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Thoughts on Dolphins/Indy

Discussion in 'Miami Dolphins Forum' started by KeyFin, Oct 3, 2021.

  1. KeyFin

    KeyFin Well-Known Member

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    Not much to say this week since this was an embarrassing loss that never should have happened. We dominated the 1st half but stayed super conservative, and Indy's only points came off MASSIVE Dolphins mistakes or penalties. We flat out gave Indy the win and there's nobody to blame but ourselves. Miami was CLEARLY the better team all afternoon.

    Let's try to find some takeaways though-

    • Needham played excellent today; really developing into an elite shutdown corner
    • Our offensive line played better than last week, but not good enough overall
    • We didn't throw a pass to Parker or Gisecki until the last drive of the 3rd quarter, then we never threw to anyone else- even when Parker or Gisecki were well-covered. Do none of our new coordinators know that neither of them can be covered 1:1?!?
    • Jakeem muffed yet another punt- time for him to go. Love the guy, great story, but enough is enough and I've finally turned on him
    • Waddle in space is electrifying. Really glad we went to him twice on little slants for 1st downs....only to never go back to him again. He might have scored if either pass was accurate.
    • The defense as a whole was solid- the offense and special teams just kept screwing them over.
    There is some massive dysfunction in the coaching/front office because we actually had to work pretty hard to lose today- Grant's dropped punt and two ridiculous defensive penalties accounted for 21 of Indy's 27 points.

    How the heck do you jump offsides on a punt...again!?! It's just mind-blowing and I also caught where we laid out Indy's punter on that one where they kicked from the back of the endzone (which was the series after we decide not to kick the field goal). That should have been another flag and an automatic 1st down.

    Then on the flip side, we decide for the 2nd week in a row not to have Sanders kick the field goal from 55 out- when's the last time he's missed from 50+? It was like watching Sparano coach this offense...only with fist pumps being banned. I just don't get what the heck we were doing out there. Indy's whole secondary was out and we're throwing screen passes- I'm literally at a loss for words here.

    At this point, I'd be firing an offensive coordinator....which is okay since we have two of them and neither one calls the plays (seriously- it's a 3rd guy for that). Folks, this is an organizational problem from top to bottom- something has to give. And although many of you will say, "It's not Flores," I'll counter that by saying Flores hired those coordinators and hasn't fired one of them yet. Flores needs to man up and take control of his team.
     
    Last edited: Oct 4, 2021
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  2. Dorfdad

    Dorfdad Well-Known Member

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    Had this marked as a win In my game log now I see use going 6-11 this year maybe worse yikes!! Year 3 of a rebuild and we might be looking at our worst record under Flores!
     
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  3. cbrad

    cbrad .

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    No we weren't. We were better for much of the 1st half but that was it.

    btw.. we're on track to be the 2nd worst offense in the league after week 4. Jets are the only ones worse, and they actually did relatively well today. They'll have 47 points in 4 games while we'll have 62 points in 4 games. Even Chicago leapfrogged us and now have 64 lol.

    It's also amazing how little confidence our own coaches have in our offense. The play calling is just bad.
     
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  4. texanphinatic

    texanphinatic Senior Member

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    Essentially, every single individual thing that we thought might have a chance to go wrong... Has.

    And that's not just bad luck, it's bad team building and drafting, talent eval, staff building, coaching and individual execution and injury.

    Literally every damn thing. It's impressive how badly we are playing. How bad this team is. Shockingly impressive. Almost intentionally impressively bad.
     
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  5. tirty8

    tirty8 Well-Known Member

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    Nice post, Key.

    -I 100% agree on Grant. He needs to go.
    -I think Austin Jackson should be benched and should have to earn his way back into the line up.
    -We need to make getting Parker passes a priority. He feasts on those slant routes.
    -I still think Flo is the answer, but we need to save him from himself. I think we need to get an established OC and just hand him the offense. I legitimately think that if we had an OC of Norv Turner caliber, we would be 3-1 or 2-2.
    -The problem - I do not trust Grier at all to get Flo the help he needs. I think a lot of our problems fall on Grier and canning him in season brings all new problems.
     
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  6. KeyFin

    KeyFin Well-Known Member

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    I agree on everything but Jackson- the kid is an absolute beast of a player and he's the best we've got for LT. He literally "rag-dolled" a few players today when he connected squarely. But you're right too, he's not 100% ready to be an NFL starter. It's extremely frustrating that there's no answer here since that group is filled with promising kids.
     
  7. Fireland

    Fireland Well-Known Member

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    Its hard to like him as the answer if he can't be trusted to hire his staff
     
  8. pumpdogs

    pumpdogs Well-Known Member

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    No real position coaches want to come here after what happened to gailey last year.
    Unless Grier is fired
     

  9. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHHHHAHAHAH
     
  10. tirty8

    tirty8 Well-Known Member

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    I really think that benching him could save his career. I worry that he could get into a downward spiral of negativity between the coaches, media, and fans. Putting up bad tape every week has got to be emotionally devastating. I think he knows that he is doing a bad job at the moment.

    In my mind, I think we should take a step back then take a step forward. I don't wanna give up on him or ruin him.
     
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  11. tirty8

    tirty8 Well-Known Member

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    I think Flo is a defensive genius. I really do.

    I have seen a lot of defensive HCs lose their jobs because of the offense. Maybe admitting you do don't know what you don't know might be the answer. I think there are guys out there that I really think could handle the offense - Doug Peterson, Charlie Weis, Norv Turner, and Gary Kubiak all come to mind.

    I think these guys are all more than capable of producing an average offense which is really all we need.
     
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  12. Puka-head

    Puka-head My2nd Fav team:___vs Jets Club Member

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    Slightly left of center
    My thoughts

    Special teams players and coaches, Mack Hollins should get a pass but he's on special teams so, should have to ride home on the short bus, with their helmets on. Sorry Grant, bus is full, we called your mom to come get you.

    If I was a Defensive player on this team I would be plotting a coup de tat and forcibly making an OC coaching change, pick one you like or chase em all out of town but enough of this bull. Let the players play, stop with all the cutsie ego trip ****. Not until you can convert a 3rd and 2 running the ball any time you want to. Or complete a pass more then 10 yds downfield 2 or 3 times a drive not 2-3 times a game.

    Quit playing footsie with Watson rumors and go find a Center. How many years? Never mind the tackles, yes Jackson ,blocks like he's in a high school cheerleader cafeteria slap fight instead of a NFL Left Tackle, but he's not bad at run blocking so he can move inside and be good. But that young line needs a Captain, do whatever you've got to, trade whatever, pay whatever, get a vet, a good one to anchor the line, Do it NOW!

    And dang I wish Mariners pitching would have had a sinker like Brissets going today.

    Is Gaskin hurt? Cuz the only reason he doesn't have more yards is because they won't give him the ball. Gaskin getting 15-18 runs and 5-7 passes is winning Dolphin football. Like slants to Waddle and Parker and seam routes to Gesicki. Criminal misuse of young talent by these Offensive UnCoordinators. I'd say Gase bad, even Bill Lazor bad, but honestly they would have to get better to be that bad.

    Flores you better fix this ****. Squarely on you.
     
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  13. mlb1399

    mlb1399 Well-Known Member

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    Tyler Linderbaum will be available in next years draft. I think we need go after him. He’s a former wrestler, is nasty and a great leader. Probably one of the best OL I’ve seen at Iowa.
     
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  14. brandon27

    brandon27 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    I can't agree with you on Jackson here. He's far from a beast of a player right now. For his few shining moments per game as you speak of; he has far more blunders. I think he has a ton of potential still (lets not forget just how young he really is) and has to build strength and learn better technique. It's far too early (IMO) to write him off, but he needs a reality check and some time on the bench right now because he's costing the team more than he's helping it right now I think. He has the potential to be a "beast" but he's not even close to that right now outside of a small handful of plays each game. It would be nice to have an established veteren presence along the OL to help him mature and grow with the help of a mentor, but I guess Jesse Davis is who you would consider that person and well; that's just a disaster waiting to happen.

    Outside of that; the only other thoughts I have after this game are as follows:
    - Grant needs to go. He's not adding anything to this team.
    - Wilson can go too for all I care.
    - Parker, Fuller and Gesicki needs more looks on offense. Open the playbook up earlier.
    - Our 2 or 3, or whatever it is OC system is a complete and utter failure IMO. This needs to be addressed ASAP by Flores
    - Grier needs to go; he's massively failed this organization.

    On Grier; that report that was floated by LaConfora (IIRC) that Flores wanted Herbert and Grier wanted and ultimately drafted Tua to me further concludes that the finger pointing is starting to begin as I speculated it may last week.
     
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  15. Fireland

    Fireland Well-Known Member

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    I said it looks like Flores purposely trying to that info out there to look good and deflect blame. It doesn't work for me when the team has this many problems.
     
  16. brandon27

    brandon27 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    I feel the same way. I think we saw the beginings of it from Flores last year. In hindsight when you hear this report now it makes it seem like the decision to make Tua the starter last year maybe wasn't Flores' call ultimately. Seemed odd that we benched Fitz when we did; but it seemed equally odd that he gave Tua the hook several times last year when things weren't going well. Wouldn't surprise me one bit if that power struggle started last year and with the bad start this year we're starting to see/hear about it.

    To me there's one common denominator here through all these GM/HC pairings that have failed and it's Chris Grier. He's been part of that FO staff for what; 20 years roughly? Situations like this are all he's known; poor selections, struggling teams, poor results and power struggles.

    As for Flores; I don't mind the look honestly. He's the head coach. His preferences in building the roster should take precedence. It's his team; it's his schemes we're running here. So if his preference was Herbert over Tua and Grier went with Tua anyways then yeah; I'd be pretty ticked off if I was him and I'd be wanting to make that point if my seat was getting hot.
     
  17. Fireland

    Fireland Well-Known Member

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    If him not wanting Tua played a roll in benching him and its negatively impacting his development its a big problem. We all wish they took Herbert but they didn't and we can't unring that bell so make the most out of what they have.

    They are getting the absolute minimum out of every single offense player even the ones we know can play.
     
  18. hitman8

    hitman8 Well-Known Member

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    Jackson is not a beast in any way. He has had a couple of good run blocks the last couple of games, but in pass blocking he has been getting embarrassed. Brissett instinctually rolls to his right every other play because he doesn't trust Jackson protecting his blindside, and it messes up the timing of plays. Jackson is one of the biggest reasons this offense is failing and he should have been benched by now. We did a lot better with him on the COVID list in week one.
     
  19. mlb1399

    mlb1399 Well-Known Member

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    Yeah, there’s no sugar coating being ranked 64th in the league. That’s literally the worst starting tackle in the NFL. Well technically Liam is 65th but he’s in his first year. I’m not expecting all world for Jackson but he should be making strides in year 2.
     
  20. KeyFin

    KeyFin Well-Known Member

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    I think I threw people off by saying "he's a beast". What I meant was, "when the kid does what he's supposed to do, he's a beast out there." But he only does what he's supposed to about 50% of the time...then gets destroyed the other 50%.

    So I think we're all on the same page- Jackson could be really good in time, but he's just not there yet. For now, it should be Eichenberg's position to lose....even though he's not fully there yet either.
     
  21. brandon27

    brandon27 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    I don't think Flores benched Tua in several games last year because he didn't want him in the first place; I think it was pretty clear why he benched Tua in those games based on the performance of the offense as a whole. In almost all of those incidents the offense performed better with Fitz in there as well; so it was a warranted decision from Flores. So I don't think we're looking at a situation where he's negatively impacted Tua's development with those decisions last year; he was making those decisions in the interest of winning games and having the offense perform better; which it did when he put Fitz back in. I just think that as we see these reports come out it gets easier to start to piece the puzzle together. He didn't want to start Tua, but eventually did at a time it left everyone scratching their heads and asking why he's benching Fitz while playing well. Speculation here; but after this report it gives the impression that it maybe wasn't Flores' call. Which makes sense, Gailey was essentially hired because of his time with Fitz. Gailey's offense doesn't exactly lend itselt to Tua's strengths. To me, it was obvious that was a one year move as the team planed on Tua being on the sidelines most of last year to learn from Fitz. That sudden change to Tua left alot of people scratching their heads, and the benching of him in several games after the fact did the same. I just think now we're seeing why. I don't think it's just about Flores not getting "his guy", it's more about a lack of confidence in his abilities. Combine that with all the rumors flying around of Watson etc. etc. I think this little fire between the GM/HC has been brewing for a while now and I personally think it stems from Flores' dissatisfaction with Grier's decisions. All speculation of course, but where there's smoke there's usually fire.

    We are getting the absolute minimum out of ever single offensive player at this point because we have a shaky OL yet again due to Grier's inability to address it properly, and due to the fact we don't have a QB currently capable of running an NFL offense. Maybe Tua can be that guy when he comes back; but week 1 didn't really inspire confidence in that being the case; but it was just that; week one. To me; it starts with the OL failing to provide our QB's time and failing to provide a running game.
     
  22. Fireland

    Fireland Well-Known Member

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    Which doesn't make sense to me. Even if the plan was to start Fitz all year and the change was forced on Flores midseason its still a bad move to have a placeholder offense when the QB who you should treat like the QB of the future is on the roster. Planning to have 3 offensive coordinators in 3 years and planning to give Tua 2 in 2 years? That is bad long term planning to say the least

    Its absolutely part of it and maybe a lot of it but its not the whole story. They do not have a quality offensive game plan. They look completely clueless as to how to use any of these players. No scheme.

    And Brissett is not very good. Nobody would have claimed he was but would we have really viewed him as an absolute disaster of a QB before putting on a Dolphin uniform? He has plenty of experience and has had good games. You certainly don't want him to be your starter but he should be a competent backup. Instead he looks like he has no business watching football let alone starting.
     
  23. Pennington's Limp Arm

    Pennington's Limp Arm Well-Known Member

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    Here is an absolute head scratcher from the Indy game…
    Gaskin only played 23% of our offensive snaps. 23%!!

    Malcolm Brown sucks, it’s as simple as that. Slow plodder, who can’t even bulldoze 1 yard in a short yardage situation. Even with the Rams his short yardage metrics were awful.

    Also why is McCourtey playing in front of Rowe? Rowe was probably our 4th best defender last season. Yes they both got beat for TDs against Indy… but atleast Rowe was right there contesting his. McCourtey wasn’t even in the same frame as the reciever! Rowe is bigger, younger and better against the run. And we’ve all seen he can make a play on the ball in coverage.

    Something positive. Yes Needham was great yesterday and continues to prove himself to be a star player mixed into this trash heap.
     
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  24. brandon27

    brandon27 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Oh no doubt re: planning. It's poor at best; I'm with you on that. Nothing we've done has made sense. The only thing that looks like it makes some sense is Flores. We've overachieved the last two years with him IMO but now instead of seeing more improvement we're seeing regression; even on defense.

    As for the offense; I think a QB can certainly help fix some of the issues but I'm with you re: scheme. It's non-existant it seems. Seems like they're just making it up as they go along. There's no effort to get our "playmakers" aside from Waddle the ball. No committment to a run game; and I get it we can't run block, but you've got to do something. Then there's the playcalling, that goal line series this week? Wow. The one last week against the Raiders with the wildcat? Wow. I mean I get it; wildcat gives us that extra blocker but it didn't make a difference. Everyone and their mother knew it was going to be a run into the line so why bother when you get no push up front? It's just a complete mess of an offense and seems like the things we saw under Philbin and the even GAse. You just sit back, watch, and scratch your head trying to figure out what the hell they're doing. There's no identity. No run game. No pass game. Nobody you have to gameplan against as an opposing defense. You don't have to play to stop the run, because we simply can't and don't run. You don't have to play much against the pass either; we have nobody that warrants double coverage or dictates matchups and we don't have a competent QB running the show. You're absolutely right though IMO re: the offense. They're just.. there.

    It will be the downfall of Flores IMO; his lack of offense on his teams and his lack of a plan or ability to form a good staff of assistants that are qualified beyond being a close contact of his from his past.

    Either way all the assumptions re: flores/grier are meaningless because there's nothing factual out there but this "report" from LaConfora now and we all know his track record. Just makes me wonder though...
     

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