The Long Ball

[SCall13]

I'm not sure if anything about this has been posted. Truth be told, I'm a little behind on posts and do not start threads nearly as much I had in the past. I'm going to state the obvious here and also ask for opinions concerning the deep ball and our offense in general. First, we all know that we have talent offensively (however hindered by an overall average to poor offensive line). We've also been made privy to circumstances where Philbin admittedly, for whatever reason, has changed plays that were called by Lazor. And, as it turns out, his meddling with our offensive play calling has effected this team negatively, at least, more times than not. It leads me to wonder if Philbin has been WHY we haven't thrown the deep more. Has he handcuffed us in that regard? I ask this because, in a single game we eclipsed our season longest completion at least on three occassions. And damn near had two more (Hartline and Williams). I'm curious about Philbin. He came from Green Bay where the offense has always been an aggressive one. (At least this is true for the past 2 decades). Why did he come her and all of a sudden become mega conservative? My suspicions are that he had a lot less to do with Green Bay's offensive success than he is credited for. This almost goes without saying considering the head coach he served under typically called the plays. But one would think that, under such tutelage he would have learned that aggressive is the way to go. Yet, for some reason, as has been status quo for the Dolphins since Marino/Shula left us, we have been plagued by sickeningly conservative approaches offensively. This approach, in my opinion, hinders growth of the players who should be met with confidence. As a former quarterback and coach I find it extremely frustrating to see this happening again and again, season after season. For a while, several weeks ago, I thought getting rid of Philbin to be a bad idea. Only because of the sake of continuity. We appeared to be making progress (and we have to an extent). However, I feel that Philbin has become more of a hindrance than anything. I have a lot of confidence in Lazor. I think he brings good stuff to the table. But he has been handcuffed, from one extent to another, by a head coach who lacks passion, energy, and BALLS.

I could go on and on. I'd like to hear you guys chime in on your opinions about what has set us back - not to include the o-line. I say that because we have shown enough flashes with the less than stellar line to know what we are CAPABLE of. Is this Philbin? Or is this problem rooted somewhere else?

 

[uk_dolfan]

Very well thought out post, fair play for that. but if you have a search, you will find at least 100 deep ball threads from the last month or so lol

personally, whilst being the head of the tannehill fanclub, i am happy to say that he doesn't have an amazing deepball. But he can throw it, he has shown that both here and college.

Our dreadful o line last two years has certainly not helped and most of his best deep balls have been dropped.

however we need to throw it more, he doesnt have the best deepball nor even a very good one, but throwing it regularly enough for it to at least be a threat would open up a lot, even in the running game.

bill lazor in general. .. he gets so much praise but im not sure I get why. He hasnt been bad... more ok in my eyes, not the messiah some make him out as

 

[J. David Wannyheimer]

I feel like we have a good nucleus of talent at some positions, but we aren't exactly elite.

On offense, I like our QB a lot. I like Lamar Miller and what he has done this year a lot, but he has stone hands -- isn't a receiving threat. I like Mike Wallace and Jarvis Landry, but these are complementary pieces... and Brian Hartline is not good. I like Clay and Sims, but again, these are complementary players... not game changers.

On defense, I felt like Cameron Wake was an elite player coming into the season, but isn't anymore. That leaves us with some nice pieces, but a lot of holes. Jenkins is going to be a good linebacker for us, but that's about it. Dion Jordan... not sure what to think. Starks has fallen off rapidly. Olivier Vernon is good but not great. Reshad Jones, likewise.

As for what Philbin had to do with Green Bay's success, I think the obvious answer is 'not much.' As for the long ball, I think you can put a lot of that on Bill Lazor, probably. Don't get me wrong, I like Lazor quite a bit, but he's still learning on the job. He's made some ugly mistakes this year, too.

I just don't feel that we have a GREAT roster, so that's why I certainly don't pin all of the blame on Philbin. But with that said, I also don't think Philbin is a positive for this team, so I think we need to look to upgrade.

 

[Bob512]

The lack of even trying the deep pass prior to this last week is a mystery to me. Frankly, I think RT did very well with it....which makes you question its absence even more. You have to take your shots down the field.......at least once per quarter if not more....but you have to do it. I have no idea what the thought process was there.

On offense, I agree with JDW that RT and Lamar Miller are solid. I also like Wallace, but at times, he can test my patience. Landry is a stud. Another mystery to me is the use of the tight ends and the middle of the field. We didn't start to focus on the middle of the field till the last few weeks. Sims has the big body you need to be an impact player...and I have seen flashes, but he really doesn't get much opportunity. Clay is solid by I worry about the injury bug with him...still, he is a heck of a player.

We need two guards this offseason. With Albert back, Pouncey and James...a FA guard and a drafted guard would be the way to go in my opinion. The Defense needs some work. The "D" line and LB's have been a problem all year. Depth at CB and a safety to replace Delmas. We have a lot of work to do.

I think Joe has run his course with this team. I'm not the massive Joe hater that is littered throughout this site, but I have come to the conclusion that if we want to change the culture of this team, we have to make a change at head coach. Don't get me wrong, as I'm not anti-Philbin, and if he stays, I can live with it.....but I think this team needs more of a smash mouth go for the kill mentality and we just don't have that with Joe. I do think Philbin has actually helped this franchise over the last few years on the road back to respectability, but I think it needs another nudge from someone who is a little more aggressive. (no Hayden, not Rex Ryan)

I'll be interested to see how the team does these last two weeks.

 

[SCall13]

Very well thought out post, fair play for that. but if you have a search, you will find at least 100 deep ball threads from the last month or so lol

personally, whilst being the head of the tannehill fanclub, i am happy to say that he doesn't have an amazing deepball. But he can throw it, he has shown that both here and college.

Our dreadful o line last two years has certainly not helped and most of his best deep balls have been dropped.

however we need to throw it more, he doesnt have the best deepball nor even a very good one, but throwing it regularly enough for it to at least be a threat would open up a lot, even in the running game.

bill lazor in general. .. he gets so much praise but im not sure I get why. He hasnt been bad... more ok in my eyes, not the messiah some make him out as

I figured there are a ridiculous amount of deep ball threads. Perhaps I mis-titled my post. That said, I concur that Tannehill lacks a desirable deep ball, but I am perplexed as to why it has been absent all season long. I'm not sure where the blame should fall. I understand that Lazor is a bit green as an offensive coordinator and he will have bumps in the road as he learns. I certainly do not give him the credit of being our offensive savior, I do see a major improvement under his watch. My question is (and there will never be an end-all answer), given Philbin's admitted penchant for overriding various calls, to what extent did Philbin effect the route we took offensively. It's not an easy answer by any means. But because of some of the overrides he admitted to, it makes me wonder if he slowed down the progression of the offense. I can't say he didn't have good intentions. But I will say that, coaching a team that was hanging on by a thread, you'd like to see a more aggressive approach. As in - what do we have to lose...go for it approach. Yet he seemed content with the typical conservative approach that potentially cost us games. I'm a little perplexed...but, given our history past Marino and Shula, not surprised.