Dolphins@Panthers notes

Martin may have the physical talent, but he is obviously not ready yet to be a starter. IMO, he needs to be a backup for a while. Start Murtha, or Garner, or even move Hicks out to RT.

The QB situation may be a case that if Garrard can come back and play the 4th preseason game and do ok, that he still ends up being the starter on opening day.
Tanny isn't ready yet. He still has the same problem he had in college of so many of his passes deflected at the line. He had far more than Luck, RG3, Weeden, or even tiny Russell Wilson last season.
I'd start Moore next week during the dress rehearsal game, and if he struggles, then hope Garrard can make it back by the 4th game.

Wallace was also wide open on 3 different occasions and Tannheill missed him once and Moore missed him twice.

Agreed on the corners. VD had a really good bounce back game and both he and Smith got called for bs penalties.

Disagree that Tannehill is "clearly not ready to start". He wasn't great but he doesn't play scared and made some nice throws. If he keeps improving over these next 2 weeks he should be the starter.

Shelby looks pretty good rushing the passer.

Les Brown invisible.

Defense obviously terrible but I'm not making any conclusions because 3 of our best 5 defenders didn't play.

Speaking of invisible. Is Naanee going to do something in a game? Beat writers rave about him but he's done diddly poo so far.

Moore, Bess, Clay, Fuller and Hogan all had some nice catches as well.

"Rocky Raccoon wrote:

Disagree that Tannehill is "clearly not ready to start". He wasn't great but he doesn't play scared and made some nice throws. If he keeps improving over these next 2 weeks he should be the starter.

I think you're right, there were some good things. He's making some nice passes, he's not making bad decisions, he's not turning the ball over(and it isn't because he's overly protective), he's not holding on to the ball too long... But a fair amount of his incomplete passes were on him, either because he throw with bad timing/accuracy or it got batted, to the point where even if other things were better I don't know if the offense would be viable.

I'd love to see Hogan get the chance to start next week. Hogan, Bess, and Pruitt. I think JuPru must have been nicked because he didn't play tonight.

Brandon Fields will be team MVP this season.:sad:

Roberto Wallace didn't play very well, today. He could be losing his spot on the team. Especially considering both Matthews and Hogan played well in limited opportunity.

"Anonymous wrote:

Roberto Wallace didn't play very well, today. He could be losing his spot on the team. Especially considering both Matthews and Hogan played well in limited opportunity.

Meh, I don't agree. Like I said, he was open a lot and the QBs flat out missed him.

"Disgustipate wrote:

I think you're right, there were some good things. He's making some nice passes, he's not making bad decisions, he's not turning the ball over(and it isn't because he's overly protective), he's not holding on to the ball too long... But a fair amount of his incomplete passes were on him, either because he throw with bad timing/accuracy or it got batted, to the point where even if other things were better I don't know if the offense would be viable.

Absolutely, but you're going to have to deal with some of that stuff with rookies. I still think Tannehill has played better than some top rookie QBs in past years.

Watching the game again. Tannehill has some great play fakes.

EDIT: And back to back plays where Wallace was wide open and poor throws. I thought Wallace played well considering his biggest issue is separation.

"Rocky Raccoon wrote:

Meh, I don't agree. Like I said, he was open a lot and the QBs flat out missed him.

Was he? I didn't notice, so I might have to go and watch it again.

I don't think this game helped his cause, though.

"Anonymous wrote:

Was he? I didn't notice, so I might have to go and watch it again.

I don't think this game helped his cause, though.

Yeah man, when you watch again pay attention to Tannehill's TD drive. Back to back plays where Wallace was open and RT missed him.

"Rocky Raccoon wrote:

Yeah man, when you watch again pay attention to Tannehill's TD drive. Back to back plays where Wallace was open and RT missed him.

RT was just trying to stay alive back there... I guess he didn't make it through his progression. lol.

Tannehill didnt look good because:

His OL wasnt giveing him enough time to throw.

Lineman were not doing a good enough job of keeping DL's hands down(this is partially T-Hill's fault)

WR's were droping passes.

about six or so passes should have been completed that werent because the team failed him.

Just like last week.
I know were talking basic football here and there's little or no game planning being done.
However that's no excuse to see your units getting beat physically and mentally at the basics.
2 weeks in a row..... Wasn't worried after last week but seeing what I saw tonight... especially on the defensive side.... color me concerned.
Not much at all to be positive about on the defensive side for us. Guys getting their arses handed to them all over the field.
Honestly it was like there wasn't a defense on the field in the first half.

Oh and how many years is it going to take us to find a damn Right Tackle?
I remember tons of threads where people discussed how low on the totem pole RT is because it's such an easy position to fill.
Apparently the Dolphins haven't figured that out.

"Disgustipate wrote:

The NFL needs to fold immediately in negotiations with the referees. Seriously, pay them like ****ing quarterbacks, I don't really care.

The only thing worse than the referees was the Dolphins announcing crew. Seriously, someone needs to put Bob Griese in a home, Nat Moore somewhere away from recording electronics, and Dick Stockton on a game enough people are watching he decides to show up for work.

Ryan Tannehill clearly is not ready to start. He had a lot of help contributing to a mediocre showing, but there's still some of it that you can't really write off as bad blocking, drops, or lack of a run game.

Matt Moore somehow managed to play worse. If the Dolphins were considering dumping David Garrard, I think tonight pushed them away from it.

The running game's lack of success is troubling, but I don't think they're really doing anything to actually establish it either. It's not so much a criticism, and I'm not really so concerned about a lack of performance given the circumstances but it's going to be irritating if they can't run because there isn't enough work.

Lamar Miller is looking in practice pretty far from a steal.

Marcus Thigpen made a legitimate case for a spot at least as a returner. I think it's kind of interesting he had 6 targets in the passing game, but no rushes.

Jorvorskie Lane looks like he's going to stick on the roster, and actually looked somewhat decent in my eyes.

Roberto Wallace ended up with 1 reception on 6 targets, which sounds suspiciously like a player who has been Peter Principled into the ground.

I'm a little bit concerned that there's very little overlap between Charles Clay and Anthony Fasano. I don't think that's doing a very good job getting the best weapons on the field.

Jonathan Martin was hideous for the second night in the row, and now the Dolphins might be in a poor position because they've treated Martin as literally their 1st and 2nd string Tackle. I don't even know who the hell eventually came in to replace him, but they've got to make a move because he's making Marc Colombo look good at this point.

Defensive line looked very hit or miss. There were some moments where they got good pressure, and good penetration, and other moments when they seemed like they weren't doing a damn thing in terms of pass rush.

Jason Trusnik and Gary Guyton were both pretty mediocre, and I'm kind of curious at the decision for why Trusnik suddenly got his position changed after a good game last week.

Derrick Shelby had a nice game, can't imagine him not making the roster at this point. I wonder when he gets a crack to be the Nickel sub.

I think one of the good things about our defensive struggles vs. the Panthers is a lot of them would be solved by bothering to competently have some sort of coverage in regards to the seam between the linebackers and safeties rather than just letting it be.

I think both the corners had pretty good games, bizarre referee bull**** aside.

Coverage units were largely fantastic, too. Musta been all the practice they got.

I wish I could jump in and defend any of this. Sadly though I cant..... It's going to be a rough year.

This is what happens when you lose your most talented player, your leading tackler and defensive leader, and your second best passrusher from a 6 win team.

You get a 3 win team.

What really, really bothers me is the lack of fundamentals.
How do you not know how to wrap someone up at this level of football?
And for being a "Defensive Back Guru" Kevin Coyle sucks, but tou cant make chicken salad out of chicken ****.

I dunno different year seems the same to me our oline can't block at all half the time our running backs didn't even get a chance to make a move

"Rocky Raccoon wrote:

Yeah man, when you watch again pay attention to Tannehill's TD drive. Back to back plays where Wallace was open and RT missed him.

If I remember correctly at least one of those was a timing out route that looked like wallace took to far up field and didn't break out far enough towards the side line. The pass was right at the sticks, roberto was two steps further up field and two steps infield from it. At least that was my impression. Tannehill was throwing his out's low and outside, which I like, not much chance for a pick, but the wr has to be there.

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Does any blame for the OL woes lie with Jim Turner? He's colorful and all, and seemingly a perfectionist, but this is his first gig in the NFL. Same with our DB coach, another struggling unit. It is also his first job in the league.

This team is in deep trouble folks.

I really came away from this game convinced that tannehill should start. No horrible decsions, he was an effective passer when he had the time, and he put together a 14 play scoring drive. He isn't going to lose many games by himself, this is more than I expected ot of him. He was drafted for his upside right? His big knock was lack of experience and inconsistency. Let him learn by doing. Doing is the fastest way to get experience and consistency.

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