The entire line except for Long had positive grades in run blocking. That's good to see.

 

A lot of the perceived "killer" issues the Dolphins had weren't, really.

Jonathan Martin(-1.2) was serviceable considering competition, the safeties both graded out positively, and Richard Marshall did fairly well all things considered.

 

We know the offense was bad, my worry is the secondary and coverages, seemed they found lots of open seams to run free in.

Would love to beat the Raiders to get some positivity going about the Dolphins.

 

The open holes I think are mental/scheme issues, not player issues. There was a handful of situations where Owen Daniels was well-covered.

 

Yeah, I thought Misi played really inspired. I remember one series in particular where he was flying around and on one play I recall him jumping over a guy head-first to get in on a tackle from behind the runner. Counter that when last year, I remember Pouncey literally upside down. We look to have well conditioned athletes, nonetheless. They simply took advantage of our right offensive line and rode an avalanche of tipped passes and turnovers. I think we are just fine.

 

I disagreed with their assessment that RT forced the pass on that first INT. IMO that was all on the WR. That's a quick pattern where the QB has to trust the WR to beat the CB to the spot. The mistake IMO was in the staff trusting Nanee. On the other hand, I don't agree with the standard rhetoric about having the OL keep the DL's hands down. Short of cut blocking, I don't believe that it is consistently possible. Particularly how the Houston DL was doing it. Apparently it is a technique they practice and it's timed from an engaged position. I would say that RT is going to have to do a better job of using his passing lanes to correct the problem. I put those tipped passes on RT.

 

Koa Misi is a good run defender from his Sam spot but the pass coverage leaves a little something to be desired. The Texans were exploiting us underneath the umbrella all day.

 

Keith Sims did a good job recently explaining how on those plays you're usually taught to block almost like it's a play-action pass, fire out and engage the defender, keep him busy. We're talking about split seconds that are the difference between getting your hands up in time and not. I do absolutely think proper execution from a blocking standpoint would have prevented some of the tipped balls we've seen in preseason and the regular season. When the coaches coach something consistently across multiple disciplines, multiple teams, multiple decades, they're not just doing it uselessly.

Naanee did not do a particularly good job on that slant play but at the same time, it's as much about the defense's tendencies which is a function of your offensive capabilities and tendencies. Alen had the exact correct point to be raised. They were squatting like hell on the short routes, not even close to afraid of the sluggo or deep ball. We need to find some players that actually scare defensive backs enough not to sell out so completely on short routes, before we start counting on those short routes to be open for us.

 

Do you think AA can fill that role if him and Tanny get on the same page?

 

I understand the theory about how engaging the pass rusher helps keep their hands down, I just don't agree that it works unless the DL just has their hands up all the time. Practically, short of cut blocking, it's impossible to stop the DL from just jumping up at the count of three regardless of whether the OL is engaging them. There was a time when DL were coached to have their hands up all the time and OL were coached to hit them in the mid-section to force their hands down. That's where I think the rhetoric stems from. But that's not what's happening now. These guys are just timing their jumps. There's nothing the OL can do about that. As I said in another thread. The fix is on RT to use his passing lanes and on the coaches to use a better mix of drops.

 

He made tackles yesterday , and played ok/well in some aspects , you are being kind in reference to his cover skills imo.

 

[video=youtube_share;N2LvRGHflVU]http://youtu.be/N2LvRGHflVU[/video]

 

His coverage skill graded out positively, and appropriately so. He gave up 4 receptions on 5 targets for 28 yards. The 17-yard Owen Daniels reception was bad but the other 3 receptions for 11 yards were pretty positive.

 

I think Sherman needs to roll him out more. I only noticed it once yesterday.

 

I think CK's right about that slant INT. It was fairly early in the game. So it wasn't quite as predictable from a playcalling standpoint as it would be later in the game. But given our receivers and our young QB it's evident we are going to run a dink and dunk offense. The few times we threw an intermediate pass we had a missed catch/inaccurate throw and a good gain by Hartline. I understand the need to coddle Tannehill and our lack of talent at WR being prohibitive. But we have to break tendencies and throw downfield more.

 

Having players who can get deep and separate is part of it, but the OC has to gameplay and call those plays too. If Sherman was reluctant to call those it has to be a combination of:

1) uncertainty the OL can protect long enough for a deep pattern to develop
2) lack of confidence in the receivers to get open deep
3) wanting to give RT high percentage throws to build him up

The problem is, when you attempt NO deep throws your offense gets so predictable that we get the DLine timing short drops and quick passes and jumping to tip balls, we get DBs cheating on short routes and getting great breaks on the ball, etc.

Sure, Sherman can call a lot of short stuff, but mix in a pass over 30 yards in the air at least once per half!

And a double move would have killed those DBs. Sluggo route would have been great, and Hartline can run those.

 

Some people say that a QB learns better if he stays in the pocket and goes through progressions properly. That rolling out is an easy 'out' for them to not have to perform their usual mental duties at the appropriate speed. As such, rolling him out a lot makes it easier short term, but he improves less in the long run.

I don't know if it's true. I see both sides of that debate.

 

The interception to Joseph wasn't on Tannehill IMO. Legedu Naanee has to make a speed cut instead of a sharp one on the route because its 3 step. When you make sharp cuts like that, you give the defender additional time to close in and that's what happened. If it was 5 step, it'd be on Tannehill.

 

Watch the last JJ Watt tip again. Martin LETS him disengage and time his jump, it's not just the hands up. It's the fact he was allowed to actually disengage, stand, wait and time his leap. This is absolutely preventable.

You can't stop every single deflected pass, but when it happens in bunches the way it did your offensive line is doing something wrong, because you really can prevent a good 75% of them.

 

I'm about midway through the 3rd quarter right now and I would agree with you on that. I actually thought he played well in coverage but had some minor issues. Appeared to have some communication issues at times as to what his assignment was. On one play, it looked like they were pattern reading and he and Smith ended up covering the same guy -- Foster in the flat. The 17 yard reception from Owen Daniels wasn't anything more than Misi taking a bad angle. Have to take an angle of intersection and he took a direct one, consequently ended up getting beat inside.

 

I thought Kevin Coyle did a good job mixing and matching the front seven. Overloaded the strong side and counted on Koa Misi and the backside end to handle the cutback. Other than one play, Misi did his job pretty well. What surprised me was that they didn't shade the corners inside more often than they did. Watching Houston, its obvious when they have a wide split, they often release inside with the receivers and Miami didn't react. Sean Smith got beat on a 3 step slant I believe it was and he was aligned head up.

On the Johnson touchdown where he beat Smith, Smith has to turn and lean into the receiver to compress space then locate the ball. Didn't do that. He's also not moving his feet when attempting to reroute at LOS.

 

I don't agree. I've rushed the passer from the CB position and unless they're holding me there is no way they can stop me from jumping up to try and bat the ball. And batted balls preventable (or at least can be limited), but the OL is a much smaller part than the rhetoric would imply.

 

A CB is a lot different than a defensive lineman in my opinion though for a lot of reasons. For instance chances are you aren't engaged with a 300+ pound offensive lineman 99% of the time you blitz. Due to your angle there is a lot more free motion involved.

As a defensive lineman (I've played LB, QB and WR at different points) your engagement is more active. It isn't about preventing the defensive lineman from jumping or reaching his hands up. It's about engaging and occupying those hands so the player doesn't have the opportunity to sit there and time it the way Watt did. It's about disrupting the timing of the hands more than preventing them.

 

I agree, and was wondering what SS24 was thinking by turning in instead of out!!!

WTH was Jimmy Wilson doing covering AJohnson???

Lane is for real! What a reception and rumble... Reggie had an awesome game as well. I am still hoping Armstrong gets on page with RT, and shows consistency. Starks was a monster! Soliai and Misi were pretty consistent.

 

I almost always blitzed against a DL and usually through the interior. And unless the OL held, there is nothing he could do to prevent me from disengaging and jumping.

 

Yeah that TD on SS24 was pretty bad. It seemed to me like he knew the ball was coming because Johnson was looking for it, but never found it himself. Because he turned in the absolute wrong direction.

 

I'm unsure exactly how to reply because it's a difference of personal experience as well.

 

I thought SS24 turned late and never found the ball in time. He turned in that direction b/c of the push from AJ on the left shoulder. You tend to just go with the momentum. AJ just did a great job of pushing and fading back to create space and SS24 did a poor job of getting his head around quick enough. It's a shame b/c his coverage on that play was excellent until that point.

 

The Texan's DL were doing basically what I always tried to do. You pass rush fast to get past your guy, but if you get stalemated or you see the QB plant his back foot you push off and jump or just jump. If the OL isn't holding you, there's jack he can do to stop you from jumping. If the OL is fast enough he might be able to knock you back b/c your weight is no longer forward, but that will only affect the downward part of your jump. That will stop you from jumping again, b/c you're on your butt. (It sucks if the QB pump faked). He really can't do anything to stop you from jumping once. If you timed it right like Watt did the only thing that saves the QB is his using the passing lanes. At that distance the ball goes by too fast most of the time to stop any pass that's not right where you jumped. I always had very quick hands, but unless the QB just floats it, you have to be in the right place first.

 

Very true that all of this plays a huge role. I wouldn't deny that. There are ways to counter it though from an O-Line perspective. On three step drops you'll often see the RT/LT give the DE the outside edge leading him away from the play and creating a lane. I didn't see any of that. A strong initial punch can help as well in terms of disrupting timing. At least if you occupy the hands it creates more timing issues for the lineman and a split second is often the difference between a batted ball and a completion.

I didn't mean to imply that just arm chopping could prevent almost all pass deflections. It's a mixture of techniques to be applied, and your lineman need to know when to apply which. It's also play calling. If you see the ends are disengaging often it's time to start throwing more down the field and forcing them to make pressure their first priority.

 

I do think that providing a lane would lead the rusher a certain way. I believe that would have influenced me to take what I saw as an opportunity. I don't think that a great initial punch would be enough against an NFL DL. In fact, it would more likely act to stymie the pass rush and create space making it easier for the DL to jump. If the punch came just as the DL jumped that would be effective but realistically I would say that the DL has too much of the advantage since he can see the QB and knows when to jump. I just don't see that technique as being practically effective. The OL basically has to be lucky. The only engaging technique that I know of that would be effective is if the OL cut block as that would cause the DL to brings his hands down. Obviously there are downsides to that strategy as well.

 

At the end of the day even if it were 100% Ryans fault, I'd rather him struggle finding throwing lanes but choose the right throw than the opposite. In my opinion he looked pretty poised running the offense and knew where he wanted to go with the ball, he also read the defense presnap better than Henne did here in all seasons IMO which was his major downfall (again in my opinion) So I have high hopes for him the rest of the way.

This issue at least is fairly easily correctable in comparison to him just looking flat out lost.

 

Problem was, AA was open on that same pattern and THill just missed him.

 

I don't know why you don't try this more when it works the first time. Especially the way they were jumping the short stuff. I expect they will work the intermediary against Oakland so they can't sit on the short stuff.

 

he also did not use the sideline and his height , wingspan effectively imo. That should have been a turnover .

 

Remember that going deep isn't just a function of the offensive play calling. Ryan Tannehill has a lot of latitude in his decision making. He's got to have the confidence in the receivers to go deep, and pull the trigger.

 

This is where the lack of impact of Charles Clay and Michael Egnew is huge IMO. He needs guys who can get chunk yardage down the middle of the field. Fasano can do it every now and then, but he's really not a consistent threat in that area IMO.

 

In case anyone cares, Vontae Davis was torched yesterday.

Allowed 6 receptions on 7 throws for 104 yards and 2 touchdowns.