Summary: The downside of week 2 has to be how awful Miami was in almost all phases of the game, the multitude of penalties they accrued and how solid the Jaguars seemed in comparison. The Jaguars stats aren’t amazing: Bortles was only 55% for 273 yards while the Jags RBs rushed for less than 100 yards with a 3.1 YPC average. The fact the Jags seemed so much better than that at times is more a condemnation of Miami’s ineptitude than the Jags greatness. Most telling was that the Jaguars beat Miami by being a balanced team (33 passes, 33 rushes). Miami’s secondary simply had no answer for Allen Robinson who ended the day with 6 catches for 155 yards and 2 TDs and they applied little pressure (if any) to Bortles. Unsurprisingly, Reshad Jones and Jelani Jenkins led Miami in tackles. But you could’ve guessed that going in. The Bright Side: The upside of week 2 has to be Ryan Tannehill’s overall performance. He was over 68% on his 44 passes for a total of nearly 360 yards and 2 TDs, all without throwing a pick. He also accounted for about 20 yards on the ground, handled intense pressure on several big plays, escaped the pocket multiple times and managed an impressive 108 QBR. What’s definitely nice is that this wasn’t a typical dink and dunk display. He pushed the ball downfield while moving around the pocket avoiding constant pressure from all sides and wound up with an 8.2 YPA. The TEs were a big threat up the seam and the play-calling seemed to recognize that. What I really loved was how when Tannehill made a dangerous throw, his guys helped him out. Landry, Matthews and Cameron all stood out for their toughness and hands. Both Landry and Matthews went for over 100 yards while the TEs combined for 80 and a TD. Now THAT is something you can build around! While the coaching, the run defense, the pass defense, the O-line and by default the running game all sucked, the bright side was that we finally saw Tannehill run a relatively aggressive passing attack and to our amazement, his efficiency actually went up! This was only the 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] time in Lazor’s 18-game tenure that Tannehill threw for over 300 yards. By contrast, Tannehill did that 5 times in 2013 alone in Mike Sherman’s offense. So, are we beginning to see a change? Could this be a sign of evolution or just another misleading outlier? I don’t know, but if Miami can develop that kind of passing attack, I’ll take it, even with a losing record. Quite frankly, it’d be more valuable than a single year of false hope. The team can get new coaches, draft for the holes they have and slowly begin to become a real team. The W/L record will go up accordingly. But you know what you can’t do? You can’t find quality QBs just anywhere. Those are rare and yesterday, while the team around him was largely awful, Tannehill really flashed. He really looked like a special QB. While it’s important to remember that this was a loss, it did in a way feel strangely exciting as if for one of the first times in forever, Miami fans could legitimately say their best player was their QB and that because of his actions, the team was in the game. Will that continue? I don’t know, but at this point, I’m happy to take some semblance of hope for the future out of whatever mess the team currently is. Stat of the Game: Bortles was sacked 0 times. This can’t all be on Coyle. At some point, both the D-line and the LB-corp have to be brought to court. Neither Koa Misi nor Olivier Vernon are doing anything and Wake has been on decline for a couple years now. Suh had 1-on-1 chances several times and failed while on snap after snap no one else could beat their man. We all agree that Kevin Coyle is doing nothing for Miami, but across the defense are scattered over-rated veterans and inexperienced, largely incompetent nobodies. This unit ranked 24[SUP]th[/SUP] against the run last year which is awful. While it ranked 6[SUP]th[/SUP] against the pass, the falsity of that stat should have been obvious to anyone who saw Geno Smith and Teddy Bridgewater torch it late in the year. The team recognized it needed CBs, LBs and DTs. It gambled on getting 1 elite player and a bunch of other JAGs to fill the other spots. Many of us bought it. We were wrong. Stat of the Game: (runner-up) Tannehill’s 3 rushes for 17 yards led his team which (outside of him) rushed for 25 yards on 13 carries for a 1.9 YPC average. Pathetic…and to think that there are fans who will interpret this to mean that Bill Lazor should call MORE running plays!
It would be nice to establish a damn running game at some point. Tannehill would be unstoppable if we had a running game going.
There is no bright side (at least not for me) if we're going to be attempting "Air Tannehill" the entire season.
The irony in the juxtaposition of those two statements in the same post is that Tannehill's performance declined tremendously (down to a 4.9 YPA, which is very poor by NFL standards) when the team abandoned the run in the fourth quarter.
I wouldn't bank on that. The running game functioned very well last year, and Tannehill was only somewhat better than mediocre. The better hypothesis in my opinion is that Tannehill needs balance to function optimally, but that an exceptionally good running game isn't going to linearly cause exceptionally good play in him.
Awesome read, thanks for this! I was going to mention some of the same things. The Matthews/Landry pairing is becoming something fierce. I love the idea of adding Devante Parker to the mix as well! Jordan Cameron has been a stud so far. I hope they all stay healthy. The passing game has certainly not been an issue so far and I think as long as that is effective we will have a chance in every game we play this year. We have a quarterback that can do that for us. The O line is still a concern, but Pouncey and James are mainstays. Jamill Douglas is learning on the job and that can't be easy for a rookie, especially under the tutelage of this coaching staff.
Seems like the 1988 Fins to me so far. Good passing attack, bad running game, bad defense. Not a winning combination.
The problem in your hypothesis is that it doesn't account for players getting better season to season, which so far, is something we've already seen from Tannehill as compared to his play in the beginning of last season.
Right, but by the same token there is also an upper limit for everyone. There is really no evdience to suggest that Tannehill would be as good as let's say Aaron Rodgers if he had the league's best running game. It's entirely possible (and probable) that the linear relationship between the run game and Tannehill stops being linear when it reaches Tannehill's personal ceiling.
You're right, and I agree. I misunderstood your first post. I was thinking of the relationship between the run game and overall offensive output, not just the QB.
This was the first game in Blake Bortles career where he wasn't sacked. In fact, it snapped an 8 game streak of being sacked 4+ times a game.
In Regards To Pass Rush And wakes "decline", everybody knows he basically didn't play yesterday right? He alone, when healthy, could have been a deciding factor on those 3rd and longs. What we did learn was that OV sucks. Edit: I mean, OV like really sucks
OV so far has definitely looked like a WAAAAAY over-rated player. For a guy about to step into some money I thought we'd see a big season from him. So far, he's been lousy in every conceivable way.
I'm sorry, but as a life-long Dolphins fan I'm sick of looking for the bright side. The only "bright side" that matters is a "W", and this does not appear to be a team with the mental toughness and the leadership to pile up a bunch of those right now. Then again, I don't want to talk about the negatives either because I don't feel like hearing things like how awesome Tannehill was while being 100% ineffective in yet another 4th quarter. I don't feel like listening to how much potential Landry has or how Suh just needs time to gel with this defense either, because those are just excuses. A team shows up and wins on Sunday- period. And when they're playing the lowly Redskins or Jaguars, they are supposed to look like Super Bowl Champions, not a team that's hoping for the other side of the ball to put up points in order to steal a victory. But let's face it....how many of you kept thinking down the stretch, "Man, Landry needs to break one of these punts for a TD or we're screwed?" That's our 2015 Dolphins folks- it's 2013 and 2014 on repeat all over again with plenty of places to point fingers. But when you get down to the nitty-gritty, championship caliber teams win close contests in the 4th quarter when everything is on the line. And we haven't had that kind of confidence in our team going back at least a decade. It's not a just Philbin thing or a Tannehill thing either; it's a lack of complete leadership from the top down. So I say again, there simply is no bright side when you're out-played by one of the worst teams in football. We had seven chances to take the lead in the 2nd half...seven different drives that went nowhere...and that's just not good enough on any level.
Indeed. This team is already looking like it doesn't have the kind of character that's associated with the league's best teams. They were pretty hyped about themselves coming out of camp, but that doesn't seem to be translating to an attitude or a level of confidence that a team usually has when it expects big things from itself.
This post wasn't about wins and losses. It was to point out that despite all the complaining, we actually saw Tannehill play one of his best games EVER. That's a big deal for what it implies about the future. It doesn't turn a loss into a win but it's shouldn't go unnoticed. Otherwise I agree. I'm WAY done with hearing about how good the team is on paper. The reality is a lot of our guys look over-rated: OV, Albert, Wake, Miller, etc. As the commentator's pointed out though, had Miami won, Tannehill would've been the ONLY conceivable guy to hand a ball to and say, "thanks." The failure Sunday was the O-line. It's officially a catastrophy. There was NO running and the pressure on the QB only got worse late in the game. I'm one that believe Tannehill sometimes invites those sacks but he looked as good as anyone in the NFL Sunday in trying to get away from pressure. There was nothing he could've done.
Gotta love a thread about the bright-side where people just want to come in and moan about everything that's wrong. You guys know there is such a thing as 'off-topic' right? Dolphins fans posting 'bright-side' threads be like:
While I don't think anybody here really wants the Dolphins to lose, there are quite a few on here who can't wait to jump into threads to spew there negativity. Sadly, I bet they write their replies with a smile on their face.
