This is the problem

[Sunny Fish]

Essentually it goes back to the same problem last year minus that idiot Henning. The new O.C. has the right idea. Chad Henne has a ton of talent. Our problem is cerebral. Sparano is not thinking. Henne is sometimes not thinking. You had to go into this game knowing............OK, we are facing a future hall of famer, even though most of us hate the guy. 80% of the time he is on the field, he is going to get it done. The drive will possibly result in a FG, but more times than not, a touchdown. Its not just OUR defense. He picks apart most ALL of them. With that said, the major plan should have been to keep him on the sidelines. We needed to win the time of possession battle. We didn't even come close. On our first chance at 3rd and 4, we threw to Bush for 1 yard, then PRAYED he runs for 3 more. Didn't work. Everybody in that pattern needs to get past the sticks, even the check down guy. Now...if I know this, and you know this, why doesn't a highly paid NFL coaching staff know this? Its the same damn thing as last year. Can't convert on 3rd and short, so we kick it back to the guy who we know is capable of shoving it down our throats. It won't work. Maybe with the Raiders or Titans it will. but not with this team. I still say our main problem is not keeping the chains moving on 3rd and short. We fail miserably at it. The teams with the smartest QB's? 3rd and short is almost automatic. Throw it past the sticks for God's sake.

 

[Pinkboy]

"The" problem ?


This team has MANY problems, son.

 

[armyphin]

Umm, so what's your point? The Dolphins lost to the better team?

Breaking News: A lot of teams will lose to the Patriots this year, just like every year. I guess 11 other coaches last year ( patriots were 14-2) weren't thinking either and should be fired.

The good news: The Dolphins don't play the Patriots every week. Some other teams fan forum will be having a melt-down next week after they lose to the Patriots too.

 

[Sunny Fish]

Convert third and short and many other "problems" go away. Keep the football away from Tom Brady and they don't score 38 points. What I have posted is spot on. Don't imply that I know nothing about the game of football or I will embarass you with my resume. I don't post much because of people who answer every thread with a smartass remark. However, I read a lot about the opinions on this board.....And one more thing. Why don't you treat other people with a little respect. I'm not your son.

 

[BigNastyDB13]

We also had that 3rd and 2 predictable toss to Bush. After our 1st drive, our offense looked pedestrian in the 1st half. The play-calling which was much improved still had some gaffes. The play-calling wasnt nearly as aggressive as it should've been in the 1st half after that 1st drive. The goal-line calls were also head scratching. I have no problem with throwing the ball at the goal-line because our front office/coach is too stupid to get a decent line but we should know by now that Chad Henne absolutely blows at throwing fade passes. We've got to come up with something better than the **** we were calling at the goal-line. If we throw a fade it should always be to Marshall. It's irritating as **** knowing that once the other team gets inside the 5 its pretty much an automatic TD but once we get into the 5 yard line its 50/50 at best.

 

[jphandal]

Convert third and short and many other "problems" go away. Keep the football away from Tom Brady and they don't score 38 points. What I have posted is spot on. Don't imply that I know nothing about the game of football or I will embarass you with my resume. I don't post much because of people who answer every thread with a smartass remark. However, I read a lot about the opinions on this board.....And one more thing. Why don't you treat other people with a little respect. I'm not your son.

one word....valium. relax dude. u are right to an extent, i dont think henne was the problem, the defenseand especially sapp and carrol.. relax

 

[finfan54]

The problem was Sparano was outcoached by BB again. I can understand being surprised in first half with hurry up, but second half continue to not be prepared? Nolan? where were you dude?

We need to be in a nickel package all game with man to man press jammin at LOS.

You cant let those guys off the LOS all clean like that.

 

[LANGER72]

The defense will get sorted out in the next couple of games. I do not see us getting gashed again like the New England game. It will improve. Apart from Vontae, who I consider an above average corner, we have poor talent in the secondary. Jimmy Smith flashed in the preseason, maybe the staff can speed up his learning curve. He seems to have"it". Sean Smith is a tweener, neither a corner or a safety. We need to find someone else to start and use Smith in certain situations where his length and size is a good match up.
Carroll is hot garbage, so is Culver. Bell is getting up there in age. The secondary needs some new blood.
Pass rusher...apart from Wake, we have nothing.
Our biggest problem will be converting short yardage situations on the ground. We do not have a big power back that can run with authority. This will hinder our scoring TD's and put the defense back on the field more often...both not good.

 

[Sherif]

I agree with finfan54 and sunnyfish. It's Henne throwing underneath when he needs short yardage and it's Henne with inaccurate throws in the Red Zone. Big Problems on offense not to mention the terrible OL play. Now with the emergance of a terrible secondary, the problems mount not to mention RB injuries and whatever other injuries pop up this week like the Clay and Thomas injuries "popped up" on Friday.

 

[LANGER72]

I agree with finfan54 and sunnyfish. It's Henne throwing underneath when he needs short yardage and it's Henne with inaccurate throws in the Red Zone. Big Problems on offense not to mention the terrible OL play. Now with the emergance of a terrible secondary, the problems mount not to mention RB injuries and whatever other injuries pop up this week like the Clay and Thomas injuries "popped up" on Friday.

Henne did fine in the game. If a couple of those balls dropped by the receivers are caught, the man would have had 500 yards too. Henne played an excellent game. The interception was a desperation throw at the end of the game. He was not the reason we lost. He was the ONLY reason we had a chance.

The defense will get better, they will get their act together. The running back situation is really going to hurt us all season. Not enough horses back there. Clay and Thomas look like busts.

 

[dolphone]

one word....valium. relax dude. u are right to an extent, i dont think henne was the problem, the defenseand especially sapp and carrol.. relax

That response *was* disrespectful, he's absolutely right. Telling him to "relax" just condones that kind of behavior.

I sometimes wonder about this myself. They run on 2nd and 23? You're not thinking first down, you're just thinking "let's get this team settled". And some of the calls on other situations... well, I do agree. It sometimes feels like the have an obligation to their gameplan and stubbornly stuck to it without adjusting to the situation.

Last night was primed for the pass, particularly after going down by two scores. Yet they kept running. Only when the score was out of reach did they finally switch to a full pass offense. But that would've worked wonders before; even if you get an INT or incompletions, you're daring the defense to keep those big guys on the middle, and sacrifice coverage. One big play and they'll start adjusting. *Then* you can rush effectively, particularly with the draw.

It's frustrating how we take two steps forward and one step back. Baby steps are getting tiresome.

 

[dolphone]

Henne did fine in the game. If a couple of those balls dropped by the receivers are caught, the man would have had 500 yards too. Henne played an excellent game. The interception was a desperation throw at the end of the game. He was not the reason we lost. He was the ONLY reason we had a chance.

The defense will get better, they will get their act together. The running back situation is really going to hurt us all season. Not enough horses back there. Clay and Thomas look like busts.

Overreact much? It's the first game and they missed it, there's no body of work to go on... and if you're saying that's the reason why they're busts, then Odrick was a bust too, right?

 

[Dolphindrew]

Sunny Fish - we don't have the roster to continually have long, effective drives with tons of 3rd and short conversions. Without a power running back, we have to avoid that situation altogether (especially when the other team has Wilfork and Hainsworth in the middle in those scenarios). This team is built to gain yards in chunks. Not necessarily 50 yards at a time, but 10-15 at a time. I agree you have to throw the ball past the sticks on 3rd and short, but I'd wager he didn't have anyone open and dumped the ball down. Without a power rushing game, we need much "craftier" short-yardage passing plays, leveraging Fasano, Bess and of course Marshall who can catch the ball in traffic and over the top of most cover corners. Having said all of that, if you tell me we're going to score 24 points last night and Henne would throw for 400+, I'd take it. I can't remember which broadcaster said it, but somewhere deep into the 3rd quarter he commented that Miami needs to dump the Nickel coverage and keep their best 11 on the field, regardless of who NE had out there. We allowed a HOF QB to abuse 2 back-up scrub CB's who can't guard or tackle. We adjusted to "their" game> they set the tone and we followed like submissive wimps.

 

[hightempo]

umm...we did win the "time of possession battle" completely meaningless

 

[hightempo]

The problem was Sparano was outcoached by BB again. I can understand being surprised in first half with hurry up, but second half continue to not be prepared? Nolan? where were you dude?

We need to be in a nickel package all game with man to man press jammin at LOS.

You cant let those guys off the LOS all clean like that.

you are correct. we need to be in nickel the whole game essentially, or at least know we are going to be. knowing that, doesnt it probably make sense to go out in the offseason and actually make sure u have more than 3 dbs that can actually play in the nfl?

or perhaps not cut a guy like will allen before u play the patriots?

these guys are so dumb. they want henne to not make stupid glaring game costing errors, yet they cant even get the most obvious **** correct themselves.

the plan was to have 5'8" sapp covering the uber-talented new england tight ends? are u kidding me??? whole offseason to prepare and structure a roster to win this game and this is the plan they came up with? come into this game with only 2 cornerbacks that can play? and a free safety that doesnt know his position? against tom brady?? they really are dumb. and im actually impressed that sparano got his head out of his *** and into 2011 with his stupid *** conservative philosophy. but come on....u still need to run the damn ball on 3rd or 4th and 1. fade pattern? what a joke. eliminate it from the play-book already! how many times has that stupid *** play worked since hes been here? exactly zero. at least we are trying hartline this time instead of bess. if that play isnt to marshall it should never be run. and even then never on 4th and 1 with the game on the line. just dumb. these guys deserve whats coming to them because they created this mess. unfortunately, we will take another step backward before this franchise moves forward. its gonna be ugly till tom brady retires. and then we will probably be haunted by the ghost of tom brady in ryan mallett for years. wouldnt surprise me one bit