ciscoholgate
Winning is a Habit
What a terrible ending for our Dolphins this past Sunday. The Dolphins dominate Brady and company for two quarters and everything they worked for unravels midway through the third quarter as New England scores two touchdowns in a span of one minute and forty-six seconds. Miami led in most offensive and defensive statistical categories. They out gained the Patriots in total offensive yards 301 to 252, they held the ball for nearly ten minutes more than the Patriots (34:59 to 25:01), only allowed the Patriots to convert two of ten third downs (20%), and held Brady to only 116 yards passing with only two catches for 27 yards going to Gronkowski.
If you would have told me those stats last week, I would have told you Miami won the game. The big difference in this game was the turnovers. Two interceptions and a lost fumble proved to be Miami's undoing. I would also mention Sturgis' missed field goal because it was a huge momentum changer, but I hate to put losses on a kicker. Despite Sturgis' miss, we still had plenty of chances to win this game. The officials also were not up to snuff this game and that illegal forward batting was a costly call, but you cannot hang this loss on the officials. Good teams overcome bad officiating and don't let it affect their play. These Dolphins let the officials affect their play and they laid down after that questionable call gave the Patriots the ball at the Miami thirteen yard line and a new first down.
Those turnovers go on the Coaches, Tannehill, and the rest of that offense. The fumble by Tannehill was on McKinnie. Before the snap Pouncey makes the line call and points to Logan Ryan (number 26) as the fifth pass rusher. McKinnie, who has been in Miami less than a week, blew his assignment on the play. Belichick took advantage of this and that is just great coaching by the "hooded one". McKinnie totally ignored Ryan and as a result Tannehill got wrecked. The first Tannehill interception was a terrible throw and decision by Tannehill. To me it looks like he was pressing. He changes the play at the line of scrimmage because he saw a single high safety, but he didn't look off the safety and McCourty came over and helped make the interception. That is the thing with these Dolphins though; it seems like every other play someone has a bad play. Wallace has a bad drop earlier in the game that could have helped set up another touchdown. The consistency from the Dolphins is terrible and that is on the coaches.
Fret no more though Dolphins fans. We have a short week this week and this game is as close to a must win as you can get. A win in New England was a long shot to begin with and we get the Patriots again in Miami and we can worry about them when that comes up again. If we can get to the halfway point of the season at 4-4, things will look much better. The Bengals are definitely a playoff caliber team and a win against an AFC foe will help our standing in the Wild Card hunt. I won't write this team off yet because here is talent on this team. Do they have holes; yes they do, especially on the offensive line. But all teams have holes and despite our deficiencies, this team CAN win six more games (of the remaining nine). They need to learn from their mistakes the past two weeks and realize that if they start putting quality games together (NO MORE TURNOVERS), they can start winning again.
If you would have told me those stats last week, I would have told you Miami won the game. The big difference in this game was the turnovers. Two interceptions and a lost fumble proved to be Miami's undoing. I would also mention Sturgis' missed field goal because it was a huge momentum changer, but I hate to put losses on a kicker. Despite Sturgis' miss, we still had plenty of chances to win this game. The officials also were not up to snuff this game and that illegal forward batting was a costly call, but you cannot hang this loss on the officials. Good teams overcome bad officiating and don't let it affect their play. These Dolphins let the officials affect their play and they laid down after that questionable call gave the Patriots the ball at the Miami thirteen yard line and a new first down.
Those turnovers go on the Coaches, Tannehill, and the rest of that offense. The fumble by Tannehill was on McKinnie. Before the snap Pouncey makes the line call and points to Logan Ryan (number 26) as the fifth pass rusher. McKinnie, who has been in Miami less than a week, blew his assignment on the play. Belichick took advantage of this and that is just great coaching by the "hooded one". McKinnie totally ignored Ryan and as a result Tannehill got wrecked. The first Tannehill interception was a terrible throw and decision by Tannehill. To me it looks like he was pressing. He changes the play at the line of scrimmage because he saw a single high safety, but he didn't look off the safety and McCourty came over and helped make the interception. That is the thing with these Dolphins though; it seems like every other play someone has a bad play. Wallace has a bad drop earlier in the game that could have helped set up another touchdown. The consistency from the Dolphins is terrible and that is on the coaches.
Fret no more though Dolphins fans. We have a short week this week and this game is as close to a must win as you can get. A win in New England was a long shot to begin with and we get the Patriots again in Miami and we can worry about them when that comes up again. If we can get to the halfway point of the season at 4-4, things will look much better. The Bengals are definitely a playoff caliber team and a win against an AFC foe will help our standing in the Wild Card hunt. I won't write this team off yet because here is talent on this team. Do they have holes; yes they do, especially on the offensive line. But all teams have holes and despite our deficiencies, this team CAN win six more games (of the remaining nine). They need to learn from their mistakes the past two weeks and realize that if they start putting quality games together (NO MORE TURNOVERS), they can start winning again.