There is just part of me that says blow it up and start over with the younger guys and keep adding pieces. Build around Tannehill and don't waste time on Moore or a guy like Garrard. I have done a complete turn away from all the sit Tannehill and cook him slow position.
Weren't the Colts traditionally bad during the pre-season during Manning's tenure as well? I think they were.
They were remarkably bad. Good teams use these games for evaluation, concept installation, and situational coaching rather than wins.
I don't think there's anything that people need to be reacting this negatively about. I don't believe in writing everything off in preseason with "it's only preseason" but there's really nothing that was that bad that people need to be gnashing their teeth or alternately, making excuses for. http://www.nfl.com/videos/auto/0ap2000000048622/Orlovsky-44-yard-pass I don't see where you're getting that at all. Sean Smith was in a position to absolutely get his hands on the ball, and I don't see how Wilson's issue was a safety thing. He had to break on plays on balls thrown in front of him at cornerback, too. I was going to give a serious response to this, then I saw who posted it.
Well, we sucked. The result doesn't count, but it seems that for the last decade when we saw weaknesses in the preseason, we saw the same weaknesses when the games counted.....
Wow some seem to be jumping to season conclusions after pre season game1!! Don't get me wrong i was as disappointed in the teams performance as the next guy. Let's give the new coach a little bit to get them in shape. Positive note, Tanny definitely had the most talent of any of our qbs since you know who! Let's hope he can put it all together!
I don't think this is true either. There are loads of examples of both units and individuals playing well and then sucking in the regular season, and the reverse. For literally the entire decade. Ricky Williams having literally like 30 yards on 20 carries his first pre-season here, dozens of later round guys from JR Tolver to Lex Hilliard lighting pre-season up to Chad Henne kicking *** last year. Look at an individual player, what they're asking to do, but you need to be clear what the circumstances are.
Sean Smith missed tackles? I really doubt that, after all he did go to Deion Sanders school of tackling.
When we had no downfield passing game in the preseason with Fiedler we heard "They are not on the same page yet" When we can't cover a TE in the preseason for a half dozen years we heard "We are not game planning" When we could not pass protect last preseason, I forget that excuse, but there was one. I think the weaknesses do show up.
Wow, I just didn't see the negatives people are losing their heads over. Preseason games (especially the first one) you just look at fundamentals. As far as the starters go, the tackling was solid, catching was solid. Penalties were low. And there was zero confusion or hesitation between plays. Starter run D was very solid. Passing D was meh, but pass d is more scheme than anything and we obviously didn't scheme. Tanny was against scrubs but he didn't look lost or confused or out of his element. He was in command. Roberto Wallace earned some more snaps. There weren't any clock errors or management issues. All in all, I was pretty happy with a lot of what I saw.
Exactly, we have a new offense and new defensive schemes, new coaches. Its way to early to go into panic mode yet.
How much better is Chad Johnson at this point in his career over a guys like Wallace, Pruitt, and Moore? Man I don't envy the coaching staff trying to sort out the WR corps.
I agree. Randall looked good. So did Samuda and Shelby. I think all 3 of them make the 53 man roster. I wouldn't be all surprised if Samuda becomes a starting guard for us next season.
Personally I would take Wallace over Johnson at this stage of their careers. The Dolphins are nothing but a rebuilding team and it would be better for the Dolphins to start the rebuilding process with a younger Wallace than an older and no longer the player he was, Johnson.
The last thing Johnson could afford at this stage of his career was that drop in front of the whole fan base. I hope he takes it like a pro, shuts up, moves on, and does his job from here on out, instead of flapping his gums and going into an ego snit. This preseason game should serve as a reminder to the whole team that whatever they're doing, it isn't nearly enough, and that they all need to step it up quite a bit before they even begin to be competitive. If they do, this game may actually turn out to have a good result. Tannehill showed me some light at the end of the tunnel.
For me, not really a hard decision on CJ, if he isn't a starter (and I don't think he will be), he'll get cut and replaced by a younger, cheaper, not-afraid-to-get-hit, guy with upside.
Ok, Canes...lets put a just a tad bit of reality in here. It IS the first game of a new regime. It IS the first preseason game. There was no game planning. The purpose of these games is for the coaches to look at the individual players in semi real conditions so you're right that every play counts for every player, but its not about determining a guys future here over this one game...take a deep breath. I wonder what your reaction would have been if we'd scored 48 points and allowed their offense less than 100 total yards ?? That every player was great and a future HOFer ??
But...but...but....there's no way we're making the Preseason Playoffs with a performance like that!!!!!!!!!!! And if we can't get into the Preseaon's postseason, how can we win the Preseason Bowl???!?!?!?!
Still hate how people refer to a new Coaching staff as a regime like it's government. I'm not really worried about a whole lot other than catching the football. That was a problem in practice. Now, it's a problem in games. For all the talk about this is the opportunity for Tannehill or Moore to separate themselves with a Garrard injury, it's the same for Chad Johnson and Brian Hartline's injury. If he can show the ability to catch the football, with his antics, he may be gone. The defense was so blah. Hard to gauge anything. Vontae Davis has fallen on hard times. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see some kind of trade worked out if we can get value for him--so long Marshall, Carroll, and Wade play well.
I'll take the bad when it looks like the ost important position on the team looks to finally be established. You can't fix a bad QB.
Love how people are so worried about the defense. Yeah we looked bad, but in preseason the offense tends to have a minimal gameplan while the defense just calls base coverages, doesn't disguise the blitz much and generally just tries to see and analyze individual performances. Why not take some positives? Olivier Vernon looked really nice out there against the run. Tannehill had an amazing game. Roberto Wallace, Moore and Pruitt all had very solid games. Egnew had a drop but also some really nice plays. I think Reggie Bush will have a MONSTER year with this zone blocking scheme if the O-line decides to come together decently. I absolutely LOVED the o-line scheme but the execution just wasn't quite there.
Yes, that's why the result of the game doesn't matter. But at the same time, how particular units play can be indicative of issues down the road. I agree no one should be panicking over one pre-season game, but at the same time I highly doubt that Philbin doesn't have some level of concern over the way his first team defense played. That level of concern could certainly go up or down depending on what he sees next week in Carolina, but I'm sure he isn't just brushing it off as a pre-season game.
The truth is in the middle. We all know it's early and that these games simply mean nothing. Kinks are being worked out and a lot of players simply work on their technique focus along with scheme which is new. That said, it's not unfair to compare the effectiveness and EFFORT of both teams involved. I come away from this first game seeing a marked difference between coaches and the intensity of the two teams. I am troubled by what seemed to me to be a tale of one team taking this preseason game as an opportunity to get better, to play with intensity and focus while the other team seemed to be walking in a zombie-like state. Preseason is very vanilla but you can still compare intensity, conditioning, focus and the will of individuals to win their battles. I saw a Bucs team that outclassed our team on every level there. Also, while it is early, I had to notice the difference between Greg Shiano and Philbin. Schiano was actively involved with his units. He clearly took this game seriously and was willing his players to step up and compete. The guy is intense and clearly is not going to let them "go through the motions". Philbin not so much. It may mean absolutely nothing as all coaches have their style. I just prefer Schiano's approach as the best coach I ever had went out of his way to make practices and scrimmages more challenging then game experiences. Also, I don't think it's too early to talk about the secondary's and pass rushing struggles. That really dosen't have anything to do with preseason. A lot of us knew that was a very potential weak point of this team. Still early of course but not a good sign to see the units we hoped improvement from sucking wind. Bottom line is that if you watched this game you had to be impressed with the Bucs not us. Who by the way are also dealing with new coaches and schemes no? That said, just one preseason game. 3 more weeks to clean it up.
Again, I don't know about others, but for me it's about watching individual battles. The starters were beaten by the Bucs. There was a higher level of intensity and focus by that squad. One game. They can correct it I'm sure. That's how assessment goes though. You analyze it one game at a time. They have work to do.
Sparano used to get involved with the units though CR, it really comes down to what the team responds to, Philbin is more from the Walsh/Shula/Dungy stoic school then the high five/fist pump approach.
Like I said Padre... It's more personal preference. The thought came up more from watching Schiano and seeing how focused he had his troops more than from watching Philbin. I was impressed with the Bucs. I agree it may mean nothing. I've seen many a preseason performance make a team look like a contender while a true contender lays an egg not to worry about any of this. That said we only have last night's performance to look at. Game by game. Last night was not impressive. Nothing to freak out about but no reason to ignore the differences in the teams. Oh and the Shula call is incorrect. Shula NEVER put up with anything he considered sub par performances. He was in players faces regularly.
I have to wonder a bit if the first team had two a day legs? The uptempo is a dual edged sword, it helps the offense but the D will have run double the number of plays that other teams defenses will have run.