1. This is, so far, the team's best win. A quality opponent playing for something, and you outplay them in a couple of phases. 2. The return of Starks and Solai. That was a sledgehammer running game that they destroyed yesterday. Uh...keep those guys around...please? 3. Facing what is, in my opinion, the best secondary in the NFL (Sherman (juicing), Browner (juicing), Chancellor (killer), Thomas (the one that got away)), Ryan Tannehill might have played his best game, considering the opponent. That is good to see. 4. Charles Clay can Play. He makes plays when presented with an opportunity, and it's obvious that Tanny likes him. 5. Reggie Bush is alive. He ran rugged. He ran with speed and determination. He ran himself back into the good graces of junior GM's everywhere. 6. The Offensive line seemed...competent. (That's the only compliment they get after the last few weeks) 7. Daniel Thomas seemed...competent. (That's the only compliment he gets after the last few weeks) 8. Davone Bess is a keeper, and he should be in our plans going forward. Brian Hartline on the other hand, does not seem to respond to physical play as well. He is the expendable one. 9. Our Linebackers played very well against the run. Koa Misi especially stood out. I felt the ranking order was like this: Misi, Burnett and then Dansby. Karlos Dansby was shying away from some contact on this day, and I can only attribute that to his injury. 10. We won a game on defense, where Cam Wake was kinda terrible. That is a good sign. He didn't need to dominate for the unit to play well. Let's not try to duplicate this again. 11. Carpenter made a big Kick!!!!! He also failed to boot it out of the end zone versus Dolphin nemesis Leon Washington. Hey..it can't all be roses. Our first quality win of the year against a good opponent. (I think Cincy is a fraud) That run to .500 seems much more realistic now.
I would add that Tanny finally picked up some key first downs with his legs. We haven't seen him run like this all season!
BTW...I really wish that my draft crushes wouldn't pan out over and over again... My latest crush is on Fiyah. (TY Hilton)
You mean the guy we could've drafted instead of Michael "Inactive" Egnew? And the same guy IReland tried to poach as part of the Vontae trade? Yeah, he's pretty good. But overall it was a nice win. The weather was apositive yet again. A glorious south Florida day.
I actually disagree about Wake. The guy was put in a choke hold at times and was flat out tackled at other times. It was absurd...
And, he needs to do it more often IMHO. He's stayed in the pocket and gotten sacked too many times. I know that's contrary to what you teach young QB's, but this kid needs to realize that he's athletic enough to make plays with his legs when he can't with his arm. Besides, he throws on the run extremely well. JMHO...
I think Daniel deserves more credit. Sure, he put up quite a few stinkers, but against an equally dominant run defense (as our own), he ran with more ferocity and determination than Lynch.
One of the main criticisms of Tanny is that he doesnt improve his performance at the end of games when the game is on the line like all the great QBs do. Today he did and that bodes well for the future.
Now he's got to continue to build on that. I liked that he got out of the pocket and wasn't afriad to run at all. That dimension is part of his skill set and he should use it more often, while not going nuts.
One of my main criticisms of Tanny was his ability to work the pocket. Against the Seahawks in the 4th quarter he was near perfect at it. Moving around to buy more time, taking off and running which slows down the rush. He was awesome. My hats off to Tanny on his improvement. Martin getting beat on the outside means a lot less when Tanny steps up in the pocket allowing the guy to just run passed him. Hopefully this game was a preview of things to come. If he can both work the pocket AND take off and run every once in a while, he is going to be a good quarterback. With a chance of becoming an elite quarterback.
I don't understand this concept of teaching the qb position Schmoot, I hear it all the time, even from the coaches, basically, keeping him in the pocket regardless of what the skillset can do..How is this an advantage in the big picture of his develpment over telling him to play free and instinctual?.. Cause it looked to me that once he decided to "drop his balls" as Starks said, the kid was playin great, and using the whole skillset, more free. One might say.. What are the benefits of constricting a rookie Qb to the pocket?, and what's the teaching thought process behind it?
One of the differences between this game and the two missed field goals is the 6 yard pass to Clay. That made it from a 50 yard Carp less than 50/50 field goal to a 44, Carp greater than 50 percent field goal. Even though it looked like a pedestrian play, that 6 yard pass to Clay that went out of bounds is one of the biggest plays by both Clay and Tannehill in the game.
My guess it is to get him to learn how to utilize the pocket. A quarterback who can utilize the pocket with short steps is a very dangerous quarterback. We seen that with Marino. Getting that part of the game down, and then starting to use the athletic qualities, you have an Aaron Rogers type quarterback, which is really hard to defend against.
No, I think yesterday was his first. Of course he would have had a few more if Carpenter had made the kicks.
Well, you don't want to be looking to run, as opposed to looking to pass as that will just get you killed. But the dimension of running when the opportunity presentes is something that all QBs with that ability should do. Kaepernick is a perfect example. Harbaugh is simply allowing him to play and not asking him to be Alex Smith and it's working. It's why he's better than Smith.
Right, I don't see an effort to keep Kap in the pocket..I just don't know how you call an offense, or how you Qb, with this entrenched in your decision making process.
IMO that criticism is one of the more ridiculous things fans worry about. If a player can play, then his success in those situations is mostly a factor of his supporting cast and the number of opportunities.
RT using his wheels a bit more is a huge step. There was some conversation about how defenses have adjusted and that RT would have to have the counter-punch. I think that stealing a few first downs by running when the D is staying back in coverage is just that. I think one of the things that makes Luck the best of the new bunch is that he recognizes and takes those opportunities best.
We know he has the ability to use his legs. A lot of debate here on that as most of us were expecting more out his mobility. Was he being coached out of it so he didn't use it as a crutch? It could be that the game is starting to slow down for him a bit.
I think it has hurt his game in the short run, however I can see a HUGE improvement in his ability to work the pocket from the Texan game to the Seahawk game. I do not know if that improvement would happen if Philbin and Sherman put in an offense that utilizes his athletic ability, while cutting down the reads. If he continues to show improvement in that area, I think that it is worth it.
I'm not a QB coach, but it would seem to me that when you roll out, you are limited to half the field, unless you want to risk the infamous "throw across your body." So keeping a rook in the pocket teaches him to see and use the whole field.
Honestly, I think it was the line play that propelled him to a couple of first down runs. The tackles were keeping their guys running down hill, T Hill was stepping up in the pocket, and the interior line were holding their blocks long enough for him to make the decision to tuck and run. What I have seen in past games is the either: (a) the tackles get beat inside, THill cant step up in pocket and in turn is sacked or makes an off-balance throw (b) the interior line aren't able to hold up as long for the QB to make the decision to run It seemed like THill had much more time back there and really made his decisions to run late. In my opinion, that decision has to come quicker b/c he is just not going to consistently have that much time. In the end, good work out of the O Line yesterday playing more up to their level in both pass protection and the running game. Props to Tannehill for making some great throws and having good footwork in the pocket. I simply can't attribute his scrambles / runs to the game slowing down for him or him making the right decision. He should be throwing the ball or deciding to run quicker than he did in those instances yesterday. 80% of the games we played this year, those attempted scrambles would have been sacks about a 1/2 second earlier.
I don't understand why you seem to think teaching someone to be more rounded will "****" with their head?
this is one thing the coaching staff has restricted on purpose to force him to get comfortable in the pocket in year one. Ryan is by nature a very mobile QB & can run with the ball when needed. Hartline is a keeper & will bode well as we move forward, very important to resign him asap.
Sorry for not being more clear.. My thought is this, there's a lot if instinctual things going on once that ball is snapped, it's instinctual to move up in the pocket, double clutch, while climbing up the pocket, and throw a strike down the sideline for forty yards..instinctual to maneuver the pocket to find different lanes for which to throw from..Instinctual to know when to take off and run..I'm not sure how you start the teaching process of a Qb by telling him to not use some instinctual parts of his skillset.? Seems counterintuitive to me? I can't conceptualize how the teaching process would happen.. Wouldn't it affect some instinctual things that are important in Qb'ing, maybe make him think too much.
Like the phrase 23rd uses here when he says " restricted on purpose" That's what I can't grasp here as to developing the player.? Maybe it goes something like this..." Ryan this play is designed to go here, if it's not there, do not run, go to your next read" Is that the main purpose to purposely keep him from using his athleticism, and when do you teach him it's ok to take off and run? It's confusing to me, maybe a coach or someone can explain how the steps work..
I do think we have room for both skillsets, but I think Sec makes the point on who would you keep if you could only have one.. Mine would be Bess as well.
We do have the opportunity to do something similar to what the colts did this last year in our draft this year.. With those 5 early picks, we could certainly turn it offensive and stock the team..and still look for a defender early.. With all the talk about offense in this town, and the weather, and the coaches that were hired, and the uptempo, I think that's what we're gonna do..
my point has always been if you're content with Hartline as a starting WR, you need to raise your standards.
I think you can win with Hart and Bess as two and three, you just need the really good overall skilled set like Jennings and an explosive rookie like Austin to complete it.
I think they are more of a 3 and 4. Serviceable at 2 and 3, but I'd really love to get two playmakers to be 1 and 2. Hartline and Bess are good for their catches, but don't offer much in the YAC department. I'm thinking we need a field-stretcher like vintage Moss or Mike Wallace and a guy who get yards after the catch, whether it be through elusiveness or tackle-breaking ability. Easier said than done, but I think it's something to keep in mind. Most prolific passing offenses feature two stars in that fashion. Roddy White and Julio Jones, Moss and Welker, Wayne and Harrison, Holt and Bruce, etc. If Tannehill shows that he can be a franchise quarterback, and that we can rely more on him than the run game, I think it's a costly investment worth making. Maybe not in 2013, but perhaps in the following year(s). Edit: Ryan Swope could be a nice pickup next year, as the future #2. He has enough speed to make plays, and the familiarity with Sherman and Tannehill, I'm sure, would be good for his development.
That was my concern. I have no idea if it was or not. IMO it only makes sense to do that if you have a guy who runs instead of going through his progressions. I never saw that tendency in RT. If anything, I would say it was the opposite, that he will hold the ball too long and try to make something happen back there when he should just run. IMO there is no benefit and considerable downside limiting him and coaching him to stay in the pocket.
I just wouldnt label Bess serviceable as a three..I think if you have four guys that could be somewhat interchangable, would be the goal.. I really would like Jennings and a rookie and ill be happy.