Zim’s Grades For The Game: Week 14 Edition

[WaddleWaddle]

It’s why he’ll be fired after next season

Lmao no he won't, this is the best offense we've had in over 20 years and McDaniel is a huge reason for that.

 

[Avigatorx]

Lmao no he won't, this is the best offense we've had in over 20 years and McDaniel is a huge reason for that.

Yep. The money he puts in Ross's pockets for merchandise sales alone will keep him here for a while. People buy merchandise from exciting things, we are exciting to watch again.

McDaniel just needs more experience. Im not ready to call him Gase 2.0 after less than a full year. If he is too stubborn to change after a couple of years, then we have a different conversation.

McDaniel is a rookie HC, Im confident he will learn from this year and make adjustments.

 

[lynx]

I stopped reading after Tua gets a C+, that's a big time joke

 

[mnphinfan]

It’s why he’ll be fired after next season

You're jumping the shark on this one. Sure McD has made some questionable play calls the last few weeks but there is no way he doesn't self scout his play calling this offseason and get better at in game adjustments.

Take the last 3 weeks. The 49ers showed the "blue print" on how to beat the Fins. The Chargers were supposed to have perfected it. Now these week the Fins had to face the vaunted Bills D.

All we heard this week was: Are McD and Tua going to have an answer for how D coordinators are scheming against them now? Tua will struggle to throw in the cold deep and to the outside. The Fins have to get better at running the ball or they have no shot. Well guess what. The Fins O was able to do all of those things. McD just got cute. He's learning. Just not at the rate some fans want him to.

He's going to be an excellent head coach. But he's also fair to criticize while getting there.

 

[EasyRider]

You're jumping the shark on this one. Sure McD has made some questionable play calls the last few weeks but there is no way he doesn't self scout his play calling this offseason and get better at in game adjustments.

Take the last 3 weeks. The 49ers showed the "blue print" on how to beat the Fins. The Chargers were supposed to have perfected it. Now these week the Fins had to face the vaunted Bills D.

All we heard this week was: Are McD and Tua going to have an answer for how D coordinators are scheming against them now? Tua will struggle to throw in the cold deep and to the outside. The Fins have to get better at running the ball or they have no shot. Well guess what. The Fins O was able to do all of those things. McD just got cute. He's learning. Just not at the rate some fans want him to.

He's going to be an excellent head coach. But he's also fair to criticize while getting there.

I have zero complaints about his schemes. I love them. He doesn’t have an interest in running the ball, and he’s not correcting all the mistakes he’s been making all season. That’s a problem, it’s a character flaw. I just don’t think he’s smart enough to all of a sudden change his fundamentals and his blunderous decisions and his clock management. There are worse HCs out there. He wasn’t even smart enough to bring in his own DC

 

[EasyRider]

Lmao no he won't, this is the best offense we've had in over 20 years and McDaniel is a huge reason for that.

Dude, yes it is, but if you don’t know how to play call it then what difference does it make, are you not understanding the concept of what I’m actually talking about? Or are you just blinded by the shiny new toy?

 

[lynx]

Not very excited for this one. But damn I hope they can prove us doubters wrong and win!! **** barfalooo!! Let's get this W boys!

I have zero complaints about his schemes. I love them. He doesn’t have an interest in running the ball, and he’s not correcting all the mistakes he’s been making all season. That’s a problem, it’s a character flaw. I just don’t think he’s smart enough to all of a sudden change his fundamentals and his blunderous decisions and his clock management. There are worse HCs out there. He wasn’t even smart enough to bring in his own DC

No interest in running the ball? What? Mostert had 136 rushing yards on 17 carries. You must have watched the Chargers game by accident.

 

[EasyRider]

No interest in running the ball? What? Mostert had 136 rushing yards on 17 carries. You must have watched the Chargers game by accident.

Mostert clipped off a couple of big ones to inflate those numbers but yeah you just made my point, we were successful doing it and then multiple times when the game was for the taking he calls some retarded play behind the line of scrimmage
What game were you watching last night?

 

[lynx]

Mostert clipped off a couple of big ones to inflate those numbers but yeah you just made my point, we were successful doing it and then multiple times when the game was for the taking he calls some retarded play behind the line of scrimmage
What game were you watching last night?

So, we should have run it a bit more in the 2nd half, lessons learned. The Dolphins lost 56-26 in Buffalo 2 years ago, they played their asses off last night and are moving in the right direction. You think Buffalo will be looking forward to playing the Dolphins in the playoffs if it comes to that? I doubt it.

 

[EasyRider]

He's done that in the last three games. Miami could have won at least 2 of the 3 if McDaniel makes better play calls.

That’s the thing, I could handle losing if he changed things up with adjustments and planning, but he just keeps trying to push that square into that round hole

 

[fansinceGWilson]

We were facing an uphill battle coming into this game. 3rd week in a row on the road (What the **** is that by the way???), the weather, Tua’s cold streak etc…. However, we could have and should have won this game. This loss is, without a doubt, on the coaches. On to the grades:

QB — The Good: 17 of 30 for 234 and 2 TD’s isn’t a bad game at all. Should have been much better but our WR corp had a few drops.

The Bad: While not a bad game, Tua wasn’t great either. A few questionable throws in there that could have gone for picks.

The Grade: C +. The drops didn’t help but neither did the play calling. Overall a good effort by Tua….But I was hoping for great.

RB’s — The Good: Wow. Mostert came to play. Great game by him. 17 rushes for 136. That’s an 8.0 ypc. Very well done. Ahmed had 43 more and our backs totaled 181 yards with Ingold’s 2 yard input.

The Bad: With a performance like that, there wasn’t much bad with these guys.

The Grade: A . Almost put up 200 on Buffalo. This group deserves the A. Spoiler Alert: It’ll be the only A given out today.

TE’s — The Good: The TE’s held up well in the running game. That’s all.

The Bad: Gesicki with 1 catch for 5 yards. And he stopped running after he caught it. Smythe with 1 catch for minus 2 yards. Awful.

The Grade: D . The only reason this group gets the D is because of the running game. They are being woefully underutilized and this coaching staff deserves the F for that alone. Meanwhile Buffalo’s TE had a career game tonight.

WR’s — The Good: Waddle was very good tonight as was Hill. 9 catches for Hill for 69 and a TD. Waddle with 3 for 114 and a TD.

The Bad: Wilson was the only other receiver with a catch. Ridiculous. Also too many drops in the first half that were costly.

The Grade: C -. Again….Hill and Waddle make this a C -. No one else did anything.

OL — The Good: Opening enough holes to hang almost 200 rushing on Buffalo is a good game. Tua, in general, had time to throw. A good effort by these guys.

The Bad: A few blown assignments when it counted hurt us. However, not a bad game by this unit.

The Grade: B - . How often do I ever say we should run more in a Dolphins game? Rarely. But McDaniel should have trusted them and we would have won this game. Awful coaching. Period.

DL — The Good: Wilkins with a Fumble recovery. Seller with a sack. Not much else.

The Bad: No pass rush to speak of. We have up 153 on the ground. And of course, we folded when we need a stop in the last 3 minutes.

The Grade: F . They played well for the 3rd quarter. That’s it. I’m sorry….That doesn’t cut it for me.

LB’s — The Good: Great Strip Sack by Phillips. That’s all.

The Bad: Anybody seen Jerome Baker? Actually….Anyone seen any of our MLB’s? I haven’t. Where is the pash rush from this group? Awful first half. Decent 3rd Qtr. Awful 4th qtr.

The Grade: F. I’m sorry….But they did not play well at all.

DB’s — The Good: N/A

The Bad: Open receivers everywhere tonight. If Noah Iggy isn’t cut on January 9th, I’m going to be pissed. He is awful. X wasn’t much better tonight. Admittedly, there was no lash rush to help them out. But they let way too many receivers get way too open.

The Grade: F . Folded like a Walmart Lawn chair when we needed them. Awful.

Coaching — The Good: Offensively we rang up 29 on the Bills. Defensively, we shut out the Bills the entire 3rd qtr. That’s it.

The Bad: Where do I start? McDaniel refusing to run the ball on 3rd and short? Or refusing to run the ball 4 time on first and goal from the 4 and settling for a FG? How about not ever running a rub route or anything of the sort on 3rd and short? Terrible. Wait! Then there’s Boyer….He has absolutely Zero feel for the game. Rushing 4 on 3rd and 17 and letting the Bills convert? How about the last 8 seconds of the first half? How do you give any NFL QB 9 seconds to throw the ball? Honestly, does Boyer know what a delayed blitz is? Awful.

The Grade: F. Again.

Conclusion: We have 3 games left and in my mind we have to win all 3 of them. The division is Buffalo’s. That’s all but official. 10 wins might get us in, but we have to rely on help for that. The problem is, Our defense has fallen apart. Our play calling is suspect. The coaching, quite frankly, is not peaking when we need it to. Nor is this team. It’s an up hill battle from here on out. I would say we’re going to find out what we’re made of in the next 3 weeks, but I think we just found out in the last 3. To be honest, I don’t like what we found.

This game was largely lost by Mcd/Boyer. Not much to say after that.
After someone watches the All-22, I'd like some commentary on TT throwing to receivers in exceedingly tight windows. No one else open more that that?
I said in the game thread, it looks like the opposing Ds (plural) have found something that tips them off to the short out routes. No way in the world Hill/Waddle/ or any receiver should have a defender within 2' (literally) on every play.
Agree. TE is a need.
The impressive part to me? Given the LB struggles and makeshift secondary, this team is much better than its record. Every game, won or lost, seems to have more posts trashing Mcd/Boyer and play-calling than individual units.

 

[EasyRider]

So, we should have run it a bit more in the 2nd half, lessons learned. The Dolphins lost 56-26 in Buffalo 2 years ago, they played their asses off last night and are moving in the right direction. You think Buffalo will be looking forward to playing the Dolphins in the playoffs if it comes to that? I doubt it.

We match up well against Buffalo although I think they are the better team overall and better coached. The jets who I’m afraid of right now, they have the defense that could strip our hopes away

 

[fansinceGWilson]

So, we should have run it a bit more in the 2nd half, lessons learned. The Dolphins lost 56-26 in Buffalo 2 years ago, they played their asses off last night and are moving in the right direction. You think Buffalo will be looking forward to playing the Dolphins in the playoffs if it comes to that? I doubt it.

Sorry. I'm getting increasingly pessimistic. I see little evidence of "lessons learned." This obsession with passing on a short 3D when the decision to try TWICE if needed is not understandable. Calling seemingly 90% of pass plays with TH/Waddle as 1st target doesn't seem like learning anything. Abandoning the run with plenty of time and the opportunity to kill the clock? I don't understand. TEs almost completely ignored. That's an F.
This team played one of the best in the NFL close in poor conditions. That's an overall B.

 

[lynx]

Sorry. I'm getting increasingly pessimistic. I see little evidence of "lessons learned." This obsession with passing on a short 3D when the decision to try TWICE if needed is not understandable. Calling seemingly 90% of pass plays with TH/Waddle as 1st target doesn't seem like learning anything. Abandoning the run with plenty of time and the opportunity to kill the clock? I don't understand. TEs almost completely ignored. That's an F.
This team played one of the best in the NFL close in poor conditions. That's an overall B.

Yeah, because throwing to Hill and Waddle wasn't working AT ALL last night.

 

[Andyman]

I kinda disagree w a lot of these grades and here’s why:

- Whatever our game plan was on D, we did limit Diggs and Davis. If it was “make Dawson Knox beat you” then it worked. Except that he helped beat us. Lol. Still, that was the right thing to do.

- The DL made some big plays. A couple of sacks, a couple of forced fumbles. I thought they played pretty well against a top flight QB and offense. The Bills rushing yards are a bit inflated due to Allen. Buffalo really couldn’t run all that well w their backs for most of the game

- My one cheap shot - Mike Gesicki is terrible. Good play call there. How did he not gain another inch after he caught the ball in space? Wow

I agree with you