If Hennes pass wasn't tipped and instead was a touchdown, the attitude around here would be a bit different.

My 2 cents anyway.

 

I agree the sky isn't falling, but I will say the Dolphins first string is usually stale in preseasons in recent years and yes it has carried over in the regular season. Just food for thought.

 

Meeeh

 

Guess we shoulda started Thiggy, eh Cobrajet? ;)

 

We added Incognito and John Jerry; Berger is rotating in as a possible starter this year. I wouldn't say that we have basically the same line as last year. IMO adding one new starter to the OL would be considered basically the same OL. But we're starting two (maybe three) out of five.
As to defense..out of 11 possible starters we have five new starters and you don't see that as a rebuild? That's almost half. What would you consider a rebuild?

 

Yes I understand it's preseason. Game 3 of the preseason is where the starters are supposed to play a lot more and you see what the team is going to look like, for a half at least.
Other than Smith our defense wasn't what concerned me... I know we didn't get any sacks but Ryan got rid of the ball pretty quickly and we were hitting him right after his release.
Here's what concerned me:
Our offense only getting a 53 yard field goal in the first half.
A couple plays where guys came unblocked off the right side at Henne.
Another drop from BM (burn the jersey, get a new number).
Lousaka had no shot on 4th and 1, got spoiled last year thinking that was automatic.
Special teams - Loved Carroll's play on the first kickoff but we need to just kick the ball in the end zone. Our kickoff coverage is terrible and kills us in field position. The falcons averaged 28 yards a return, we averaged 19.

 

I agree it is not one of those "the sky is falling moments" that many will make it out to be. However, the play was lackluster at best, 9 penalties, watching the o-line get pushed all over the place when it is one of our strengths and watching the d give up 3rd down conversions all night isn't exactly confidence inducing.

What makes this all troubling to me is the recent history of starting very slow out of the gates. We simply can't afford that and if we do we I don't think we'll be able to run anyone down in the east. It seems every year we are shuffliing starters on the o-line and while that is not neccessarily a bad thing early on in camp, I think that it needs to be settled on quicker to give the unit more time to jell. Remember how poor they looked to start last year? I saw the same type of play last night. They are better than what they showed, but they need to be ready to go now.

 

well,in BM's defense, that was clearly a catch, and then a strip/fumble that the refs blew even after reviewing the play with instant replay. Pretty sad actually

 

Yeah I'm not sure how they overturned that... I was with Falcon fans for the game and we all thought it was a waste of a timeout for Atlanta...

I'm not sure how much better a fumble is than a drop.

 

hopefully we can Beat Dallas and go into the regular season with a win

 

I think yesterday was a wake up call....game 3 is where you should be coming around as far as everything, and they seemed to take a step back.....White got the secondary for a TD, Henne is inconsistant as all hell, too many penalties, vonate's illegal contact on 3rd down...haah even Long got whistled for holding, vanilla playcalling(which I expect) but to run 2X in a row after Bell's pick, in ATL territory, I mean come on, then when they did pass it gets intercepted!!!!! the crowd was even booing last night....Henne just can't make dumb turnovers in these situations....make all the excuses you want, but he just can't do it this year....

I am disappointed but not panicing...I expected more on the 3rd preseason game of the year, I feel if they clean up the slop, they would have had better results......I am somewhat relieved the Jets, and Pats also didnt look their best either...

Hey guys/gals maybe they werent used to playing in dry condidtions...

 

The Coaches need to do a better job of getting the team ready to play right out of the blocks. All three preseason games have seen the team come out flat as a pancake! Once ok, twice fix whats wrong, three times....problem!

 

thats what I was talking about with one of my buddies last night on the phone...the talent is there, get these guys to show something...with the exception of one 1/4 of one game, I'm like ehhhh....

I have faith in their scheme however..

 

My biggest concern about last night is our running game seems to have gone dead. I stack it up to the 3 "new" players on the OL. Both LG & RG are new and they are still rotating Grove & Berger at C, doesn't make for a consistent OL that knows how to play together.

We look better, to a degree, in the passing game. Mostly because of Marshall, and Hartline picked up his game last night, but we need to get the OL to get their running game mojo back.

The defense is the most revamped yet they looked better than the offense last night, to me anyway. Not terribly worried, but concerned about us coming out of the gate slowly again this season, which means we have to really gel fast or we miss the playoffs again.

Fasano seems back to 2008 form, but that is mostly due to Marshall opening up the middle IMO, Sparano has to stop fooling with the OL and get these guys playing together so our running game comes back. Without the running game, Marshall and our souped up WR/TE corps will have a tough time of it, so will Henne.

 

It was really hard to watch.
The 2 minute drill was ******ed to say the least.
Henne and Marshall were on 2 different planets.
Sean Smith is not an NFL cornerback or at least he is showing that he has regressed from last year.
The o-line is supposed to improve...????
I don't remember the 4th quarter. By then I was agitated and drunk.

 

about the game:

1) it w/only a preseason, however, the first in nine that we've lost. hope this does not speak to a lack of effort or desire to compete on our part. always good to win, but we didn't'

2) outside of V. Davis we played badly across the board

3) what concerns me most is the Offensive Line, as they go, so goes the game. the Orcas looked more like bottle-nose dolphins last night, the return of Flipper is not a good thing. need to get your front five ( whoever they may be) on the same page & aggressive. they are not.

4) don't think the coaching cadre will glean too many positive things from the game other then Bill Parcells on them like white on rice... better get to work & fast, the season is upon us. there is no evidence of a contender in the making as of yet, very disappointing

 

This starting out flat is something that has plagued Sparano since he's been here. It's one thing to want to evaluate your players in the preseason, if fact it's the most important thing, but to evaluate them to the extent that it interferes with your ability to allow your team to meld together is too much. Our #1 D consisted of about 16 players...I saw Ike Alama-Francis in there, Micah Johnson, Dobbins, Clemons, Carroll, J. Allen, McDaniels, Soliai (if he's actually the #2 NT) and others in the first couple of series....is that using our starters and building some continuity ?? Controlling the play count is one thing, but does anyone really think McDaniels one of our starting DEs ?? Crowder was out and that may have been why Alama-Francis and Johnson were rotated in, but geez... Same on the offensive side of the ball....Berger and Grove rotating, Jerry was in and out in the first half, as was Incognito....What dress rehearsal ?? This was just like our 2nd PS game...our #1 units need some continuity and we just aren't seeing that. The part that is bothersome is that this isn't just this year that this has happened. It's been every year of this regime. We wrote it off for 'rebuilding' in the first two years, but now ?? While there is a tremendous amount of turnover, moreso on D, there is no reason they shouldn't have figured who the starters are and are not at this point....and the stated purpose of the 3rd PS game is to allow the #1's to gel, isn't it ??

 

they didn't gel
they raised more questions than answers
the offensive line went from our strongest unit to a work in progress
what's to like? V. Davis
look for Parcells to weigh into this one, however discreetly
we need a quick start in the regular season
they didn't gel

 

I agree completely with this. This is coaching. And TS needs to feel the urgency. Last year we were 7-9...the owner spent a whole lotta money to improve this team. I am sure Ross doesn't plan on the money he spent on Marshall and Dansby just netting him one more win. I think he believes we are a 10 game winner...minimum. So with that in mind, I don't think we can start the season 1-3 or 2-4. Sparano will feel alot of pressure if we start slowly...as well he should.

 

I personally think its good we had a game like this now in the preseason. We can learn from the mistakes and move on.

 

Colts have won maybe 4 preseason games in the last 5 years. They're over 80% win/loss in the regular season over the past 10. We put too much of a premium on preseason. We have a whole new Defensive playbook and an updated offensive playbook. If somebody thinks this is a harbinger of doom then overreaction comes to mind.

 

If there is any positive to last night it is Vontae Davis was playing lights out. Easily the best game I've ever seen him play. 3 passes defensed, a forced fumble and I can't recall how many tackles. Really great job!

 

I'm tired of the "its only preseason" line....guys they arent trying to look bad, they were bad....again by game 3, you better have it tight, the rust should be worn off, mental OL errors should be starting to dwindle down, Henne and Marshall shouldnt be so far apart, they should be on the same page.....penalties increased instead of decrease....

TB, and Jax suck straight out, they arent good football teams, last night was a good football team, not elite but good, and they sheet the bed, preseason or not....again regardless of it is just preseason, you dont ever want to look like that.....Ryan hooks up with White on that ball he misfires on, and it is a blowout...the score doesnt tell the whole tale...

how about 12 men on the field, 1st and 5, then Starks jumps....1st down without even running a play....cant cant happen..

Last time I checked Atlanta wasnt the 86 Giants in terms of their defense.......

Again got faith, just they dont have much time to figure a couple of things out.....Sick sorry I missed the show bro....my man Pariah tells me it was drunken fun!!

 

I'm not into the win/loss line of the preseason. What I'd like to see is some consistant execution on a drive or three, and especially in the most important 3rd game. They pretty much laid a rotten egg last night and the coaches had best get them MORE ready to play in a couple of weeks.