Zim’s Grades For The Game: Week 1 Edition

[Mach2]

I hate to even say this because I hate overreacting after one game, but Rousseau was around the ball A LOT yesterday against the Steelers. Whereas Phillips was…invisible.

I hate that I have to say this, but they are not asked to do the same things.

Its like comparing an interior Dlineman to a strong safety. The scheme/philosophy is so dissimilar, any comparison has very limited validity, beyond the superficial.

I'm not saying Philips had a good game. He didn't.

 

[Jssanto]

You grade too hard…

that’s a tough win!

NE is excellent and well coached!

we struggled all the way for a tough win - did NOT give them the ball back at the end…

I thought our ability to run out the clock at the end was a huge difference from last year.
Now, needing 1 first down rather than 2 or 3 ( or even needing points) made it easier but we still got it done.

 

[gregorygrant83]

Would have been interesting to see how the game plays out if Harris doesn't fumble. If the Dolphins held the Pats to a field goal and got the ball with about 2 minutes left trailing 19-17 I think Tua could have moved the team into field goal range. If the Patriots would have finished the drive with a td and 2 pt conversion to go up 24-17 I'm not sure Miami drives the length of the field for the tying td.

 

[LANGER72]

Gesicki played less than 50% of our offensive plays. Getting the feeling he's not in our long term plans. Maybe the Long pick makes sense.

I think Gesicki might be dinged up. That hit in the open field where he flipped and landed on his back might be the reason.
We will need him more against the Bills.
Chess game

 

[Fin-Loco]

 

[ForksPhin]

I hate that I have to say this, but they are not asked to do the same things.

Its like comparing an interior Dlineman to a strong safety. The scheme/philosophy is so dissimilar, any comparison has very limited validity, beyond the superficial.

I'm not saying Philips had a good game. He didn't.

That’s fair. I wasn’t really looking at it from the “ask” perspective.

 

[dolphinheel]

I am not even going to read this threads trash grades what is the point? There FAs were fresh at home and they played close to the best not to lose

Two teams coaches played not to lose - neither coaches took the reins off their QBs but went conservative

There is deep respect for both Coaches and it showed with all the Underneath passes

I always listen to Flo post game to get a real sense of reality. Flo said we played well and Tua played well, and they expected a dog fight. I’m with you, these grades mean nothing in the whole scheme of things. We got the W, ugly or not, on to Buffalo.

 

[dolphinheel]

Kinda hard to explain away Tua when he was involved in the vast majority of these plays. Lol

 

[dolphinheel]

I thought our ability to run out the clock at the end was a huge difference from last year.
Now, needing 1 first down rather than 2 or 3 ( or even needing points) made it easier but we still got it done.

Huge runs for Malcolm Brown, and I thought we didn’t address the RB position. Lol

 

[Delvin]

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 had mentioned this before the game, but I think this is actually by design from Belichick. Going back and watching film, you could see a lot of Tua's pre-season success was up the middle. You take away the middle of the field and make him use his arm to throw to the sidelines.

 

[Mr Fan]

I think Gesicki might be dinged up. That hit in the open field where he flipped and landed on his back might be the reason.
We will need him more against the Bills.
Chess game

BB takes away the best offensive threat, I assume he had Gesicki targeted as such.

 

[SF Dolphin Fan]

I thought our ability to run out the clock at the end was a huge difference from last year.
Now, needing 1 first down rather than 2 or 3 ( or even needing points) made it easier but we still got it done.

That's a really good point that I haven't heard others mention. Running the ball when you have to close out the game is huge!

 

[vega51]

I'm very happy with the result. We sent Belichick home a loser, at home in his own ball park, in front of 70k fans. It was a big road win for our team. They don't give style points for football. The game is measured in wins and losses. We got a win, a great start to the season.

But, there was a lot to be desired in how we played and I believe we were fortunate to come away with a win. Tua wasn't as sharp as I hoped he'd be and I'm concerned about it. The o-line, if we have the right coach and players, will come together in time. If we don't have the right coach or players we're in a lot of trouble and we'll be drafting oline again. I'm really hopeful that this group can improve and gel as time goes by. They better.

We won and that makes everything ok but I don't like the way we played defense. We were passive and got picked apart on 3rd down all day. As I feared we made Mac Jones look like a great QB. It's lucky we resigned X to cause the game winning fumble. Many of our weaknesses were exposed by the Patriots. Our front 7 on defense was so pathetic against the run. Davis goes out and we can't stop the run? The Pats oline handed us easily. The front 7 better wake up. Where were those guys? And finally, we drafted Phillips to get to the passer. That's his specialty, so why is he a LBer on this team and not a DE. He should be coming after the QB on every play imo. Let him loose to terrorize, don't neuter the kid! Stop changing positions, play these kids where they excel and stop trying to outsmart the world. It can't be done, ask Adam Gase. Same with the oline. We draft a kid that was a 3 year LT and put him at RT, then LG? At what point does cross training take away from the players natural born skills and cause him to think too much and not just react and hit with power?

I knew that we had a ton of new coaches and players coming to the team and that some patience may be required until the oline gels and the defense settles down, and of course, Tua gets more experiance. We have things to fix and things to build on but the good news is we're 1-0.

our defense was bad vs the run? First play was 35 yards in one carry, after that?? 90 yards in 29 attempts, that is 3.10 yards per carry.
Maybe that is why Jones had a good game, we needed it to concentrate on the run, and gave some easy passes for the rookie QB, but they were short passes, not big plays

I think our defense was very good

 

[SF Dolphin Fan]

I always listen to Flo post game to get a real sense of reality. Flo said we played well and Tua played well, and they expected a dog fight. I’m with you, these grades mean nothing in the whole scheme of things. We got the W, ugly or not, on to Buffalo.

Also, a lot of people have New England making the playoffs. This wasn't a win against a bad team (most likely).

 

[SF Dolphin Fan]

our defense was bad vs the run? First play was 35 yards in one carry, after that?? 90 yards in 29 attempts, that is 3.10 yards per carry.
Maybe that is why Jones had a good game, we needed it to concentrate on the run, and gave some easy passes for the rookie QB, but they were short passes, not big plays

I think our defense was very good

New England's best unit may be their offensive line. They are typically strong in the trenches.