WaddleWaddle
Club Member
First, let me just say I think Flores only wins coach of the year if the Fins make the playoffs. Now in saying that, we have an amazing coach and I truly believe we are in the first couple years of something truly special but man this win vs the Patriots should win him coach of the year. We were going up against one of the best coaches in NFL history, and I'm sure everyone here knows Belichick's resume against rookie QB's.
There were a lot of reasons this specific win was incredibly important:
1. Keep our playoff hopes alive
2. Clinch a winning season in year two of a complete teardown rebuild (Not to mention Tua will finish with a winning record as well)
3. Eliminate the Patriots from playoff contention (Flores has now eliminated the Pats with a win and knocked them out of a first round bye with a win, in consecutive seasons no less)
And yet in terms of snap counts, these are the guys who played the most for us yesterday:
QB - Tua - 100%
RB - Ahmed - 60%, Breida - 26%, Perry - 14%, Laird - 11%
WR - Hollins - 96%, Bowden - 90%, Ford - 74%
TE - Shaheen - 59%, Smythe - 58%, Myarick - 4%
OL - Jackson, Hunt, Davis, Karras - 100%, Kindley - 68%, Deiter - 32%
Just looking at that offense, Belichick's history with rookie QB's and the fact that the Dolphins D is built to play with the lead and tend to struggle with games against power running teams, especially where the offense isn't moving the ball well and it was hard to see an outcome where the Fins came out on top yesterday. Instead, Miami comes out, and with one of the worst rushing attacks in the NFL, missing their #1RB, arguably their #1 run-blocking lineman, AND playing 3 rookies on the line, they rush for 250 yards at 6 yards per carry and beat the Patriots 22-12.
I know the Patriots aren't who they used to be, but that doesn't mean any game against Belichick is easy and what we saw yesterday was pure domination by the Dolphins (that game was a lot closer than it should have been) by the players but also by the coaches. The Patriots had no answer for our run game, and the way they used the strengths of the guys above (lots of pre-play motion with Bowden and Perry, lots of short possession-type throws to the TE's, lots of runs to the edges where you now have two TE's who can block pretty well) was genius.
I get the frustration with the first half shutout but let's go over the drives:
1st Drive (2:00) - 3 and out (I still think this was an absolutely terrible spot and laird had the first down)
2nd Drive (9:11) - 15 plays for 95 yards (Interception)
3rd Drive (1:59) - 3 and out (Sack, then false start)
4th Drive (4:15) - 11 plays for 42 yards (Missed FG)
So you have four drives, one goes 95 yards and ends in a bad interception but then in the second half the same thing happens, Tua learns from his mistake and runs it in for a TD. Another one was the two minute offense where the offense made a key 4th down conversion with 11 seconds left to get within field goal distance and our all-pro kicker, who is almost a guarantee, ends up missing the kick. We then have two three and out's, one of which was terrible I will give you that, but the other one was imo a terrible spot and should have resulted in a first down.
Combine that with the Howard fumble recovery TD that was called back and, the score at halftime could have easily been the fins up 17-3 or more if a couple plays went differently. Oh and then what happened in the second half? Miami outscores the Patriots 22-6... This game was a lot closer to a 39 - 9 Miami win then a Patriots win by any margin, which speaks volumes about the Fins coaching staff and the fight in this team.
Tua is 5-2 and winning games with a practice squad skill position group, Fins are 9-5 in year 2 of a complete teardown rebuild and fighting for a playoff spot, Flores is in the conversation for coach of the year, Howard is in the conversation for DPOY and Howard, Sanders and Ogbah are all in the conversation for all-pro teams (may be missing someone), the fins are +95 (tied for fifth in the NFL), allowing 18.4 ppg (2nd in NFL), have forced 26 TO's (1st in NFL), are +10 in TO differential (4th in NFL), have one of, if not the youngest rosters in the NFL and have two first round and second round picks in the upcoming draft which seems to be pretty damn stacked.
Life is damn good guys, the ride is just getting started and we haven't even reached the point of the ride that everyone stood for 3 hours in line for.
There were a lot of reasons this specific win was incredibly important:
1. Keep our playoff hopes alive
2. Clinch a winning season in year two of a complete teardown rebuild (Not to mention Tua will finish with a winning record as well)
3. Eliminate the Patriots from playoff contention (Flores has now eliminated the Pats with a win and knocked them out of a first round bye with a win, in consecutive seasons no less)
And yet in terms of snap counts, these are the guys who played the most for us yesterday:
QB - Tua - 100%
RB - Ahmed - 60%, Breida - 26%, Perry - 14%, Laird - 11%
WR - Hollins - 96%, Bowden - 90%, Ford - 74%
TE - Shaheen - 59%, Smythe - 58%, Myarick - 4%
OL - Jackson, Hunt, Davis, Karras - 100%, Kindley - 68%, Deiter - 32%
Just looking at that offense, Belichick's history with rookie QB's and the fact that the Dolphins D is built to play with the lead and tend to struggle with games against power running teams, especially where the offense isn't moving the ball well and it was hard to see an outcome where the Fins came out on top yesterday. Instead, Miami comes out, and with one of the worst rushing attacks in the NFL, missing their #1RB, arguably their #1 run-blocking lineman, AND playing 3 rookies on the line, they rush for 250 yards at 6 yards per carry and beat the Patriots 22-12.
I know the Patriots aren't who they used to be, but that doesn't mean any game against Belichick is easy and what we saw yesterday was pure domination by the Dolphins (that game was a lot closer than it should have been) by the players but also by the coaches. The Patriots had no answer for our run game, and the way they used the strengths of the guys above (lots of pre-play motion with Bowden and Perry, lots of short possession-type throws to the TE's, lots of runs to the edges where you now have two TE's who can block pretty well) was genius.
I get the frustration with the first half shutout but let's go over the drives:
1st Drive (2:00) - 3 and out (I still think this was an absolutely terrible spot and laird had the first down)
2nd Drive (9:11) - 15 plays for 95 yards (Interception)
3rd Drive (1:59) - 3 and out (Sack, then false start)
4th Drive (4:15) - 11 plays for 42 yards (Missed FG)
So you have four drives, one goes 95 yards and ends in a bad interception but then in the second half the same thing happens, Tua learns from his mistake and runs it in for a TD. Another one was the two minute offense where the offense made a key 4th down conversion with 11 seconds left to get within field goal distance and our all-pro kicker, who is almost a guarantee, ends up missing the kick. We then have two three and out's, one of which was terrible I will give you that, but the other one was imo a terrible spot and should have resulted in a first down.
Combine that with the Howard fumble recovery TD that was called back and, the score at halftime could have easily been the fins up 17-3 or more if a couple plays went differently. Oh and then what happened in the second half? Miami outscores the Patriots 22-6... This game was a lot closer to a 39 - 9 Miami win then a Patriots win by any margin, which speaks volumes about the Fins coaching staff and the fight in this team.
Tua is 5-2 and winning games with a practice squad skill position group, Fins are 9-5 in year 2 of a complete teardown rebuild and fighting for a playoff spot, Flores is in the conversation for coach of the year, Howard is in the conversation for DPOY and Howard, Sanders and Ogbah are all in the conversation for all-pro teams (may be missing someone), the fins are +95 (tied for fifth in the NFL), allowing 18.4 ppg (2nd in NFL), have forced 26 TO's (1st in NFL), are +10 in TO differential (4th in NFL), have one of, if not the youngest rosters in the NFL and have two first round and second round picks in the upcoming draft which seems to be pretty damn stacked.
Life is damn good guys, the ride is just getting started and we haven't even reached the point of the ride that everyone stood for 3 hours in line for.
