Sloppy, sloppy, and more sloppy!!!!! Oline pass protection was terrible in all aspects. 1. It's not giving Henne enough time to throw. 2. It's not providing adequate passing lanes. Daniel Thomas is everything we wanted when drafting him and flashed something special. He's everything Ronnie wasn't. He's decisive, has a great initial burst, has solid vision, and most importantly---- he finishes runs with outstanding forward lean and authority. If there's a positive to take away from this game, it's Thomas..... and the rookie up front blocking for him. IMO, Daboll should've run some play action off Thomas's run success. Where was it? That could've possibly frozen Houston's pass rush long enough for Henne to get something going. Perhaps that will be built into this week's practice now that we know what Thomas is capable of. Daboll is a smart cookie; hopefully he can take advantage of our new offensive weapon. Carpenter? Cmon, man. What's with the trajectory of the first missed FG? And the 2nd one? Those are chip shots, buddy! You owe us a 59 yard game winner some time during the year! Soliai collapsed on a few important runs that he needed to own the Oline on. Why the heck was Nolan doing on Andre Johnson? Or more importantly, where was the safety help over the top? How do you let that TD happen when you know Andre is your opponent? If Andre is on Nolan, it should be a given that Rashad is helping out over the top. I'd rather have a vet like Allen on Andre than Nolan. Just sayin. Our depth at corner is still problematic. If Vontae or Sean are injured, we're in trouble. I wanted an addition at corner all offseaon, but I'll leave it at that. Henne? Not much to say here since the guy didn't have a chance to show what he could or couldn't have done. Marshall needs to catch the perfectly thrown TD pass. Jake Long is still not back to form. We need ya big guy! Considering how poorly we played, I think we're the best 0-2 team in the NFL. Without the sloppiness, we beat Houston, who is a very good team IMO..... so I'm not terribly worried at this point. There's still a solid chance we win the next 2 games. One positive is- this is a team that should improve as the season progresses.
It's just so frustrating. This team is full of talent and Henne has improved, yet we continue to miss opportunities and shoot ourselves in the foot. We need to come out with some fire against Cleveland.
Maybe against Cleveland, the OL can give Henne some time. IMO, Henne has played pretty well. Tons of improvement from last year. Yea, he's no Brady or Rodgers, but the guy has the tools.
I thought it was very disheartening how the defensive conditioning factor took hold a second straight week, assuring that while the other team played 60 minutes of football, we only played between 50 and 55 minutes of football for a second time in two weeks. The Andre Johnson touchdown gets the headlines, because everyone wonders why Nolan Carroll was on him, and/or why Reshad Jones didn't come over for his help over the top when everyone knows (and admits) that he was supposed to, but prior to that play the Texans had driven 40 yards in 4 plays, 20 of those yards being Ben Tate runs at 10 yards a pop. Then on the Texans' next drive following their touchdown, they got the ball with 8 minutes left, which is enough time for the Dolphins to get a stop, and mount a 10 point comeback. Hell we've seen more impressive than that just this weekend. Yet the Texans went ahead and crammed Ben Tate down our throat 8 straight times, gaining 2 first downs in the process, and chewing up 5 minutes of clock until the next time the offense saw the ball, it was way too late to mount a 10 point comeback. That was not the defense that had frustrated the Texans into scoring only 16 points thru the first 48 minutes of the game. That was a tired defense that had been worn out and pounded into submission. The concern there is poor conditioning and tired players not only make it hard to finish games, but they lead to injuries. Injuries make a bad team worse. And Chad Henne can't keep doing his "white Vick" impersonation. He's not very athletic, and so one little screw-up and his brains could be scrambled eggs, because the guys chasing him around and trying to tackle him are faster, more explosive, and they hit hard. It's one thing if you've got a lot of experience carrying the ball and running around, and you have some athleticism, then you have some natural instincts and ability to minimize the impact of hits. We all saw Chad Henne get up after that 4 yard scramble on 3rd & 5, clutching his head and acting all woozy. Next time he might not be able to come back in the very next play or next drive.
Glad we didn't sign that fatass NT to a long term deal. He hasn't shown nothing yet that he deserves a big contract.
I agree. If we lose to Cleveland, we're in trouble. But thankfully we've lost to 2 playoff caliber teams that we had the ability to compete with. I don't see us playing this sloppy 3 weeks in a row, so hopefully this garbage is done with.
Interesting. I hadn't really considered what might happen at 0-3 because I'd been thinking that the Dolphins would definitely win either this Texans game or the Cleveland game. If they win the Cleveland game, I think the "flood gates" you speak of would be put off until Week 7, pending the Week 6 outcome against the Jets on MNF. If they went 1-4 and lost to the Jets, coming home to face the Denver Broncos with Stephen Ross celebrating Bronco QB Tim Tebow along with the Florida Gators for how awesome they are, at a time when the team everyone is there to see sucks so bad...that to me is "flood gates" time. But if they lose to the Browns first...you could be right...maybe happens sooner.
I think I have an idea to fix our home field issue. Just have our team take a round-trip plane ride somewhere straight back to Miami. Then have them all stay in a hotel near the stadium. Make them think it's an away game....... Expensive? Maybe. But if we win, what does it matter. This is sad that I even came up with this idea.
I remember we would sometimes use Jason Allen on top flight big WRs we faced because he was big and physical..and also why you sometimes saw him on BM today. Sean Smith is like the tallest CB in the league no? Why is he not on a monster like Andre ? That should of been Smith's guy, if he is worth a salt.
I. would. not. rule. against this idea. We'd have to have fans show up for the game to really fool the team into believing it's an away game though.
...and then I buy an authentic Andrew Luck jersey and we set ourselves up at the most important position in all of sports for the next 15 years.
That's what I was thinking, too..... but the answer seemed so simple that I thought there had to be some sort of flaw to it. It's not like Sean had been previously limited to what side of the field he played on, right? Stat guys?
If we have this kind of talented team tank a season, do you honestly think we'll end up in the fortunate position to draft Luck? This organization doesn't have that kind of luck.
Sean Smith did a good job on Andre Johnson the last time the two met. I don't know why they didn't do that. Smith doesn't know, either. He said he doesn't have the freedom to just go where he wants to go, he has to line up where they tell him. But, he did say that in retrospect, maybe he should have gone straight to the coaches when Vontae was out and told them, give me Andre Johnson. That's a learning experience for a Sean Smith, he's still learning what it means to be a premier player. On the other hand those coaches should have known to do that whether Sean asked for it or not.
If the conditioning issues we saw in both these games are not a fluke...it's conceivable. It's not what I would predict, as we sit here today. But the thing that poor conditioning does is facilitate injuries, which can be a drain on the team's ability to play competitively.
I gotta give credit to Sean for that type of mentality. That says a lot for our young corner and is another indication that the light has come on for him IMO. Match up wise, he just seems like a better fit against Andre. Considering Rashad was torched last week at FS, I really dont understand why SS wasn't tailing Andre.
We could play our home games at the Jets place, we've done pretty good there over the past several years!
If there was a bright spot in this game, it was seeing Brandon Marshall making Jason Allen his *****. The beast all but sodomized Allen at the goal line.
Yeah, it's pretty ridiculous when these conditioning issues occur at HOME when these circumstances should be playing to our advantage rather than against us (granted Houston is pretty humid during the summer, but still, this is a little ridiculous).
I laughed my butt off at that, too!!! After the play, I told the Dolphin fans at the bar that------ at least we attacked the guy we know will give up a TD.
They have lacked the mentality to make the September heat and humidity an advantage...probably ever since Nick Saban came along. I don't know what to do about it, to be honest. Will the issue clear up on the road where weather could be milder? Or is it not even really related to weather?
As soon as Vontae was out and Carroll replaced him, I knew the defense would ebb...Everyone did. Vontae was terrific until his hammy gave out. Putting Carroll on Johnson was just plain stupid. Especially since we know that Sean and Vontae practiced switching sides this preseason for just such an occasion. Is there Flouride in the water in Dade county?
I don't know if I'd say Vontae was terrific. He gave up the big 43 yarder to Andre Johnson. I thought Sean Smith has been more solid in both games. He did cramp up in Week 1, and it resulted in the 30 yarder to Aaron Hernandez that set up a TD...but otherwise the whole game he'd only given up 1 catch for 10 yards.
I don't know either, but it's BS, CK. This is the only time of year when we truly "should" have a home field advantage, and like you said---- we never freaking do. I can't think of anything that annoys me more than this TBH. It burns my arse to see cold weather teams racking up home field wins in December b/c of home field advantage. Why the heck can we not do it in September?! I was hoping our humidity would wear the Pats down to where the 4th qtr would be ours rather than the Pats. Shows me what I know. lol.
I'm not trying to provide any solidarity here, but I completely felt the same way. It's amazing how the entire tide shifted when Vontae took a seat. I was excited about winning....... and then I suddenly had this "oh sh**" feeling come over me when Nolan came in.
Honestly if Reshad Jones was where he was supposed to be, I got the feeling Miami might have even been trying to bait Schaub into that throw to Johnson. Andre Johnson said about the play that he knew that if Nolan Carroll kept playing him the way he'd been playing him, that play would be a touchdown. Yet, Sparano was clear that was supposed to be a double-covered play. Might be the Dolphins were trying to get them to make that throw so that Reshad Jones could pick it off, and then Reshad just blew it, wasn't where he was supposed to be.
I agree about Davis, but at the same time I'm not sure if Schaub is looking to exploit Vontae on the TD pass to Andre in the same way that his eyes probably lit up when he saw Nolan on Andre with Rashad at FS. But yeah, Sean is looking quite promising.
one of the highlights of the game for me....marshall on allen at the 12 yard line at the bottom of the screen, henne makes that audible and everybody who watches this game knows marshall gets the ball, the dolphins players knew it, the texans players knew it, yeah and freakin jason allen knew it too...the rest is in the books...that was funny
I dont even know how to respond to that if it was a "bait play" tbh. All that does is piss me off b/c Reshad then definitely would've had NO reason to be out of position. We know he's young and will make some mistakes, but it just sucks watching it happen live; I only hope he grows up pretty darn fast b/c I like his physical style of play.
I could see why the staff that fell in love with Gibril Wilson would keep wanting to give Reshad Jones chances while he f#cks up week after week. They're desperate to make more plays in the secondary. Strangely enough, Benny Sapp created a turnover last week, and they cut him for it.
Reshad "making plays" at what expense? I never thought I'd be looking forward to Clemons getting back on the field despite me being a Clemson fan. lol. Meanwhile, Rafael is busy studying the 2012 safeties as we speak.
Clemons is fine as a FS. Nothing special but you can get by with him. The teams' problem right now is their conditioning is inexcusable, their getting destroyed because of their fourth safety and dime cornerback and miserable right tackle.
TP remember when we used to dream of having a young QB with some potential, a true top WR, a franchise LT, a great pass rusher, a NT... And then we get that and still lose? What the **** is going on?
