Sean Smith Asked For Fitz

He covered Fitz about as well as humanly possible, then let his man get free for a game tying TD. Kind of indicative of Sean Smith.

 

It kinda of is, but at the same time I think you can apply that to most of the good CBs in the NFL. There are very few CBs nowadays that don't give up that type of stuff. I think a best case for most CBs is making big plays to counter the ones you give up. Smith did that yesterday, the question is if he can make those kind of plays consistently.

 

He's a guy that has to play with confidence to play well, because otherwise he plays too conservatively and lets up easy catches. But then, when he's playing confidently he's also prone to the double move. It's not easy for him because of his size, which works against him in a lot of ways. Still, you'd rather him play confidently than not and that means it's always a good thing when he asks to be on the team's best receiver. It's like when Karlos Dansby goes on talking about how he's the best MLB in the league. When you say things like that, when you put those things on your plate, it puts all the more pressure on you to make good on it, and these guys thrive under pressure. This was a great step up for him. The Dolphins go to overtime because of that ridiculous interception in the end zone.

 

When he was in zone. It's pretty obvious that he's a very good corner when he plays press.

 

I want to say one thing about that 4th & 10 touchdown.

Kevin Kolb had all day.

On 4th & 10...from just outside the end zone...the other team's QB had all day to let that double-move develop.

I'm sorry, but that can't happen. That's a failure of our pass rush, no matter what anyone wants to say about the 8 sacks, and it's a failure on Kevin Coyle as a defensive coordinator. If you know that you can't get consistent pass rush from Koa Misi, then you've got to blitz because they can effectively double all three other players while putting 5 guys out into patterns. You can't just sit back and let the guy have all day on 4th & 10. You need to dictate to them what they have to try and make happen.

Prior to that play the secondary (Jimmy Wilson, Nolan Carroll and Richard Marshall more so than Sean Smith) was allowing too much easy work underneath on quick drops and quick releases, but on that 4th & 10 play it was the opposite, you need to generate pass rush on a 4th & 10 otherwise you turn 4th & 10 into essentially a 2nd & 10 or 1st & 10.

 

Agreed. Don't know if those guys were just tired from chasing Kolb around and harrassing him for most of the day or not, but on that 4th and 10 there was virtually no pressure.

 

I thought it was a borderline pick on the TD Fitzgerald scored on, don't know if I would say Smith was to blame on that play.

 

That 4th and 10 was zone coverage iirc. Smith had the back left half of the field as I saw it and someone I can't remember had flat duties. Can someone confirm this? If so, I think they were in Cover 2. I still think the DB in the flat should have added depth to his drop based on the offensive play call.

 

I was thinking they should have sent the farm and forced Kolb to get the ball out quickly and make the pass. Play a bit soft underneath and hold the pass to less than 10 yards. Quite frankly Kolb is one of those guys I might feel fairly confident doing that against.

 

The Cardinals had a zone protection with everyone sliding toward Wake's side. They called for the tailback to chip Cameron Wake's outside shoulder on his way out on a route. Wake stunted to the inside of Starks, both of whom were picked up and caught in a mass of bodies in the zone protection. Odrick was doubled. Koa Misi was truly the guy on an island by himself with the left tackle D'Anthony Batiste. Misi had not really produced a quality rush on the drive since the initial 1st & 10 on the drive when he executed a fantastic speed rush around Batiste. Perhaps he was tired by the 4th & 10 play, but given his history it wouldn't surprise me if it had nothing to do with that and he's just that inconsistent in pass rush.

It was too easy. Even if Miami hadn't stunted they've got two guys on Wake (RT and chipping RB), two guys on Starks (C & RG), leaving one on ones with Odrick and Misi, both of whom are inconsistent at winning those. And the cost of not getting that pressure was tremendous. In that situation I'm pretty sure I blitz and take my chances of tackling them short of the end zone.

 

I really like Smith and have loved the way he has progressed, but clearly he is doing this because he is in a contract year (rightfully so). I think we are going to have to break the bank to keep him to be honest... If I were the GM I would give him a pretty big deal but front load the hell out of it so it uses a lot of cap next year (when we have a bunch) and then frees up a lot of cap in 2014, 2015, etc...

 

Philbin said today during his presser that Smith was to blame (more or less).

 

You know what?

I'm an idiot.

But they're even worse.

I've been saying all along it was Koa Misi that had the sombrero and couldn't produce one iota of pass rush on that 4th & 10, but at least they weren't dumb enough to have Olivier Vernon out there.

It was Olivier Vernon. FML.

 

What did he say, actually? Not that I don't disagree, but the entire loss isn't on him. Could easily say Carroll & Marshall were more of a factor in the loss than Smith.

 

Now that I've got the time I double checked the video on nfl.com and yep, #50. FML.

 

Not the game, the TD. Philbin was asked about the play and said that Smith was "over there". Made it seem as though he just lost him. Now, as others have brought up, Kolb did have a lot of time back there. Rush was non-existent. You'd still like your #1 corner to be in position though. Game was on the line.

 

Our line was so gassed on that 4th and 10 that I thought we should have taken a time out there. I know hindsight and all but I really thought we should have done so real time.

 

Same here. I assumed it was Koa Misi because he'd been rushing the passer earlier on the drive (with success on the first two plays of the drive). Now I have to go back and figure out when Koa was pulled and when Vernon was inserted.

1st & 10 and 2nd & 15 are when Koa Misi got sacks. On 3rd & 18 he was still there and the reason I haven't blamed the pass rush on this throw is because the ball came out pretty quick. Shotgun, three step with a hitch timing. And actually as I've got the picture frozen in front of me the moment Kolb is releasing the ball, Koa Misi has successfully shed Batiste and is about half a second from plowing right through Kevin Kolb from the blind side. On 4th & 2, Koa Misi is still the pass rusher and this time he's pretty well handled, though it doesn't matter because the ball is out so quickly. I mean Cameron Wake had beaten Bobbie Massie around the edge on this play on the initial move but he still couldn't get to Kolb, that's how quick the ball was out. On 1st & 10, Misi still in at DE, this ball is out with extreme quickness on the slant to Larry Fitzgerald for 9 yards. Pass rush is irrelevant on that play. On 2nd & 1, again the ball is out too quickly for a real rush...but you can tell Misi is flagging here. He's losing steam. The next play 1st & 10 is when you can tell Misi has lost too much steam. Kolb actually takes some time to throw this one but the coverage is too nice.

That's the point at which they switched Misi out for Olivier Vernon...on 2nd & 10. On the play Vernon looks pretty lively, he's one of the only guys out there fresh. He's not getting free to the QB, that would be absurd, but he does look lively. On 3rd & 10 again he's not really winning his pass rush, but it doesn't matter as for the second time in a row, Kolb's getting the ball out way too quick this time on an end zone fade to Floyd with Carroll in coverage.

This is where I differ with the coaching staff. Misi has been out for two plays, it's been a couple of minutes in between those two plays, you basically are down to ONE PLAY for the whole ball game...there was plenty of time to substitute...I've got to put my best pass rushers on the field and ask one more play out of them. I have to. I'm not going to get anything out of Olivier Vernon. I should know that by now. The thing about this play is, Kolb actually needed to step directly toward Olivier Vernon's rush in order to create a better passing lane to get the ball to the perimeter. Kolb starts at the right hash and by the time he releases the ball he's strafed over to the mid point between the hashes, which is about 10 feet. That's 10 feet he slid directly toward the right end's pass rush without fear of he or the right defensive tackle (Jared Odrick).

And you know what Joe Philbin can criticize Sean Smith on the play and ultimately yeah he's got to not bite so hard on the double move, but the threat of the double was valid. This is a three deep coverage and the move that Sean was biting on was a skinny post into the vacant area between right corner Sean Smith and Reshad Jones, whose initial spacing was all the way over at left safety but who rotated toward the middle. That's a lot of real estate for Andre Roberts to have legitimately crossed into for a touchdown, and that's what Smith bit on.

 

Yeah that's sort of a hindsight thing. Tough call. But ultimately I agree with you and here's why. With one timeout left and potentially them scoring a touchdown and leaving you 25 seconds on the clock to try and get into field goal range, that one timeout would be the difference between being able to execute a field goal drive (see: Vikings-Jaguars Week 1) and not being able to execute it at all. So you would normally want to keep that timeout. However, on the following kickoff, our returner kneeled on the ball in the end zone and then our coach decided to have Tannehill kneel on the ball and go into overtime. If Joe Philbin knew he was going to do that (call a kneel down) then he has NO NEED for that timeout, and therefore you'd better call it before the 4th & 10 play to make sure you've got fresh players and a good defensive play call.

So you're right. A little bit of hindsight, but it's not unreasonable to expect your head coach to have the foresight to realize he's probably going to call for a kneel down and regroup heading into overtime, even if they do score the touchdown. That's something you should know. And if the game clock is not ticking, you should never let your defensive players head into a final play scenario without taking a timeout to rest them up and get a good defense called...as long as you can afford the timeout. They could afford it, but they didn't take it.

 

I think that is a good point. However maybe Philbin was playing a what if game. He takes the timeout, Cardinals score, on the kickoff Thigpen is able to get the ball passed the 50 yard line with 15 seconds left. Having that timeout could help with a game trying field goal.

 

here's an idea, how about we give some credit to one of the top 3 WRs in the NFL?

 

Channing Crowder talked about this very thing last week. He talks a lot about Sean and how he's got to keep his head right and play with confidence.

Crowder recalled how Sam Madison once got destroyed by Steve Smith for like 200 yards and 3 TDs. Monday morning, Sam's demanding the coaches give him Eric Moulds (or whomever it was that week). The point being, you need a guy with that unshakable confidence who wants the other team's best receiver every time out.

Basically you need Mario Chalmers out there at corner.

 

Obviously Thigpen didn't get that memo because he caught the ball mid depth in the end zone and knelt down immediately. And let's not pretend that we didn't see that kind of kick depth coming. Ever since they moved the kickoff mark up to the 35 yard line pretty much every kick is going to mid-end zone depth.

It's kind of a damned if you do and damned if you don't thing. Either Philbin screwed up not thinking ahead to what he intended on the following kick off, or he screwed up not making sure our special teams people know we need to try and return this one as far as we can. Given the fact that the quick kneel down is consistent with the following kneel down that happened, both of which are aimed at not risking any kind of turnover prior to overtime (a lesson Philbin learned the hard way, publicly, in previous weeks)...I'm going to go ahead and say Philbin just didn't think of using a timeout on 4th & 10 even though if he'd thought of it, he'd have realized he didn't need it on the next drive. Coaches make mistakes too.

 

LMAO. Great. We have a Mario Chalmers as our #1 corner.

 

We'd also have the best cornerback in the league according to one person.

 

Omar Kelly. The physical manifestation of Sean Chalmers' ego.

 

That is because the kick went 7 yards in the end zone.

Chances are the kick would have done that, however it wasn't a given. They could have tried a squib kick and have good things happen or the kicker doesn't get all of it and the ball is one the one.

 

I don't think you're arguing anything that's likely. I think you're being argumentative.

 

I thought the same thing and even said to my son at the time that it was a pick play but that the refs never make that call. Ironically they call Reggie on it a few plays later.

 

Personally, I would put most of that game tying TD on the pass rush. Obviously you'd like the CB to get closer there, but with that much time to throw, you have to know that you'll lose more often than not. And that's true of any good CB. That's why I don't think CB is as important as it once was. Unless you have one of those rare difference makers (Revis may be the only one in the league right now or was when he was healthy), they're not going to have as much impact as other positions. And you can't just assume you'll find a Revis in the next draft (or the next decade of drafts). Realistically, the best you can hope for is that you'll find a good CB or two. They'll all be susceptible when you give the QB too much time, but that's just the nature of today's NFL game. You want to have a a nice deep group of CBs so that you don't give up all those yards like we did on that drive. Personally, unless you have a Revis, I think you're better off having three or four good CBs than paying through the nose for one really good one that still is susceptible when the QB has too much time. I just don't think the difference in production from decent or good to really good is very large relative to the money. IMO you're mostly paying for the name.

 

It looked like some kind of cover 4 zone, like Smith had inside help (Marshall?)... he shouldn't have bit on the inside move then...

one of those, "Do Your Job" moments where he may have wanted to make a play and bit on the fake, rather than just staying in his position which would have been perfect to break up/INT the pass

 

I agree. I think I would put it more on the lack of pass rush on 4th & 10 than I would the coverage by Sean Smith. However, there's no denying that on the previous ten plays or whatever, which tired out the pass rush and got them in position for that stab in the end zone, that was on the coverage. Those were all quick passes and you had no chance of getting your pass rush on unless you had one of our linebackers pull a Waterboy/Daryl Washington.

 

What I see in his game now is he's learned how to bait the QB. He never did that before. He is able to appear 'off', then has great judgement of exactly when to make his move on the ball.

 

My favorite player.

 

It was a three deep zone. The Dolphins started off from a quarters look (four guys off the ball in sort of an umbrella looking thing) with Richard Marshall in the slot to Sean Smith's side underneath the umbrella. At the snap Chris Clemons, who was the safety to Sean Smith's side, clamped down hard and played man on a crossing route underneath. This meant that it was a three deep zone instead of four deep. Reshad Jones was the safety on the other side of the field from Sean Smith, and he began rotating to the middle of the field after the snap to assume his middle deep zone. This left a sizable hole between Sean Smith's deep zone on the left, and Reshad Jones' deep zone in the middle, because Reshad had to cover ground even to get into that middle zone.

What Andre Roberts did was fake like he was running a skinny post to the back of the end zone directly into the seam between Sean Smith's deep left zone and Reshad Jones' deep middle zone. This very well could have been a touchdown in its own right, based on the coverage, with the right throw. Sean Smith was wise to be afraid of that possibility. But instead, Roberts faked it with his shoulders and actually drifted to the inside, getting Smith to commit to stopping the seam post, then quickly cut to the outside sideline.

To complete this pass you needed a lot of time, which our defense all too willingly gave the Cardinals by choosing not to blitz and by putting a combination of tired and/or inferior pass rushers on the defensive line to rush the passer on a 4th & 10 play. Kevin Kolb also needed a clean pocket and a clean look so that he could step out to the side by about 10 feet and create as good an angle to the sideline as he could to maximize the separation Roberts had created on Smith, which again see the above, our tired and/or inferior pass rushers gave Kolb everything he needed.

I blame the pass rush and I blame the coaches. You don't call a four man rush on 4th & 10 if you have a tired defensive line that had just been run ragged for 9 plays in an up tempo setting. They knew they had a tired defensive line because they had just subbed out the only pass rusher they were willing to (from a talent standpoint) sub out...Koa Misi. They just weren't comfortable they had anyone behind Cam Wake, Randy Starks or Jared Odrick to get the job done so they never subbed any of them out.

It was up to Coach Philbin to call that time out and make sure we got the defense into the right play. How many times have you seen a coach do that? Offense and defense, they line up and see what the other coach plans on throwing at them from a formation and personnel standpoint, then they call a timeout to make sure everyone was not rushing, make sure they've got a good play called on either side, make sure guys aren't as tired as they could otherwise be. It happens all the time. But in this case I think Philbin screwed the pooch by not calling that timeout, which made Kevin Coyle's bad call all the worse.

 

^ the only thing i'll add to that is Richard Marshall looked like he was in part of the cover 4 umbrella zone inside of Smith... When Clemons came down and played man, Marshall filled his zone

http://www.nfl.com/videos/auto/0ap2000000067585/WK-4-Can-t-Miss-Play-Andre-s-heroics

That would have been the inside help had Roberts went inside, Smith had outside on that side... Kolb definitely had too much time, but Smith shouldn't have bit inside if he had inside help, just too aggressive to me...

 

Looks like Cover 3 with tight play on the outsides (like the Jets use) to me.

 

Drew it up. The late rotation into the Field side throws things off. Two hook players, two curl-flat expansion players, 3 deep.