Zim’s Grades For The Game: Week 1 Edition

[Joe Dolfan]

Not sure why you’d grade Tua so harshly in the same post where you say our OL was putrid, the WRs got no separation and our TEs were invisible. I’d point out a a player people here seem to love, Josh Allen, threw the ball 51 (that is 24 more passes than Tua had) times for 270 yards today. He averaged 9 yards per completion whereas Tua averaged 12.6 yards per completion. By no means did he play a lights out game. However, there was basically no chance we were going to walk into Foxborough week 1 and just thrash the Patriots.

Plenty of people graded Tannehill harshly, despite fielding a putrid OL for his seven years here.

 

[Soxfinatic]

Tua had good deep throws over "8 yards" as you are saying.

Waddle & Parker completions went above 30 yards and the waddle drop on 3rd down was above 10 yards.

Uh, those were both terrible throws that the wide receiver bailed them out on. He was late on the end zone throw to Wilson and missed an open rb by 5 yards out of bounds. If you want to hold your hat on the waddle drop as your example of one great throw, go for it. Any high school QB worth their salt can make that throw.

Show me where he stretched the field, used the middle of the field at all and made the Patriots even flinch on defense. They were also without one of the best corners in the league too. He needs to be better and soon.

 

[Avigatorx]

I didnt hear anyone complaining about Tua during that first drive. You know, when he had time to throw.

 

[Phantom]

Plenty to work on, but i remember a time when we would be blown out by 30 in this game to NE. Maybe it's a combination of us getting better, and Tom Brady not being there. I hope it's more of us getting better, time will tell. Tough road win to start the season, I'll take it !!!

 

[Kyndig]

Ummmm….It doesn’t feel like a win. Yes, we went up to Foxboro and beat the Patriots. Yes, we’re in first place in the AFC East all by ourselves. However, we should have blown this team out. On the flip side, we did get the W. That’s what really counts. On to the grades:

QB’s — C + : We still don’t really know what we have in Tua yet. That’s unfortunate. I was hoping for a WAY better performance today. What we got was a pedestrian Tua. While it was good enough today…Will it be good enough down the road? I tend to think not. As for excuses..There were drops. The OL was awful. The Defense couldn’t get off the field. All valid. I’ll say this though…The excuse making doesn’t have long before someone has to say that maybe Tua isn’t the answer. I don’t know when that will be….But unless he starts showing me more than he did today… It’s going to be rather soon. As for inserting Brissett into the short yardage situations…It worked….Until we got a little too cute.

WR’s — B - : I thought Parker was very good today. He did have one drop that hurt…But the defender also got his hands on that ball. Waddle is a definite keeper. Damn is he quick. I liked the way he played today. Overall, the receivers were OK. I was a little concerned with the lack of separation at times…But not a bad game.

RB’s — B - : Gaskin had a very good game. Especially as a receiving back. Ahmad is Gaskin’s clone and also had a good receiving game. They both had some good runs and got some yards when it counted. Brown got some tough yards at the end as well. Overall a decent performance by this unit.

TE’s — C - : Gesicki was OK. As a whole though, this unit was kinda invisible today. They get a C- and I’m hoping for more next week.

OL — D - : Absolutely putrid. To be honest it was embarrassing. If it wasn’t that they helped get the running yards at the end that got us that last first down, this is an F. Eichenberg got run over and looked out of his league for extended periods today. The only lineman that didn’t embarrass himself today was Hunt. Chris Grier has failed miserably at finding competent linemen. Look at Deiter for instance…..He is NOT the answer at center….He’s a liability. Another failed Chris Grier experiment. This unit better step it up quickly, or this is gonna be a long season.

DL — D + : Wow. The Davis injury was crushing. I’m hoping it’s not serious. As for rest of the lot… We couldn’t stop the run. We got almost no pressure. We couldn’t get off the field on 3rd down. I mean…. You didn’t have to be Nostradamus to know the Patriots game plan. We still couldn’t stop it. Where was Wilkins all day? I’m sorry….But that wasn’t good enough.

LB’s — C - : AVG was invisible. Jaelan Phillips was invisible. Baker was decent but got beat on the loft throw by Jones to the RB for a long gainer. This probably should be a D.

DB’s — B + : Well…Howard earned his pay today. He is easily the best player on this team. Holland had a nice hit. Rowe was OK. Jones was actually good today. Not a bad game at all by this group. HOWEVER, I hate that the coaches had them playing off coverage a lot of the game. I blame the coaches.

ST’s — C + : Sanders was good as usual. The coverage units were on. Palardy was not what I expected today. He needs to pick it up.

Coaching and Front Office — D : Again….I don’t like the off coverage late in the game. But…Flo had the team ready. His defense was tired as hell and still got the turnover late. I give Flo and the coaches full marks for that. As for Chris Grier….He brings this grade WAY down. Igbo inactive? Fail. The entire OL except for Hunt? FAIL. I blast him a lot on this board…I feel like he deserves it today. This team is going to have to be a lot better next week against a pissed off Bill’s team.

One thing is I’m not sure why you think we should’ve blown out the patriots in their home stadium? Perhaps your expectations were higher on this one coming in than they should’ve been?

As the game demonstrated, there isn’t much difference between the two teams in terms of talent, scheme, etc. The Patriots showed what we should’ve expected, that they are a well coached and solid team with a good defense, and Mac Jones is as promising as advertised. Not sure why anyone would think we would blow them out in their home stadium. This was a good win by us and we go away with definite clear things we can work on and improve.

Oline is definitely frustrating, we’ll see how we stack up against Buffalo next week, hopefully they’ll get better next week. Let’s see how Austin Jackson looks when he’s back, although based on the preseason, there isn’t much optimism for that one, other than last year he didn’t look too bad at times.

Jaelan Phillips being invisible is definitely frustrating, but this is only game 1, but he didn’t do anything in the preseason either. You would like to see him flash at least…

 

[Dolphinator530]

I seriously want to know why it seems to be the narrative that Miami should have won by three or more touchdowns. This is always been a really good defensive team that spent a lot of money in free agency to reinforce their defense and had a number of people return from Covid restriction and sitting out. And have always had great offensive line play, Mac Jones had a ton of time to throw I bet if Tua was on the patriots he would’ve thrown for 350 yesterday.

I don’t think they’re as good as the media is saying but this patriots team is a fringe playoff team with whoever is playing at quarterback

 

[Dolfan Dave]

One of the most surprising/disappointing performances today was from Jaelan Phillips. He was supposed to have these elite physical tools in terms of bend and speed.

I remember looking at his RAS scores out of the draft. Crushed it. Maybe he needs to add more weigh/strength. Still early, but between pre-season and first game it's filling me with promise. I hope it's injury related.



View attachment 85373

I feel like we are Dion Jordan'ing him. Should put him opposite of Ogbah and let him chase QB

 

[SuperMarksBros.]

Bunch of C's and D's after a divisional road win.

 

[EasyRider]

Uh, those were both terrible throws that the wide receiver bailed them out on. He was late on the end zone throw to Wilson and missed an open rb by 5 yards out of bounds. If you want to hold your hat on the waddle drop as your example of one great throw, go for it. Any high school QB worth their salt can make that throw.

Show me where he stretched the field, used the middle of the field at all and made the Patriots even flinch on defense. They were also without one of the best corners in the league too. He needs to be better and soon.

I’m concerned about Tua in some aspects but you’re comments about him not being able to throw a deep ball are moronic. those passes he threw were designed to hit where only his WRs could catch the ball avoiding a pick. And that pass to Albert Wilson was great, the defender made an outstanding play

 

[Etuoo33]

Jeez, you would think that we lost? The coach that has won more Super Bowls than any other, and who want to supplant our beloved Shoes, was on the other sideline and is terribly motivated to win another title without the GOAT QB. They spent a ton of money on hand picked FA's to improve and it showed. We were lucky to get out of there with a win, yet we catch 1 or 2 balls at the right time and it's not close. I noticed them attacking one OL with 2 men constantly on passing downs so maybe the OL is not as bad as it seemed, but typical of BB style of play. I call it learning how to win under adverse conditions, or just winning ugly, which you have to do to be successful.

 

[Turin]

I think pass rush is really concerning too

Ogbah can't do everything and Philipps looked real bad (first game maybe we should give him some time)

 

[dolphinfan41]

Tua apologists seem to need to find that one positive always. I get it but there's no way you cannot be concerned with him. He is zero threat to complete a deep ball. In fact, it's a struggle for him to complete a ball over 8 yards. Guys, he was not good. I'll be waiting for the line being the problem responses. When he had time, he was all over the place. You could see the happy feet the first throw over 5 yards on the second series. Plenty of time and started shuffling immediately. All deep balls were bad or mistimed. He got bailed out twice by receivers. He did very well with the quick hitters but the problem is if you take that away, where does he go? That's where he breaks down. When he has to make multiple looks, he's not good.

If that's your standard for winning football, it's gonna be a long year. Our defense was good but Mac was very good and poised, held the ball and knew where to go with it. I think we saw what we're going to see most weeks. If you can't see why the front office has been constantly linked to Watson, now you should. They made a mistake.

The issue with Tua is he just is not on the level with the good ones in the league when it comes to his tools. Can't run, average to below average arm, only accurate within 8 yards, awful on the run, and not a great decision maker. Those who back him, it's all good and I'm not going to change your mind but you can't feel good about what you saw today. If you say you do, you're simply lying to yourself.

I know the next responses are excuses for Tua but maybe the realistic posters can give what they are feeling.

That being said, I'm happy with the win. We need to be better with the football. I just want this team to win consistently.

I've been trying to say this all last year. This might be the most accurate, neutral post I've read on this site. Thank you.

 

[Good_Dylan]

I would have hated to see your grades in a loss situation and to not enjoy this win is a crime against ones self.

Agree you were way off in this post game review and our team gutted out a win against many headwinds up there including referee interference at just about EVERY critical juncture of the game. That 1st roughing call on Jones? Pure bailout because they knew it was a drive stopping play and right down to the last call of too many player downfield on Tuas excellent scramble that they had hoped would force Miami to punt the Zebras were active in this one aiding Kraft just like he pays them to do.
Tua? Well remembering he has not played in even 1 "full" NFL season and is still a very young QB who will only gel and get better every game. He played outstanding...thats right...Out-freaking-standing. The first and main thing he did right was scored more points than Jones team did. The second thing he did very well was held his poise in a late game situation backed up and needing to move the sticks to win...check. Now you can stay that was all Brown but dont fool yourself, the Pats knew he (Tua) "could have " run it himself, pass it or hand it off so they could not stack the box and assure a stop of the run up the gut there....why was that again? Because Tua was at the helm and they respected that.

Great game that I am still enjoying today and I cant wait to see how Tua and Fuller can hook up next week because we already know Waddle & Parker are great weapons and if Fuller adds to that like we hope holey Moley.

 

[Andyman]

Ummmm….It doesn’t feel like a win. Yes, we went up to Foxboro and beat the Patriots. Yes, we’re in first place in the AFC East all by ourselves. However, we should have blown this team out. On the flip side, we did get the W. That’s what really counts. On to the grades:

QB’s — C + : We still don’t really know what we have in Tua yet. That’s unfortunate. I was hoping for a WAY better performance today. What we got was a pedestrian Tua. While it was good enough today…Will it be good enough down the road? I tend to think not. As for excuses..There were drops. The OL was awful. The Defense couldn’t get off the field. All valid. I’ll say this though…The excuse making doesn’t have long before someone has to say that maybe Tua isn’t the answer. I don’t know when that will be….But unless he starts showing me more than he did today… It’s going to be rather soon. As for inserting Brissett into the short yardage situations…It worked….Until we got a little too cute.

WR’s — B - : I thought Parker was very good today. He did have one drop that hurt…But the defender also got his hands on that ball. Waddle is a definite keeper. Damn is he quick. I liked the way he played today. Overall, the receivers were OK. I was a little concerned with the lack of separation at times…But not a bad game.

RB’s — B - : Gaskin had a very good game. Especially as a receiving back. Ahmad is Gaskin’s clone and also had a good receiving game. They both had some good runs and got some yards when it counted. Brown got some tough yards at the end as well. Overall a decent performance by this unit.

TE’s — C - : Gesicki was OK. As a whole though, this unit was kinda invisible today. They get a C- and I’m hoping for more next week.

OL — D - : Absolutely putrid. To be honest it was embarrassing. If it wasn’t that they helped get the running yards at the end that got us that last first down, this is an F. Eichenberg got run over and looked out of his league for extended periods today. The only lineman that didn’t embarrass himself today was Hunt. Chris Grier has failed miserably at finding competent linemen. Look at Deiter for instance…..He is NOT the answer at center….He’s a liability. Another failed Chris Grier experiment. This unit better step it up quickly, or this is gonna be a long season.

DL — D + : Wow. The Davis injury was crushing. I’m hoping it’s not serious. As for rest of the lot… We couldn’t stop the run. We got almost no pressure. We couldn’t get off the field on 3rd down. I mean…. You didn’t have to be Nostradamus to know the Patriots game plan. We still couldn’t stop it. Where was Wilkins all day? I’m sorry….But that wasn’t good enough.

LB’s — C - : AVG was invisible. Jaelan Phillips was invisible. Baker was decent but got beat on the loft throw by Jones to the RB for a long gainer. This probably should be a D.

DB’s — B + : Well…Howard earned his pay today. He is easily the best player on this team. Holland had a nice hit. Rowe was OK. Jones was actually good today. Not a bad game at all by this group. HOWEVER, I hate that the coaches had them playing off coverage a lot of the game. I blame the coaches.

ST’s — C + : Sanders was good as usual. The coverage units were on. Palardy was not what I expected today. He needs to pick it up.

Coaching and Front Office — D : Again….I don’t like the off coverage late in the game. But…Flo had the team ready. His defense was tired as hell and still got the turnover late. I give Flo and the coaches full marks for that. As for Chris Grier….He brings this grade WAY down. Igbo inactive? Fail. The entire OL except for Hunt? FAIL. I blast him a lot on this board…I feel like he deserves it today. This team is going to have to be a lot better next week against a pissed off Bill’s team.

Sorry Zim, you’re usually pretty good but still I’m going to disagree with a whole lot of this. Starting with the D+ on the D line. Couldn’t stop the run and got no pressure?!? First of all, NE has a great Oline. You take away that opening drive 35 yard run and Miami held Harris in check the rest of the game to about three yards per carry. The D line drew multiple holding calls against NE and hit Jones 9 times. Let’s not pretend they weren’t getting some push upfront. Ogbah in
was outstanding.

Gesicki was Ok? Ok at what? He didn’t have a catch or even a target from what I saw.

AVG was not invisible. He overran some of his rushes but he was quite visible.

And I cannot get with this “it feels like a loss.” C’mon down from the ledge. You win on the road in NE in September you should feel great especially with the team not playing as well as possible. Miami used to lose these games by 10 points but they found a way to make plays enough to win. You always celebrate wins and they should always FEEL like wins.

 

[Rev Kev]

Ummmm….It doesn’t feel like a win. Yes, we went up to Foxboro and beat the Patriots. Yes, we’re in first place in the AFC East all by ourselves. However, we should have blown this team out. On the flip side, we did get the W. That’s what really counts. On to the grades:

QB’s — C + : We still don’t really know what we have in Tua yet. That’s unfortunate. I was hoping for a WAY better performance today. What we got was a pedestrian Tua. While it was good enough today…Will it be good enough down the road? I tend to think not. As for excuses..There were drops. The OL was awful. The Defense couldn’t get off the field. All valid. I’ll say this though…The excuse making doesn’t have long before someone has to say that maybe Tua isn’t the answer. I don’t know when that will be….But unless he starts showing me more than he did today… It’s going to be rather soon. As for inserting Brissett into the short yardage situations…It worked….Until we got a little too cute.

WR’s — B - : I thought Parker was very good today. He did have one drop that hurt…But the defender also got his hands on that ball. Waddle is a definite keeper. Damn is he quick. I liked the way he played today. Overall, the receivers were OK. I was a little concerned with the lack of separation at times…But not a bad game.

RB’s — B - : Gaskin had a very good game. Especially as a receiving back. Ahmad is Gaskin’s clone and also had a good receiving game. They both had some good runs and got some yards when it counted. Brown got some tough yards at the end as well. Overall a decent performance by this unit.

TE’s — C - : Gesicki was OK. As a whole though, this unit was kinda invisible today. They get a C- and I’m hoping for more next week.

OL — D - : Absolutely putrid. To be honest it was embarrassing. If it wasn’t that they helped get the running yards at the end that got us that last first down, this is an F. Eichenberg got run over and looked out of his league for extended periods today. The only lineman that didn’t embarrass himself today was Hunt. Chris Grier has failed miserably at finding competent linemen. Look at Deiter for instance…..He is NOT the answer at center….He’s a liability. Another failed Chris Grier experiment. This unit better step it up quickly, or this is gonna be a long season.

DL — D + : Wow. The Davis injury was crushing. I’m hoping it’s not serious. As for rest of the lot… We couldn’t stop the run. We got almost no pressure. We couldn’t get off the field on 3rd down. I mean…. You didn’t have to be Nostradamus to know the Patriots game plan. We still couldn’t stop it. Where was Wilkins all day? I’m sorry….But that wasn’t good enough.

LB’s — C - : AVG was invisible. Jaelan Phillips was invisible. Baker was decent but got beat on the loft throw by Jones to the RB for a long gainer. This probably should be a D.

DB’s — B + : Well…Howard earned his pay today. He is easily the best player on this team. Holland had a nice hit. Rowe was OK. Jones was actually good today. Not a bad game at all by this group. HOWEVER, I hate that the coaches had them playing off coverage a lot of the game. I blame the coaches.

ST’s — C + : Sanders was good as usual. The coverage units were on. Palardy was not what I expected today. He needs to pick it up.

Coaching and Front Office — D : Again….I don’t like the off coverage late in the game. But…Flo had the team ready. His defense was tired as hell and still got the turnover late. I give Flo and the coaches full marks for that. As for Chris Grier….He brings this grade WAY down. Igbo inactive? Fail. The entire OL except for Hunt? FAIL. I blast him a lot on this board…I feel like he deserves it today. This team is going to have to be a lot better next week against a pissed off Bill’s team.

Feels like a win to me - you haven’t been a fan very long to know all the ways the Pats have beat us the past 20 years?

Beat the home cooking BB is nothing trite