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Quick Hits: Dolphins vs. Raiders

Discussion in 'Miami Dolphins Forum' started by Vengeful Odin, Nov 16, 2008.

  1. Vengeful Odin

    Vengeful Odin Norse Mod

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    This team is going to give me a heart attack.

    We started the game strong, scoring early, and then allowed the Raiders to stick around, before finally mustering up another impressive fourth quarter drive to win the game. I’m not happy to see us play to the level of our competition again, but credit to the Raiders for playing hard and staying in the game. Up and down game today, as we showed flashes of dominance and flashes of incompetence, sometimes on the same drives. I’ll take the win though, and the 6-4 record that moves us into second place in the AFC East.

    What I Liked

    The thing that sticks out to me is how well coached this team is. They don’t get rattled, and they don’t make a lot of mistakes (Today we made more than usual). We saw Oakland commit a bunch of penalties, which is to be expected with an interim coach at the helm. It’s hard to believe that this team – the Miami Dolphins, the team that went 1-15 last year – is 6-4, good enough for second place in the AFC East. I look at the sidelines and forget this team is led by a rookie Head Coach. I will say this: If this team makes the playoffs, which certainly looks to be obtainable, then Tony Sparano deserves serious consideration for Coach of the Year. I don’t think there’s a coach in the NFL who has done more with less and Sparano. As the season goes on, I love the hire more and more. He’s instilled discipline, focus, and passion – all things this team was lacking last year.

    • Quick Start – We’ve made it a habit of coming out and scoring on our first possession, and we did that again today, with Ted Ginn taking it to the house on a reverse. In fact, during this four game winning streak the offense has scored on their first possession every time, including today. It’s a good habit to form, and helps to set the tone for the rest of the game. It also speaks well to our weekly preparation, as we do a good job identifying the opponent’s weaknesses and then going out and attacking them.
    • Triumvir of Running Backs - At some point we're going to have to include Patrick Cobbs in the discussion when talking about our running game. Lots of teams use a committee approach, but we have three very good running backs. We really have to come up with a nickname for these guys - it can't be "Earth, Wind, and Fire" because that's already taken by the Giants. Some folks have complained that Ronnie doesn't get enough carries - and I can understand that sentiment. However, I do think that Ronnie benefits from being a bit fresher throughout the game, and also from the hard running that Ricky and Patrick put forward. In other words, having three running backs capable of making plays is not a bad thing. More on that in a little bit. On the day these three produced over 206 yards from scrimmage.
    • Another Fourth Quarter Drive – Don’t call it a comeback, because we really should not have been trailing at that point in the game. Play of the game, at least for me, was the huge 4th and 5 conversion, a pretty Chad Pennington to Ted Ginn connection that kept the drive alive. On the drive Pennington was his usual self, 4 of 5 for 41 yards. The takeaway from all of this is that the team has learned how to win close games in the fourth quarter, something that should benefit us as we go on throughout the rest of the year.
    • Shutting Down the Rushing Game – The Miami defense was able to make Oakland one-dimensional by shutting down the running game, forcing JaMarcus Russell to try and beat them through the air. Russell displayed surprising accuracy (68%), but most of his completions came underneath the coverage. He only managed 156 yards on 22 attempts, a meager 7.1 YPA. The reason for all the passes was the absolute lack of running game, as Justin Fargas was unable to do an impression of last year’s game. Despite a couple big runs, Fargas only managed 57 yards on 17 carries at a paltry 3.35 YPC clip. In the four game winning streak Miami has not allowed a 100 yard rusher (Julius Jones is closest with 88 yards last week). This is another one of those signs that you look for in a team – an ability to stifle the opponent’s running game.

    A Deeper Look at the Miami Dolphins Rushing Game

    Here’s how I see it. We ran for 222 yards today. I’m not going to complain about a player not getting enough touches, or how we got the yards, because we got them – and to me that’s what important.

    Some folks have expressed displeasure regarding our running game, from the inability to gain yards in traditional formations, to our troubles along the offensive line (at right guard specifically), to Ronnie not getting the ball enough. I understand those concerns. The important thing is despite all of that, we are still doing a pretty good job of running the ball.

    I also believe that Dan Henning deserves credit for being innovative enough to bring dimension to the running game via unusual formations, namely the Wildcat. Tony Sparano also deserves credit for having the guts to allow the unusual formation to be used. As far as Ronnie not getting his carries, I think that there are some parallels to be drawn from history – namely our 1972 team. I’m not saying that we are going to win the Super Bowl, not by any means, but I do think our players compare well when matched up with their 1972 counterparts. Let’s look at the evidence.

    • Ronnie Brown as Mercury Morris – Brown tallied 101 yards on the day, but more importantly displayed big play ability as he ripped off several long runs. On the year he now has 600+ yards rushing, and is on pace for 968 for the season (Morris had right at 1000 in 1972). Like Morris, he’s the running back most capable of producing highlights when he is on the field. Keep in Morris was never asked to play QB, and the fact that Ronnie has played mistake-free in the Wildcat is one of the big reasons we are 6-4 today.
    • Ricky Williams as Larry Csonka – Because of his past history, Ricky will never be as revered as Csonka, nor should he be. However, like Csonka, Williams is a tough runner who looks to punish defenders. He’s got one of the best stiff arms I’ve ever seen for a running back, and is having a career renaissance despite being a little bit older (31). Williams had a solid outing, and makes a nice complement to Ronnie Brown. On the year he has 438 yards rushing, on pace for 700 (In 1972 Csonka led the team with over 1100 yards). Unlike Csonka, Williams is also capable of catching the ball as well, and is on target to end up with somewhere around 210 yards receiving. When you factor that in, the production looks pretty similar.
    • Patrick Cobbs as Jim Kiick – Much like Kiick, Cobbs is the quiet one, the guy that makes plays, but lets the other guys get the headlines. Cobbs hasn’t really done a lot running the ball. His 23 yards today was a season high, and he is only on pace to gain 50 for the entire season. Where Cobbs has made his mark is in the passing game, as he has 256 yards receiving on the season, and has been the guy catching the ball out of the Wildcat package. He’s on pace for 410 yards receiving, which are really the numbers you’d expect to get out of your slot receiver. Kiick had similar production in 1972, running for 521 yards. Both of these guys to me are “coaches players” – meaning they do what is asked of them, sacrifice for the team, and never complain.

    I really do like what I’m seeing from the current Miami running backs, and I believe it bodes well for our success on down the line. By no means do I believe they are better than any of their 1972 counterparts, but I do see similarities in the way they are used, and their playing styles. It’s exciting to me as a Dolphins fan to see us have three running backs capable of making plays, because for too long we went without a running game.

    I don’t expect us to go out and hang those kinds of numbers on teams week-over-week. Oakland has a poor rushing defense, today’s numbers were kind of expected. I will say that we have to continue running well, if we want to make it to the playoffs. As the running game goes, so go our chances. Today was a good start.

    What I didn't Like

    As I said earlier, this was really a roller coaster ride. As a fan, I’d prefer things to be over quickly. These close games are frustrating. We allowed Oakland to stick around far too long for my tastes, and continued to be up-and-down throughout the course of the game.

    • Playing To the Level of Your Competition - As much as you can count on the Dolphins to start strong, you can also rely on them to allow weaker teams to hang around. While it makes for entertaining football, it's a concerning trait for the team to have, particularly if we have designations on things like the playoffs. We simply can't get up early on teams, and when we do we invariably allow them back into the game. Today really felt uneven; in spurts we looked completely inept, only to look great a little while later. In some respects it feels like the team appears to be in search of its identity. I think part of that is by design, as the game plan calls for multiple contributions from multiple players. We nearly gave the game away, and were forced to come back to win it. I don’t like it, and it does not bode well for the rest of the year.
    • Poor Refereeing - I don't normally complain about things like this, as I believe that refereeing is something outside of our control, so there's no real reason to focus on it. That said, I thought that some of the calls were especially egregious; the Bell Pass Interference was a horrible call, which was then followed up by an equally bad no-call when Darren McFadden spiked the ball after a negative play. Then, capping it off, we ask for a timeout with at least 10 seconds on the clock, and they finally call it with 3 seconds left. I think that referees have one of the most difficult jobs, but I expect better when I watch an NFL game.

    Game Balls of the Week

    Up until the last few minutes of the game, I really wasn’t sure who the players of the game should be. Another solid team effort, as this list seems to get longer and longer with each passing game. In other words, pick a player on the team and you can make an argument for them to be listed here.

    • Ted Ginn – Aside from the focus on the running game, we also worked hard to get Ted Ginn the ball, creatively – he had nearly 100 yards from the line of scrimmage. Ginn was also back in the game returning punts and kicks, and performed well. He racked up 166 all-purpose yards on the day, and made more good plays in another solid outing. One of the things I was hoping to see from Ted Ginn was continued maturity. We got that today in spades. His reverse was pretty, he manufactured the TD himself by breaking three tackles and heading into the end zone. He also made one of the biggest catches of his career on that 4th down conversion. Ginn is on pace for 812 yards, which basically doubles what he did last season as a rookie. I’d say that’s pretty good progress.
    • Vonnie Holliday, Kendall Langford, and Matt Roth – Holliday had a big day, with 2 sacks. Langford was also able to make a few plays out there, forcing a fumble while Tui was QBing the game. Roth played well for the second consecutive game, setting the edge and helping to anchor the run defense. A good day for these guys, who provided push and playmaking throughout the day.
    • Dan Carpenter – Carpenter had arguably the biggest play of the game, a 38 yard field goal to win the game for Miami. It was a pressure kick, with a lot of things riding on it, and Carpenter nailed it. Good to see the rookie come through when it counted most.
    • Patrick Cobbs - Here's how it works. If Patrick Cobbs doesn't make the tackle on special teams, no one else will. Cobbs had the key tackle of the day on special teams, making the play that would pin Oakland back to the 20 yard line on the final drive. He also had a very pretty TD on a well designed inside handoff. Good day for Cobbs.
    • Joey Porter - For the first 59 minutes and 30 seconds, Joey Porter had a quiet game. But he had one of the biggest plays of the day in the final seconds, finally breaking through and sacking JaMarcus Russell to end the game. He ended up with 1.5 sacks on the day, running his total for the season to 13.5. Great players rise to the big occasions, and this was certainly the case today.
    • Will Allen – Allen had his normally spectacular day, and set the tone early with a big sack on JaMarcus Russell.

    Goats of the Week

    The team played pretty well today, certainly well enough to win, but there were a few players who made little mistakes. These little mistakes allowed the Raiders to stick around, before eventually taking the lead on a late game punt return TD.

    • Davone Bess - The normally sure-handed Davone Bess dropped two passes. He seemed to be looking to make a play after the catch, instead of looking the ball in. He made a couple of nice plays (including a nifty little 27 yard grab late in the game), but overall it was a disappointing day for the rookie free agent, who has been a pretty reliable receiving target.
    • Vernon Carey – Carey made a terrible play today that allowed Pennington to get sacked. It’s hard to justify paying him the money he is sure to want when he gives up plays like that. I think he very well be allowed to walk and replaced next year. His play has declined since he moved back over to RT.
    • John Bonamego - Week out and week in, our special teams coverage is consistently terrible. Today was no exception, as Oakland was able to take back a punt in the fourth quarter and take the lead. I know that players are the ones that make the plays, but when you don't see improvement (and we haven't) then there has to be something going on with the coaching. We have a poorly coached special teams unit, with holding on returns and terrible kick coverage. Changes need to be made if we want to stay in the playoff hunt.
    • Anthony Fasano & David Martin – Another quiet day for the Miami TEs, who have found themselves on the outside looking in the past few weeks. As Ginn and Camarillo have come on, these two have been involved less and less. I don’t know if that’s by design or not, but I would have liked to see them used a bit more today.

    Overall Thoughts

    As I said earlier, this team really is going to give me a heart attack. We started strong, with a great defensive stop to open the game followed up by a quick TD, but after that we got mired in a tough battle for the rest of the game. We went 35 minutes, over two quarters, without scoring any points. In a lot of ways we hurt ourselves, giving up a safety, missing blocks, allowing return TDs.

    All that said you have to admire this team’s resiliency. The close games have given the team confidence they can win the game when it matters most. In this four game winning streak we have found a way to salt the game away. Against Buffalo it was a safety, followed up by a clock-killing FG drive that put the game out of reach. On the road in Mile High it was a 15 play TD masterpiece, with huge plays to salt the game away. We came back against Seattle, topping the Denver game with a 16 play drive to score the go-ahead touchdown and close the game out. We did it again today, with an efficient drive to produce the winning FG. After dropping a heartbreaker to the Texans early in the year, it’s obvious this team has learned from their mistakes, and has figured out how to win the close games.

    Next week is a stiff test. New England dropped a close one in OT to the Jets, and they have additional time to prepare for Sunday. The game is being played in Miami, a place where the Patriots have struggled recently. It’s a big test for Miami, and if they beat the Patriots, then they are worth of the playoff hype they’ve been getting. I do like our chances in the game, but there’s no doubt it will be a hard-fought battle. Win, and the Patriots playoff chances become very slim. Lose, and we will find ourselves on the outside looking in. Should be a good game, and I think we squeak out a win. It will be a close game, almost certainly, and after today I’m all the more confident we can win the close ones.

    We’re 6-4 and in second place in the AFC East. Great win by the Dolphins today, regardless of how we did it. The important thing is that this team displays heart and resiliency when faced with adversity. Kudos to the team for winning another hard-fought contest.
     
  2. anlgp

    anlgp ↑ ↑ ↓ ↓ ← → ← → B A

    Thanks for the write up
     
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  3. brandon27

    brandon27 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    outstanding as always bro!

    I got to agree, the officiating was TERRIBLE today... that was a terrible PI call, I saw McFadden spike the ball twice actually after negative plays. The first one was blatantly obvious, the second wasnt as obvious of a spike, but he still threw the ball down into the ground, just not as hard. Roth was also tripped from behind on a play... he was coming up behind russel, and the offensive lineman he blew past was laying on the ground and grabbed roth's ankle and tripped him as he went by... If i remember correctly, it led to a completion and a first down as well.

    Bess... Aside from the 2 drops, which surprised me. I thought he had a nice little game. He did well with the 2 punts he returned, however our great ST unit drew flags on the play. That catch he made late in the game and dragged 2 or 3 guys with him about 7 yards downfield was outstanding effort. He made up for the two drops there with that play IMO.

    Porter definately picked a great time to show up and make that sack. that was HUGE for us.

    Bonamego... should be fired. Thats simple.

    In regards to Fasano and Martin, it seems to me theyre being used more for blocking help recently than as receiving options... maybe thats just me though.

    Anyways, great write up as usual! :up:
     
  4. BrazForPhins

    BrazForPhins From south

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    thanks for the analysis

    I've never been a fan of the RBBC approach, but fact is that we're running the ball effectively. As you pointed out, our trio has talent.

    On the big picture, we may be putting our backfield into a healthy and fresh condition to face playoff battles if we manage to get into it. Because if we do, we'll need them.
     
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  5. The Dude

    The Dude Anti Jet

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    Nice write up.

    But....it was a PI on Bell.
     
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  6. Rocky Raccoon

    Rocky Raccoon Greasepaint Ghost Staff Member

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    Ted Ginn has arrived.

    the TD run was outstanding. But no play was bigger than his 4th down catch on the final drive. He has the confidence of Pennington and that is huge. He's fun to watch.

    nice job yet again VO :up:
     
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  7. Vengeful Odin

    Vengeful Odin Norse Mod

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    I thought it was telling that we went to Ginn on the fourth down, and not Camarillo. As you say, that shows the confidence Chad has in him to make the play. Ginn really stepped up today, as Camarillo had a quiet game (and boy, did he come up with a great catch on that play, or what? Too bad that drive didn't result in points on the board.)
     
  8. slickj101

    slickj101 Is Water

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    Nice write up as always man.

    The one other thing that I didn't like (besides the ST incompitence) was the fact that we ran on 1 or 2 3rd and 4-5's. That made 0 sense to me.

    Anyways, don't call it a comeback:

    [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7l250E5uM4]YouTube - L.L.Cool J - Mama said knock you out[/ame]
     
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  9. Vengeful Odin

    Vengeful Odin Norse Mod

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    I almost said, with apologies to LL Cool J before writing that. Glad to see someone got the reference. :lol:
     
  10. slickj101

    slickj101 Is Water

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    Haha.

    Don't call it a comeback
    I been here for years
    Rockin my peers and puttin suckas in fear


    That should be our entrance music the rest of the year. How badass would that be?
     
  11. dolphans1

    dolphans1 New Member

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    The problem with todays game was , Sprano felt if we played conservatively we would win and that was not the case....

    Special teams nearly killed us today...

    d-1
     
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  12. Vengeful Odin

    Vengeful Odin Norse Mod

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    Special teams and/or poor offensive line play (at RG) is going to cost us a win at some point before the season is over, unless we can start making improvement.
     
  13. I think Sporano's conservative attitude may of just been just him trying to keep his cards close to his chest for the NE game. I think that is why we saw cobbs get so much action today. It gives NE another player to focus on defending this week. We played conservative football but we did it while keying off lesser used players. That has got to give NE more stuff to try to cover in practices this week. We really have been masterfull at keeping our opponets guessing most if not all of this season.
     
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  14. alen1

    alen1 New Member

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    I'm quite worried about the whole right side of the line to be honest. I felt comfortable with Vernon Carey but today's performance wasn't pretty. He whiffed on at least two blocks. He's gone at the end of the season. I can't remember who said it but they made an interesting point when they asked if Carey was really that good or was it a poor surrounding cast around him all these years making him look good. Going into next year, we could see two new starters on the offensive line (Center and RT) and possibly RG, depending on Thomas' injury. That's going to be a hell of a shakeup considering how many of us thought we would have a good bunch for a while coming into the season. I wonder if we look at Eric Wood, the Center out of Louisville in the draft. He's about the same size Andre Gurode is when Parcells had him starting in Dallas. He clears lanes well up the gut but I don't know how he fairs against Nose Tackles and when I watched him, he didn't do a great job of blocking in the second level.
     
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  15. Dolphin1184

    Dolphin1184 Member

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    Posts like this are what makes this site great. Thanks for the awesome read.
     
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  16. Vengeful Odin

    Vengeful Odin Norse Mod

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    You and I are on the same page my friend. I made that exact point up in another post a little while ago. Going into the season, I thought our line was set for the next 3-5 years, pending Carey getting a new deal. Now it looks like Carey may walk, we have Don Thomas coming off a major injury, and Satele has been all over the place in his performance. Doesn't bode well for carry-over to next year, that's for sure.
     
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  17. alen1

    alen1 New Member

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    Absolutely. And we know how impatient this coaching staff and front office are with players. The problem with Satele I have is that I don't know if that harness he's wearing is whats troubling him or if its his declined play. I think it was Travis (Aqua) who said that Satele isn't asked to pull or along those lines. I would think he's on a short leash but then again, I can't say whats exactly wrong with him. I truly hope that Thomas comes back full strength because he's a guy who looked very good.
     
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  18. Vengeful Odin

    Vengeful Odin Norse Mod

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    What's illogical to me is that we've designed entire packages of plays to maximize the talent of our skill players (namely the Wildcat) but we insist on asking Satele to do things he's not good at.

    Satele is a physical guy, but his game is more speed and finesse. He's at his best when we put him into space and ask him to go knock somebody on their but. We could maximize this by having him pull on sweeps, screens, or other similar plays. We could also use counter plays and draws to help slow down the initial push of the defensive line.

    We don't do any of that. We continually try to run between Samson and Ndukwe, something I don't really understand. We could be opening up the playbook to help him out, we choose not do. Maybe Hennig knows something I don't. Maybe we can't do that because of how poor Ndukwe is, Satele has to help. I don't know, but it's strange to me to see.
     
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  19. alen1

    alen1 New Member

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    Very good points. I think the loss of Donald Thomas has completely screwed up the whole right side of the line as well as Satele's play. Today, Vernon Carey helped Ndukwe block on a few occasions if I remember correctly. I've always remembered Carey as playing on an island but I could be wrong. Furthermore, didn't Donald Thomas help Satele with the heavier Tackles?
     
  20. Vengeful Odin

    Vengeful Odin Norse Mod

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    Yep, Don Thomas and Samson Satele were complimentary players. His loss has really hurt. It's been one of the only consistent downers this year.
     
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  21. Jaj

    Jaj Registered

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    I really don't see the point of getting rid of Carey after a bad game. If his price is fair he should stay. Donald Thomas will return at RG and we will probably go looking for some depth. If we had the OL from the first game of the season, gelling right now, things would be great.

    Blowing up the offensive line, AGAIN is absolutely pointless. I'm tired of it.
     
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  22. Vengeful Odin

    Vengeful Odin Norse Mod

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    I don't think anyone's advocating dropping Carey just based on one bad outing. I've been disappointed in his play throughout the year ... it seems like both Carey and Satele have been hurt by the absence of Donald Thomas.

    I don't want to see the o-line get blown up again either, but what I thought would be a strength is actually a weakness.

    We struggle to run consistently, but today was a step in the right direction.
     
  23. Larryfinfan

    Larryfinfan 17-0...Priceless Club Member

    I see more of the negative of this game...we outlasted another poor team that we let back into the game because of a bad play...this week it was another PR for a TD, last week it was a pick 6, week prior another KR for TD, the Jests it was a hail-Mary,etc...there have been several others, where we just are giving teams a chance to come back...NE won't be so forgiving as to lay down and allow us back into the game and now we won't be facing a QB that is quite as green as he was 6 weeks ago...he's improved tremendously and they've (as BB usually does) tailored the game to his strengths and weaknesses making them very formidable...not the pansies like Seattle and Oakland...

    In particular, the STs return coverage teams are putrid, at best...What is it with Bonamego that he can't fix this...poor angles, bad tackling, and stupid penalties again killed us in this game...We did what losing teams normally do and there had to be a penalty on every KR or PR that we had...I think that the Tuna must have mandated that they put Ginn back at returns so that's an improvement, but somewhere, somehow we've got to correct these stupid mistakes, if we are going to get to the playoffs (as everyone seems to think we can) and then be able to at least show up, even if the teams we end up playing have more talent, which they surely will...

    One other negative is when will this offense start to put it all together inside the 20...they move up and down the field and then stall when it comes time to score...the run game just isn't consistent enough inside the 20 and the pass game seems to faulter there as well...we had all kinds of offense today, just not when it mattered most...

    Ok...I've vented....(a couple of deep breaths)....

    Now, I'll talk about the things I liked...as usual, VO, you covered most everything...I don't quite see the similarities other than positional situations, you talked about in comparing to Czonka, Kiick and Morris, but I see your point...
    What I like is that in past games, it has seemed like we've 'highlited' or put the sombrero on a particular player, as Sparano says on offense to get the most from our offense..this week, it seems we highlighted differnent players at different points in the game, kind of putting all the work they've done so far this season together at different times of the game...first it was Ginn on a reverse, then Ricky had a few runs out of the Wildcat, they Ronnie had a couple of nice runs, then Ginn caught a nice catch or two, then Camarillo had a catch or two (and with Asumougha all over him)...then the D had a good play, with Goodman getting into the act, Bell being his normal hard hitting self and Will Allen with several nice pass defenses, the DL putting pressure on their QBs in timely situations...It was kind of like they took the success the RB had against NE a little, Camarillo's success against Denver some, oh they added Cobbs a little here and there, along with Ginn's success against Buffalo....it was really fun to watch...It was fun to see the successes of past weeks come together.

    My concern is that we can't let teams off the hook as we have a penchant for doing if we're going to progress beyond the end of the season...
     
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  24. Vengeful Odin

    Vengeful Odin Norse Mod

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    I think that the Ronnie Brown fumble hurt this team more than I expected yesterday, much in the say way the Pick Six hurt us last week. We had been doing pretty well in the turnover margin, but we were -1 last week and the week before. Our defense hasn't forced a turnover in the last 8 quarters of football, something I hope changes against New England. So, we have an offense that's turned the ball over more than usual coupled with a defense that isn't creating any turnovers of their own. That's a recipe for tough games.

    It's obvious that the Dolphins are taking a "no star" approach in their offensive philosophy. All of our skill players (Ronnie Brown, Greg Camarillo, Ted Ginn, Ricky Williams) have been highlighted in previous games. I have no doubt this is intentional; it forces other teams to prepare for multiple looks and fronts, and helps instill confidence in the unit as a whole. Watching the game yesterday, I felt like it was time for an expanded role for Patrick Cobbs ... he doubled his rushing attempts on the season, and tripled his yardage. Cobbs is making a pretty good argument for expanded playing time, he's improved steadily throughout the year.

    On special teams, there's going to be changes to that unit for sure. I don't know if we will see them until the offseason, however.
     
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  25. slickj101

    slickj101 Is Water

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    Nice post.

    That Ronnie fumble really was at the worst possible time. We were around the 20-30 and would of definitely gotten a FG if not a TD and made it a two score game for them. Ronnie hardly ever fumbles though so I'll chalk that one up as a fluke.

    Cobbs definitely proved his worth to me also in this game. I know he's had some huge plays in past weeks, but it was nice to see him keep that consistency. Signing him to an extension was huge for our ST.

    BTW, I love how one of our RBs abuses an Oak DB every time we play. Last year it was Ronnie, this year it was Cobbs.

    NFL Game Center: Post Game - Oakland Raiders at Miami Dolphins - 2008 Week 11
    Watch @ 0:55 and see Cobbs just demolish the guy in the endzone.
     
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  26. Dol-Fan Dupree

    Dol-Fan Dupree Tank? Who is Tank? I am Guy Incognito.

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    It is hard for me to call the offensive line a weakness. There were a few break downs in pass blocking, however on a whole Chad has had time to throw this year. Running game hasn't been super stellar, however it has also been very keyed on and Chad has had time to throw this year.


    Also I would have Brown be Csonka and Ricky be Morris. Mostly by their running styles. Ricky doesn't really punish people anymore.
     
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  27. The Aqua Crush

    The Aqua Crush New Member

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    Fantastic stuff VO. In my opinion you analzyed the post game perfectly.
     
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