From the Opposite Corner: Dolphins, Week Two—Indianapolis Colts 21Sep09

Wearing my Ronnie Brown jersey tonight…hope it ushers in good things.

Let’s talk Wildcat; Brian Billick opened his fat mouth to criticize it last week, then Neon Deion chimed in, and now it’s The Hot Topic.

Here’s what I think: This is a formation that, if an earnest effort is not made to evolve it, will NOT be effective much longer. And it may well become a detriment, as it became last week when it worked only to disrupt the rhythm of the base Offense.

It is a formation out of which you run over 90% of the time, and Defenses know that; and when they see it, all they have to do to stop it 90% of the time is stay in the box and be disciplined.

Those odds are way too good to spot a D—ANY D—but especially really good Defenses.

If the Dolphins don’t evolve the Wildcat by making it a more diverse formation in terms of the QB’s options in it and passing effectively out of the formation at least 30% of the time; they might as well scrap it.

If not, against inferior Defenses or as an occasional one-off it could still pay dividends, but against good Ds it will become a liability.

When Steve Young started talking about it, I thought he was going to be just another hater; then as I listened I realized he was vocalizing what I have been writing about it since preseason.

I’ll say this to be fair, though: if you watched other teams try to run the WC this past weekend, you can see why most of the talk is against it. Most other teams are DREADFUL at it.

We’re not.

It was run to near-perfection tonight by Brown, and executed similarly by Ricky. Still…if it doesn’t evolve, it will eventually die.

Ricky ****ing Williams! Damn, he’s running like an all-pro again!

And Ronnie Brown, running like a man possessed! Running decisively, strong to the point of contact. Last time I saw him run like this was at the end of 2007.

One observation of the difference between Ronnie’s and Ricky’s running: Ronnie runs through contact once he’s past the LOS; Ricky runs through contact everywhere. It is the difference between great and good.

Hey, hate the message, not the messenger. Remember, I’m wearing my Ronnie jersey here, not my Ricky jersey.

Yes, I have both.

But they are both running HARD, as are Cobbs and Polite. I’d have loved to see what my son Lex Hilliard could have done out there tonight. He played like a DEMON on Special Teams!

God, I like Sean Smith. Only a rookie, yet he already plays a heady and physical game.

If he continues to learn and develop, we could once again have the best Cornerback in the league in a couple years. Maybe the best tandem (with Davis), which would be the first time for Miami since Surtain and Madison were in their prime together.

On to Offense again: Dan Henning recovered nicely from a dull-witted performance last week against the Falcons; his play-calling in this game was like night-and-day compared to the one he called against Atlanta.

This is the kind of play-calling that uses the strengths of his personnel—not the conservative, compact game-in-a-box of last week.

However; whether it was on Pennington or Henning, the clock management with minus-3:00 in the game was atrocious; it remains to be seen who was responsible for the sleepwalking during a time when the utmost crispness was required.

Did you see the way Chad Pennington glared at Ted Ginn after he dropped that pass in the end zone @13:28 in the 2nd quarter?

It was a Randy Shannon-worthy glare.

Ginn was a good 8-10 feet from the back line when he alligator-armed that pass; in fact, the trajectory of the ball would have had it bounce in-bounds if had gone untouched.

But it was NOT untouched—it hit him RIGHT IN THE HANDS, even though he did alligator-arm it!

Staring you in the face, RIGHT THERE, is a microcosm of Ted Ginn: Superman speed, Supergirl will.

Then, on a 1st-and-10 pass over the middle@5:50/2nd, between two defenders Ginn was already crouched almost all the way to the turf when the pass got there, despite being it being right on the money—WITHOUT EVEN BEING TOUCHED YET! Instead of going up for the ball the way he should have it seemed that he never even had any intention of fighting for that ball, he gave up on it before contact was even made!

Don’t believe me? Watch it again in slo-mo. When the ball arrives, Ginn’s thighs are almost parallel to the turf and the DBs are in a better position to catch the ball than Ginn.

Then Ginn drops a low pass when he had already gone to the ground to have the only shot at catching it; great thinking, poor execution as the pass bounced right off him.

Do you still wonder why sometimes Pennington looks right at an open Ginn and throws elsewhere?

He did redeem himself a little in the 4th, making a nice 1st-down catch coming back to the ball, and another nice catch down the middle later about @5:00/4th…and then proceeded to leave the 1st down ON THE TABLE on an easy catch on the sideline @1:33/4th, by going out of bounds UNTOUCHED short of the marker. No, not untouched…with no one within 6-8 YARDS of him at the time of the catch.

Million-dollar legs, ten-cent head.

Next play, Fasano catches one for the 1st down, but fails to get out of bounds, needlessly burning about 20 seconds off the clock necessitating a time-out after Mathis stripped Pennington—a time-out that would have come in handy later in the drive.

Ginn caught a bunch of routine passes in this game, and if you didn’t watch and only saw the stat sheet, you’d think that he played a hell of a game; but just watch that long pass bounce right off his hands at the end of the game—just that, not even all the other stuff I’ve mentioned here—and you can put this loss squarely on him, for not making that catch and forcing his Quarterback to play out of character on the last play of the game.

No lesser a light than Steve Young said it best after Ginn’s first drop in the end zone: “Oooooohhh…short-armed it. In the National Football league, boys, you get paid to catch that – catch it!”

And that earns Ginn his first Nabo’s Fairy Princess Award for the game, handily beating Anthony Fasano’s weak, Fairy-Princess-worthy effort on that ball at the goal line in the 1st. Here ya go, Ted:



Enjoy.

Those of you calling for Ginn to get his chance being “the man” saw him get that chance tonight—and watched it bounce right off his hands.

Several times.

In his THIRD season.

In contrast, is there a surer thing on this team than Davone Bess for the 1st down?

That kid is a pure joy to watch.

Jake Long continues to have a hard time with speed rushers, who seem to have figured him out since his Pro-Bowl 2008 season.

Dwight Freeney gave him fits with a variety of moves, but mostly with his excellent spin-move; so much so that by the 2nd quarter Justin Smiley had been assigned to routinely help Long out, or it was set to be another ugly game for Long.

Those who will still say that Jake Long is a great Left Tackle, answer this: do GREAT Left Tackles need routine help against anyone—even anyone as good as Freeney is?

Is this what we’re paying $70+ million dollars for?

And 245-lb Bob Mathis bull-rushing (and beating) 340-lb Vernon Carey to strip the ball from Pennington @1:00/4th was pathetic. Beyond pathetic.

If the team is to move Long to RT and Carey to RG, it can’t happen soon enough; problem is, who will play on the left side?

On the bright side for the OL: Grove 20+ yards downfield blocking ahead of Ronnie on one run; Smiley and Thomas doing well at first glance.

The middle of the line seems to be coming together; we can only hope that Long and Carey come along as well.

On Defense: The Joey Porter Show! Damn, I wish he had played the entire game the way he played that first Colts series in the 3rd.

But the Colts OL isn’t a pushover, and they have veteran players like Clark and Wayne who know when to catch ‘em, and know when to Block ‘em. The Dolphins’ Defense wasn’t going to completely stop Manning and company; I think tonight’s performance was about the most you can ask of this D, which is not a finished product yet.

I hope against hope that this young D doesn’t deflate after this tough, tough loss. It would be easy to go that route after holding the best Quarterback in the game to 27 points, and watch your “star” Wide Receiver blow a catch in the end zone that would have won the game.

I hope they don’t; I hope that Sparano can hold the team together through this.

And now…random thoughts:

• Tom Jackson is the best Analyst on ESPN not to have a major gig of his own. I believe this is one indicator of that network’s shift from quality to popularity over its lifespan as a basis for assignments.

• On the other hand, I’m thankful for such small mercies as Chris Berman retaining his status in a world that increasingly values the sizzle over the steak. Luckily, I think, Berman has both.

• Pro Quarterbacks have to get smarter running the ball near the goal line. They have to be made to realize that there are but a handful of franchise players at the position and a scant few guys behind that who aren’t an embarrassment to their team on a semi-consistent basis. NO ONE TOUCHDOWN—unless it’s to decide a game in the playoffs or the Super Bowl—is worth a team losing its starting QB. Matt Hasselbeck’s ill-advised lunge on Sunday was at first suspected to have caused internal organ damage. That’s the kind of **** that guys never come back from.

• I LOVE Tony Sparano’s enthusiasm!

• I’d crawl over broken glass to get busy with Michelle Tafoya.

• Or Suzy Kolber.

• But seriously, Michelle…call me. My number’s on the restraining order.

• I like that “C’mon, Man!” feature on ESPN’s pre-game show a lot.

• Chirico called it in the 4th when he remarked how great the football has been—college and pro—these first couple weeks of the season. The level of play has been outstanding.

• How come EVERY song by Genesis or Phil Collins sounds better covered by someone else?!

• And while we’re on the topic of music: when did the abomination that is modern Country become America’s music? Both the night football shows now have a Country artist doing its theme. I have nothing against classic Country, which was/is amazing and the logical, rightful evolvement of early Rock and Roll; I’m talking about the faux “rockin,” over-produced bilge currently being passed off as music in that genre.

• OK, last point about music: during the pre-game show, the times they were with the game crew in the stadium, rap/hip-hop was BLARING over the stadium loudspeakers so loudly that even with state-of-the art noise-canceling technology, it was louder than the announcing crew. WTF? The percentage of patrons who love rap are probably in a decided minority among attendees. I can tell you that if I was at the stadium I would have been hating the experience.

• What percentage of commercials during football games do you guys estimate are for the following, combined: trucks, beer, dick pills and hair replacement?

• Count me among the doubters who laughed when we heard about the stadium Jerry Jones was building for his Cowboys…

• Count me now among those green with envy. Not that I think the Dolphins could EVER fill 110,000 seats for one regular-season game; but that same stadium, scaled down to about 55-60,000—AND IN DOWNTOWN MIAMI—would be the way to ensure permanent sellouts for the team.

• That Camry commercial with the kid in the back seat telling his dad which level of car wash to choose was the cutest commercial I’ve seen lately.

• Anyone try that Guinness 250 yet? I know what mission I’m on tomorrow.

 

Fasano doesn't get a pass from me.

But Fasano didn't leave 14 points on the field, Ginn did.

 

Thanks.

The way I see it, the money's spent on Long; we don't get a do-over.

But what we do have in him is a very good player who is suited to another position that we're having trouble with on the line: Right Tackle.

The way that Vernon Carey is getting manhandled by much smaller guys and beat by Defenses' secondary speedrushers is alarming. He is becoming a serious liability, a prime example of which is the way Mathis - a guy almost 100 pounds lighter - pushed him back into Pennington to swat the ball out of his hand.

Long may not be able to block primary passrushers, but he would do a great job on the right against teams' secondary rushers; and Carey is more suited to Right Guard anyway, he always was.

And despite all the wailing and moaning from the peanut gallery, that's exactly what is going to happen unless there is some kind of miracle, and both Long and Carey start to man their respective positions adequately.

 

No DOUBT our D could have played better; the middle of the D was a sieve.

But other than a few big plays - which happen every game, to every team, just not 80 yards on the very first one - this YOUNG D did hold the best Quarterback in the league to 27 points.

And my point about Ginn is: 14 points wins that game for us, despite what the D did. And Ginn left those on the ground of the end zone.

When a guy assumes the responsibility of being the go-to guy, he HAS TO make the plays to win the game - no ifs, ands or buts.

And when passes hit you in the hands, you HAVE TO catch them.

Monday night, if Ginn catches those two touchdowns, we're having a whole different conversation...a much more pleasant one.

 

Ah, from your mouth to God's ear.

But unfortunately, the rest of the world now sees that Ted Ginn was not worth a top-10 pick then, and certainly isn't worth one now.

Shula made a couple of nice trades in his time; the one where he traded the rights to Anthony (The Electric Amp) Carter for what eventually became Hugh Green (and another player, I think) was classic as well.