones is the definition of inconsistant.
-I know this is pretty much a dead issue now. But I wanted to just point out that Gus was the right choice again. Even though we lost, I think he kept his poise. He wasn't the reason we lost. If he can play like that from here on out, we should be ok.
-All in all, I wasn't devastated by this loss. Sur,e the penalties killed and led to New York's first TD drive. Sure, Mare blew another field goal that turned out to be big. Yes, the defense wore down and the worst time to push the score back out to two scores. And yes, the o-line didn't seem to do too well and our rookie RB hasn't set the league on fire...wait where was I going with this?
Oh yes. However, this feels like a team that has a plan. Last year it was a team in dissarray and if we won, we were shocked. Now, this team carries itself like it should win every week. Believe it or not, they are more disciplined. Some of the players aren't, but the front office and coaches are. that is what makes the difference. The talent may not all be there and the growing pains are still there, but it feels like a work in progress as opposed to a sinking ship.
Actually, that is the best way to put it I suppose. The loss didn't bother me too much because this team feels like a work in progress as opposed to a sinking ship of last year. Yeah, I like that. :)
-The defense played pretty good. I was dismayed to see them play so far off the receivers since Pennington was throwing the slowest ball ever past five yards, but for the most part, they seemed to hold evryone in check. The Jets really didn't have any amazing stats or anything. I would have liked to have seen them paly more bump and run. However, when they finally did, Reggie Hoawrd slipped and fell and the Jets picked up 25 yards on a third and long inside their 10...go figure.
-I think Travis Daniels has earned himself a start. They may not make the switch until after the bye week, but he looked a lot better than Howard. The Jets did it right and went right after Howard, and it payed off.
-We have to be the unluckiest team when it comes to fumbles. It seems ever week the other team puts it on the carpet where if we had a guy there, we could take it to the house, yet, the other team always seems to recover them.
-Speaking of which, how funny was it to see the Jets fumble TWICE on the first play from scrimmage after their troubles last year? I was laughing so hard...until the penalty was explained...
-I am not saying anything, but Carnell Williams and Braylon Edwards look pretty good...just saying is all. Ronnie is dancing way too much. However, the good news is he seems to have recognized it ( or the coaches recognized it for him ) and stated that he will do better. He does a very good job picking up blitzes though...if only we could make them pay for blitzing...
-I may have to come to the realization that Chambers is not a legit number 1 receiver. Number 1 receivers do not drop those passes he dropped yesterday. We were driving before a penalty knocked us into 2nd and 20. Frerotte finds Chambers for what should have been a first down or a very makeable third and short. What does Chambers do? He lets it bounce off his chest and into the turf. Instead of being in field goal range at a minimum, we ended up punting after Morris dropped a pass that could have gone for some yardage on the next play.
-Speaking of which, I want to see Sammy Morris run the ball more. He is hitting the holes with authority and actually moving the line of scrimmage. Ronnie either needs to have a stellaer week in practice, or I put Morris in the starting lineup.
-I see a problem with all of our receivers catching the ball with their chest. We really need to have the coaching staff nip this in the bud and get those arms outstretched before it turns into an epidemic.
-In an odd moment, Vernon Carey went from being demoted off the starting squad, to being promoted to the most important spot on the squad. It was a good move by Saban though. Abraham was terrorizing McIntosh and Carey seemed to do better against him.
-If anyone read my keys to the game piece last week, you would have seen that one of the keys was to throw short passes, and quick passes to negate the pash rush. We did very little of that, which hurt us. Gus got happy feet and had to run. He doesn't throw too well while on the run. It hurt us. We should have had some more quick routes and passes if you ask me.
-McMichael is going to have a huge season this year. A struggling offenses best friend is a good tight end. Randy is going to benefit from Chambers's demise in my opinion. PAY THE MAN!
-Seau is still a beast. Nobody better say he has lost a step...because he might sack you before you finish the sentence.
-Donnie Jones is the definition of inconsistant.
-I know this is pretty much a dead issue now. But I wanted to just point out that Gus was the right choice again. Even though we lost, I think he kept his poise. He wasn't the reason we lost. If he can play like that from here on out, we should be ok.
-All in all, I wasn't devastated by this loss. Sur,e the penalties killed and led to New York's first TD drive. Sure, Mare blew another field goal that turned out to be big. Yes, the defense wore down and the worst time to push the score back out to two scores. And yes, the o-line didn't seem to do too well and our rookie RB hasn't set the league on fire...wait where was I going with this?
Oh yes. However, this feels like a team that has a plan. Last year it was a team in dissarray and if we won, we were shocked. Now, this team carries itself like it should win every week. Believe it or not, they are more disciplined. Some of the players aren't, but the front office and coaches are. that is what makes the difference. The talent may not all be there and the growing pains are still there, but it feels like a work in progress as opposed to a sinking ship.
Actually, that is the best way to put it I suppose. The loss didn't bother me too much because this team feels like a work in progress as opposed to a sinking ship of last year. Yeah, I like that. :)
