60+ completion % and a 90 QBR isn't a decent preaseason. That's damn good. His statline would look better if there weren't so many drops last night.
TRUTH: We have shown we can move into scoring postion fairly quickly. I saw chunk yardage out there....so...I think the says of us having to go 80 yards in a cloud of dust are over. We are getting closer to a team that can play in a shootout and win....
We're desperatly going to miss Keller and TE went from a slight improvement on 2012 to a big downgrade. Gibson is going to provide Dolphins fans with lots of Ginn jokes. (Though he is better than Ginn) Defense should be more exciting. Grimes may provide us with more INTs than Smith/Davis the previous 3 seasons combined. (Please stay healthy!)
Truth: What was it like 17 plays? I mentioned this in the game thread last night without as much as a comment. Guess I was the only one to see that....
Looked like both balls that Tanny threw (Hartline/ Gibson) in the endzone were very catchable. The bullet down the seam to Clay bounced off his pads. That was another missed opportunity for a TD. For a team that's working on holding onto the ball and trying to strip balls, we surely stink at it up to this point.
Meant that if the drops continue, like with Marshall. Except the expectations aren't quite as high for Gibson as they were for Marshall since he was supposed to be "elite".
In stl the fans consensus was that he caught a lot of really tough to catch throws but would have a Wtf moment on some easy ones once in awhile. Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk 4
I really think on that first drive they just wanted to punch it in on the ground. Like they didn't care if they actually scored, but instead they had something they wanted to work on. Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk 2
My thoughts through 4 preseason games: - The offensive line will be the reason if this team fails to meet expectations. - This season will tells us where we are at with Tannehill and the QB position. - Brandon Gibson is going to have a good year. - We need to tackle better than we have. - Who's gonna step up at TE? Is Shiancoe a possibility? - I like Coach Philbin, still not crazy about Sherman. - Logo is still meh....but getting more tolerable. Unis are nice....just wish there was more orange....maybe orange strips on the jerseys? Love the all whites.
no he isn't Hartline suxs plaine and simple ask outsiders and they will tell you he is nothing special Ireland is the worst gm in dolphins history and I bet it will show at the end of the season . last year we scored very little touchdowns and looks like we haven't improved as much on offense but the defense looks better . I don't believe in Clay, Hartline and our back up wrs at all.
That pass he threw to Gibson in the endzone..that Gibson dropped. How on gods green earth did he get that cleanly in there? Some if his throws last I was like...damnnnnnnnnnnn Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2
The team is about where I expected them to be. One of the youngest in the league and one that will have growing pains. A 2nd year, 1st time HC that I believe has maneuvered well enough that there is promise. They driving much harder in the second year towards changing the Oline to zone blocking along with 2/3 new players or position switches, the offense as a whole towards a WC scheme, and the defense towards a 4-3 with new LB's/CB's/DE and a young emerging SS. All this change I'm sure is more difficult than most realize. I expect them to make many mistakes due to learning curve, cohesion and inexperience. Hope we have some balls bounce our way more than usual to make it easier on ourselves. RT I'm hoping will provide better accuracy and end of game results as far as a couple games with a winning TD drive but has already shown (1 season's worth) he can get us into FG position 2/3 games. Come on Sturgis. Sherman feels average but him and his offense serves a purpose with RT's development at this early stage. Ireland has made plenty of mistakes but also found some gems and had some bad injury luck besides just Keller (fellow Boilermaker ). IMO his best work has been his flexibility to transition to Philbin's philosophy and away from his teeth cutting Parcells/Sporano type system. This year I have tempered hope and enthusiasm. Start of season schedule being tough and from I've seen/read so far I'm expecting 9-7 and them to look like a young team pulling itself together. Anything more is probably success. Anything less is probably failure and reason to reevaluate my opinion. I did feel that last year minus a couple missed FG's was fairly impressive given the situation. Just my 2 cents.
This is pretty much exactly how I feel. Also fellow Boilermaker here too, I'm still upset about Keller.
Watched the game a second time.... * Thiggy had an up and down day...fumble, mis-communication, nice return, good decision on another to take what he could and live to return another day.... Still...that fumble....??? * Did I see Don Jones around the ball a lot on STs or was that a mirage ?? Maybe he has a better chance to stick around ?? * ST's...does it seem that the last 5 yrs, every once in a while our ST's has a "WTF" game ?? It's a bit understandable because of being PS and who we see there now may not be there in two weeks, but geez...they stunk the joint up.... * Miller's running is exciting, but his blocking and recognition of who to block was excellent tonight...I think this noise of Thomas and Gray closing in on his lead is just coach-speak.... * Boy the penalty and turnover bug has reared it's ugly head again, after a fairly clean PS to date... And yes, it was ugly... * Hartline is going to make a lot of catches for us. He seems, at this time, to be Tanny's favorite option. Gibson and Wallace still missing ones they should catch. * Gibson is going to make us cry once in a while with his miscues... * Wilson didn't have that good of a game...missed tackles, penalties, bad angles...Some of those he should be better at in his third campaign... * Clay is NOT Keller... * Sims must not have earned the staff's trust because he does things well when he's in there, but Clay still gets the nods...but it's early in that process of replacing Keller... * I'm still not sold on Samuda. He gets pushed around a lot. His footwork needs refining. He's definitely still thinking about what he's supposed to be doing on each play... * Clemons is quietly everywhere around the ball. I was wary of his play last year, but the stats showed he was doing the job. He certainly did his job during this game...seemed to be everywhere...
Not really happy with the oline. Expect a lot of sacks and not thrilled with run blocking. It's only preseason so I'll reevaluate come october but I'm uneasy about the offense. They can move the ball but I think drives are going to stall out. Right now I'm thinkig another 7-9 season but if the oline can play better we can make the playoffs. The defense should be very good
Agreed. Don't know why but for some reason I envision Gibson being used in a couple ways/plays similar to Keller.
IMO that's exactly what I want from a receiver, someone that when he drops one I say, "WTF! He hardly ever does that."
Really? I always thought that was reserved for Wanny, Mueller and Saban. At least I thought Wanny and Saban had final say.
I live in the heart of New England and these fans would love Hartline on their team. (see what I did there did ya?)
That paired with being Dolphins fans we are probably the fans that know more about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory more than anybody else haha
He's not our red zone threat but he can move the chains inside the 20s which gets us into scoring range and he's pretty sure handed. Keller was gonna be a big red zone threat which is why I'm so pissed off.
I agree. I think that we might have seen some earlier in the series passes, maybe some rollouts. It felt like they were working on some things (that they obviously need more work on).
Tannehill's passing is very good. I don't understand how some keep talking about his accuracy as if it's a problem. I don't think he's decisive enough on his runs yet. I don't think he's going to throw many INTs this year. He just makes fewer risky throws than any QB I've watched this preseason. If anything I think he should probably be a little more aggressive on deep throws to Wallace. But he should avoid high risk passes to Clay. He has to know which receivers are worthy of his trust. Our OL is going to be average to above average in pass pro. As I watch preseason games I see as many or more breakdowns from the OLs of just about every other team. That's why having a QB that can extend plays is critical and why I want RT to be more decisive on his runs. But our run blocking has been poor. It just seems real inconsistent. You see some nice blocks from one guy, but the guy next to him screws up and the whole play is blown up. On the next play a different guy screws up. I do love our screen passes. The screen is probably my favorite offensive play. I love how the coordination and timing come together. For years we were a horrid screen team. Since Philbin arrived there's been notable improvement on that play. Thomas has great instincts for the screen play. He seems to have a knack for picking up some of those impossible seeming conversions. We have a top five pass rushing D. I can easily envision a ton of sacks, hurries and TO opportunities from that unit. OV has made a noticeable improvement as a pass rusher. And it'll be even better when Jordan gets in there. I think we have some very instinctive blitzers among the LBs and secondary. They do a good job of timing and picking the right lanes. We're not quite as good against the run, especially when Soliai is out, but we're not horrid or anything. If we can stop the run and force teams into must pass situations there's no team we can't beat. I'm not saying we're the best team out there or anything, but we have some strengths that make us capable of beating anyone. The formula seems simple enough. If we can avoid TOs and stuff the the run enough to make opponents one dimensional then I like our odds against anyone. Because of that I wouldn't mark any game down as an automatic loss for us even against teams which I believe are better overall.
I remember that play. He ended up checking down to somebody who dropped it, I think. From the replay it looked like Wallace was even with the DB. I have to think that if the DB is even with Wallace that you chuck it up there. Odds are high that Wallace will out run him or the DB will grab Wallace and give us the PI.
I imagine the coaches will mention it in film review and RT will note it as well. Those missed opportunities are lessons learned that make it more likely that he'll pull the trigger next time.
Does the glove manufacturer grease our receivers gloves or what? Its like people put on a Dolphins uniform and all of the sudden they can't catch.
The offensive line is congenitally unable to move anyone out of the way and is at best mediocre at pass pro. This means that when we have first and ten from the ten or the five, as we all saw last night, all we will be able to do is throw. That is very difficult with a very short field and without any semblance of a tight end, while pressure is coming. This means that we will only be able to score on long plays. What I saw last night with first and ten at the five was beyond embarrassing; it was nauseating. And it's going to continue. What frosts me is that this was the exact same problem the team had while Sparano was head coach. It isn't like the administration doesn't know that this is the team's biggest weakness. We had lots of cap room and quality free agents were available, and Ireland treated the problem like it was totally unimportant. I'm not an Ireland hater, but as I watched that first and goal series, I became open to the idea that he may, indeed, be a complete bonehead. That, folks, is the truth as I see it. I am praying that this team proves me wrong.
Bridgestone, think it was Bridgestone......lol Btw, they make a crap golfball and they also make Nike golfballs.
I've seen enough good runs on first down this preseason to make your first statement false. Is there room for improvement? yes. but you're blowing it out of proportion.
