Fundamental Truths This Offseason

The Dolphins are paper thin at OL and Receiver and our second stringers are worse than everyone else's that we have played so far.

Fascano is > than Clay + Egnew + Sims Irelands ability to draft a TE

Tannehill still has issues with accuracy that are known to escalate in the 3rd and 4th quarter.

Sherman and Philbin are pretty green.

 

My fundamental truth is **** preseason forecasting.

 

Considering he has yet to play a 3rd or 4th quarter this year, how can you say his inaccuracy will escalate in those quarters this year.

 

Hartline saved some drives. Caught balls when other guys weren't. He's going to be big for us.

 

Sherman may be a lot of things, but "green" isn't one of them. How can you call a man who has coached as long in this league he has, including 6 years as a head coach where he had a 59% W-L pct, green?

As for our second string being worse than anyone else's, tonight at the start of the 3rd qtr, we opened with our 2s against their 1s and forced a punt after 4 plays. We forced punts for 5 straight drives in the 2nd half until they got the ball at our 25 after Gray's fumble. Our 2s allowed 98 total yards by their offense in the 2nd half.

 

Couple that with the fact that it's pre-season, and we play these guys in the regular season, you don't want to show your hand. Regular season, they would have called some different plays, particularly in the red zone...that was pretty vanilla tonight...especially considering they're on record saying they'll institute at the MOST 50% of the playbook in the pre-season.

I'm excited for week 1!

 

Truth: This post is lacking truth.

 

The Patriots got smoked in their dress rehearsal.

This must mean 0-16 is in their future.

Truth.

 

Define big.

 

What I took from last nights game was that it will probably once again be the defense that will be most responsible for any games the Dolphins win this coming season.

On offense the Dolphins don't seem to have any answer at the TE position. Clay has been with the Dolphins for three years and he still runs terrible routes. Sims will probably be an adequate blocker, but I don't see him having a lot of catches. Egnew is said to have improved, but I just don't see it. If Keller had remained healthy, I just don't see anyway Egnew would have made this roster.

The OL is average at best and hopefully none of the starters go down for an extended period of time. There just isn't much depth on this unit at this time.

I still see the RB's as a major concern. While Miller had one run of 20 yards early in last nights game. He averaged just over 2 yards a carry on his remaining runs in the game. None of the RB's on the team appear to be able to gain yardage once the Dolphins get inside the opposing teams red zone. A few weeks ago I thought Grey might be a tough runner down by the goal line. He seems to have taken regressed instead of improved in recent weeks. Thomas shows no toughness in the red zone and Gillisilee is what he is, a rookie who still hasn't shown much.

Tannehill does have a strong arm and he has looked okay during the preseason. He still needs to work on his accuracy, but he has had a decent preseason so far.

The starting WR's should be an effective group. Hopefully they remain healthy because after the first three receivers, there are just a bunch of mediocre WR's left on this unit right now. Wallace, Gibson, and Hartline all should have productive years if the OL can give Tannehill time to throw, once the regular season begins,

I'm not sure Devlin should remain on the roster. He seems to have taken steps backwards since last preseason.

I hardly ever attend preseason games. Usually I just give my preseason tickets to someone else. I decided to go last night to see in person if this team can provide the excitement needed to bring larger crowds to the stadium. I left after the game feeling that while the passing game might be better this year, this team still hasn't reached the point that the average fan in South Florida will want to spend the money to go to watch them play.

I think the first month of the season is extremely important for this team and the fan base. The Dolphins can not afford to start the season 1-4 or 0-5. Even a 2-3 start will probably turn off some fans who otherwise might attend some games.

This team may be better on paper than the 2012 team but they are paper thin in regards to their backup players . If they stay healthy and don't lose starters, especially on offense, this team appears capable of going 8-8 this season or possibly 9-7 if things fall into place. A few injuries to the key players and this team could have a really tough season. Of course that could be said about most teams in the NFL.

 

the typical counting mistake, that 20 yard run happened.....there is no need to calculate what the other runs produced

 

You cant put too much faith into the preseason, but looking good is certainly better than looking bad. I'll take it.

 

Disagree about the 3rd string oline. 6 year olds maybe, but not kindergartners.

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk 4

 

Gibson is for real. The haters of this signing can shaddap your face.

[video=youtube;7uIveUw5BzA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uIveUw5BzA[/video]


For Mama.

 

I'm not discounting the 20 yard run. I believe this is something Miller is very capable of because of his speed. My problem is with the RB's as a group. The fact is that other than that one run, the RB's looked terrible for the majority of the game. Miller and Thomas averaged less than 2 yards a carry for the night, except for that one run by Miller. Gray and Gillislee appear to be below average at best.

If you are satisfied with the RB's on this team, that is fine with me. I just am not as happy with this group as many people on here seem to be.

 

One "takeaway" that the coaches have been preaching and that should be burned in the players' minds after last night is that turnovers matter.

Every point Tampa Bay got last night came off of a Dolphins turnover. The touchdown we got, if I remember correctly, came after a Freeman gaffe of a turnover. The whole Dallas game seemed to loom under the specter of our first offensive play, the botched handoff, which led to Dallas point, Then, came the INT off of Bumphis' hands that was a pick-six.

Value the ball. It's obvious, it's common sense, but, apparently, it's plenty difficult.

Also, 1) Tannehill keeps improving; 2) Lamar Miller will be the starting back; 3) our defense is primed to be better than last year (better pass rush & improvement in the secondary).

 

Ah, memories...

 

I came into this game hoping to see this offense open up 'quickly' and that didn't happen.

But NO injuries...that's good.

Still no major separation between Thomas and Miller...it's more like 2a and 2b with those two...we don't have a #1 yet...

NO major injuries.

Clay, Egnew and Sims are NOT a replacement for Keller...at least with what they showed last night. That's gonna hurt. That could have made a significant difference in this O...

The OL is adequate, but their run blocking is....well....poor. In some respects, you can't blame Thomas for his results last night, every time he got the ball he was hit within one or two steps....

Gibson is gonna break our hearts at times... For a possession type receiver, he drops a lot of balls. That TD should have been caught...period. It was where it had to be and timely, he just didn't get the handle.

NO injuries...

Gray probably lost his shot on this team last night.

The turnover bug reared it's ugly head, again. That's gonna happen at times, but the Tampa D isn't exactly the 2000 Ravens...

NO injuries...that's still a good thing.

There are still some questions that haven't been answered yet. I'm still looking for fluidity in this offense...it just isn't there...it's well oiled, but it's not well oiled together yet... Some of that can be attributed to the loss of Keller and Tanny settling back into a routine without him, but it's needs to continue to develop...

 

Truth: The ability of the RBs to pick up blitzes last night was excellent.

 

It will be a chess match to get in the endzone from inside the 10.

 

Truth: Were going to beat the Jets twice.

 

That's very true...it was improved. It still wasn't sharp, and after that first run by Miller, we never really were able to run the ball with any consistency. It's just a feeling that we should have put more points on the board, not just the first drive, but the first half, and it didn't happen...

EDIT: Yeah, guess I worded that wrong in the first post...

 

It was based on last year's statistics where he was 56% in the second half compared to a 61% completion rate in the 1st half. He has shown improvement this year in pre-season compared to last year so we'll see.

 

It is very difficult to gain positive rushing yards behind an offensive line that seemingly has zero interest in run blocking. There was a defender in the backfield on a huge number of our running plays, which is something that no amount of RB talent can overcome...save for Barry Sanders. A low YPC average across the entire RB corps typically signals a deeper problem than "all these RBs suck."

 

I can't argue with you. That is why I have felt all along that the biggest question mark on this team is the offensive line. I think Miller could be an effective RB with a very good OL, but he will continue to struggle with the Dolphins OL. He should be able break a few long runs during the season, just based on his overall speed. I just don't see him having a great yards per carry average behind this OL.

As far as Thomas, Gray and Gillisleee go. They are all very mediocre RB's as far as I am concerned. Hopefully the Dolphins will find a veteran RB who is let go in the next few weeks, who can come in and upgrade this position. It would also be nice if they can add some OL help in the next few weeks also.

 

Better production???? We just need production period from this group of TE's. Right now they have to be considered among the worst group of TE's in the NFL.

 

Typically, zone blocking schemes rely as much on chemistry as they do on the individual talent of the offensive linemen. So lines that run zone schemes for the first time often take significantly more time to "gel" than normal. So there is hope that our running game could become much more consistent as the season progresses.

I, for one, feel that individually Lamar Miller and Daniel Thomas are not spectacular RBs. But as a 1-2 punch they can actually be very, very good together.

 

My truth, good to be a dolphin fan. Up and coming team. Young QB about to blossom...better than being a Jets fan right now for sure. Defense will have 50 sacks and between them and Tanny's development will leave us positive in turnover. Problem will be keeping up with offensive teams...red zone threats are not the best...Keller is a huge loss.

 

TRUTH:

Regular season opener can not get here soon enough

 

The offense and defense are both going to be better than last year. Simple as that.
Special teams, we can only hope.

 

Truth:

Jets suck, and I'm loving it!!!!!!!!!

Regular season the road promotion for the Jets will be: "The Circus is in Town"

 

1. Tannehill looks very good
2. Our defense will be stout
3. We need one of these TE's to step up, I've been very vocal about my belief in Clay's ability but he was straight up bad last night
4. I'm worried about the running game

 

Our defense is still having issues tackling (Wrap and drive guys!)

I love our blitzing, however, as we saw with the Grimes pass interferce, if we don't get to the QB bad things happen....

Our running backs are light and day difference with their pass blocking from HOF game.

Tannehill has looked fantastic, progressing, looking off defenders, and he seems to fix on certain guys to build some chemistry....(Clay/Gibson last night...goes to his comfort zone with Hartline when needed) I think this changes when the regular season starts and he just starts flinging it. Also, Tannehill not running much, I think Sherman is working on keeping him in the pocket, but once the season begins we start rolling out, using read-option etc.

Lamar Miller once hes into the second layer of the defense is ****ing dangerous, and he WILL break some long runs this season.

I havent said/thought of/heard Jonathan Martins name during a broadcast in a few games. And thats a VERY good thing.

Daniel Thomas has not done anything to solidify himself as a starting NFL running back. Very inconsistent.

Oliver Vernon has a motor, that 2nd effort sack last night was gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous.

Ellerbe running around making plays, he will be an absolute force for us.

I can't ****ing wait till 2 weeks from today!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

The biggest thing to be thrilled about, IMHO, is the fact that Tannehill has a TD/INT ratio of 3. Shows definite improvement regardless of it being preseason football.

 

His compl % and qb rating are also stellar. Its beautiful.