"Up tempo in the Heat" should be our official slogan for the year- it's always been the secret to strong home performances.

 

His best quote- "I just think there's too much pressure on Adam Gase this season to screw things up."

I agree, I think we find a way to win this one. Hopefully it's in the trenches with the ground game to make it an "easy" return for Tannehill. But I'm definitely not counting on it and I think we'll have to see some RT magic working the field.

 

If the middle of the Defensive line and the rookie Lb's hold up we will win. It is imperative that the offense come out fast for a change, but they will be much better than last year by leaps and bounds. In fact I predict the offense will actually be good this year.

 

Mink... Baker... Gesecki...Ballage..Smythe ( injury to Gray, Smythe plays the same position).. Sanders..

Man, talk about living or dying on a draft class..

We need all of them to be good..

 

We have two starters out..

Parker and Gray..

 

Well Gray anyway.

 

The way I see it, Gase needs bring back that fire he had his first year with us. I remember a guy on the sideline who was cocky and bold. He just would not accept defeat. I liked his aggressiveness, and I think our players did too. I would like to see that Gase back again. I realize it's a game to game situation. Sometimes, it's better to be conservative and keep the game close, so you have a chance to win it at the end. However, this is our 1st game. The tone setter. I want him to WILL our guys to victory. Unleash the beast. Don't take NO for an answer. Pull out all the stops (if we need to). Marietta is going to bring it. RT should too. Dink and dunk. OK. Our guys should be looking to take it to the house on every play. We have the talent to put some serious points up. No more screwing around. Gase, needs to bring it! Don't play scared. Play to win! Put the pedal to the floor, and watch the other teams fall behind in your rearview mirror! Let's get it!

 

Gray played 12% of the snaps last season. I expect he would have played more this season, but at most maybe 25% of the snaps? My guess is that by the end of the year Gesicki would have played a higher percentage of the snaps anyways. At best I'd call Gray a part-time starter. I feel bad for Gray and we'll miss his versatility, but in terms of the team, it doesn't hurt that much. It's a position we have some options at. Gray is a better blocker than Derby, but not a better receiver. Smyth is probably as good of a blocker already, he just lacks the experience.

As for Parker, I don't think he should be a starter. I prefer to see Grant in his place. Grant effects the defense more. They fear his speed more. They give him more cushion. That makes screens easier and helps the run game. I also think Grant is a better blocker. As a receiver I think Grant is more dangerous on the fade or deep passes. Some claim that Parker's size is some boon for us but I don't see it. IIRC in 2016 Parker's contested catch rate was 44%. There's nothing special there.

 

Let's not fool ourselves by minimizing his loss of Gray with snap counts. While Gase runs a very large amount of 11 personnel, Gray pretty much played in every heavy personnel package and played a critical role within those packages as well. His veteran experience of understanding the blocking schemes and his assignment in a matter of mere seconds, or less, during his motions to ID the defensive shifts to match were second to none on the team. His knowledge in this area is why he was featured at TE, Hback, Wing, and FB, and often the motion ID for the offense while in 22, 21, 12, 13 personnel.

Naturally fans swoon to the statistical measurements (catches, TDs) to place value on players, but you can't do that for Gray. His value lies within the offense and it's proper execution.

Next man up. We'll move on. But Gray was an integral part of this offense in it's behind the scenes work.

 

Well, we don’t know what or why Julius Thomas was on the field so much last year, Gray was more than capable, and the results of being underutilized showed.

I had this player on the upswing, this was a qb in college who had completely transformed into a big versatile tight end, that transition takes time at this level so there was still upside in his game.

I think we’re gonna miss him more than you think..

Ya see for me, Gesecki at this point, should only be used in red zone, one on one matchups, if we try to use him in the framework of our base offense I think he’s going to get manhandled, so really as far as our offense goes, Derby and Smythe are the guys..that’s a weakness without Gray.

 

Lol the jets even look stupid in pictures!!! Top right GO PHINS!!!!

 

I'm hoping that we were so conservative last year because we were so limited with Cutler- that's my hope anyway. I have a feeling that we're going to come out tomorrow firing....even though we haven't seen anything to suggest that. It's just a gut instinct after we played so conservative in pre-season and Gase talking trash to the media.

 

I like Gray and complained often the last two seasons that we didn't use him more, but the fact is that we didn't use him much. We mostly used him as a blocker in heavy packages and I've been impressed with Smythe as a blocker. So while the loss of experience on those few snaps hurt at the end of the day it's still few snaps and therefore a small impact on the team.

 

why is this game on fox?

If you live in FL, you either get to watch (Texans @ Pats) or (Chiefs @ Chargers) on CBS, despite Miami playing a home game vs an AFC opponent. FOX has the Bucs game airing for most of FL, except in Miami and Jacksonville. So if you live anywhere else in FL, you get a big middle finger.

 

Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's off to the sports bar I go... drink, drink, drink, drink, drink, drink, drink from early morn till night...
drink, drink, drink, drink, drink, drink up everything in sight...heigh-ho, heigh-ho, heigh-ho, heigh-ho, heigh-ho, heigh-ho,
heigh-ho hum...

 

I just figured out how to get local channels from ANYWHERE!

1. Signup for YoutubeTV ($39 monthly, bonus for me because i already have it)
2. Signup for monthly subscription to ExpressVPN. ($12.99 monthly)
3. Use ExpressVPN from Windows or Mac to connect to a Miami server (one click setup, easy as hell)
4. Using Chrome, go to youtube.tv and sign in.
5. You should now have access to local stations in Miami.
6. (optional) Cast your Chrome browser to a ChromeCast to view on your TV or projector. (not sure if you can cast Chrome to Roku or FireTV, but maybe.

This is essentially like getting Cable and NFL Sunday ticket for a combined cost of $52 per month. You can connect to any city and watch whatever game is being aired locally.

 

That's pretty cool. What do you subscribe to YoutubeTV for? I haven't really heard much about it and never looked into it. What kind of content do they have and what do you like?

 

One cool thing I watched on it last month was a Karate Kid sequal to the originals (named Cobra Kai). It has Daniel and the bad guy training students and competing against each other....I really enjoyed it from the nostalgia.

I don't think you need YouTube TV to pull off the VPN...I used Express VPN for the pre-season and watched it on local channels. YouTube certainly makes it easier though.

 

Yeah I saw that a couple days ago and I was pissed. Central Florida and I cant even see my team. Ever since the Jags came into being we've been screwed.

 

I like how the NFLN always mentions how Andrew Luck is making this great comeback from how ever many games its been since he played in the regular season due to his injury, even though its been even LONGER for Ryan Tannehill since he stepped onto the field for a regular season game.
Today is going to be a great day when ryan has a better game that andrew. Sorry about your damn luck NFLN.

 

I hope both come back full strength. Luck is an amazing QB and Tannehill is damn good himself.

 

CK had a great thread on twitter with some tidbits and previews on todays match up...

 

Don’t get me wrong, I like RT, but I would like to see him play with some urgency like Luck does.

 

Man what the heck is going on with the network schedule? I dont even get the Jaguar game. Its either Bucs Saints or the Pats game. So either the worst game in week 1 or the Pats!

 

Yuck!

 

That's a whole lot of empty seats for opening kickoff. Damn.

 

Could have been a better job on STs.

 

Way too open, that is disappointing. Wasn't even a good throw.

 

looked like mcmillan got a little lost there.

 

Dolphins haven't had a top 10 offense since 2001.

I've suffered long enough. Please give me something to be excited about this year.

 

nice tackle by fitz

 

Wide the F open

 

stream please.

 

Can I just say that Fitzpatrick is fast becoming one of my favorites! The game doesn’t seem too big for him.

 

Cobra Kai was awesome

 

They should have had the TD, but holding them to a FG is not too bad. Now how is our offense?

 

Horray for pre-snap penalties! :pity: