Dolphins game thoughts

barrett · #1 09-18-2011, 07:27 PM

Great win today. Great overall defensive performance. I wonder when a QB last had less than %50 completion against us.

Demeco Ryans was probably worse this week than last week. He whiffed on a number of tackles (including Bush and Henne dead to rights in the backfield on separate plays), and he got washed out of plays numerous other times. This is the biggest single hole on our defense right now. I really hope he plays better.

Cushing was solid again and is also one of our better pass rushers when they send him.

Barwin was much better. Not sure what was different, but he got more edge pressure today. Reed played some but I did not notice him either way. Braman had a good special teams play. And Mario can simply be pointed at the QB and told to run in that direction really hard and fast and it works. The guy is like a defensive forest gump. But he has an impact which is what matters.

The DEs were solid again. Miami obviously saw Smith getting upfield on tape because they took advantage of it on a lot of draw plays. But he was a great interior pass rusher again getting lots of pocket push. Watt is a stud and makes plays in every different area of the game.

Quinn looked like a pro bowl guy out there. Solid in the passing game, and an amazing job tackling. Manning was solid as well. Joseph was very good, not lock-down good, but good enough to be the best CB on a plus defense. Allen was terrible. Jackson looked good in moments but has a lot of Reeves in him (in place but never making a play).

The OL struggled in the redzone and that got the whole offense bogged down. No push up front in the first half drives that stalled. We also had to drop back more since the bootleg/running game was not as sharp. Not suprisingly we struggled more in pass protection than we have in a while.

JJ was good and so was Johnston. Anderson got in for a handful of plays but had little impact. AJ was AJ.

Tate was really good. Not quite Foster good, but there are about 2 dozen teams that would love to have him as a starter. Foster hopefully is improving not getting worse. Casey seemed to have trouble finding a man to block on a few plays, like the goalline play Dansby blew up.

Schaub was very good. There was not always a ton there, but he was very good and very smart in a game we had to screw up in to lose.

Great win and 2-0. And I still feel like our best football is in front of us.

Nconroe · #2 09-18-2011, 07:47 PM

Agreed. The defense getting two turovers and offense not giving a turnover really helped.

Also our sprcials teams, the punter really has a leg and helped a lot with field positions, as did Manning and Jacoby on their returns.

barrett · #3 09-18-2011, 07:51 PM

Totally forgot about special teams. Outstanding in returns and coverage which has shocked me the first 2 weeks. And Hartman makes our past punters look even worse than they were.

cland · #4 09-18-2011, 11:20 PM

I agree it was a great gritty win, and I'm proud of the team. But I have an issue with a couple strange coaching decisions that I'm left wondering about.

The dolphins have basically 2 elite players: Brandon Marshall and Cameron Wake. I was perturbed by the fact that it took us so long to commit extra resources there way.

The glaring example that stands out is when I was looking at Jason Allen screaming for safety help (Manning), not being heard, and then taking a 15 yard cushion on Brandon Marshall who caught the ball and pushed his way into the endzone. Marshall could have ran about 20 routes and still score the touchdown.

Second, I couldn't understand why Winston was left on an island so much against Cameron Wake. The pressure on the edges--not to mention the 2 holding calls against Winston--shut our offense down in the 3rd quarter. You would think that our gameplan would highlight their two elite players and allow the rest of the team to out perform their (IMO) less talented players.

We got it done in the end, but I do think the Texans coaching staff didn't adjust quick enough.

painekiller · #5 09-19-2011, 12:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cland

I agree it was a great gritty win, and I'm proud of the team. But I have an issue with a couple strange coaching decisions that I'm left wondering about.

The dolphins have basically 2 elite players: Brandon Marshall and Cameron Wake. I was perturbed by the fact that it took us so long to commit extra resources there way.

The glaring example that stands out is when I was looking at Jason Allen screaming for safety help (Manning), not being heard, and then taking a 15 yard cushion on Brandon Marshall who caught the ball and pushed his way into the endzone. Marshall could have ran about 20 routes and still score the touchdown.

Second, I couldn't understand why Winston was left on an island so much against Cameron Wake. The pressure on the edges--not to mention the 2 holding calls against Winston--shut our offense down in the 3rd quarter. You would think that our gameplan would highlight their two elite players and allow the rest of the team to out perform their (IMO) less talented players.

We got it done in the end, but I do think the Texans coaching staff didn't adjust quick enough.

I echo this post. I am glad they won, and it feels different then last season. I am baffled by Kubiak's or whoever decides these things total lack of help for Winston when he faces speed rushers. Winston has shown time and time again that he cannot handle a speed rusher. He has slow feet. I am going to start looking at RT as our 3rd biggest need in next years draft.

nunusguy · #6 09-19-2011, 07:45 AM

Game stats show that Demeco got a grand total of 1 tackle yesterday, so
should and if so when does Wade make the move to replace him with Sharpton or Dobbins ? I know that would be a tough call given DeMecos popularity with his teammates and on field role as captain of the defense, but all the medical analysis I've read of DeMecos season-ending injury last year indicated "IF" he achieves a full recovery it wouldn't happen until 2012, and he clearly needs more time.
And while the experiment of Mario at OLB is showing some flashs of success along with some growing pains, I'm not so sure about the absense of a big guy in the middle of the DLine ? If we thought Miami ran up the middle on us yesterday, it could really get ugly this coming Sunday in NOLA with that huge
guard-combo the Saints have ?