http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/armando-salguero/article179057891.html ''That victory over Atlanta is meaningful. It was a huge game. A huge win. It was palpable how meaningful this was. It was big because the Dolphins beat the defending NFC champions. On the road. And they did it after spotting the Falcons a 17-0 halftime lead. “It was a great win for us,” running back Jay Ajayi said. “With how we have been playing, it was great for us just to finish a game no matter what the obstacles are. We were down early. This week we really put it on ourselves to stay together and not get frustrated no matter what we do as an offense or whether we put points on the board. We didn’t want our emotions to get us out of the game. I think this week offensively we were really able to lock in as well and keep our emotions in check. That was big for us, and we were able to create big plays down the stretch. The defense did the rest.” The emotion thing is interesting. Last week Ajayi pouted on the sideline. Receiver Jarvis Landry manifested as well. It was so acute that coach Adam Gase met with both players during the week to make sure they remembered to maintain their professional wits about them during the game. Well, interesting that Landry caught a touchdown pass and Ajayi rushed for 130 yards. Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/s...-salguero/article179057891.html#storylink=cpy '' they focused on not losing their emotions and whine and pout and get frustrated, and it paid off.. this is huge for the rest of the season.. Jets are going down man..
I think the major point that needs to be said is that the defense was great, they held it down in the first half and when the offense went on drives in the second half the defense rested and then came on the field and stymied the falcons, its amazing what happens when the defense gets help from the O, if we can manage to do this once a qtr. I think this defense can play with anyone. which puts us in a great position to win a lot of games.
we have a long way to go, but the next 4 games are different than how they looked a month or so ago. Jets seem to be the only team that is over-achieving. The other three have shown major flaws. I'd love for Miami to continuously improve on offense, gradually. Wait for the explosions towards the end of the year. Don't be greedy, as this defense seems to be holding its own
What was done/said at halftime though? Something changed and no one seems to have reported what precisely. In any case, this comeback win is important for this team long-term because it's something the players will remember as evidence of what they can do even when they're down by a lot. It's one thing to be rah-rah and talk big, but nothing beats knowing you can do something because you've already done it.
well a few things: 1. the roughing the passer call after a pick (after a 3 and out by Atlanta) 2. Julio Jones shut down in 2nd half 3. Better blocking after Pouncey went out.
they scored 20 unanswered points. the line blocked better, Julio was shut down, and the roughing the passer call got us to 14
Run blocking got a lot worse in the 2nd half. Ajayi had 71 yards in 11 carries for 6.45 YPC in the 1st half. In the 2nd half it went way down to 59 yards in 15 carries, or 3.9 YPC. Furthermore, most of those yards came on 2 consecutive 18 yard runs in our last drive in the 4th quarter. Look at our first 3 drives in the 2nd half and Ajayi had 25 yards in 10 carries for 2.5 YPC. So run blocking got worse after Pouncey left. What DID change was Cutler somehow finding targets he missed in the 1st half. And the defense came out energized after Cutler led the team to a TD. The other person I have to give credit to is Gase. The guy went for it on 4th down on two different drives, and one of them (the first in the 2nd half) led directly to a TD instead of a FG, and we might have ended up losing with only a FG on that drive. So something was said/done at halftime to get the passing offense moving and improve our defense. Not sure what.
Miami had the ball for 14 min in the first half, 18 in the 2nd. I'mm by two minutes because of averaging. That shows me better blocking
I watched it. Ajayi had 57 yards in the first quarter when Pouncey was,in the game. That is almost half of his yards. The blocking did not get appreciably better. Still, hat tip to Brendel, because the OL still looked competent when he entered the game. That is what you want from your back-ups.
Tons of reasons can lead to better ToP. For example, Cutler completing more passes extends drives. So ToP alone won't tell you blocking got better. Also, on a lot of those passes Cutler had to move around to make the throws.
if pouncey was out in the second half and in the first half we had 0, then guess what, we played better without Pouncey
That's certainly true, but that doesn't mean the blocking was better without Pouncey. The stats show it was worse without him. There are all kinds of things that can happen at halftime (i.e. adjustments) that can change a game, and something still unreported happened in the Atlanta game that led to that comeback. Of course it's possible this was all chance and that Atlanta simply collapsed.. they do have that SB to remind the world it's happened before haha.
well I mean they ran less effectively, Miami dialed up pressure and penalties. The key is Atlanta ran less and went to Julio less. That was bread and butter in first half.
I did. The only difference I saw was Cutler made better throws and receivers caught the ball. Blocking was pretty good in the first half with Pouncy in.
The TD pass to Stills where Cutler steps up in the pocket is something Tannehill has never done. He better be learning on the sidelines.
Well something went down at halftime, the offense was much better after the break. One thing for sure is we had fewer drops by far in the 2nd half. Didn't Landry drop 3 in the 1st half? or was it 2 in the 1st and 1 in the 2nd. Either way it is uncharacteristic of him. And yeah a couple of those could have had better placement from Cutler, but still a gifted receiver like Landry should not have a problem with them.
Too early to call it a turning point win - especially considering how the Falcons shot themselves in the foot when Cutler was trying to give the game away. 'Tis still a quality one though.
Good points, but I think one of the biggest points is that Gase still has them behind him as a team and is able to reach 2 offensive players in particular, who must be frustrated at how they and the offense have been lacking and how they have been criticized. To me that fact is the most important thing in the long term. As for the Jets, they will be angry and either frustrated or motivated after being ripped off last game. My guess is that Bowles will have them ready. Should be a fist fight if our guys don't relax now that they have played a good half. Gase will also have our guys ready, most likely.
I believe Gase talked about it during the week...dont lose your cool..stay together..no more acting out
Look I'm all for2nd half adjustments, but I want to see what Gase and Clyde can do now after 5 games to actually put up 10-13 points in the second half. I said in my prior post on another thread, I am not buying a "run" until they can improve on offense. The defense, I am confident, can keep teams to 20. But I can't believe we can't average 23 a game, when in the past, that's what we were complaining about. In the offseason, we debated about how Miami needed to be around 27, about 4 more per game and how hard that vast was going to be. Now they average 12 a game and we need them to go to 20? Well that's harder than going from 23-27. I think the solution is chunk plays downfield. I mean what is there to lose if they are stinking it up anyway? As useless as Parker is, maybe he can draw a 50/50 penalty downfield. It's forcing the issue. Maybe get Grant in a play in the open field? Also, take advantage of 2nd and short (make 1st down a smart play), and take a deep shot to Stills, when the defense thinks you are going to run again. Sometimes to "force the issue" you have to be clean and productive on the first down. You get into second and long, and it seems we are limited. Miami has to maybe take more shots down field, knowing their defense is playing well.
We scored 14 points before that, 6 afterwards. Turning point was halftime. I'd summarize it this way: 1st drive 3rd quarter it's mostly Cutler with some balls by Gase to go for it on 4th down leading to a TD, 2nd drive it's mostly luck = penalties at crucial moments leading to a TD (even nullifying a Cutler INT), 3rd drive (4th quarter) it's mostly luck = botched 4th down punt leading to a FG, and 4th drive it's two crucial 18 yard runs by Ajayi. Otherwise credit goes to the defense for holding Atlanta to zero points in the 2nd half.
I think a huge unmentioned topic is that the first half passing game was non existent, so what does the other team do when ajayi has 70+ yards at half? that's there second half adjustment to stop ajayi. The difference was we finally completed some passes and kept drives going on third down, so pouncy being out or in in retrospect to blocking is still up in the air. What we need to see is a full drives of runs and passes for a whole first half. My opinion is if we can complete passes in the first half ajayi should be able to wear down any defense in the second half, there is no reason ajayi doesn't avg 100 yard a game except the fact we cant complete passes or extend drives. But take in account if we are getting blown out hes not going to get carries. But IMO Miami has no reason not blowing out the jets from kickoff, they got a huge win against a top 5 team (supposedly) and now heading home against a team who peppered their @$$ in week 3 from kickoff I expect Gase to give the ball to CUT (wait that's what he should do) I mean CUTLER, if he can just find some sort of accuracy its week 6 (for Miami) for god sakes he shouldn't be underthrowing or missing people still, now is the time to show your totally a bust.
this is why I drop a few bucks for the club, and the inside stuff..hopefully he doesn't mind me posting his stuff..dude knows the game, like for real....this is why our run game had success. ..
yeah I noticed that when the line was bunched up things got chaotic in a rush. His runs definitely were more toward the outside and with spacing on the line. That's subtle or not, but maybe a change that Cug noticed, but it was a fast turnaround, based on when he was hired.