Rapid fire thoughts. I thought Vernon was a beast. Obviously Wake was as well. Mitchell is good. It was good to have Starks back. Landry looking really good. Barring the incomprehensible nine yard loss, Miller was solid. And how 'bout that long snapper!
My positives: Landry (as advertised); RT's 2nd half (great); Miller (still pleasantly surprised, but would like to see him break some tackles); Wallace (hated him last year...love him this year); Misi / Jenkins; DL (as usual); Halftime Adjustments (why oh why can't they come sooner though); Sturgis
It would be nice to get 60 good minutes out of this team. My positive. Every single player elevated their game. Even Wheeler.
I really think we need these threads every week win or lose where we can talk about all the positives each week. My Positives this week: Jenkins: Heck of a game today, was all over the place. I don't know if he had a negative play at all today. Landry: 6 for 75 and a TD. A couple of clutch catches. Best game yet, and the Landry I think we all expected coming out of the pre-season. Miller: Even with Knowshon coming back this week he was really impressive. Even though he didn't have great stat line, he ran hard. OV/Wake: Both seemed to show up today which is good, though I thought they disappeared at points in the game it seemed if one of the had pressure the other was right there aswell. Even though he only had 1 FG, Strugis in pregame hit a 65 yard FG... Thats insane, hopefully he can bring those kicks into the game when his number is called.
My positive for today... I saw Tannehill do some things in the second half I have never seen him do. Threw some great passes... And actually scrambled out of some pressure situations and made plays. Like to see that guy more then half a game every week
Wake is one of the best players in the NFL. This team had a playoff look to them for about an hour (even if it was with GB's corners out). Some of the Tanehill's plays really flashed a lot, a sign of what he could be. The wait for him to be consistent ticks on...
I was impressed with Tannehill's second half, particularly the ability to escape and move around in the pocket. I really liked the defensive intensity for pretty much the whole game. Miller looks like an NFL running back; he's running hard and I like it. Wallace has 4 TD's in 5 games and he is making nice effort plays. I was impressed with the blocked punt. That was one of the most entertaining games I have watched in a long time.
If you want a positive, we legitimately beat the packers, dealing out a sack and forced fumble on the games most critical play is a win, unfortunately they couldn't recover on it, but I give no credit in football terms to the packers who did, they got beat strait up. Coaches lost this game.
Our five best offensive linemen played together for the first time. In the first half they were confused, out of sync and pathetic. By the second half they were opening some holes. For Chicago, they will have had another week of practice together and Pouncey will be that much closer to being in football shape after his layoff. So will Knowshon, who couldn't do anything his first game back. That won't last. There were no injuries. They will go into Chicago breathing fire, and they're only one game behind the Pats in the AFC East. They came within one play of beating the Packers. I wish I could find something positive to say about the coaching staff and Tannehill throwing the long ball, but I can't.
I said before the season that I thought the secondary was going to be a major issue this season. They just don't have any impact players in that unit and Finnegan and Grimes are starting to show their age. If this team had a solid secondary to go along with one of the top DL's in the NFL, this team could be a legitimate playoff contender. Unfortunately they don't.
I agree the coaching is terrible, but the players lost this game. They didn't make the plays at the end of the game and the Packers did. That is why the Packers won and the Dolphins lost the game. It certainly wasn't the coaches fault that the fumble wasn't recovered. The coaches also weren't the individuals who froze on the field when Rodgers called for the fake spike. As bad as some of the coaching decisions were, it was the players on the field who failed to make the plays and that was the reason the the Dolphins are once again a sub 500 team. I want a new HC next year, but I also think that the next HC needs to bring in more impact players. Because this team just doesn't have many players who appear to be able to step up and make a play when the game is on the line. Good teams have these type players and mediocre teams have players who play well enough to keep the game close, but still find a way to lose in the end. Right now the Dolphins remain the the same mediocre team they have been for for over a decade.
It's nice to finally have a legitimate threat in the return game with Landry, even if he hasn't taken it to the house, those long returns are nice. Too bad the offense couldn't capitalize early. But GB adjusted their kick offs to prevent Landry returning - so obviously they were worried about him. Good thread. Even after the crushing loss, it seems like the dolphins are really close after that game. Meanwhile, San Diego had to fight tooth and nail to beat Oakland - but they're barely an NFL team right? Credit Soprano there I suppose.
We put up 24 points, our average...that's up almost 5 points from last year. However, that's still only good for 14th in the league. It's still an improvement though.
Agree with Finnegan, he played bad. Grimes ist another story. I saw him slip about 4 times.! Did he wear the wrong cleats? Otherwise I guess he covered the receivers good as usual. But to stay with the topic: Positives: DL and Landry
The positive I got out of yesterday's game is a personal one. For one of the few times over the last 40+yrs as a fan, I had no access to a TV,radio or a computer during a phins game. I got assigned to umpire a Baseball game yesterday at 2:00. I had my phone in my back pocket, but we are discouraged to even peek at the phone at all during games. I would take a periodic walk out past the infield in between innings(base umpire) just to take a secretive look at the score. I was really trying to focus at the task at hand..which I did. 3 outs to go and I take my final peek...Packers ball on Miami 30 1:00 left phins up 4! I pray for 3 quick outs and my prayers are answered! On the walk back to my car, I muster the strength to take a look at the score. 4 seconds!...and we lost. What a kick to the gut. On the ride home(1 hr), pretty positive. Went toe to toe with GB and lost in the last second. Then I got home and saw the sickened look on my brother and son's face. They proceed to go over every sickening detail of the loss..play by play...mistake by mistake. My brother tells me that this loss was one of the tougher ones to swallow in a long time. I got to see the frustrated look, that I often have after losses like that, all over their faces! I have not yet watched any highlights. Do I dare watch the replay of the game and experience all that frustration? Or do I skip it and leave the positive feeling that I have that it was a close game. We often carry these unhappy feelings right thru the week until the next game..Do I ruin my week? Or do i stay positive?
The biggest positive for me has been the halftime adjustments that the team has been making. Seems like every week we come out flat, go in at halftime, and then come out and kill it in the 3rd quarter.
Consider the following: 1. The Dolphins went toe to toe with the Packers, and it was a great football game. 2. Miami had the lead with 2 minutes to play after Ryan Tannehill got hot and led the team on three consecutive long touchdown drives out of the half. 3. Aaron Rodgers played an amazing football game. All-time great stuff. He really did. We're talking plays where he was able to break out of the pocket with three guys in his face and somehow complete passes to covered receivers. All of these things are true, and reflect what happened in the game. Don't watch the replay under any circumstances.
I thought we were in trouble on an outside run by the Packers (don't remember who), tons of room to the outside and OV made an outstanding solo tackle. Big play.
Watching it later really takes a lot of the frustration out of it for me. If you can avoid killing yourself with second guessing, put the replay on and enjoy an entertaining football game. Even though it was a painful loss, the drama of the game itself was pretty good, and I think a lot of the drama will hold up even in the absence of suspense. The Dolphins actually made that killer, game winning play with another strip sack, only they didn't get the fumble recovery and lost a little bit later. There were many times where I caught myself saying "great defense... great offense..." on the same play. It was a game full of people on both sides playing hard and making plays. There was a Green Bay touchdown where Rodgers avoided a pretty good Miami pass rush and gave himself over 7 seconds to throw for the score. Mike Wallace had another really nice "I'm gonna run really, really hard" moment and also scored another touchdown. Jarvis Landry had a good game. Lamar Miller ran hard. Cameron Wake and Olivier Vernon were bringing the heat. It was all worth watching, IMO, even the frustrating parts.
Landry Miller Vernon Wake Wallace 2nd Half Tannehill It's mind numbing thinking about why this team can't play 4 full quarters. I wish Philbin/Lazor would just let Tannehill play to his strengths. Play action, move the pocket, let him run. Just take the damn training wheels off and roll with it. Sure there'll be mistakes, but I bet the players would be happier with some freedom and dealing with mistakes as opposed to the staff being afraid of them screwing up. If they're going to lose, I'd rather see them go down fighting than playing conservative and screwing it up.
I need to watch a second time, but I thought Misi did really well. He was rarely out of position, he made most tackles that were presented and his blitzing up the middle was borderline great. If Misi blitzed, Rodgers was moving in the pocket.
Yeah, too bad he couldn't finish the game. Instead it was Wheeler out there and there's no way to hide him when the Packers were that close to the end zone.
I agree, I thought he showed quickness to, his speed is underrated, its important for us to keep an eye on his game all offseason, it's an important position for the future, I like what I saw in his first game back.
Starting to rematch the game, misi committed to every play action pass Rogers put out there on that first drive..he's gonna have to find that balance cause he's leaving a hole down that seam every time.
jelani jenkins was ballin man, dude is very smart, fast too, and his film study was evident, he was fu":in with rogers a little even. he and misi play well together.. ill tell ya this, any other qb we play this year is gonna feel like a cake walk..Rogers is that much better.. season might not be over if they can beat the bears.
ryan played that 2nd half better than he played against the raiders.did some things i hadn't seen in his pro career, looks like he took a jump in level of play, which imo, just translates to the speed of the game slowing down one notch. i said all week, this packer game was his moment of truth game, well his 2nd half bought him another week.
Jelani is playing very well, and that can't be overstated. He's filled a glaring weakness going into the season. That's a big positive for me. He's currently ranked #2 of 4-3 OLBs on PFF, and Cam Wake is #1 4-3 DE. Sturgis and Landry graded very well on special teams (no surprises there). OV had the highest D grade for the game at 3.7, Jelani 1.8, and Misi 1.4 (positive in pass defense and pass rush). Jarvis Landry had the highest grade on O, at 1.9, and Dion Sims was the next highest with 1.4 (mostly from run blocking).
Yeah, I'm really starting to have hope for our LB corp. Misi really seemed strong and as you say Jenkins has been very strong. I continue to be anxious to see Tripp play, but not sure how much time he will get w/ those guys.
Peyton Manning is an all time great but I honestly believe Rodgers is a better player. I think we can give Manning more trouble with our pass rush -- he'll be forced to get rid of the ball quickly -- whereas Rodgers was able to simply run around and make us look foolish while giving his guys time to get open. I don't think he'll be worse, at any rate. We'll see. What scares me about that game is that we play in Denver.