Oh boy ugly performance from the offense. Not too worried though. Henne and the WRs did not have their best games, nor was Hennig that great with the playcalling, but bad games like this happen. Plus, a lot of our offensive struggles came from a good defensive plays from the Falcons. Still, have to openly admit that I would have liked to have seen more from the offense.
If it makes anybody feel better, the other preseason games tonight outside of Saints/Chargers have been very sloppy as well. Probably won't make anybody feel better, but it does help people remember it is still preseason game.
The broadcast pointed out tonight that Mike Nolan said that this preseason he would not use a specific scheme and keep it vanilla. As much as I like the idea of hiding things, it does kind of put a red flag up that we couldn't get much pressure. Of course, the Falcons do have a very underrated OL so maybe I'm selling them short.
The ONE thing that bugged me about the defense was the 3rd and long defense. I can live with a big play now and then, but we have a very terrible 3rd down defense, and it has been like that since Nick Saban was here.
That being said, there were positives, and three players really stood out to me; Randy Starks, Vontae Davis, and Micah Johnson. The entire defense looks good against the run, and I do think the ILBs, Koa Misi, and the starting safeties looked good too, but the 3 players I mentioned are who I want to talk about.
Starks has really stood out in all 3 preseason games at NT. I know there were concerns early on about the switch, but he does a great job penetrating from a spot that rarely does that. Between him, Solia, and Baker we have a very deep NT rotation.
Vontae showed tonight why he has the makings of becoming a great CB. He still needs to work on keeping his balance and staying focused, but he showed tonight that A)When he's patient and doesn't gamble he plays the ball very well and B)He's already one of the better CBs in run support. I know it might be frustrating watching Vontae and Sean Smith, but it's also going to be fun watching them develop.
Micah Johnson IMO has made the team. For those who couldn't see the game, he got a lot of reps with the 1st team D, and did make some good plays in run support. Now, Micah should never be counted on as a player in coverage, but he showed a great instinct for the game and shot the right gaps all night.
While our ST coverage still stunk, the newest Dolphin Benny Sapp did stand out in a good way on punt coverage. Everybody talks about Sapp being brought in because of CB concerns, but I thought it was for ST reasons, and tonight backed up my opinion. He was was very active and made life hard on his blockers.
If it makes anybody feel better, the other preseason games tonight outside of Saints/Chargers have been very sloppy as well. Probably won't make anybody feel better, but it does help people remember it is still preseason game.
The broadcast pointed out tonight that Mike Nolan said that this preseason he would not use a specific scheme and keep it vanilla. As much as I like the idea of hiding things, it does kind of put a red flag up that we couldn't get much pressure. Of course, the Falcons do have a very underrated OL so maybe I'm selling them short.
The ONE thing that bugged me about the defense was the 3rd and long defense. I can live with a big play now and then, but we have a very terrible 3rd down defense, and it has been like that since Nick Saban was here.
That being said, there were positives, and three players really stood out to me; Randy Starks, Vontae Davis, and Micah Johnson. The entire defense looks good against the run, and I do think the ILBs, Koa Misi, and the starting safeties looked good too, but the 3 players I mentioned are who I want to talk about.
Starks has really stood out in all 3 preseason games at NT. I know there were concerns early on about the switch, but he does a great job penetrating from a spot that rarely does that. Between him, Solia, and Baker we have a very deep NT rotation.
Vontae showed tonight why he has the makings of becoming a great CB. He still needs to work on keeping his balance and staying focused, but he showed tonight that A)When he's patient and doesn't gamble he plays the ball very well and B)He's already one of the better CBs in run support. I know it might be frustrating watching Vontae and Sean Smith, but it's also going to be fun watching them develop.
Micah Johnson IMO has made the team. For those who couldn't see the game, he got a lot of reps with the 1st team D, and did make some good plays in run support. Now, Micah should never be counted on as a player in coverage, but he showed a great instinct for the game and shot the right gaps all night.
While our ST coverage still stunk, the newest Dolphin Benny Sapp did stand out in a good way on punt coverage. Everybody talks about Sapp being brought in because of CB concerns, but I thought it was for ST reasons, and tonight backed up my opinion. He was was very active and made life hard on his blockers.
