Sunday was textbook Miami Dolphins; against the New York Jets, they suffered through a demoralizing series of missteps, bad breaks and questionable calls. Still, in the waning moments of the game, Miami found itself within striking distance of the winning touchdown. Sure enough, though, Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis’s one-handed interception of a desperation throw by quarterback Chad Pennington ended the Dolphins’ hopes prematurely on third down with five seconds to play. Any self-respecting fan was forced to trudge away with nauseating taste in his or her mouth and a piercing pain in his or heart heart. However, there were various reasons for optimism after this Week 1 debacle against the AFC East rival Jets: Five reasons for optimism after Dolphins' demoralizing Week 1 loss - Realfootball365.com Hey all. Give it a read and let me know if you agree, disagree, etc... Thanks!
good read thanks, I can agree for the most part, we are a young team, but our play calling must improve. I still believe the D will come togather as well as the O-line.
Thanks for the props. Playcalling is one of those things were hindsight is always 20/20. As for the defense and offensive line, I definitely think we will see marked improvement if these two units can stay healthy and get a few games under their belt.
Especially agree with the part about tight ends. Great to see some production from those guys. Fasano made me feel a little better about losing Booker in the off season.
A nice write up. I'm lukewarm on the front 7. I thought the young line played well. We do have a nice pair of young guys in Merling and Langford. Roth played lights out IMO (something we have all been waiting for), but I thought he was the only LB to do anything. Porter had a couple nice plays. IMO the two MLB's played lost and catch-up the entire game. Hopefully this will improve.
Roth did get juked by a 38 year old Favre, but he redeemed himself that same play by forcing the turnover.
Do i feel like the Jets were that much better than us?? i really dont. I feel like they had a few things go their way and we missed on a couple of shots we had. Overall I think we might end up being ok this year.
i was happy to see that production out of our TEs, but i'm not happy about the circumstances that led to those #'s.... keep in mind our RBs were getting (for the most part) stuffed, and our WRs couldn't get open worth a damn. the TE's are the safety valves in this case.... good that they're there, but bad that you had to use them so much.
By the second half of the season they had better be winning games like this. What will separate these guys from last year's team is whether they actually improve and come together. And unless Ronnie's knee is still bugging him, give the guy more touches. Remember the feed the studs thing they did on offense in 2005? That worked well and contributed to their last winning season. If they have to line RB up in the slot to get him the ball, do it. This WR corps stinks. If there are any veterans available I bet they get signed soon. At this point a 45 year old Jerry Rice would be an upgrade. [I'm kidding, I think.]
If we can get a bit of luck on our side and progress through the year i think things might go better than most think but those are big IFS
it just frustrating how we couldnt get the 2 man rb attack going. i was watching the panthers in envy yesterday. they did it with freakin deangelo williams and a very good rookie
Great read. I enjoy reading your stuff and Im glad youre here often to share your comments and articles with us. Point 5 makes me wonder though, especially with some of the news/rumours floating around about Donald Thomas being injured.... but all in all, great news for us that nobody is out for a lengthy period of time as far as we know. I knew Fasano would help us out... but i NEVER expected the kind of game we got from him yesterday. Very promising sign for us. Hell, even Martin stepped it up. Ronnie... what can you say about him. other than he NEEDS more carries next week. Anyhow, thanks, I enjoyed the read!
I feel you on this one. I don't know if this can be patched this season. We have to work with what we got. I feared this would be the case but the front office and coaching staff did all they could do in one off season. I have a feeling the WR position will be one of the first areas addressed this coming off season.
I don't think we were de moralized at all. These guys have come a long way from last year. Once again, a new coaching staff. All new playbook. A new qb came in only a few weeks before opening day. Yes, I know their "pros" etc., but all this change has to be hard, even for the most professional player. And after one game, how can we judge them so harshly? Alot of you posted that we need to be patient etc. and I, for one, am trying to be. This is not last year, this is a new start for the entire team and us fans. Maybe if they got more support and yes, even some homerism, they will get fired up and start being the team they can be. Don't start bashing me for being a homer either. I think I'd rather be closer to being a homer than so negative all the time..
I was going to make the same point after reading the title Deb. Had the Jets lost to us, it would've been demoralzing for them. We played poorly, but it was their great play that forced us into mistakes.
Great article. Biggest needs for the future. 1) Eliminate the deep ball. It killed us last year, and it killed us again on Sunday with 2 bombs for TDs. Teams will continue to throw deep on us till they get shut down. There is NO reason for a WR to be THAT open THAT far down the field. Good god. 2) The WRs absolutely must contribute more than they did. Whatever they need to do, have Ginn running various routes, using Wilford more, bringing Bess in more, whatever, they MUST produce more than they did. 3) The running game needs to get untracked earlier. Maybe Ronnie needs to be starting with Ricky coming in for some knockouts. Maybe we just need to keep the game closer longer. But why are we throwing on third and goal from the 1? Huh? There are other things that need to improve as well, but those are the 3 things that killed us in the jets game, and really for last season as well. Just need to keep plugging away and come up with a win. I think we can take AZ. Pressure Warner, keep Boldin/Fitz from getting a deep ball TD, and run the ball all day.
