Voice of Reason

[SkapePhin]

Negatives:

• Defense sucked last night. Had no answer for the No Huddle. They were gassed by the 2nd half.
• Goal line offense still needs to be improved. The fade pass to Hartline from the half-yard line was inexcusable

Positives:

• Chad Henne showed that he can be highly effective. He took command of the offense and made most of the throws he was asked to complete, which was A LOT.
• Offensive weapons made a big difference from last year. This will only improve as the season goes on

Reality:
I know FH is up in arms. They lost a game, so the world is at an end. But here is the reality. This was the first game after a shortened offseason where Sparano changed his philosophy and that of the team. A major complaint last season is how he worked his players too hard and micromanaged. He let up this offseason, and it worked in some ways, but failed in others. The conditioning of the defensive players will improve as the season wears on. This game is too small of a sample size to claim that the season is already lost. We were playing against the best QB of all-time, a Top 3 All-Time HC who had months to prepare for this game. In addition, the refs did us no favors. Nate Solder was holding Cam Wake on almost every play but was never called.

This team will improve and win many games. We don't play the Patriots every week. Don't get me wrong, the Pats are a superior team, but the Dolphins are not the garbage that many of you claim they are. Just look at other good teams that struggled due to the shortened offseason. Steelers? Chiefs? Giants?

There were many positives from last night's game. The sky is still up there in the sky. Don't get your hard hats out yet...

 

[Penthos]

Thank you Skapefin for not being a freaking alarmist because we lost to, other than PERHAPS Greenbay, the best team in the NFL.

 

[FinFrenzy]

Good Post agree with all....except one more negative.

Was it me or did Carpenter have short kick offs from the 35 yard line? Where were the touchbacks?

 

[dolpns13]

For some reason he kicked one or two squib kicks.. I have no idea why. Makes no sense.

Good Post agree with all....except one more negative.

Was it me or did Carpenter have short kick offs from the 35 yard line? Where were the touchbacks?

 

[armyphin]

Defense sucked last night. Had no answer for the No Huddle. They were gassed by the 2nd half.

I'm not sure any defense would have had an answer for that.

The Dallas D looked worse when the Jet's were running the no-huddle and it was nowhere as fast or sustained for as many plays as the Patriots were running it.

Also, the Patriots did the exact same thing to Tampa Bay during the preseason so it's something they clearly have been working on. Are the Patriots going to be the NFL version of the Oregon Ducks?

 

[SkapePhin]

I'm not sure any defense would have had an answer for that.

The Dallas D looked worse when the Jet's were running the no-huddle and it was nowhere as fast or sustained for as many plays as the Patriots were running it.

Also, the Patriots did the exact same thing to Tampa Bay during the preseason so it's something they clearly have been working on. Are the Patriots going to be the NFL version of the Oregon Ducks?

That offense, as long as Brady is running it, is near unstoppable. They will trounce a lot of teams this season.

 

[SkapePhin]

Thank you Skapefin for not being a freaking alarmist because we lost to, other than PERHAPS Greenbay, the best team in the NFL.

I'm seeing Power Rankings online now with the Dolphins at 30 because they got beat down by New England (their #2 team) but the Steeelers are ranked 11th or so after getting blown out by the Ravens... It simply makes no sense...

 

[defeKt]

If we were going to loose that game, I would rather loose it with the defense performing badly, and Henne having a great night, rather than the defense performing well and Henne sucking again. This defense was good last year, it's likely that they will be good again this year. If Henne can perform somewhere near the level he did on Monday we will have a good team this year.

 

[thedayafter]

There's usually only 3-5 plays that are the difference between winning and losing in the NFL.... could be turnovers, could be red zone execution... could be special teams....

Bottom line... for all his stats CH left at least 2-3 TD's on the field... and the issues are the same as they have always been.... accuracy and touch....

The D was less than advertised.... and the new look offense was flashy.... but consider this.... since we have ZERO in the run game.... and teams are going to take that away.... CH is going to have all the pressure on him.... as soon or unless CH burns them with those 3-5 plays that make a difference... it's going to continue to be tough.....

 

[DANTODUPER]

Negatives:

• Defense sucked last night. Had no answer for the No Huddle. They were gassed by the 2nd half.
• Goal line offense still needs to be improved. The fade pass to Hartline from the half-yard line was inexcusable

Positives:

• Chad Henne showed that he can be highly effective. He took command of the offense and made most of the throws he was asked to complete, which was A LOT.
• Offensive weapons made a big difference from last year. This will only improve as the season goes on

There were many positives from last night's game. The sky is still up there in the sky. Don't get your hard hats out yet...

I think the real concern is our coaching staff and Ireland didn't get it done again.

* Were is the conditioning plan, it is like New England used the heat against the local team, half the defense were tired after the second quarter.
* We showed no capacity of getting short yards when needed, thus the need of throwing inside the 5. (this is a trend I noticed all preseason, and I don't understand why we didn't use Johnson on those situations.)
* The only possibility you have against the kind of offense that New England showed is to have sustained offensive gains, and running the ball is crucial to give the defense a break. And to get pressure on the QB on defense. We didn't accomplished either of them.
* Admiting a faiure in their talent evaluation is better than being stuborn, however it was clear Will Allen was better than Carroll and Sapp since preseason, it was evident safety needed more experience and it was evident the right side of our Oline is to slow to think about running certain kind of plays that we indeed tried to run.

So the thing is; the only surprise we had on the New England game was the solid performance of Henne.

It is just frustrating to see that kind of performance from Henne, just to be ruined by our supossed strenght. Our out of shape defense!

 

[SkapePhin]

I think the real concern is our coaching staff and Ireland didn't get it done again.

* Were is the conditioning plan, it is like New England used the heat against the local team, half the defense were tired after the second quarter.
* We showed no capacity of getting short yards when needed, thus the need of throwing inside the 5. (this is a trend I noticed all preseason, and I don't understand why we didn't use Johnson on those situations.)
* The only possibility you have against the kind of offense that New England showed is to have sustained offensive gains, and running the ball is crucial to give the defense a break. And to get pressure on the QB on defense. We didn't accomplished either of them.
* Admiting a faiure in their talent evaluation is better than being stuborn, however it was clear Will Allen was better than Carroll and Sapp since preseason, it was evident safety needed more experience and it was evident the right side of our Oline is to slow to think about running certain kind of plays that we indeed tried to run.

So the thing is; the only surprise we had on the New England game was the solid performance of Henne.

It is just frustrating to see that kind of performance from Henne, just to be ruined by our supossed strenght. Our out of shape defense!

All valid points, but as I stated, I believe the conditioning is more due to the lack of offseason workouts and the loss of two-a-days. This was demonstrable throughout the entire league, not just the Dolphins. This was compounded by the fact that I believe Sparano made an effort to be less hard on the guys, which was a big criticism of his the past few seasons (remember Ricky came out and blasted him about it after the season?).

Im comparing the opening weeks of the past 2 years.

2011:
Games where both teams scored more than 20 points: 6
Games where at least one team scored more than 20 points: 15
Games where at least one team scored more than 30 points: 8
Games where both teams scored less than 20 points: 1

2010:
Games where both teams scored more than 20 points: 3
Games where at least one team scored more than 20 points: 8
Games where at least one team scored more than 30 points: 4
Games where both teams scored less than 20 points: 8

The difference is GLARING. Its obvious lack of conditioning has led to sloppy and weak play from the defenses around the league.

As far as the running game goes, the team has transformed from a running team to a passing team. This is a change almost the entire fan base wanted. Obviously, there will be sacrifices because of this. With the team geared toward passing, running will be more difficult. We had to give up something to gain something. We will need to use a short passing game to compensate for the lack of running. Look at the Patriots for instance. Its not like they have some great running game. Yes, Woodhead does run hard, but the entire offense was basically a quick passing attack from Brady.

 

[mrhankey81701]

Defense is the biggest concern right now. I have confidence that Nolan will get that ship righted though.

 

[PHANTASTIC 13]

One point that needs to be made is that the Patriots have problems as well. The Dolphins offense was moving at will on them and left some opportunities out there and could have easy scored more points had they executed better and you didn't hear the media address this. I bet you Belichick didn't.

 

[GoonBoss]

Voices of reason told me that there was a three year plan in place and
that all was well.

Four years later we're still getting curb stomped.

I'm not going to say there weren't positives to take away from the game,
but to act like nothing is wrong systemicly with this organization is to be
sticking your head in the sand.