Grimes is a little guy who tries to play bigger than he is. I'm not trying to excuse the missed tackles but at least there is a considerable tradeoff. It's fantastic to have aggressive playmaking corners like that. For some reason Dalton was overplaying the sidelines. Made no sense to me, watching in person. We looked incredibly vulnerable on the interior yet somehow Cincinnati's game plan was to strike to the outside. Every time they threw one of those wandering deep lob passes I was like...be my guest. Thanks for wasting a play. Happened 5 or 6 times.
I had a feeling Patterson and/or Grimes would get a sideline pick, the way the game was unfolding. Two was an amazing bonus.
Reshad Jones is another matter. I watched him carefully all night. Barring a regime change, I think we're stuck with him. Ireland and Philbin aren't likely to concede such a drastic mistake. Too many posters here don't want to accept how poorly Jones has been playing. They are desperately clinging to the impression from last year, and want to believe PFF and other sources are exaggerating. I left the stadium last night thinking Jones has no business in the starting lineup. Clemons isn't great, by any means, but at least he has subtlety and smarts. I can see him improving every year, becoming a savvy veteran. Other than a nice frame for the position, Reshad Jones has nothing to work with. His instincts are virtually non-existent when he's playing deep off the line of scrimmage. Horrible pursuit angles, almost laughable. He misses tackles or allows himself to be dragged. When a ball is thrown in his direction you have to all but concede a completion and be shocked if it ends up with a different result.
Keep in mind I needed a victory for the over 6.5 season wins prop. A tie was the same as a loss. So deep into overtime I wanted Miami to gamble. So I was pleased when Reshad Jones was suddenly crowding the line of scrimmage. Heck, he's got a chance there, like when Ryan Fitzpatrick threw the ball smack to him late in the home win over Buffalo late last season. Maybe Jones should play a monster role, even at his relatively low weight. He's a liability in a standard set.
I haven't watched the TV tape. It might not stand out from that perspective. But from the stands it was incredible how much we gambled on that final series in overtime. We were all but begging Cincinnati to connect for a 90+ yard touchdown. The second to last play, I believe it was, had two Bengals who could have gone the distance if Dalton had a fraction of a second longer, or if he had anticipated the open spaces and thrown a lob. Then on the final play Jones was seemingly clueless and we were in kamikaze attack mode. I was preparing to be gashed and then suddenly Wake won the game. It took me quite a while to celebrate and get rid of the sense that we were out of sorts and mostly got lucky, thanks to a great play by a fantastic player.