There are many who have a degree of problems with our coaches, and their play calling. No problem, it's part of being a fan, and every fan is entitled to their opinion. I'm just wondering how much is on the coaching, and how much is on the players. For example, a few years ago our 1-15 team could have had Halas, Saint Vince, "The Don," Walsh, Knoll, and whoever else you would like to add, and still sucked. On the other side, Barry Switzer took over JJ's talent, and won a Super Bowl. I would bet that at least half of the posters here could have done the same. On D, we have Bell, who was a local sub, and that's it on D. On O, we have Long and Marshall. All due respect to Rickey. We do have a bunch with the talent to be Pro Bowlers but, they are still learning and developing. So, back to my question: Is the coaching or players who need to get better for our team to be where we want it to be?
Tight end.. scatback. olineman.. Middle linebacker.. Full time returner.. we still have personell issues...
I have to disagree on TE, ILB, and the OL. Most definitely agree on the other two. I like Fasano, and think he is a good fit for this team for his blocking, which has been VG. I don't know that we will ever see his receiving skills here. Crowder will make a BIG difference. Better we discuss this in a couple of weeks. On the OL, I really like Jerry and Incogneto. Scatback and a KR who can do anything are glaring needs. All teams I've seen have their weaknesses.
I think a lot of it is just the gel personally... The Defense is comprised of a lot of inexperienced players, with a new defensive coordinator, and new schemes. Just those things alone can explain the consistency issues there. We haven't had Crowder all year, Odrick and Ike are Sick. So there's even more flux there between rotating in Soliai and sending Starks back out to End after getting in an NT mindset all offseason. The Offensive line is in constant yearly rotation except for RT and LT. Our #1 receiver missed out on a good chunk of the offseason to get synchronized with Henne. Ricky Williams has had a case of the dropsies lately. Hard to tell if Special Teams mistakes are on the players, or on the coaching... I'm betting player, but it's probably a combination of the two. Point I think I'm trying to make is I don't think it's coaching, I think its just a time issue. The roster got overhauled quite a bit, and there's still a lot of newness to the team. Look at this team versus the team that went 11-5 two years ago, and you'll see the starters at most positions have changed. I think, hope, and pray that it's all just a matter of everyone getting into the flow of things, and building up that skill of working as a unit. So to the question... neither?
To keep myself from getting mad all over again after four consecutive passing plays at the end of the game, I will respectfully say that the coaching delivered us our only loss and leave it at that. Although not a single player on our team has played a perfect game so far, nothing any one person has done compares to the type of blunders Henning produced Sunday night.
IMO our defensive talent level is very high. I rate Bell, Davis, Dansby, Wake and Starks as players who have the talent to be top 5 at their respective positions. Other than Dobbins, I haven't seen any other starter who is a liability and he's only starting b/c Crowder is hurt. On offense, I see Long, Marshall, Brown and Polite as players with arguably top 5 talent. And Henne has top 10 potential. I see more problems with the coaching than the talent level. In general, I really like the job Sparano (HC), Nolan (DC), Bowles (Secondary), Lee (QB), Dorell (WR), Sheridan (LB) and Rodgers (DL) have done. I'm mixed on Henning (OC) and DeGuglielmo (OL). I'm unhappy with Bonamego (ST). Obviously this is just based on what I see on the field, but that's my impression from afar.
Well now Dansby and BM have been introduced to Miami Dolphins football as well the rivalry that is the AFCE. The Bills game doesn't count because they really aren't what they used to be. Clearly this one hurt as a heated rival came to our house and left with a win left BM with a bad taste in his mouth. Hopefully this will translate into a more focused approach as well as leadership from our new studs. If there is a case for a good loss, depending on what comes after, this might be one.
I think if we had better coaches, we'd have better players. After all, the coaches have a say in personell decisions. That said, we have a lot of talent on this team, but we lack it in a couple key positions, particularly in our defensive backfield. Some of that might just be lack of experience though, and I expect our defense to get better with time. In sum, I think our defensive problems are because of lack of talent/experience, while our offensive problems are from bad coaching.
Coaches didn't make Allen fall down and give up a free bee TD or allow an underneath completion on a crucial third down when he had safety help. Coaches didn't miss Hartline for a would be TD on our first offensive play. Coaches didn't tell Wake and Moses to give up the edge all night long. Coaches didn't tell Soliai to play hard for a only a couple snaps at a time. Coaches didn't tell Bell to not get his head around on a floater to D Keller. Ditto for Carpenter, he and Bell were supposed to double Keller on that 2nd TD, I guess Nolan should've called a triple team. Coaches didn't drop 4 INTs (Bell, Allen, Wake, Langford). Coaches didn't tell Walden to not block ANYONE and allow a blocked punt. Coaches didnt tell McQuistan to get blown into the backfield on half a dozen pass plays, forcing Henne off of his reads and ruining the play call. Coaches didn't tell Ricky to fumble. so let's calm down with the blaming the coaches line. Not to say there weren't some curious calls. I'm still waiting to see if Bess is on the unjury report b/c I cannot for the life of me figure out why he wasn't on the field on 4th and 4. The WC seemed awkward given or success out of the the conventional offense, though there's no way to know how much time the Jets spent preparing for it, thus increasing the effectiveness of our base sets. Vontae should've been on Braylon IMO. At the very least, Vontae should of been at LCB. Braylon roasted JAllen all night long, though JA seemed to get the better of him in the first qtr .
Better fans on thephins.com. Kidding. Coaches 1) Teach Sparano to manage a clock and game 2) Fire Bonamego already. These special teams are looking like Special Ed Teams. 3) Replace Karl Dorrell Players 1) Henne must continue to develop 2) We need our LG-C-RG to play well and be the same three guys for more than two weeks at a time. 3) Receiving Tight end (see Keller, Jets or Hernandez, Pats as examples. Oh wait, we just SAW Keller and will see Hernandez up close and personal next week. Take notes Irelands! THIS is what you need to think about getting for us.) 4) Someone who can make people miss, and has speed... this person can be our Kick and Punt Returner, but also play a Dexter McCluster role on offense from time to time. I wish McCluster had fallen further.
We’ll be lucky if only one of these two changes happen. I think it’s pretty notable that the only coach Sparano has fired is Mike Maser.
Some really good posts and points. A friend just explained how that thanks thing works. I am a bit of a dinosaur when it comes to tech stuff. LOL There have been some glaring mistakes in time managment, and there is no excuse for it. Stevie Wonder could see the problem, and it is fascinating that it continues to happen. That's all on the coaches. Another is a return man. How could we not try to address this ongoing problem with more than waiver wire fodder? That's all on the FO. As far as schemes and play calling, every coach in the NFL has been questioned hundreds of times when something does not work. How many times have screamed at what a bad frakin call that was, until it worked? We made a ton of changes, AGAIN, and adding in the youth, I believe it's just going to take some time for these players to do what coaches have coached them to do. JMO.
It's both. The coaches have done some great things but other times, they've had poor play calls. It happens, you're not going to make consistent play calling. Dan Henning, as great as I think he's been these three weeks, has had a few issues with the timing of some plays. Mike Nolan has done some fantastic things but he's also made some odd calls and/or personnel packages. The special teams coach needs to be replaced. At the same time, these players are not executing the game plans. Better run blocking is needed, the ball out of Henne's hands has to come out quicker, can't miss assignments on defense, can't miss tackles, need to generate more pass rush, need to destruct blocks on special teams, need to account for all possibilities of the opposition (see the X stunt by the Jets).
I agree with almost everything. Henning calls the WC, and it's not working. Yet he continues to call it. IMO, he is setting up the Ronnie pass for a big play but, it does not work. Was it worth the risk? No, because it didn't work. I really thought we missed Jerry, and I believe we miss Crowder. On special teams, give the guy someone who is better than hoping for a kick out of the end zone, and I may well agree.
you gettin into offseason mode already GM...lol, it might come sooner than we think, if we dont win this game, and looking at our schedule, odd are, were gonna be watchin tape on college players and free agent's, earlier than expected.. If we win this game, I will not watch tape on anyone...Those are the deals I make for myself as a fan, and as someone who loves the personell side.
The Wildcat actually worked. I said this in the Club Level on the day of the game and Tony Sparano confirmed it a day later. We had four positive yard runs, 3 of which went for 4+ yards. We threw one pass, which could have easily been a completion as Sparano put it; we had a player, can't remember who, who was on a wheel route and wide open.