This came up in another thread, and I thought it deserved its own.
Our tight end position is, I think, an excellent microcosm of what is wrong with this team and this coaching staff. Among other things, that means failing to use the right guys; failing to put guys in the right positions; and rotating through way more players than is necessary.
Let’s start with Gesicki. We are a team with precious few offensive weapons. Mike Gesicki is our best and most consistent offensive weapon other than, possibly, Jaylen Waddle—who entered the year as an unproven rookie coming off injury. Moreover, Gesicki is 6’6 with a 40 inch vertical and extraordinary hands. It’s hard to imagine a better security blanket for a young quarterback. His primary backups are a glacially slow blocking specialist (Smythe), a fairly well-rounded backup quality player (Shaheen), a rookie (Long), and a special teams player (Carter).
Given those facts, you’d expect us to use Gesicki early and often in the passing game, right? And certainly in the red zone, right?
Wrong. In Week One, he played 21 snaps. To date, he has played approximately 2/3 of Dolphins snaps. And over the last two weeks, we’ve left points on the board because we’ve been playing other tight ends in the red zone.
Let’s rewind two weeks ago, against the Jaguars. Up 7-3, we have 1st and 10 from the Jags’ 10 yard line. We run the ball off tackle. Great news! There is a gap to the 1-yard line if we can just effectively block the edge defender. So who is lined up off tackle?
Cethan Carter. Not Durham Smythe, whose sole existence on this roster is to be a blocking specialist tight end. Not Shaheen, who is both a capable blocker and a capable receiver. Not Long, who is also a capable blocker and receiver. And not Gesicki, who is our best red zone weapon at tight end. Cethan Carter. Carter is called for a hold. We’re pushed back to first and goal from the 20. We never come close to the end zone. Field goal.
Fast forward to yesterday. Dolphins are down 10-7 but driving. They face 2nd and 7 from the Falcons’ 14. They dial up a pass play. First read is a tight end corner route. Who’s running the route?
Gesicki? Of course not. Shaheen? Nope. Long? Still no. It’s Smythe, the blocking specialist! We didn’t want to use him to block in the red zone against the Jags, but now that we’re passing, this is his moment to shine. He runs the corner. He has a step on the under man. The ball is well located. But he rounds his route instead of making a sharp cut—the safety steps right in front of him for the pick. No points.
Now, I know what a lot of you guys are probably thinking—this isn’t fair, Marino2.0. Hindsight is 20/20. How should the coaches have known that our special teams specialist isn’t our best inline blocker, or that our blocking specialist isn’t our best red zone receiver? And who even knows if it would’ve worked out any better with the right personnel?
Please turn to the 5-minute mark in the third quarter against the Falcons. Dolphins again driving. Dolphins again facing 2nd and long in the red zone. Tua again squeezes a pass into the end zone to a double-covered tight end. But lo and behold, something has changed! The tight end is not Smythe, or Carter, or Shaheen. It’s Gesicki! And what happens? Gesicki makes a play on the ball. The spirit of a 6’6 man with a 40 inch vertical and excellent hands overtakes him. He must’ve thought he was Durham Smythe! Touchdown!
This is a great microcosm of what’s wrong with our team right now. We don’t play our best players. And we ask players to do the things they’re worst at, while failing to use them in the spots they could be useful. The NFL is a game of inches. You can’t leave points on the board simply because you played the wrong guys. It’s hard enough to win with your A-game versus the other team’s. This coaching staff right now isn’t putting us in a position to even see whether our A-game can beat the other team’s. We’re living and dying on Cethan Carter and Malcolm Brown.
Our tight end position is, I think, an excellent microcosm of what is wrong with this team and this coaching staff. Among other things, that means failing to use the right guys; failing to put guys in the right positions; and rotating through way more players than is necessary.
Let’s start with Gesicki. We are a team with precious few offensive weapons. Mike Gesicki is our best and most consistent offensive weapon other than, possibly, Jaylen Waddle—who entered the year as an unproven rookie coming off injury. Moreover, Gesicki is 6’6 with a 40 inch vertical and extraordinary hands. It’s hard to imagine a better security blanket for a young quarterback. His primary backups are a glacially slow blocking specialist (Smythe), a fairly well-rounded backup quality player (Shaheen), a rookie (Long), and a special teams player (Carter).
Given those facts, you’d expect us to use Gesicki early and often in the passing game, right? And certainly in the red zone, right?
Wrong. In Week One, he played 21 snaps. To date, he has played approximately 2/3 of Dolphins snaps. And over the last two weeks, we’ve left points on the board because we’ve been playing other tight ends in the red zone.
Let’s rewind two weeks ago, against the Jaguars. Up 7-3, we have 1st and 10 from the Jags’ 10 yard line. We run the ball off tackle. Great news! There is a gap to the 1-yard line if we can just effectively block the edge defender. So who is lined up off tackle?
Cethan Carter. Not Durham Smythe, whose sole existence on this roster is to be a blocking specialist tight end. Not Shaheen, who is both a capable blocker and a capable receiver. Not Long, who is also a capable blocker and receiver. And not Gesicki, who is our best red zone weapon at tight end. Cethan Carter. Carter is called for a hold. We’re pushed back to first and goal from the 20. We never come close to the end zone. Field goal.
Fast forward to yesterday. Dolphins are down 10-7 but driving. They face 2nd and 7 from the Falcons’ 14. They dial up a pass play. First read is a tight end corner route. Who’s running the route?
Gesicki? Of course not. Shaheen? Nope. Long? Still no. It’s Smythe, the blocking specialist! We didn’t want to use him to block in the red zone against the Jags, but now that we’re passing, this is his moment to shine. He runs the corner. He has a step on the under man. The ball is well located. But he rounds his route instead of making a sharp cut—the safety steps right in front of him for the pick. No points.
Now, I know what a lot of you guys are probably thinking—this isn’t fair, Marino2.0. Hindsight is 20/20. How should the coaches have known that our special teams specialist isn’t our best inline blocker, or that our blocking specialist isn’t our best red zone receiver? And who even knows if it would’ve worked out any better with the right personnel?
Please turn to the 5-minute mark in the third quarter against the Falcons. Dolphins again driving. Dolphins again facing 2nd and long in the red zone. Tua again squeezes a pass into the end zone to a double-covered tight end. But lo and behold, something has changed! The tight end is not Smythe, or Carter, or Shaheen. It’s Gesicki! And what happens? Gesicki makes a play on the ball. The spirit of a 6’6 man with a 40 inch vertical and excellent hands overtakes him. He must’ve thought he was Durham Smythe! Touchdown!
This is a great microcosm of what’s wrong with our team right now. We don’t play our best players. And we ask players to do the things they’re worst at, while failing to use them in the spots they could be useful. The NFL is a game of inches. You can’t leave points on the board simply because you played the wrong guys. It’s hard enough to win with your A-game versus the other team’s. This coaching staff right now isn’t putting us in a position to even see whether our A-game can beat the other team’s. We’re living and dying on Cethan Carter and Malcolm Brown.
