I haven't reviewed the game film yet, but these are the players I felt played well last night and showed some stuff. Once I review game film I can go more in depth and change my stance on some players if I need to.
Marques Douglas: This run-stuffing Defensive End showed up today. He was able to win his POA and use his hands effectively to cause disruption in the running game. He showed some short area burst when the running back veered towards his direction coming up with impact plays in the running game. Very very good pickup by the Dolphins.
John Jerry: The rookie from Ole Miss more than held his own and he owned Gerald McCoy on a couple of plays and showed his strength in the running game. He as able to pass protect efficiently and did not commit any dumb mistakes. Looking like the best pick in the 2010 draft.
Koa Misi: This man is a speed racer out there. He is always around the football and is making plays all the time. The first series he had a tackle, and 2 QB pressures. He then allowed Crowder to make a play in the backfield by vaulting himself into the FB and LG, freeing up Crowder to come untouched and make the TFL. He then followed it up with a stop on the Tight End on a quick hitch for 3 yards and was one of the main reasons Josh Johnson fumbled in his 5 step drop.
Chris Clemons: Outside of that whiffed tackle on Johnson, he played very well. He was around the ball every play. He came up in run support every single time and would whack the wideout or tight end trying to block him. On that screen play he came up from 20 yards back and dodged a OL and was right there when the RB was taken down. Numerous times Josh Freeman had to tuck and run or throw it down to the check down because the deep ball and intermediate middle routes were taken away. One the Sean Smith pick, There was the Z receiver doing a slant at the first down marker. He stepped up into that but kept his position near the vertical route on the outside. Playing between both and not committing to one route. Josh Johnson went to the deep ball with Smith covering instead of the deep slant on a 3rd and 8 I think. Had Clemons solely hovered on the vertical route, the slant was open due to the trailing LB/CB and a first down and more was there. He played in between both and made Johnson take the bad decision and bomb the ball with Smith getting the INT.
Jared Odrick: Had a fumble recovery, but destroyed the C on Tampa a couple times. One play he had a BEAUTIFUL swim move on the C and caused massive pressure. He's got some moves folks, and can move very well for a big man.
Patrick Turner: Did well on ST, and showed us some stuff on offense. He ran good routes, contrary to what the announcers said. He ran a good dig route on his first catch, going upfield and sinking his hips and exploding towards the middle. He could have caught the ball cleanlier, but he made the catch and got us "chunk yardage". On the curl route, he found the soft spot in the zone and got us some good yardage on third down I believe. Contrary to what Griese and Moore said, Turner did a double move flag dig route and did it efficiently. He attacked the inside shoulder of the DB, went 12-15 yards upfield, sunk his hips and threw his head while planting his right foot and exploding outside, then sunk his hips again, planted his left foot and threw his head while turning back inside causing separation from the DB and getting open. Thigpen just threw the ball badly behind Turner. He did not round out his route at all on that. He showed some good hands and route running. He just needs to have a better QB throwing him the ball.
Nate Ness Nothing really needs to be said here. Made 3 plays on the ball. Saved Reshad Jones life by causing the incompletion in the back of the endzone as Jones was beat on the crossing pattern. Caused the incompletion on fourth down on the slant and forced a fumble on the wide open seam route that would have been a TD in the fourth. He got beat on broken down play, but I don't really fault him for jumping that. He needs to play it safer though. Showed some skills on ST too, getting down the field in a hurry at Gunner.
Nolan Carroll: Showed he wants to be physical as he came up to tackle the ball carrier everytime it was a run. It may not have been the prettiest tackling, but it worked. He showed us his short area burst when the ball got to the wideout by breaking on the ball and deflecting it. On the kick return, it looked so effortless for him, it was almost an art. Very good pick
Paul Solai: Showed the impact style we need to see with consistency Caused a TFL and blew up the running game when he was in. Pounced on the fumble like a CAT. Needs to be more consistent though.
Michah Johnson: Is a classic thumper. He reads and diagnoses run plays beautifully, but we need to see if he can cover. May be a good prospect or us.
On a side note, there were players who did pretty bad too.
Tyler Thigpen, Reshad Jones, Austin Spitler, JD Fosolm, and others.
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Gotta think everyone showed up tonight. Did somebody miss the team bus?
j/k
I was really impressed with Misi. The guy was invisible for the most part, but in a good way. As you pointed out, he took the brunt of the work and handled some of those blockers. I really liked his ability to get physical with the linemen (a LT on the weak side? That much more impressive) and hold his own.
Spitler (Rob Konrad) wasn't "impressive" but he did make a nice clean tackle which caught my eye.
Chris Clemons missed a tackle (or two — at least one), but did surprisingly well in coverage. There's room for improvement there still.
Odrick. I agree 100% with that. The guy looks like a 6'4" ballerina out there. For an absolute monster, the dude sure is graceful.
John Jerry was invisible tonight. But again, in a good way. Didn't give an inch. That said, it's the Buccaneers front 7, and Mccoy for as highly touted as he is, is still a rookie —still an impressive display by the young guard. Gotta see how he does in the next coming weeks. -
Larryfinfan 17-0...Priceless Club Member
Good stuff Horry, but I'd say while Clemons showed up some, he was really nondescript. Not great, not bad. Not a good thing for a guy that has been essentially given the job at this point. That said, no other safeties really set the world on fire either, including Bell. Again, the middle of the field was open...
It's really too early to tell yet on Clemons.
I'd add Ike Alama-Francis to the list as well. Seemed to be in the right place at the right time. Did miss on at least one run up the middle where he didn't get to his hole, but overall did well.
Can you imagine if the lights actually come on for Soliai how good this DL can be ?? Odrick, Langford, Starks already are there, add McDaniels, Douglas, Grant, Dotson...this is a special unit in the making. The unit is solid if Soliai plays only as well as he did last season, but if the lights come on for this kid....whew...it could be really fun to watch... -
I will say Crowder is going to have a great year. -
GMJohnson likes this.
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DT's?
Yep, Starks, McD, Soliai, Odrick, all played DT in college or in the NFL. -
paul solai & channing crowder: MVP's of the game
somehow
I didn't see the game the way you did
overall, the team looked pathetic to me
we were playing against one of worse teams in the NFL @ home
I noted very few bright spots
4 a team talking Dan Marino-2
& promising to contend...finyank13 likes this. -
hey padre i saw in a recent post that you mentioned nate garner has a broken foot, well i checked every dolphin related news site i could find, they all say the extent of the injury is not known at this time, which is probably a lie, since we all know how quiet this regime is about injuries, but how do you know this ? a little birdie ?
padre31 likes this. -
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we saw the coverage last night
what we don't know is everything else
lot of work to be done w/this groupfinyank13 likes this. -
The most impressive thing about Clemons was that there were no Gibril Wilson type gaffes, which is a good start. But I'm not ready to start singing his praises just yet. -
a fair & honest opinion Friend GMJohnson & I agree
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In any case, Clemons sure looked out of position to me. He certainly didn't "force" the ball to be thrown outside the way our company guy announcers claimed. If anything, Sean's positioning should've forced the ball to be thrown inside (which is where the WR ran), but this is Josh Johnson we're talking about. Not only did he ignore two open guys underneath to go deep, but he also threw the ball in the only spot where there was good coverage, which was outside. I'd love to get all excited about it too, but that play was more bad offense than it was good defense. -
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most unfortunate if true
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As for the play in question, take a closer look. Folsom is spying the middle of the field. He should be the inside help guy on any short-middle stuff so there's no need for the FS to be involved on the slant route, especially if there is another WR on that side of the field. Clemons appears to have been held in place by Johnson's pump fake, which may be why he was late getting over to help on the deep route. The double slant is an ancient route combo, so I'm guessing the sluggo-slant combo is designed specifically to take advantage of a nosy FS aka Clemons bit the cheese. Again, if the ball was thrown towards the middle of the field, there was a hole in our coverage inside of Smith and behind Clemons. A good QB-WR combo will exploit that type of gap.
I don't expect the coaches to say much about what coverage we were in on any specific play, they never have before. All it would do is broadcast our strengths and weaknesses for all to hear. -
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The way I saw it was that he saw Sean tracking the ball which is why he didn't get over the top. I haven't gone and reviewed the entire game yet but I did watch that play and that's how I saw it. Could have been wrong though. But yes, he does have to get over the top of the receiver.finyank13 likes this. -
Larryfinfan 17-0...Priceless Club Member
Horry...The coverage inside deep was loose. That may have been some a result of the field conditions and weather and it may have been some of Smith and Davis inexperience. Both were turned around more than once. Bell and Clemons were ok, but not spectacular. The Bucs were able to exploit it though, some thru the run and some thru the air. I just thought the secondary had a so-so game. Nothing to brag about. The DL was spectacular on the other hand.