***Official Dolphins vs. Cowboys Hall of Fame Game thread***

I didn't think so at all. Particularly there was one run where I felt the blocking was exactly the same as an earlier run that Lamar Miller had broken for fairly big yardage.

 

oline seems to be a legit concern. let's hope it improves

 

Ya there's no way the coaching staff was happy with their showing.

 

At shrine practice I was told by someone that they had spoken to a scout that said Sam Brenner will have a ten year career in the NFL.

I've been waiting to see the same thing. I never have.

 

Okay... so is the Oline better at the Tackles or G-C-G right now?

 

I'll ask it another way... are our poblems with outside runs or inside runs...


Or with inside protection or outside protection...?


To my eye, it was too chaotic for me to tell.

 

I'm talking about stuff further down the field though, receiver or back was trying to create a second opportunity for themselves and these guys looked like they had already given up on the play. Talking about the 2's and 3's.

 

Well, I'd love to see all of Martin's snaps. CK... any chance of whipping that one out? That would be worth a look.

Dallas Thomas a BIG BIG disappointment to me tonight. You can skip the cut up of him. lol.

 

agreed. the tackles are frightening

 

Is that longer than a city mile? Like the way you country boys tell women that four inches is really a foot?

 

lol

 

Did they say it would be as a player?

 

I agree. Jonas Gray had a nice showing. I would like to see him and Gillislee start getting some reps with the 2s in practice a little more going forward. It's time to just cut our losses with Thomas, IMO.

Chad Bumphis had one flub up in the game today, but overall, he had a really good game. He does a good job of finding openings, settling in, and getting RAC yards. To me, he looks better than Marvin McNutt, who doesn't seem to have the kind of awareness of where he is at on the field that Chad does.

 

I can only assess what they put on the field, my friend. But yeah, we are reading tea leaves at this point.

Friday will tell us more.

Seriously though, the coaches, imo, should finalize the starting five once they review the game film of all the OLinemen against another team's players.

 

That made me LOL.

 

I have to agree on both counts. I think Chad Bumphis goes ahead of McNutt after this. You just have to keep in mind what Bumphis is, and that is a slot player. Joe Philbin can poo poo the idea of having a slot player all he wants but if you cut Chad Bumphis because you don't like slot-only types at the position, the bottom line is you're missing out on a good player. He's had slot players before in Green Bay. It would be untrue to his history to just decide suddenly he can make no more use of that kind of guy.

 

Agreed on all the above. Plus McNutt seemd to shy away from contact on a catch or two. Can't have that. Especially with our QB's spotty ball placement.

 

Very poor tackling. That concerns me more than the offensive line, but that is also a concern. Martin actually did ok. But I don't recall him up against first teamers.

 

I'd really hoped Jasper Collins would be that slot player. I think when injuries began to happen to our WRs, they felt they couldn't carry so many slot type only guys and needed space for more of those inside-and-outside WR builds so cut Collins. The way Bumphis played tonight, they probably kept the right guy though I really wonder how Collins' change of direction would have looked tonight in a real game, and if he had fielded some returns instead of Preseley.

#troublelettinggo

 

I like what I saw from Kennan Davis. Better than Smith, Stafford and Pruitt. I think he looked pretty good. Not afraid in traffic. Not sure about McNutt after tonight, but I suspect we will see him in more games this preseason. Pressley had the kind of game that might produce a quick exit.

 

Definitely, I think Tyms and Bumphis both had a much better showing than Nutty.

 

The important things you can take from this game tonight.

1. I think Michael Egnew separated himself from Kyle Miller and possibly Evan Rodriguez tonight. I say Evan because I think there is a chance that Miami could cut Egnew loose and go with a Clay/Evan combo as the 3/4 TEs on the roster. However, Egnew did a lot tonight, lining up in the slot position on several plays early on.

2. I think Derrick Shelby separated himself from the young UDFAs that wanted to push for his job. He is a solid player and should be a good back up defensive end, even if he is a little light when it comes to sealing the edge right now.

3. In the battle at wide receiver for the spots that are currently vacated by Armon Binns and Rishard Matthews, I think Chad Bumphis took a big step up today. He made one big mistake, but overall, he showed that he knows how to settle into zones and get open. I think he is ahead of Brian Tyms right now, and he may move ahead of Marvin McNutt as we go forward. The Dolphins need to give him some reps in the return game.

 

Keenan played very well for having been just signed on a short week. Bumphis I don't care for. Don't think he gives us anything new. Tyms seems like a big body wr which is what we really need

 

Really pumped for Dion Jordan.

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There are plenty of legitimate positives.

1. Jonas Gray had a heck of a game. He averaged 5.9 yards per carry on 7 carries and pitched in an extra 4 catches for 35 yards. Notice all the work he got in passing packages, blocking and catching. That's not a coincidence. Those are Daniel Thomas' traditional packages. We may finally see an end to Daniel Thomas' three and a half yard reign of terror.

2. Chad Bumphis led all WRs in production for the second week in a row, after having led them in the intra-squad scrimmage. Some will focus on the drop. Whatever. He dropped a ball. There were like 5 drops in the first half alone and any one of them could've been picked off and returned for a touchdown if the defenders had been in place for it. The outcome of the play was coincidental. He had 5 catches for 85 yards and showed all kinds of toughness and fight on those catches. That's what you focus on. He's a natural slot receiver and if the Dolphins make the mistake of letting him go, another team will see that.

3. Josh Samuda blocked really well I thought when he played right guard, rather than center. I've never really considered him a center. He played that position just because he's versatile and it was the easiest opening on the roster for him to win. But he could be our starting right guard and he showed promise in that role tonight. This run blocking unit may be a lot better than I thought it would be.

4. Derrick Shelby was great. His pass rush was lively, strong and even explosive. His two sacks tonight were not coincidental. I think some people have the wrong read on what his responsibilities were on the first drive. He didn't play poorly. He should give Olivier Vernon a legit competition for his role in the defense. Vernon is going to have to show in the games that he's as good as he's been in practice against Jon Martin (who was beat tonight by Kyle Wilber).

5. Michael Egnew got opportunities and he ran with them. But most impressive of all was his blocking tonight. Particularly, the ATTITUDE in his blocking. It was night and day compared with the passive, unconfident attitude we've seen at other times. He had a will to dominate people tonight and he even got a holding penalty because of that aggressiveness. He didn't hold a guy because he was passive and got beat. He held a guy because he was blocking the hell out of him and he just kept doing it and eventually he got over zealous and put him in a choke hold. I think that big catch and run helped his confidence tremendously because from there he was running his routes with authority and getting open, and catching the football like (gasp) an NFL tight end. In my eyes he put a lot of distance between himself and Kyle Miller tonight. Miller looked lost, in blocking as well as running routes. And his size made him look insignificant.

6. We may finally have a depth player at the linebacker position that doesn't make me cringe, that being Lee Robinson. I was paying attention and the guy did really well. He belongs. On that final touchdown, he ended up chasing after the ball and looking like he may have blown it. However, I looked close at the play and it was Hinds that blew the assignment, and from there Pressley (who had an awful game) lost his containment of the edge. Also Keelan Johnson got pretty thoroughly blocked.

7. I thought Tristan Okpalaugo showed enough that I really want to see more. The combination of body and explosiveness was impressive. The play he made was the kind of play you tend to have opportunities to make when you have that kind of combination going for you. I'm intrigued.

8. Jordan Kovacs was exactly what I expected him to be which is a guy that is ALWAYS near the ball, will hit the crap out of anything that needs hitting, and generally do a bunch of little things that make you say...I find it tough to cut this guy. He may still end up cut in the end because his combination size and physical ability are not the stuff of legend and so he could probably pass freely through waivers...but he's a guy the coaches will want to keep around which is what I said when we got him UDFA.

9. I thought Evan Rodriguez showed some of his potential in the passing game. He's a very athletic fullback and you can do more things with him than you could with a Jorvorskie Lane. Rodriguez is more similar to a James Casey.

10. Last and certainly not least is Dion Jordan who had a good, solid night. He beat people, he pressured the quarterback, he contributed to sacks, but it was some of his goal line work that really intrigued me as everyone were soooo convinced he's terrible against the run. I've been trying to tell people this forever. He's not.

 

He blocked well in some plays too. He was the 2nd best receiver tonight. He was targeted 6 times with 4 catches for 52 yds, his longest reception was for 25 yds.

 

I don't know if he's gonna be effective this year or not but I think we're gonna see him run with some real violence with him knowing his back is against the wall as far as his future in the NFL is concerned. By hook or by crook.