This is intended to be a running Thread to discuss the positives from each game: 1 Excellent Special Teams play including a TD. 2 Running game was pretty good when the game situation allowed it. 3 Defense played ok vs a top 5 NFL offense when field position allowed it. 4 Tannehill showed a borderline elite to elite arm.
Eh, no moral victories in the NFL, did think ST played well though. Tannehill..fellas..this could take awhile..he is very green.
Reggie Bush was fairly awesome. Run defense Hartline seems healthy (took a couple big hits like usually does )
I thought it would be pushing it starting him in year 2. Starting him week 1 this year is a pretty big deal.
1. Really good all around special teams game. Kickoff coverage was great and we had a punt return TD...unheard of in recent memory. 2. We ran a successful screen play...also unheard of in recent memory. 3. Tannehill showed some ability to "improvise" - the side arm throw to Bess falling away from the pass rush, specifically. That play alone shows some potential. I haven't seen it from a Dolphins QB in quite some time. 4. Run blocking + Bush and Thomas looking like they could be a decent duo. 5. Bess looks faster/better overall. 6. It backfired, but we actually have a coach that is cognizant of clock management. 7. Hartline is really good at drawing penalties (PI's, facemasks, horse collars).
Defense was a wash... they had some nice moments. The run defense was good... pass defense was a different story.
I felt very good about Tannehill. He didn't get flustered and was poised when the pocket was collapsing. He does need to work on locking into his receivers and he started to get rid of the ball on checkdowns very quickly at the end of the game. After watching Weeden and Luck play I'm pretty happy with the way Tannehill handled himself out there.
It is just what I figured. Tannehill showed some potential greatness (deep ball to hartline, pocket presence) and some rookie mistakes (staring down WR, those damn tipped passes). Our WRs have potential. hartline and bess just catch everything. Give armstrong some more reps, his speed has to be on the field. I really want to see what Matthews can do. He just makes plays. Our run game is fine, I hope that DT is OK, he looked really good. Defense for the most part was very good. I would like one time to cover a TE. Other than that, I am happy.
Not sure what you watched. The D was pretty stingy most of the day considering the circumstance. They were on the field for what like 13 minutes in the 3rd qtr. Your standards are awfully high. A tired D usually surrenders but they didn't.
That we don't play Houston every week. I really don't understand why people are *****ing so much about this game when looking at the posts from many before the game. Personally I consider myself a "glass half full" kinda guy but I felt that we would like lose by 14 points at least. I was hoping for a miracle but I really didn't foresee it. Everyone was saying "oh we suck, we're gonna get killed... blah blah blah" and then what happens? We lose 30-10 and most act like this is such a big deal. We got smoked by one of the best teams in the NFL with a rookie head coach and quarterback at the helm. We'll get better from here. Chalk it up to a learning experience. I feel like we can go into the BYE week with a winning record based on our next five games. Oaland, New York Jets, Arizona, Cincinnati, and St. Louis. I think we can definitely go into our BYE at 3-3 or 4-2. That's not saying we are an amazing team or anything... just that we will be playing teams closer to our level of competition. So here are my positives: We don't play Houston each week. For a rookie quarterback starting his first game against a top five NFL defense, Ryan Tannehill look poised and pretty solid outside his issue with getting passes deflected (coaches do need to look into this, I don't think it's just him being unlucky) Reggie Bush looked real good. Bess is still a very good option and Hartline looks to be a solid contributor. I'd like to see more on Armstrong when him and Tannehill develop some form of rapport. The defense looked pretty good until the turnover fiasco happened.
I also really liked the way Philbin handled the game. I loved when he actually used a TO before the 2 min warning. I swear Sparano thought if he didn't use his TO's he could keep them in the 2nd half. I really feel Philbin is going to be a great coach. Philbin plays to win, not to not lose.
Oh, I watched every minute. I saw Houston pick apart our secondary; it was almost like our defensive backs were wearing blind folds. Sue me for expecting an NFL caliber defense to play well against the run and pass. They did well against the run, miserable against the pass.
Pouncey was killing guys as the plays ended, I mean knocking guys backwards, I liked the mean streak he showed.
I don't know, Houston got the ball three times on turnovers on their side of the ball within a 5 minute clip.
We need to sign Gaffney and cut Naanee. Gaffney isn't Calvin Johnson, but the upgrade from Nannee to Gaffney is huge.
We actually looked really good on the field today. The best running team in the NFL couldn't run on us. We kept it close for 23 minutes and if not for 3 cheap touchdowns at the end of the 2nd quarter off of 3 Tannehill turnovers deep in our end of the field we could have stuck to the running game which was working very well in the first half. But alas, Tannehill made some rookie mistakes and there were some fluky tipped passes that bit us in the ***. RT also had some pretty nice plays today. Firing it out sidearmed while falling away from the pass rush was a veteran move. However in the second half we were down big and RT ended up throwing the ball 36 times which was not going to work. We had to be able to compliment with the running game but we just weren't able to due to the score. We only had 19 rushing attempts for the game 2 of those by RT on scrambles. Reggie did average 4.9 YPC and looked strong. The offensive line also looked pretty good in run blocking though the pass blocking left something to be desired. There's going to be growing pains but we played one of the afc favorites way tighter than the score showed today.
How bad can this secondary get? And don't think we can use linebackers dropping into coverage to cover tight ends when the opposing QB has all day to throw and we have to send linebackers or safeties to generate any pass rush at all. Our receivers can't get separation or make difficult catches, and Tannehill has no time to throw. Other than that, the glass is half full, I guess.
Do you ever not get super sensitive about any negative opinion about the Dolphins? All kidding aside, I actually agree with the OP. There were positives from the game like those he mentioned. But I vehemently disagree that what we saw on that football field today looked really good. The overall product was really ****ty actually. And any non-Dolphin fan that watched the game would agree. I know you hate being called a homer but if you agree that was a really good showing for this football team that's exactly what you're being.
Why are so many people so incapable of processing rational thought that they have to boil everything down to one scapegoat? It's freakin amazing all the BS that gets piled on Ireland for **** that's not even his job. It's a joke. People need to get a ****ing clue.
Well to me, I never felt there was a huge talent gap between us and the Texans today, what I saw was a team with a Rookie Qb and a Defense that wore down b/c of it. For the first time in a long time I think we finally are getting guys on the field who can make things happen if given a chance to make them happen. Do think Safety is an issue, then again it is a new system and there will be mistakes.
