what did you see in our first preseason game? | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

what did you see in our first preseason game?

thefranchisedef

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Ive now watched the game 3 times. I've never really believed in henne, and i'll be the first to say that i have little faith in him. I have not seen him bring us back late in games, i have not seen him get fired up and take over a game. I dont know if the guy has "it". So, i'll give you my honest oppinion on ever pass. Plus, some other notes from the game.

First of all, I want to address the offensive line. Henne was never sacked, and every player was getting push on run plays except lydon murtha. He looks like a liability in run protection. People (ala omar kelly) want to talk about daniel thomas not showing up but, on his second run pouncey played it perfect but lydon got lost and couldnt clear a path. Something that Jake Long would of just blew up and it would of been a long gain. Our second string o-line looked pretty bad! ha...

Now, Henne.... first pass was a solid pass on the numbers. That should be an 8 yard gain and not an interception 100 percent of the time. Henne second pass, quick strike to davone for a nice gain. 3rd pass, hartline runs the wrong route which could of been a huge play.. he had the corner beat 1o1 and the safety was late. 4th pass, should of been caught by bess. good pass on the run. 5th pass, out pass that bess makes incredible catch. Not an amazing pass but, he put it where only his receiver could get it. 6th pass, bad pass lol... 7th pass, great read and perfect pass to daniel thomas on an out that turns into a big gain. 8th and final pass, best playaction of his career. Honestly, this is the first time since the monday night jets game when henne threw that out pass to camarilo that a henne play put a cheesy little grin on my face. He looked like a seasoned vet, ala chad pennington, when he snapped his head around and fired a PERFECT pass deep to hartline. Overall, I think Henne was solid. He only threw one bad pass people.. one! So, instead of saying the guy blows lets just analyze everyone of his plays ;)

Now, I was not happy with our run defense on the second drive. Atlanta threw 2 tight end sets at us and we got mopped. we couldnt stop a damn thing. This is where we might miss crowder! Now, our pass defense was down right nasty.. I'm telling you, like i said a year ago that vontae davis is going to be elite!!!! Actually, He isnt going to be... HE IS ELITE! Matt ryan had no right to throw the ball to julio jones when vontae was covering him. the second pass should of been intercepted! Matt Ryan completed 1 out of 4 passes vs our number one secondary... Matt Ryan! The same Matt Ryan that some people wish every night was our starter.... The best thing about this paragraph is that I didnt have to mention roddy white because matty ice :ponder: wasnt about to test sean smith!

Now... people that stood out and people that just depressed...

Impressed....

  • ODRICK- if you watched the game then you already know...
  • Randy Starks- He's just an elite 3-4 d.e.
  • Vontae Davis
  • Sean Smith
  • Jimmy Wilson- wow, I thought this guy was all hype... Now im on the bandwagon
  • Vernon Carey- the dude is a natural at guard! watch film, you'll understand...
  • Pouncey- solid job... not bad for a rookie center
  • Daniel Thomas- I dont know what people are talking about.. this guy had what ronnie lacked... He doesnt dance people.. he hits the hole and hard.. oh, and that catch and run was a thing of beauty...
  • Clyde gates- should of had 2 touchdowns! Matt moore just threw a bad pass deep to him.. clyde had separation!
  • Livas- Might be a tad small but dude has bess's first step and reggies speed on punt returns.
  • Benny Sapp- made too great plays in a row... not bad, not bad at all...
  • Edds- need to see more in run coverage but pass defense is nasty...

Depressed....
  • Nolan Carroll- he looked lost in coverage
  • Culver- thank god hes only in on special teams now... hopefully! he should of picked off that pass from matt ryan to harry douglas in the endzone..
  • Merling- where was he?
  • John Jerry- just doesnt look like he has it..
  • Murtha- learn how to run block brotha..
  • Kevin Burnett- I feel like our run defense took a step back because of this guy...

This is what i seen tonight.. I like the spread offense, and west coast style of play we have going.. For the first time since cam cameron i couldnt predict offensive plays... #thankgod
 
Matt Ryan completed 1 out of 4 passes vs our number one secondary
BUT THEY SKY IS FALLING AND ONLY MATTY ICE CAN SAVE US!

Thanks for the recap.

It's preseason. It's going to be sloppy. At least we came away with a W to get the season rolling.
 
Good post, nice to see some optimism. I agree there were some good signs. It was nice to see some long passes. Atlanta is a veteran team that used the same offense all last year. I think our defense will be fine, one quarter in the first exhibition game does not make me think we suddenly got terrible. I saw a lot of things I liked.
 
It's good that some people watched the game and didn't rely on stats to tell a story. Don't know if Henne makes it or not, but if you saw the game, you saw he had one bad pass . . . I don't wanna hear Bess ran the wrong route and Henne adjusted on the fly, that was a tough throw, a throw you can't make into that type of coverage. You can get away with it in preseason, but he shouldn't have thrown that pass. The coach came out and explained the miscommunication, he didn't even have to, it is preseason.

Again, it is preseason, I can take that one negative . . . and throw in several positives and be satisfied with Henne's play tonight. If people wanna run with that INT has their fuel for their agenda, hey, what else is new.
 
I agree with part of what you say. But generally agree.

I do not think Henne played well. His INT was a bad pass, and he made some late throws as he usually does. He also checks down way too much. By comparison, Matt Moore was finding and hitting WRs 10-15 yards down field and moving the ball. You really didnt speak about Moore who played very well. I was impressed with Moore's accuracy. Even on his deep INT he threw the ball on the spot...just threw it into triple coverage which was a bad decision. What was your take on Moore's performance?

I also disgaree with your assesment of Daniel Thomas. Looked slow and indecisive to me. No real POP or burst of speed when he ran the ball. I did like his receiving abilities.

I also like Marlon Moore and Roberta Wallace. I think all the young WRs had good games.

Thanks for your assessment and I look forward to your follow up and assessment next week.
 
I was very impressed with Matt Moore, Gates, Jimmy W and Livas. These were guys I wanted to see and thought all played well. I won't get in to the Henne debate I think everyone knows where I stand and it hasn't changed.

In fairness to Murtha your comparing him to Jake Long. Wait until moves back to the right side. Overall the OL looked bad. His so frustrating that this is the 4th year and it still isn't right. Not at all impressed with Jerry. He has bust written all over him.
 
I think you should throw Matt Moore in the positives category. Dude had a good night, showed alot of things to be excited about. Kept his composure under pressure and showed good anticipation and accuracy on his throws. Also used his legs to his advantage.

I also agree the Fins may have lost something on the run defense when they cut Crowder . . . I did like seeing both Burnett and Edds in coverage, that is something Channing doesn't do well at all . . . but Channing was a big key to this defense gelling and playing well against the run. It is early for KB though, I'm hopeful he will improve over time.

John Jerry, this guy has really fell off, I dunno what has happened. He may not make the team at this rate.
 
Both of Moore's TDs were what I expect from an NFL QB. He hit Wallace in perfect stride just before getting crushed then threw a perfect laser to Gates who was well covered. His accuracy is excellent. I would really like to see him in the next game as the starter against the 1s.
 
I agree with part of what you say. But generally agree.

I do not think Henne played well. His INT was a bad pass, and he made some late throws as he usually does. He also checks down way too much. By comparison, Matt Moore was finding and hitting WRs 10-15 yards down field and moving the ball. You really didnt speak about Moore who played very well. I was impressed with Moore's accuracy. Even on his deep INT he threw the ball on the spot...just threw it into triple coverage which was a bad decision. What was your take on Moore's performance?

I also disgaree with your assesment of Daniel Thomas. Looked slow and indecisive to me. No real POP or burst of speed when he ran the ball. I did like his receiving abilities.

I also like Marlon Moore and Roberta Wallace. I think all the young WRs had good games.

Thanks for your assessment and I look forward to your follow up and assessment next week.

This offense is designed for a QB to check it down, which is why they got a Reggie Bush. Them checkdowns are gonna kill a defense and open things up for Marshall, Gates, Hartline and Wallace outside. I think your mistaken if you think Henne played bad, but I think Moore did have the better night. Both QB's played well IMO.

I think Marlon Moore is the odd man out . . . Wallace is the clear front runner as the #5 WR, and Phillip Livas beat the first wave FOUR TIMES in FOUR RETURNS . . . can't stress how impressive he was, despite getting shoestringed 3 times and going down. Definitely wanna see more from that kid and he has moved above Moore for the potential #6 WR spot on his return ability alone.

I don't think the interior OLine did any of our RB's any favors tonight . . . but Thomas was decisive, also showed some of that quickness on that pass from Henne. I thought he was fine.

I don't think we saw much of anything from Daboll's offense last night, and still came away impressed by it . . . that is the biggest positive I saw.
 
I wish I could share your optimism about Henne, but I can't. The reality is he had a 0.0 qb rating against Atlanta's starters. I watched Matt Ryan, Matt Moore and Atlanta's 2nd string qb all make decisions and throws that Henne just can't or won't make. His 2 good throws by your estimation were to wide open players - his only job was to not screw it up, and he didn't. But under pressure with semi-covered receivers, he checks down too early and/or doesn't put it where the receiver can continue the play. I honestly believe he was the worst of those 4 qb's on the field, and would be on any night.

I'd really like to see Matt Moore get some reps with first team offense. I know it was against lesser competition, but accuracy, judgement under pressure and general play-making ability were still there. At least it would be an indication that there's some hope of improving the position. Just going into the season with henne as our undisputed starter depresses me.
 
A couple of things that I want to bring up:

1. 2 plays stood out from Henne. They were on the same drive - the scramble up the middle for the first down and secondly, when he juked to avoid the sack and got a decent pass off before being hit. I don't remember him making those types of plays in the past so I think there has been some growth there which is encouraging...

2. I wouldn't put too much stock in the fact that we couldn't run on Atlanta. They decided that they were going to take away the run and they did - which most good defenses can do if they commit to it. And frankly we've had trouble running on Atlanta in the past. Check out the rushing stats from last season's preseason game: http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/20100...ab:analyze/analyze-channels:cat-post-boxscore

All things considered there were a lot of positives to take away...
 
thanks for that rundown franchise!

What I saw overall was like practice in game environment. So I will rely on individual breakdowns you brought. Nice to read something about what they saw and not act like a fan.

Couple things though. Does anyone seriously think Henne would have made that throw if marshall and bush were playing to throw to? Dont you think they would not have had double coverage on marshall?

And the talk of checkdown. Checkdown is something you are supposed to do when nothing else is there. If your checking down when someone wide open that is a problem. If your checking down cus you need to get rid of it when you see nothing else, then its a good thing. Secondly, I watched Mallett too, he was checking down and hitting short stuff while receivers did work. He was not all that IMO in a meaningless preseason game where Jax just mailed it in like we did.

The coaches said they are looking for certain players like rookies and new guys. They dont want to show anything in this offense too much. that should be obvious. I am glad they are doing that. What they do in practice now, which is closed to public, will not be seen in reality. thank god for that. with this wacky offseason, i like the plan. I understand it. most will not.
 
I wish I could share your optimism about Henne, but I can't. The reality is he had a 0.0 qb rating against Atlanta's starters. I watched Matt Ryan, Matt Moore and Atlanta's 2nd string qb all make decisions and throws that Henne just can't or won't make. His 2 good throws by your estimation were to wide open players - his only job was to not screw it up, and he didn't. But under pressure with semi-covered receivers, he checks down too early and/or doesn't put it where the receiver can continue the play. I honestly believe he was the worst of those 4 qb's on the field, and would be on any night.

I'd really like to see Matt Moore get some reps with first team offense. I know it was against lesser competition, but accuracy, judgement under pressure and general play-making ability were still there. At least it would be an indication that there's some hope of improving the position. Just going into the season with henne as our undisputed starter depresses me.

Matt Moore has no pressure on him. That is what I notice. He has to make up time and I am pleased he looks good in a basic sense. If people want to see Moore go against first stringers, i say go for it. But just be fair in assessment. You cant play cheerleader just because you hate henne. The team just did not bring a "lets show the world" kind of game tonight. They were just letting it fly. Also, not hearing about Oconnell or Devlin much, I bet they get more PT next game so less reps for moore.
 
The season is tied to Henne and the OL.... I'm not signing up for either of those units to bring us 10 wins.... you can glass half full all you want... I mean after all.... it's been so long since we mattered..... glass half full is all we've got.... if everyone here performed their jobs like the QB and OL ... and let's add TS, do on the Dolphins.... you'd be on the other side of the door thisfast....
 
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