Was Our Defense Really That Good Today???

[Butterfrog 2.0]

I keep seeing all of these posts here about how good the defense played and how they played their Butts off but I just don't or didn't see it. They did some good things sure, but letting up 27 points isn't anything to be proud of no matter who you're playing and when the game was on the line and all they needed to do was make one stop they couldn't do it.... same old broken record. Yes coaching sucked, and Tannehill was bad in the first half but the defense should definitely shoulder their share of the blame. One thing that I can't stand about this defense is they play all of this off coverage and when wrs get open they are Wide open, and then our CB's suck at tackling.

 

[MiZFiT]

Don't forget the two picks by tannehill and failed 4th down attempt inside green bay's 5. Giving up 27 to the best QB was more than enough to get the job done. Not to mention Rodgers got knocked around a bunch.

The D did their job enough to get the win. The loss falls on the offense and coaches.

 

[Butterfrog 2.0]

If the D did their job enough to get the win then so did the offense. We scored enough points to have a lead with just a few seconds left in the game and we lost the game when the defense was on the field. If they just did their job and made a stop, or even just made a couple of tackles in bounds we win that game.

 

[gofins60]

I see the same thing from Coyle's defense as I saw under Mike Nolan; they play well for most of the game, but fall apart at crunch-time. Some fans loved Nolan, but I hated his playcalling. How many times were they winning, only to let the opponent drive down the field and win in the final minutes? (Tim Tebow for example.) Coyle is no different, IMO.

That said, ever since Philbin was hired the offense has started out slow. 3 points total in the 1st half? One TD would have made the difference between a win and a loss. The defense played well enough for most of the game to get a win; it's the offense that didn't show up until the second half. No, the defense is not great, but they are handicapped by this offense.

 

[J. David Wannyheimer]

We're not good enough to be a playoff team on either side of the ball. Top 12 teams in the NFL get in, more or less.

We're 14th in points scored and 21st in points allowed. Defense played GREAT football in the first half. Defense made some AWFUL plays in the 4th quarter. Contrast that with the offense which was AWFUL in the first half and GREAT in the second half (three consecutive TD drives to strike back when the Packers were eating clock).

The problem with the defense being inconsistent and giving up backbreaking scoring drives every time our offense does something good or when they just need one freakin' stop is not new. That's been a problem with this team for at least five or six years now. The problem with our offense being unable to put together a complete game is a new one, though, since over that same span of time they pretty much haven't done anything at all. It's not really a better problem, just a less boring one.

I realize that it's easy to point to individual plays and say "that cost us the game," but the fake spike play just killed us today. Flat killed us. Cortland Finnegan, enjoy that cool 5.5 million dollars you're collecting this season, because that's stolen cash, homie.

 

[Atila]

The problem with the defense being inconsistent and giving up backbreaking scoring drives every time our offense does something good or when they just need one freakin' stop is not new. That's been a problem with this team for at least five or six years now. .

fifteen years*

 

[joenhre]

Seems like it has been that way for a long time with the Dolphins. Either a lack of talent on offense or an offense with some talent but never consistent for an entire game. Then you have defenses that have had a good amount of talent but have also been very inconsistent. It seems like it's almost clockwork to see the offense have a nice scoring drive to take the lead only to have the defense allow the opposing team march down the field and score.

This has been going on for years under many different coaching staffs. It Happened under Jimmy/Wanny with those good defenses of the late '90s early '00s. It happened under Saban, the team was a joke under Cameron, it happened under Sparano and now under Philbin. When was the last time the Dolphins actually played a complete game in all phases for 60 minutes. Even against a bad team like the Raiders they turned the ball over a couple times.

 

[SSnowman]

Defensive line is good. The rest is average at best. Every time the opposing QB drops back, I pray that either Wake or OV make a play because if they don't, nobody else is.

 

[gdiaz0358]

3rd and 9 on the last drive and they converted it easily...

 

[slk018]

Our defense is good. Our offense puts them in a lot of bad spots.
They didn't allow Lacy to do anything, hit Rodgers a lot. Finnegann did kill us though.. A lot of what Green Bay did was just the best player in the league making great plays.

 

[Jeep]

Too many 3rd and 4th down completions allowed... That fake spike completion was a joke... The secondary plays too damn soft... The front 7 play one heck of the game.. the secondary not so much..

 

[Padfoot]

Not everyone on the defense played well. Finnegan was horrendous. Wilson was pretty bad. Jones screwed up resulting in a TD. Wheeler wasn't very good.

But considering they were going against Rodgers and they kept getting forced onto the field without much chance to rest, I think they played pretty well overall. And Vernon and Wake both played quite well.

 

[DolfanISS]

I agree, they were good under the circumstances. The 3 points from the offense in the 1st half sucked and you have to expect them to capitalize off the blocked punt but the complete ineptitude to even sustain any offense at all really set the defense up to be worn down by the end of the game. They tried to hang in there but cam up short. You can take the 3 points from the offense in the first half if they could have at least sustained a little offense.