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Thoughts on Dolphins Saints

Discussion in 'Miami Dolphins Forum' started by KeyFin, Dec 27, 2021.

  1. KeyFin

    KeyFin Well-Known Member

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    Well, that's seven in a row...and this win also puts us in the #7 seed in the AFC. That's the big news of the day- Miami did what they needed to do and earned the victory.

    In terms of game-play, I surprisingly don't have a lot to say this week. The Saints had 22 players out with COVID and were forced to sign folks off the street today just to be eligible to play. Their QB Book did well in his 1st start, in my opinion, because Miami did what Miami does and the poor kid got beaten to a pulp out there. Miami's defense was the story of the game.

    For Tua and the offense, it was a tough night against a very good defense...maybe we don't win this game without COVID. But if you think back two weeks ago to where Miami started their advanced protocol of virtual meetings and less live practices, that's why many teams are crashing at the moment and we're still thriving. Not sure who made the call, but it was the right one.

    This defense guys...they keep looking more and more impressive. They gave up zero 3rd down conversions tonight...zero! I know the Saints had some backups on their line, but still, it was an impressive, dominant win.

    Now the season gets serious...the last seven weeks were essentially "must-win" and the next two are as well. The Titans and the Pats have to beat us to clinch their respective divisions, and we have to win both just to sneak in. It's still do or die time, and we'd need a crazy amount of upsets to make the playoffs with another loss this season.

    So buckle up Fins fans and enjoy the week as a playoff contender! The Titans are going to be tough to beat in six days, but I think we play Tannehill exactly like we just played Ian Book and that game will go sideways for the Titans in a hurry. Just a gut feeling- I think it will be a blowout!
     
    Last edited: Dec 27, 2021
  2. Dol-Fan Dupree

    Dol-Fan Dupree Tank? Who is Tank? I am Guy Incognito.

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    I think the Dolphins call a different game if it wasn't for Covid.

    IMO, Flores was like, "Let's not make any dumb mistakes and our defense will win the game."

    That is what it felt like during the first-half when it game to plays being called.
     
  3. TheHighExhaulted

    TheHighExhaulted Well-Known Member

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    Watching the post game on ESPN, Van Pelt and Clark basically said the same thing. Flores knew the game was over once they went up two scores. This was a "don't do anything stupid game" for the offense and let's go fresh into Tennessee. I would expect a little more creativity next week.
     
  4. Rouk

    Rouk Well-Known Member

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    You guys give this coaching staff too much credit. They’re abysmal on offense and it has everything to do with coaching. Yeah, the oline stinks no way around that one and its a huge plague on anything we want to do. However, the way we string plays together with the Brisset garbage and endless wildcat literally gives tua zero rhythm all game. There is zero flow to our offense ever. We literally conceded a drive on 3rd and 12. That’s embarrassing by nfl standards. We’re being propped up by a good defense playing a ton of rookie and back up qbs during this winning streak.
     
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  5. JJ_79

    JJ_79 Well-Known Member

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    We had to win this one and did and it was not a close game our D ruled the whole game.

    1st win against the Saints in the Superdome since 1986 I think.

    Tua was not the Samoan Sniper today, he did enough to win for us against a really good D.

    I came around Waddle looks like he is worth what we invested for him.

    D is getting better and better at least that’s what it feels like.

    If we somehow win the next 2 games there is probably nobody who wants to play us come playoffs.
     
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  6. byroan

    byroan Giggity Staff Member Administrator Luxury Box

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    Lamar Jackson is neither of those.
     
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  7. KeyFin

    KeyFin Well-Known Member

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    Can you imagine if the Saints started Drew Brees? The fans would have gone nuts, but I don't think he would have done much more than the rookie did. Miami's defense is playing that good right now and no QB wants anything to do with that.

    I'm still a Ryan Tannehill fan but heck, I can already imagine how we're going to play him and the angles he's going to get lit up from.
     
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  8. TheHighExhaulted

    TheHighExhaulted Well-Known Member

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    Teams run draws on 3rd and long all the time.
     
  9. OwesOwn614

    OwesOwn614 Well-Known Member

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    I didn't appreciate the safe approach until the end of the game. I thought there were opportunities to be had and GodStud left a ton of meat on the bone. Tua had a couple of truly rotten throws, but at the end of the day, he completed 73% of his passes and with seven misses, only so many could be considered truly horrible. Especially when he was chased down like a poor man's Ian Book at odd moments.

    I'm not going to be That Guy (right now), but Eichenberg's fake holding penalty kept another score off the books. Also didn't appreciate the lack of a call when it looked like two players were holding one of our DL on the play that netted the Stains a 57 yard pickup. If only one guy was holding, New Orleans' best play of the night would have been our ninth sack. C'est la vie. Looked like Jones realized only a ridiculous effort would result in a reception and that's exactly what Lil'Jordan Humphrey applied (the prideful bastard). I did love two players running the receiver down, though.

    Waddle is just a prodigy. I might normally be bothered by Tua giving one guy nearly half of his targets but since he was catching them, screw it. We didn't throw the ball to Parker once all night. Maybe he was the second or third option on most plays and since time is tight in our backfield, #1 is not going to move past his first (and most reliable) option (Waddle) to find a better option. Let's give him more than -2 seconds to throw and find out.

    All in all, it was a great night. I hate suspense and when the D seems like it can literally have success on any aggressive play, I was able to leave my bottle of nerve medicine in the cabinet untouched. Next week is going to be yyyyyuuuugggeee.
     
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  10. The_Dark_Knight

    The_Dark_Knight Defender of the Truth

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    After sleeping on it, here’s my take on last night’s game.

    Repeating what I said last night, our defense played absolutely lights out. I don’t care what anyone says, this is not a good defense. It’s not a great defense. This is an ELITE defense and if we do indeed make it into the playoffs, we’re the defense no one is going to want to play.

    Offensively, I have to take last night’s performance with a grain of salt. The Saints also have a great defense. They’re defense, prior to last night, ranked 1st in red zone defense, they’re in the top 10 in some defensive categories and in the top 5 in others. They’ve never flirted with dropping out of the top 10. This is important when trying to analyze the Dolphins offensive performance last night.

    Although the Dolphins offensive performance wasn’t a high flying, huge rushing gains, points lighting up the scoreboard, the Dolphins were able to do what the defending Super Bowl champions weren’t able to do…score an offensive touchdown against the Saints.

    I would have liked to have seen Duke Johnson get more touches, but when you have the number 1 rushing defense on the other side of the ball shutting down your running game, the fact that we were able to gain 4-5 yards on a rush is significant. The Saints secondary is one of the best in the league, shutting down and long passing attempts, save the one 40 yard completion to Holland, but even Parker wasn’t targeted even once last night…and he’s a big receiver that can go up and compete for the passes.

    Waddle is the go to. Struggled initially due to the Saints defensive scheme but kudos to the coaching staff for adjusting and getting him opportunities to get his hands on the ball unopposed.

    Last night’s game was a true test, a hard fought significant victory. I don’t care what any naysayers will bellow. That game showed me that the Dolphins so indeed have what it takes to win out…and depending on the insanity of this season, potentially come back and steal the AFC East.

    Now on the Tennessee. Tanny, I love ya guy but this is one time I truly can’t cheer for you
     
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  11. mlb1399

    mlb1399 Well-Known Member

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    I think last night showed why we’re not competitive against elite teams with good defenses and QB’s. Our OL is historically bad and it showed agaisnt a good defense. Fortunately we were able to overwhelm a practice squad QB and back up OT’s. But you have to win those games to make the playoffs.

    No matter how the next 2 weeks plays out, I feel good about our future. There is no excuse to not fix our OL with $75mm in cap space this next off-season. We can’t continue to field that ever expect to be good. We need to be able to give Tua more time. We need to give Waddle more time to do what he does. We need to be able to run the ball effectively in the red zone without having to rely on gadget plays like the wildcat. That behind and ends up front.
     
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  12. KeyFin

    KeyFin Well-Known Member

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    The thing is, our team is built to play from the lead and dial up the pressure. We had a 7-0 lead three plays into the game...so it's hard to be too critical of the offense. The truth is that the defensive TD was enough to win the entire game...the game was over on the 3rd play. Everything else was gravy and I do understand why we didn't try to get too aggressive.

    Defensively, good gosh, that poor kid is going to have some bruises this morning. It was ONLY 8 sacks...he got hit so much more than that...in real time it felt like 20 sacks. This defense is elite and I am honestly not scared of any team in the league at the moment. I think we can hang with anyone defensively and do just enough on offense to take the W.
     
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  13. The_Dark_Knight

    The_Dark_Knight Defender of the Truth

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    Not intending to sound condescending, but your first paragraph truly downplays the significance of a defense. You can have an offense with a good quarterback. You can have an offense with a great quarterback. And you can have an offense with an elite quarterback but an elite defense is going to make that quarterback look lousy.

    Look at what the Saints defense did to Tom Brady last week. Made him look stupid.

    Look at what our defense did to Lamar Jackson! We made him look stupid.

    You can have an elite quarterback. But even those elite quarterbacks struggle against elite defenses. Is Tua and elite quarterback? I wouldn’t bestow that ranking on him but he is a damned good quarterback that was able to move the ball against one of the league’s best defenses.

    Let’s not go and dismiss what we were able to do last night against a defensive juggernaut.
     
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  14. KeyFin

    KeyFin Well-Known Member

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    You do realize we won last night, don't you? I could understand the criticism if it was a 20-3 loss, but we ran the ball almost the entire 2nd half (against one of the league's best rushing defenses). There's a big difference between not being able to score and trying to burn out the clock. We were essentially burning clock the entire game.
     
  15. mlb1399

    mlb1399 Well-Known Member

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    My point wasn’t to be a Debby downer but rather to point out how this team is winning in spite of its horrible OL that was on full display last night. Maybe I could have worded it better but wasn’t meant to be negative about our defense or Tua. We did what needed to do agaisnt a team that was neutered. This is what we need to do agaisnt teams we’re expected to beat. In years past, felt like we would have had a let down here when it mattered.

    That’s why my last sentence, which you didn’t quote, talks about why I’m optimistic about our future. Especially if we can fix this OL.
     
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  16. mlb1399

    mlb1399 Well-Known Member

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    I worded it pretty poorly but what I was trying to say is I don’t think we’re ready to compete against the elite teams yet because our OL is so bad. Our defense is able to make up for that by overwhelming bad QB’s but I’m not optimistic we can do that against elite QB’s.

    If you read my second paragraph, I’m optimistic about our future IF we can fix our OL and feel that we’re very close to being able to compete with anyone. I’m gonna chalk up the poor wording to going on 5 hours of sleep and not having my morning coffee yet :-)
     
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  17. Two Tacos

    Two Tacos Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Here's a silver lining. The line is so bad that they cannot play much worse. So, it doesn't matter how good the pass rush is, they're going to play terrible regardless. Tua is going to have to make the same plays no matter who the competition is.
     
  18. OwesOwn614

    OwesOwn614 Well-Known Member

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    IMO, the silver lining is that after the OL allowed Tua to be creamed early with broken ribs (not sure how he broke his finger), he didn't adapt by hearing footsteps running behind him the way most young QBs do. Instead, he instinctively moves either up or out and gets rid of the ball quickly. I've seen too many QBs get shellshocked by playing too soon and taking hard knocks and I'm happy that ol' Dink & Dunk Tua has adapted his game the way he has. It shows that he plays more on intelligence than instinct. His fight or flight impulse is decidedly set on "fight". He stepped beyond a couple of hard rushes last night that probably would have resulted in more sacks.

    With that being said, I got a lot of downvotes on Reddit last week when I suggested that I'd prefer Tua not try to truck defenders to get an extra yard and last night, I thought I was going to be validated. He can't take chances.
     
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  19. Clark Kent

    Clark Kent Fighter of the Nightman

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    At this point, I'm just happy this season isn't a total wash for us. I had been so excited for this season. First time in a while. 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2009 stand out as far as preseason excitement. Only 2007 rivaled my disappointment after the 1-7 start, basically hate watching the Dolphins. Since we don't own our own 1st rounder, it's not like it even benefited us to lose. Also, I do like Flores. He's the only worthwhile coach we've had since Saban, despite his deficiencies, and I'm not ready to move on from him. That said, it was nice to watch Miami on MNF, in week 16, in a game of significance. That's my biggest takeaway.

    Offense: The coaches clearly put a point of emphasis on conservatism. After watching NO dismantle an all-star offense (the only kind Brady likes...), there was no way they were going into the superdome with delusions of grandeur. It was very much prevent offense, most of the night, by design. While that gameplan was certainly exaggerated for this game, it has been largely the strategy we've used on this 7 game win streak. We are what we are. The truth about this offense, is we're not very good. The NFL is still a game of physicality, despite rule changes to limit physical punishment. We're not built win a physical battle. The offensive line is still awful. No need to rehash it, beyond saying their performance destroys any and all ability to develop our other players and evolve our scheme, beyond the RPO. Do we have a QB who can read progressions? Doesn't seem like it, but I can't answer definitively. and it's not like he can develop that trait with the amount of time he has. Parker and Gesicki are terrific players, who are limited by our offensive design. Everything goes through Waddle and only Waddle. To his credit, Waddle has met the challenge. Probably offensive rookie of the year. Waddle might be more responsible for his teams offensive success, than any other rookie, including Mac Jones. Without him, we have nothing. My concern is what happens next. Vrabel and Belichick will do everything they can to eliminate our best player. Next two weeks could be brutal.

    Defense: Awesome. All three levels are playing great.
     
  20. Rick 1966

    Rick 1966 Professional Hipshooter

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    One thing is sure at this point. Jaylen Waddle was worth the pick. I didn't believe he was, but he's shown that he's an elite WR. Was he worth it over just staying where we were and taking Jamarr Chase? Still not clear and probably won't be for a couple years.
     
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  21. JJ_79

    JJ_79 Well-Known Member

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    Well, that depends on who we get in next years draft, but I‘m fine with what we did, Waddle is a baller!
     
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  22. Clark Kent

    Clark Kent Fighter of the Nightman

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    One thing I'll say about Waddle, that can't be said for Chase or Smith, is his ability to win at all times. Even though coaches have a season of tape on him so far and know he's our primary playmaker, they haven't (yet) been able to erase him. His combination of explosiveness, speed, body control, are tremendous. Those traits give him versatility the other two don't have. Not to mention his deep game hasn't been unlocked. And that might be his greatest feature.
     
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  23. M1NDCRlME

    M1NDCRlME Fear The Spear

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    That is the scary part. IF they can get the OL figured out so that the deep game can be a real part of the offense, holy ****, Waddle is gonna be a complete monster. He's got speed to go with his moves so once they start hitting him in stride on the deeper stuff he'll be taking them to the house cause nobody is going to catch him.
     
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  24. Alex13

    Alex13 Tua Time !!! Club Member

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    Jets beat the Bengals
    Lions beat the Cardinals
    Jaguars beat the Bills

    I could care less who we played during our winning streak, the Pats and Bills meanwhile played basically the same schedule as we did, but if they win, its always how great Mac Jones is and how dominat the Bills are, if Miami plays the same team, its garbage and we are lucky we have them on our schedule….crazy and by now annoying narratives that need to go away.
     
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  25. Pennington's Limp Arm

    Pennington's Limp Arm Well-Known Member

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    My main and most obvious takeaway from this game is that Waddle is an absolute rockstar.
     
  26. OwesOwn614

    OwesOwn614 Well-Known Member

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  27. OwesOwn614

    OwesOwn614 Well-Known Member

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    Money well spent.
     
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