The Good, Bad and Ugly

[Dolphindrew]

My simple breakdown from last night's game:

The Good

- Chad Henne. Threw crisp passes, showed leadership and seemed to really take the game on his shoulders. If he continues and improves on that, the franchise is SO much better off than we thought.

- Brandon Marshall - Although he and Henne need to get on the same page in the red-zone, he had a big game and ran hard after the catch.

- Fasano - Big catches, tough catches. Play like that 9 times a year and I'm happy.

The Bad

- Play call on 4th and a foot (fade to Hartline). Worst play call possible. I realize it's tough to run up the middle on NE, but at least pitch it to Reggie or run a quick slant - make 11 guys defend, not just 1.

- Our pass rush. Hello? It looked like NE was blocking a poor High School teams blitz attempts. The sack Wake got was a coverage sack. Brady had the ball for a long time.

- D-Line tackling. Too many whiffs. Could have lasso'd Woodhead 3-4 times for a loss or no gain which turned into 7 yards repeatedly.

- LB speed - I was excited about this group of LB. Misi (to me) looks slow. I'm a huge Dansby fan but he was abused all night and missed a couple of key tackles. Did Burnett play??

- Punt and KO coverage. It didn't burn us "bad", but trust me, I can tell the coverage units are going to be a huge issue this year.

The Ugly

- Nolan Carrol - Please cut yourself and save the organization the paperwork. You are a deadbeat player with no upside. You were getting owned and seemed to simply accept it. You're a joke.

- Benny Sapp - Take my analysis of Carrol, cover it in dog crap and human hair, light it on fire and pee on it. That's Benny Sapp. He gave up at least 8 huge pass plays and/or TD's. He and Carroll weren't even ready on the snap a handful of times.

- The simple fact that a team from the North East came down to the sauna and made the fins look like a bunch of mamby pamby, out of shape hacks seeing their first exposure to humidity. Hats off to Bill B. He truly is a genius. Their offensive tempo, not the plays themselves, were the diffence in the game. I believe it actually forced our offense (after the first drive) to "slow down" and not take the risks we're all so excited about, in fear of a 3-and-out which may have caused cardiac arrest for 5 of our 11 defensive starters.

 

[newlownorder]

To be fair about the pass rush, I saw Solder hold Wake many times during that game, Cog was being called for them, Solder was not...and I'm not talking about the times he just fell on top of Wake.

 

[H4wt Pocket]

Completely agree with everything you said.

Henne played great and far exceeded my expectations. He looked confident and, for the most part, comfortable out there. He was actually calling audibles and scrambling effectively. I know it's just one game, but maybe Daboll is just what he needed. If he keeps this up, I'll gladly eat crow for saying I wanted to trade for Orton during the offseason.

Also, I want to give props to Brandon Fields. He continues to be great for us. He doesn't get much attention since he's just a punter, but he really helps us with the field position battles.

The offensive line was disappointing, but I think that was to be expected. We can't keep killing drives with holding calls and we can't allow teams to sack Henne 4 times a game.

The goal line play calling was a bit off. The fade to Hartline was a major head scratcher. Personally, I think fade routes are crap to begin with, but if you do call one, at least throw it up to your big WR in Marshall and not someone like Hartline.

By far the biggest letdown was the defense. The lack of pass rush and the inability to cover the tight ends was sickening.

 

[Dr. Phin]

I can't put all the blame on the DB's...Brady had all day to pass...what do you expect to happen with Brady and 5s to think about where to go? I put this more on the fact that we ignored getting a second rusher and got the dancing queen instead...

 

[GasPed]

I can't put all the blame on the DB's...Brady had all day to pass...what do you expect to happen with Brady and 5s to think about where to go? I put this more on the fact that we ignored getting a second rusher and got the dancing queen instead...

I posted this in the pass rush thread, but I'm posting here too because people need to get their facts right. I just re-watched the highlights from the game, and saw about 10 of Brady's completions, and on every single one the ball was gone in 3 seconds or less (sometimes less than 2). Unless you are unblocked (or very poorly blocked) it is very difficult to sack the QB in that amount of time. Brady's (and his receivers') performance was just plain outstanding, that's all there is to it.

On the other hand, it would've been nice if we were a little closer to him when he released it (not that it helped on the plays we did manage to do it).

 

[hightempo]

My simple breakdown from last night's game:

The Good

- Chad Henne. Threw crisp passes, showed leadership and seemed to really take the game on his shoulders. If he continues and improves on that, the franchise is SO much better off than we thought.

- Brandon Marshall - Although he and Henne need to get on the same page in the red-zone, he had a big game and ran hard after the catch.

- Fasano - Big catches, tough catches. Play like that 9 times a year and I'm happy.

The Bad

- Play call on 4th and a foot (fade to Hartline). Worst play call possible. I realize it's tough to run up the middle on NE, but at least pitch it to Reggie or run a quick slant - make 11 guys defend, not just 1.

- Our pass rush. Hello? It looked like NE was blocking a poor High School teams blitz attempts. The sack Wake got was a coverage sack. Brady had the ball for a long time.

- D-Line tackling. Too many whiffs. Could have lasso'd Woodhead 3-4 times for a loss or no gain which turned into 7 yards repeatedly.

- LB speed - I was excited about this group of LB. Misi (to me) looks slow. I'm a huge Dansby fan but he was abused all night and missed a couple of key tackles. Did Burnett play??

- Punt and KO coverage. It didn't burn us "bad", but trust me, I can tell the coverage units are going to be a huge issue this year.

The Ugly

- Nolan Carrol - Please cut yourself and save the organization the paperwork. You are a deadbeat player with no upside. You were getting owned and seemed to simply accept it. You're a joke.

- Benny Sapp - Take my analysis of Carrol, cover it in dog crap and human hair, light it on fire and pee on it. That's Benny Sapp. He gave up at least 8 huge pass plays and/or TD's. He and Carroll weren't even ready on the snap a handful of times.

- The simple fact that a team from the North East came down to the sauna and made the fins look like a bunch of mamby pamby, out of shape hacks seeing their first exposure to humidity. Hats off to Bill B. He truly is a genius. Their offensive tempo, not the plays themselves, were the diffence in the game. I believe it actually forced our offense (after the first drive) to "slow down" and not take the risks we're all so excited about, in fear of a 3-and-out which may have caused cardiac arrest for 5 of our 11 defensive starters.

dead on. i reviewed the game and sapp was awful. but we made a huge blunder thinking he could cover their tightends. what the hell was nolan thinking???? the guy looks 5'8. the biggest problem we had tho was from our coordinators. daboll called a mostly fantastic game. but our reluctance to let hillard see the field in short yardage after he had already converted was ridiculous. nobody would be second guessing if we run the ball on 4th and 1. ive said all along what a joke this coaching staff is. the terrible personal decisions on who to keep and who to release. who to bring in. the churning of the roster. etc. im actually ready to say theyve corrected their most glaring deficiency - their conservative approach. so for this they get props. loved the new offense. it gives us a chance to win. and henne a chance to be successful. but we arent there yet. there is still a time to throw and a time to run. you must be able to run the ball 3rd and 1 and 4th and one and you must be willing to do so or you have zero chance in the red zone and moving the chains. this staff simply always somehow gets something wrong every single year.

i understand wanting to develop young talent. and the injury thing with age and the guaranteed contract for being on the roster in week 1 for vets. but can anybody honestly say that will allen isnt our 3rd best corner? if not better? and with the pats coming to town in week one shouldnt we be doing everything we can to win that game first before we worry about anything else? will allen never should have been cut. looks like nolan carroll never should have made the team. and probably a pretty poor decision to ever cut larry johnson let alone bring him in so late if u are ever going to bring him in at all. with his resume if hes in camp and learns the offense he could have been a part of this win and the gameplan could have been a little more balanced. in fact looking at it now. (and i like daniel thomas) but why trade draft picks to move up to get the guy to be a 2nd back in the offense?? especially when we need a seem threat at tight end. and offensive line help? that we still continue to fail to address?

we just simply continue to cut talent that produces when the games are played. rob nincovich was ten million times better than quentin moses a few years ago in preseason. the guy made plays. he put pressure on the quarterback. and moses never did ****. yet we kept him. now nincovich is playing well with the pats and putting pressure on our guy. simply unacceptable. he made plays! we cut him. same with ginn. why cut a guy that has those return skills???? why?? we basically cut him - 5th round pick. and u dont find that talent in the 5th round. i dont care if he wasnt great receiver. he a game changer. and hes proven it over and over. including 4 kicks in a dolphins uniform that were called back on terrible holding penalties that people always seem to want to overlook. he still did it. regardless if they counted or not. same goes for will allen. he was one of the best 46. he should have played against new england.

all that being said. im finally optimistic about this team. daboll wont make that ridiculously stupid and amateur mistake again. sparano finally is acting like a coach that is willing to win. right now tho this coaching staff has to be the tony romo of coaching staffs. they have so much right. but cant get the little things right when it matters

 

[MarshallFin1]

My simple breakdown from last night's game:

The Good

- Chad Henne. Threw crisp passes, showed leadership and seemed to really take the game on his shoulders. If he continues and improves on that, the franchise is SO much better off than we thought.

- Brandon Marshall - Although he and Henne need to get on the same page in the red-zone, he had a big game and ran hard after the catch.

- Fasano - Big catches, tough catches. Play like that 9 times a year and I'm happy.

The Bad

- Play call on 4th and a foot (fade to Hartline). Worst play call possible. I realize it's tough to run up the middle on NE, but at least pitch it to Reggie or run a quick slant - make 11 guys defend, not just 1.

- Our pass rush. Hello? It looked like NE was blocking a poor High School teams blitz attempts. The sack Wake got was a coverage sack. Brady had the ball for a long time.

- D-Line tackling. Too many whiffs. Could have lasso'd Woodhead 3-4 times for a loss or no gain which turned into 7 yards repeatedly.

- LB speed - I was excited about this group of LB. Misi (to me) looks slow. I'm a huge Dansby fan but he was abused all night and missed a couple of key tackles. Did Burnett play??

- Punt and KO coverage. It didn't burn us "bad", but trust me, I can tell the coverage units are going to be a huge issue this year.

The Ugly

- Nolan Carrol - Please cut yourself and save the organization the paperwork. You are a deadbeat player with no upside. You were getting owned and seemed to simply accept it. You're a joke.

- Benny Sapp - Take my analysis of Carrol, cover it in dog crap and human hair, light it on fire and pee on it. That's Benny Sapp. He gave up at least 8 huge pass plays and/or TD's. He and Carroll weren't even ready on the snap a handful of times.

- The simple fact that a team from the North East came down to the sauna and made the fins look like a bunch of mamby pamby, out of shape hacks seeing their first exposure to humidity. Hats off to Bill B. He truly is a genius. Their offensive tempo, not the plays themselves, were the diffence in the game. I believe it actually forced our offense (after the first drive) to "slow down" and not take the risks we're all so excited about, in fear of a 3-and-out which may have caused cardiac arrest for 5 of our 11 defensive starters.

I agree with everything except for benny sapp, i think sapp had a rough day along with the rest of our secondary but the guy is a playmaker, he showed in preseason he makes plays and yesterday u can say the guy got us a defensive touchdown by assisting odrick in that interception. Either way, benny makes us for his mistakes by makin plays and turnovers for us.

Now, nolan carroll i cannot stress my dissappointed on this guys performance yesterday, hes not playing the ball at all, he doesnt look back for the ball, he gets toasted and with that he doesnt even try to make a play to make up for it like benny. Why this guy is still on our team is beyond me, i would cut him ASAP and get him off this team. Players feed of each other man, with nolan carrolls "dont care" attitude our other players see that and all the sudden start acting like him. Money issues might not be a thing with nolan since his mom is a governor or w.e so i guess he has nothing to worry about if he is cut off this team. Sparano wants his secondary to play with swag, where is nolans swag sparano? he has no swag, no desire to win, doesnt give a **** about the dolphins.

 

[jim1]

To be fair about the pass rush, I saw Solder hold Wake many times during that game, Cog was being called for them, Solder was not...and I'm not talking about the times he just fell on top of Wake.

Solder looked very, very good to me. Julian Edelman looked good, too. Dude is tough and has wheels.