Thoughts on the upcoming game from a Panther Fan

Here's what I don't want. I don't wanna see Carolina's pressuring defensive front 4 forcing Tannehill into dinking & dunking all game to where the field becomes compressed and their corners start squatting on routes.

 

I just believe we are playing the pass too well with Grimes and Patterson. I can envision Ginn being knocked off the LOS a LOT, and Olsen a lot of different looks in coverage. I pray the Dolphins spy on Newton the whole game.

 

I am not going to pretend like Ginn to date hasn't been an epic bust. He has. For whatever reason, he actually is playing like a actual NFL WR this season....

If you want to get physical and knock Ginn off the line that is fine. But the reason no one really does that with him is b/c if/when you miss him....a defender can't recover. I think most Panther fans would be fine with that situation....the one or two shots for a homerun would be worth a corner roughing him up all the other plays.

That still leaves Smith and LaFell....and Cam throws to them every bit as much.

 

I think the Panther continue doing that they do on offense....simple ball control offense. That will limit all these opportunities I think Miami fans are hoping they can have with there secondary. You will give something up b/c every D has to.....Newton will take it. We will slowly move it down the field.

Even with out Charles Johnson...we have one of the best front 7s in the NFL. Miami gives up a league high in sacks. That IMO will be why Carolina wins.

 

You guys are on a great streak, but this is still the team that lost bad to Arizona and lost to Buffalo. Don't act like you're unbeatable and some super bowl destined team yet. Pump the brakes a bit. You Carolina fans are a bit fickle when it comes to a little success or a little failure. Plenty of football to play.

*Note I def think you're a playoff team. And you should be in Cams third year. But you guys are a tad too confident. You have holes.

 

That's why Patterson's status matters. You asked about Wilson and I said he was no big deal, that we may even be better off if one of the rooks took his snaps, but that isn't the case with Patterson. When he plays our D is on a different level. He and Grimes together make it very difficult to just attack from the pocket. Obviously in the NFL the offense has the advantage, but when both of those guys play we almost always get at least one TO. And obviously TOs are always a huge factor in who wins any game.

 

Not trying to suggest we are unbeatable....we most definately aren't that.

The Buffalo game? In that game we really could be like Patriot fans after Monday night....except that the play we got hosed on at the very end actually would of ended the game with a win (not just given us a chance). Those happen.

Arizona? That is why we are beatable. Team didn't get off the bus. Simple as that. We shot ourselves in the foot the entire first half....dropping open TDs, open passes, open 4th down conversions. 2nd half....AZ went all in on attacking Cam b/c no one else was helping him. We do that again....the Jags can beat us.

I think if both teams show up and are what they overall have been this season.....Carolina should win. But this is the NFL.....and you can never predict things. All it takes is one individual matchup and it can greatly impact a game. For example, Wake vs Byron Bell......Wake could own him and that one matchup could implode our offense. Then we have to hope our D and ST could win a game.

The right side of our OL is so bad....anything can happen.

 

I apologize, I generalized your fanbase and aimed it at you individual which is not what I intended.

We can break this game down till our face is blue, fact is they will go out and something none of us predicted will be the reason for a win haha. Good luck, no injuries, and hope we win, but then you win out!

 

That's why I mentioned how important our run game is. If our run game is on then we stay on schedule and Tannehill mostly attempts short passes where he's as good as anyone outside of a Brady or Brees. Many of our sacks come when he takes deeper drops for the longer routes to develop. We'll still give up a few sacks when an OL whiffs, but it will usually be off of a short drop so we can sometimes still save the drive. As a fan who has seen the ups and downs of our run game all year, I can't say which run game shows up. It doesn't seem tied to which OL are healthy or playing or even the quality of our opponent. The biggest factor may be our OC, whether he sticks with the run game or not and whether he relies on our incredibly ineffective stretch zone run. IMO the best strategy for us is to start out passing short when the D is still playing both run and pass. Our short passing game is very effective in that situation. Then as the D backs off a bit a bit we hit them with runs up the middle or off tackle. After that we keep the mix going with a few deeper attempts thrown in. We generally struggle if we force the run too much early on especially with the stretch zone and then give up on the run after that is stuffed.

 

Honestly, a ball control team is what we want to play with the style of defense we have. The premise of the Dolphins philosophy, quite honestly both offensively and defensively, is that it is difficult to maintain 12-15 play drives without making a mistake. This year, we have a defense that will pounce on those mistakes, particularly when Patterson is in the game. It's teams that can make big plays that burn us.

 

I generally agree. If everything plays out on paper then Carolina is the better team right now. I think Carolina is a bit over rated though as always happens to any team on a win streak. And likewise, I think Miami's talent is a bit under rated as always happens to a team that has struggled to win lately. I think both teams are beatable. They both have holes and weaknesses. I think they both have QBs and defenses that, when they are playing well, can win games on their own. Since Carolina has done that better of late you have to give the advantage to them, but anybody who has watched the NFL knows how quickly that changes. My hope is that this plays out like the Cincy game. Like Carolina, they came in as the better team on a hot streak against a Miami team that was struggling to get wins. The general consensus was that Miami had little chance as a result of the over rated/under rated dynamic I mentioned above. Miami won that game b/c they ran well enough and were able to stick with what they do well.

 

I would think you would want a team that wanted to take more chances downfield.....to give your pass rush/CB combo chances to make more plays.

Carolina leads the NFL in time of possession, one of the best teams in terms of yards and points per drive. Most of Carolina's mistakes came earlier in the year when they got away from that....getting greedy IMO

 

Just like Carolina, our pass rush thrives when the opposition is in a must pass situation, but we are a team that plays a lot of close games. In general we avoid penalties much better than our opponents. When we avoid TOs as well then we have a pretty good chance to win. I think that both teams will try to play mistake free, ball control games. If both teams succeed then it will come down to who makes the key plays late.

 

Phins fans getting over confident, I think it will be a good game, but if you think you have a chance of winning, you are wrong.

The Panthers are focused and ready

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/11/20/4483906/panthers-cam-newton-focused-on.html

Don't get your hopes up

 

Interesting stat.

Miami has given up 11 TD passes on the year. Only 1 has been to a wide receiver.

Our corners are apparently playing bad though with the exception of Brent Grimes if you listen to the fans.

 

I just pray we don't decide to stick Nolan Carroll on Ted Ginn.

 

I think the frustration stems primarily from 3rd and longs given up to WRs/TEs. They seem to happen more frequently against Carrol, Wilson and Jones (S). I know I feel much more confident when we have Patterson in there. Carrol seems fine against a given team's third target but less so against one of their top two guys.

 

Can mean you are really good at something.....or possible very weak against something

you have given up a fair amount of TDs on the ground for example or that your LBs can't cover

 

this is why it makes so much sense to spy newton, if Jordan can contain him around the Los and make him work from the pocket, and Patterson is playing, you then go weakness vrs strength...weakness cam newton from the pocket....strength, Miami pass defense with Patterson with very good pass rush.

 

Are you serious with this? No chance of winning? How long have you been watching the NFL?

And what Fins fan is overconfident? I'm sitting here reading the board, and who has said something like you just did?

 

That's precisely the case!

Another thing is that last year, we allowed Reshad Jones to freelance, and he was arguably the best safety in the league. This year, he has been given more coverage responsibility, and he has been sub par. We need to adjust and let him free lance more, but we don't have coverage linebackers to allow that to happen.

 

Phins fans thinking they are going to beat Panthers easily

 

Who? What? Where? When?

 

you probably can make a solid case our best WR is actually our TE Greg Olsen....he is tied for most TDs receptions and 2nd in receiving yards by only 20 yards. We basically have receiving threats we get equal production from....if you don't matchup well against TEs than Olsen is actually a pretty big issue. He doesn't get that much national talk but he is a very very solid receiving TE.

 

I think it will be a great game, Phins are dangerous and can win. I have confidence in Riverboat Ron and Co. They are not overlooking Philbins squad at all

 

Man this is going to be a very exciting game to watch! I like the Panthers and have enjoyed their season so far, mostly because a good buddy is a Panthers fan. I'm sorry, but "Ice up son, ice up" is my favorite all-time NFL quote....LOVE IT!

That said, if Miami plays at the level they've shown they can play at, although inconsistently to this point, they have a fair to good chance of coming out with the W. If they start off very flat (as usual) and let the Panthers snag a big lead, I don't hold much hope at all in them coming back...that Panthers D is great, and Kuechly is just a freak.

My NUMBER ONE concern in this game is hits on Tannehill...as I think most Dolphins fans would agree, this is very tenuous at best going into this game. Sherman is no offensive wizard, and the only real experience this version of an O-line has is against the Chargers, who aren't well-known as fearsome at the DL (and still gave up 4 sacks).

Carolina's D is strong enough that I hope its obvious to Sherman and Philbin that they REALLY need to get creative with the calls this week. They've shown spots of it, but we need much more IMO, to win this game.

Edit: Dion Jordan forces a strip-sack and Miami returns it for the late GW score; Miami 24-23!

 

We seem to play up or down to our competition. I suppose that means we have a really solid chance at winning or losing.

 

Love it...

 

That's good news if you think that, Dion Jordan will be covering Olsen on critical downs...

 

well, TEs HAVE been a problem right?

Olsen isn't generally the critical down guy.

Olsen has our highest average per catch....so really, the non-critical downs is where I would worry about Olsen. That's just my take.

s.

 

Just want to remind all of the Panther fans here that Miami has wins against the 1st place teams in the AFC North and the AFC South. I'm not expecting Miami to roll Carolina, but it's going to be a closer game than some are willing to admit.

 

I think we lose. Just hoping it's not via blow out.

 

That's where he'll have to get us if he's gonna.

If Dion Jordan is covering them, I'm not worried..he's only been doing it recently.

 

We have some of those?

 

Miami has been much much better against the TEs.

 

right, and the Dolphins are sitting by the pool at the Hard Rock sipping rum runners with colorful umbrellas in them.

 

Here's an excerpt from phinstar's above link:

.....searching for an unattended laptop.

 

Oddly enough. they used to be a problem.

As of late...the Fins have shut down Gronkowski and Gates.

They are now actually REALLY good at defending TE's.