concerned about the offense? I mean I’ve been a Thill defender from the beginning and always said he’s been screwed by lack of talent and coaching around him. But as much as I loved this win I’m a little aggravated. We finally have some horses but I feel Gase has no idea of the flow of games with his play calling. I feel he’s been putting us behind the 8ball in these games. I really thought this game was going to be a recipe of us burying the raiders by halftime. Think it’s about time for a real play caller who likes Gase’s system.
Being concerned about this offense is a legit concern. They have been very average most of the year. The last two quarters have been far and away Gase’s best 2 quarters calling plays. We can’t afford to hope for turnovers or gadget plays when we face good teams. Happy to be 3-0, but we can and need to be better.
The game plan was 100% ground and pound to set up play action...and it failed spectacularly. I'm not sweating it too much though in week three; there's a lot of room to grow and I think we only get better.
It’s early, but I hear ya. The Raider’s D came to play today, and quite frankly, Miami’s O-line isn’t consistent and entirely different without Sitton. They couldn’t come up with a run game at all. So that’s why there were a bunch of bubble screens, etc. I do dislike the lack of faith in giving the team a chance to do something on third down. Too many third and longs and non-conversions, which puts the D in a bind. The Raiders had the ball for over 38 minutes today. 38 minutes. You can’t continue to win this way, IMO. Dislike the inconsistency all along the O-line. But Miami’s D is eating a little. Really like seeing these guys play hard.
You nailed it, “when we face good teams” I feel we were very lucky because these teams we’ve played are not good and concerned we won’t win these games against better teams.
Pats game is coming at a perfect time. We'll find out playing the Pats whether the issues we've seen on offense are something to worry about down the road or not. I mean.. if we win @NE then I really don't care whether our offense sputters or not for long stretches, but if we lose after not executing well or due to bad play calling then yeah it's time to learn from that. Good thing is even with a loss we'll be 3-1 and right thick in the playoff hunt (3-1 translates to 63% chance of making the playoffs).
With how often Miami trails heading into halftime--only to rebound and end up winning--I'm starting to think it's intentional. Not to say that Gase is throwing the first half of games, but I think he holds off on opening up the playbook because he trusts his defense to keep it close; then, by halftime, he knows exactly how the other team is wanting to play, and he simply plays counter-cards. It's a very Chess-esque way of approaching things, and it's working for him so far.
For the record, we scored the 6th most points so far this week. We played a pretty solid Jets defense last week and put up 27 on a Titans team that has only given up 23 total to the next two opponents. I dont think weve been too bad.
To be fair, we're averaging 2.5 turnovers per game. 2 1/2 turnovers plus 25 points (combined with our defense) should be enough to win most ballgames. The main difference between the two is that the D is already legit...and the offense is getting better each week. So if we're already winning and folks are upset with the offensive output, you're hoping for a true powerhouse of a team. If we do reach the point where we're scoring 35-45 per game, I'll be talking about an undefeated season with a Super Bowl trophy.
I don’t know. The Raiders didn’t look like a “bad” team today at all. The Titans beat Jax, who looked like they were going to run all over everyone. Still a long way to go, but Miami still has time to fix things. I mean, the offense looks so inconsistent which, in an odd way, might be in Miami’s favor considering nothing has really worked well other than these big plays. There’s no “consistent” tape on Miami other than bubble screens. One game, they run well, the next, they suck. Once this offense finds its place, it’s going to be dangerous. They’re already showing they are. I think Gase is methodically going through his playbook. I really do. Win, but don’t show too much. That’s my theory, anyway.
I think he also plays more conservative in the first half because he wants to limit mistakes that turn the game.
I'm concerned, but we are resilient and finding ways to win, so I am happy. Our guys know they should and can play better. These wins should give our guys confidence that they can overcome game challenges and still come out with a "W". I wouldn't be surprised to hear that they are working harder than ever this week. Once you taste success you don't want to settle for anything less.
I guess the silver-lining we call all take away from this is those trick plays worked and were well executed whereas years past we would cough up the ball and look like the Benny Hill show
We have a team that is dynamic across all positions and doesn't rely on one person, or one unit, to do all the heavy lifting. But somehow that's a concern? You guys need to get over your obsession with having a QB who throws for 300+ and 4 TDs per game. Most of those teams have horrible defenses and those guys are slinging it 50+ times per game because they have to. That is NOT this team. We are balanced and not dependent on one player or one unit. To me that's comforting, not concerning. We are averaging 25 points per game, while allowing only 17 points per game. That is very good.
I wouldn’t call this offense balanced at all. A balanced offense tends to consistently convert third downs, and sustains longer drives. Miami’s offense held possession for 21 mins today. Exciting? Heck yes! Balanced? Nowhere near.
Exactly...I said the same thing last week. What would you overhaul on this team at this point? Maybe the rookie LBers? Now we're struggling on run defense to be better against the pass (which we're already awesome at). The rookie LB's stay. What else? The offensive line maybe? Same problem....they're killing it in pass protect and you'd be crazy to mess with that. People don't want to admit it (mainly because we're Miami fans) but this is one heck of a talented roster from top to bottom. Soon we'll stop talking about "if we make the playoffs" and it will be about "how far we'll go in the playoffs." I believe that we could possibly be 2018 Super Bowl contenders if we keep growing at this pace. Here's the other thing to look forward to. If this D continues dominating and our offense does come close to reaching it's potential, can you imagine how fun the 2019 draft will be? I mean, just imagine 7 rounds of "BPA" and continually getting younger....that's the path this team is on. Meanwhile, NE is old and depending on soon retiring vets....sound familiar? That's the story of Miami for the past 15 years. The tides are turning right in front of your faces, my friends. =)
We can't count on the defense putting us in these good positions like games 1 and 2 though. That isn't sustainable over a 16 games season. I'm not upset at them, but they also haven't really looked like a unit that I'm confident in so far. But hopefully they get better as the season progresses.
Our defense has scored and put us in great spots, I don't see an efficient offense (do not care about stats) for the most part. Again, it's great to be 3-0 despite this...it's a good sign because if they fix it? We will be a true contender.
I'm struggling so hard to come to terms with what Dolphins fans consider to be an efficient offense. We have one of the most efficient QBs in the league. Not counting some rigged officiating, we are one of the leagues least penalized teams. Even with today's blunder, we're averaging about 100 yards per game on the ground. We're not turning the ball over. We've averaged 25 points against three very solid defenses. And most importantly, the offense has come up HUGE at the end of all three games to seal the deal and we've WON. At a certain point we need to realize that even super bowl winning teams don't score 40+ points per game. We saw Marino's years wasted by having a great offense and nothing else. We, of all fan bases, should understand the importance of having an efficient TEAM, not just an offense, but at some point we need to understand that efficient doesn't mean scoring on every single possession.
While I disagree about replacing Gase, he needs to take a hard look at how successful we were throwing downfield today. However, this is dependent on the opposing teams rush and speed at linebacker. For instance, watching the pats tonight right now...their lbs are slow. Using our speed for screens might work this coming week. It’s game dependent and I think he adjusted well during the raider game.
And I think/hope they will. They have to improve, right? Just a few misses here and there. I don’t think Tannehill is getting enough credit because it seems like he doesn’t get much time to go through his progressions. This O-line must get better (at least somewhat consistent) in run and pass blocking in order for this offense to really start clicking. This will be an interesting offense to watch as they continue growing. These speedsters are absolutely fun to watch. Parker looks like he’s out of place out there.
3rd downs. We can start there, it is as important of an offensive stat there is and it escapes us. Please stop with the hyperbole though, no one is expecting "40 points per game" some of us are happy where we are at and recognize this offense hasn't reached it's full potential. I'd bet you the Dolphins staff feels the same way. Still ned to be better.
With all things considered, I was impressed with Parker today. He caught the ball and fought hard after the catch...that's all we've ever asked of him. For that matter, Amendola also looked solid today in his limited catches. There was one where I thought if he made the defender miss, it would have been a footrace for the end-zone. He had green grass ahead of him for like 60 yards. Same for Gisecki and Derby- they had a few nice catches and the throws were on the money over the middle. You're right though, this is EXTREMELY fun to watch since there are so many options. The no-huddle makes it even more effective and once they really click, watch out! I bet we have a lot in store for NE next week and it's why we've been so vanilla so far. I know it's awesome that we're winning and all, but probably an hour after the game ended I was thinking, "Aww ****, I have to wait a whole stinking week to see us play again!" It's a great feeling though to be this excited about our team.
Travis in his pregame analysis thought the way to beat the raiders was passing you knew they were to stack the box. It's frustrating because we are not used to winning, specially after last year. Next week we are ****ing up the pats
This is the roster Gase wanted. Young, hungry, fast, team-first players. The outsize ego's and locker room lawyers are gone. Let's see what this young bunch can do.
Well you said you don't care about stats but also say 3rd some conversions are an important statistic. Which is it? If we're just talking about the eyeball test, we couldn't run the ball at all today and it contributed very heavily, along with poor officiating, to our 3rd down conversions. I agree that there's room to improve. Nobody likes seeing 3rd and 9, and the running game was abysmal. But to suggest the offense as a whole is inefficient is the the definition of hyperbole.
Titans are 2-0 against other opponents. And they just beat Jacksonville in a defensive slugfest, after tha Jags beat the Pats convincingly. Jets are 1-1, and were looking like crushing Cleveland before they hurt Tyrod Taylor and brought in a QB they hadn’t prepared for Raiders are 0-2, but have had the half time lead in every game they’ve played. Overall the teams we’ve beaten are 3-3 outside of their Dolphins games, they may not be ‘good’, but the Jets and Titans, at this stage of the season at least are not ‘bad’. The Raiders have won 3 halves of football and lost 3 halves of football, arguably that takes them out of ‘bad’. OK we haven’t beaten any of the ‘Elite’ teams, but we haven’t been padding our record with walkovers either.
You know if you take of all of Tom Brady’s good throws out from his record he’s just a bum. The trick plays worked today because the Raiders were biting so hard on shutting down the run and the play action. Grant’s reverse (I’m not sure if it was just using that as a label) meant that the Raiders bit hard on Wilson which opened up Grant for the TD throw, which meant the Raiders kept an eye on Grant which helped open up Wilson on his long TD. Those trick plays you want to discount worked because Gase recognised the patterns in the Raiders defense and knew which plays would best exploit there patterns.
Omg. Just enjoy 3-0 and 1st place in the division. Just for a wee bit, ok? Have a beer and do a jig for a bit, mofos.
So you’re saying that we can’t have a conversation about the game and team??? Why don’t you just take a hike, this is a MESSAGE FORUM and you added nothing to it
I have to give the offense some credit. Some things weren't working today, but they found other ways. If the D can stay relatively healthy and the offense keeps getting more efficient, this team can get pretty damn good. I am so ready to eat a helping of crow in January.