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Quick Hits Playoffs Edition: Ravens @ Dolphins

Discussion in 'Miami Dolphins Forum' started by Vengeful Odin, Jan 4, 2009.

  1. Vengeful Odin

    Vengeful Odin Norse Mod

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    I just want to start by saying that I'm incredibly proud of this team. Hard to believe how far we've come in just over a year. I can remember being reduced to tears when we beat a Baltimore team to win our first (and only) game last year. Now, here we are, in the playoffs, enjoying a season that few, if any forecasted.

    It's a great time to be a Miami Dolphins fan. We're a team on the rise, with a group of young and hungry players. Look at our division - the Patriots are still a great team, but they're an aging group whose window may have closed. The Bills are a decent team, but they're coached by a guy that I've never really been impressed with, Dick Jauron. The Jets appear to be in a state of flux; they need to find themselves a coach, and possibly replace their starting quarterback. Out of all of those teams, this one - the Miami Dolphins - has the best and brightest future.

    The way I look at today is that it's a temporary stumble on our way to eventual NFL supremacy. Baltimore is a veteran team, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Those defensive players stepped up and made plays today - putting our offense into bad field position and forcing a boatload of turnovers. When Baltimore had the ball they didn’t do a lot, but our defense was oftentimes forced to defend a short field, making things easier for the Ravens.

    What I Liked

    Let’s get the obvious statement out of the way. This game was hard to watch at times. We came out and played a pretty good first quarter, moving the ball against the Ravens tough defense and starting out hot. A McClain fumble set up an early field goal and things looked good for us. Obviously the wheels came off later, but I saw a team that not only hung with a tough opponent in Baltimore, but even dominated them for a short time. The bright side is that we played with heart throughout the game. We never backed down, even against big, bad, Baltimore, and kept coming at them throughout the course of the game.

    • No Quit - Say what you want about this team, but they're nothing if they aren't resilient. Despite getting manhandled for much of the game, our team displayed a never-say-die attitude. For a short period of time in the fourth quarter, it looked like we might actually come back, against a ridiculously skilled defense, even though we had committed a gaggle of turnovers. It didn't phase use. We didn't roll over and quit, which is what I've seen other Miami teams of the past do. As a fan, you have to love seeing that kind of effort out of your team. Call it heart, call it desire, call it whatever you want. We’ve seen this from the Dolphins pretty much all year – a team that gets punched in the mouth, but gets up and comes straight at you.
    • Success Attacking Underneath - On our first drive of the game we came out and utilized Patrick Cobbs coming out of the flats and catching the football. This was something we got away from as the game went along; we probably should have tried to go back to during the course of the game. We finally got back to this late in the third quarter, and went to quick three step drops that allowed Pennington the time to get the ball off. We should have probably done more of this in the second half, rather than trying to go over the top on a Ravens secondary that has Ed Reed. By the time we got back to using the method of attack we were already down a couple scores, allowing the Ravens to pin their ears back and rush the passer.

    What I didn't Like

    I don’t want to spend a lot of time criticizing the team’s performance today. They played hard, not necessarily well, but hard, and matched the Ravens intensity. We seemed to sleepwalk into halftime, and by the time we finally woke up in the second half we were down 20 to 3. We tried to make a comeback, but it just wasn’t enough to overcome the self-inflicted mistakes.

    • Turnovers – As I alluded to above, we simply made too many mistakes to win the game today. Look, it’s simple – Statistically speaking, if you turn the ball over 4 times, it's incredibly difficult to win a football game. Well today we had a total of 6 giveaways. You just don't win an NFL game, especially a playoff game, when you're giving the ball away at that rate. When you turn the ball over it often puts your defense on a short field, meaning that their window of opportunity to make mistakes is much smaller. Over half of the Ravens 27 points (14) came on Miami Dolphins turnovers. To me, the play of the game was the Ed Reed Pick Six – And let’s be clear, it was a tremendous individual effort on the return by Reed. Great play by a great player. The play seemed to shatter Pennington’s confidence and deflate the home field Miami crowd simultaneously. The game swung on that play, much like the Suggs Pick Six did in Week 7.
    • Vanilla Offense – Maybe I got spoiled after the Jets game last week, but I was really hoping to see some creative play calling from Dan Henning today. We really didn’t try to do anything unusual, particularly from the Wildcat package. We finally attempted an end around (something Con called for in his Keys to the Game) late in the game, it’s unfortunate that it was botched because it looked like it was developing into a big play. I was expecting to see some misdirection, from either the Wildcat package or our base offense, and we really didn’t do any of that. I’m extremely surprised that we showed two passes out of the Wildcat and didn’t show either of them today. Overall, probably not our best game plan offensively.
    • Limited Pass Rush – We eventually got the pass rush going when we started to blitz Flacco late in the game, but we did a poor job of making him uncomfortable in the pocket. We failed to record a sack on the rookie, and we also did not pick him up. In a game where the offense could use a big play (such as an interception or sack), the defense came up snake eyes. We really could have used a boost from the defense today, but alas that was not in the cards.

    Players of the Week

    If you look at the stats from this game, it’s a challenge to pick a player of the week. On the offensive side of the ball, we really didn’t do a lot of note, sustaining only a few drives the entire afternoon. Defensively, we contained the Ravens, but gave up too many big plays, particularly late in the game. Even with all of that, I saw some bright spots out there. These players bode well for the future of the Miami Dolphins.

    • Ronnie Brown - I would have liked to have seen Brown pick up a few more yards on the ground, but that touchdown catch was one of the best that I'd seen all season. Not just for Miami, but in all of the NFL. Just a tremendous individual effort. Brown looks like he is nearly 100% recovered from the ACL injury, and made several nice plays in the passing game.
    • Lousaka Polite - I don't know if we have this guy locked up long term, but I'd be extremely happy if we kept him around for a while. He's got a knack for picking up first downs on third and short. Seems like we convert it every time he touches the ball.
    • Ted Ginn - Ginn finally came alive late in the third quarter, helping to finally get Chad Pennington into a rhythm (though Pennington would later throw a pick) and catching 4 passes on the third quarter drive. On the day Ginn had 5 catches for 38 yards, but he was our spark, particularly in the second half.

    Goats of the Week

    All good things must come to an end, they say. I’m sad to say that my trusty K-State shirt, 10-0 in the regular season, is now 0-1 in the playoffs. So much for that winning streak, though I’m superstitious enough to believe that perhaps it’s a regular season shirt only, meaning that as long as I wear it next year in week 1 we should still win. It’s also entirely possible that the shirt is a one-year wonder, the Derek Anderson of good-luck charms, so I may be looking for something different to rely on next year.

    • Chad Pennington - After playing lights out for the entire season, Chad Pennington looked like a different player out there today. It seemed like he completely lost all of his confidence after the first Ed Reed interception. He threw nearly as many interceptions today (4) as he had all year (7). To beat the Ravens we needed to play mistake free football, and we didn't do that. I don't know if he got rattled because of the fact it was a playoff game, if Baltimore was simply a superior difference, or what. It doesn't really matter, because this was his worst game as a Dolphin, and probably the worst day for a Dolphins quarterback since the infamous 62-7 drubbing in Jacksonville. Needless to say, this was a tough day for a guy that's been our MVP this year.
    • Jake Long, Andy Alleman, Samson Satele, Ike Ndukwe, and Vernon Carey - Our offensive line was borderline terrible today, as several of Pennington's picks came under tremendous Baltimore pressure. Some of this is due to the great defense that the Ravens have, but a lot of it is on our line for failing to protect him. Our two strongest linemen, Long and Carey, both gave up sacks, while our center and guard failed to generate any kind of push up the middle. This was one of their worst efforts of the year, even going back to the first Baltimore game.

    Final Thoughts

    It was a great year Dolfans. Tough to see our team lose like that today, but it's still been a heckuva ride getting here. We were simply outplayed and beaten by a superior defense today. Offensively we put ourselves in a bad position more often then not, though the defense played well and contained the Ravens offense for the most part.

    The Baltimore game exposed some weaknesses in our team. We lost Bess to a broken finger in the second quarter, and it became immediately clear we're still not where we need to be at the wide receiver position. The interior of our offensive line still needs to be bolstered; getting Justin Smiley and Donald Thomas back next year should be a big help. On the defensive side of the ball we need to find someone to contribute along the interior of our line, as Jason Ferguson isn't getting any younger and Paul Soliai has been a work-in-progress. We could also use another pass rushing presence to supplement Joey Porter, as our defensive ends (Phillip Merling, Vonnie Holliday, and Kendall Langford) are somewhat inadequate in this area and outside of Joey, we don’t have much in the way of a pass-rushing linebacker. Also, don’t forget that we are facing key personnel decisions with a number of free agents: Vernon Carey, Channing Crowder, Yeremiah Bell, and Andre Goodman all should be resigned, at least in my opinion. We also need to cut some dead weight from our roster, and names like Jason Allen, Shawn Murphy, and Ernest Wilford could be among the first cuts in the offseason.

    On the flip side, we've found out that we have a number of playmakers on both sides of the ball. Ronnie Brown, Ricky Williams, and Patrick Cobbs complement each other in the backfield. Greg Camarillo looked solid before going down to injury. Davone Bess was an amazing find as an UDFA. Ted Ginn has made nice strides, and I do think he takes the next step next year, in year 3. Chad Pennington was our team MVP (even with today’s stinkbomb), and Chad Henne showed promise as the future in preseason. Anthony Fasano and David Martin looked solid at tight end. A guy that hasn’t been mentioned enough is Jake Long - what can we say about him. Jake has been an anchor along the offensive line, and the scary thought is that he’s still improving his game. On the other side of the ball, Joey Porter played his heart out, and while he is starting to get up there in age as well, he showed that he still has it. Will Allen played through an injury and has proven to be a top-flight cornerback. Matt Roth, while at times inconsistent, looked more comfortable at OLB than at DE. The rookie D-Lineman (Merling and Langford) showed promise. Honestly, going into camp, I felt like we only had a couple of stars on this team, but as the season draws to a close I can't help but be impressed with how many good players we have on this team – we really have talent from the top to the bottom of the roster.

    Winning the AFC east proves that we can compete, but for us to take that next step we’re going to have to add some more pieces. Ideally, I'd like to see us have another solid draft, and pick up 2-3 mid range free agents, not the big name players, but guys that can step in, fit what we are trying to do, and can contribute to our team. That’s the mode we used this year in adding players like Smiley, Ayodele, and Fasano, and it worked out (though I don’t see us fleecing anyone, especially Jerry Jones, for players like AA and Fasano for a 4th rounder this year).

    This season has been a magical one, and while I'm sad to see it end, I'm pleased with the progress that we've made. I'm proud of the steps taken this year, and proud of the fact that I've supported them - even when we were 1-15. If you had told me back in August this team would have a home playoff game, I would have called you nuts. If you had told me that we would be led by a quarterback from a rival team, I would have thought you were insane. Still, that's what we've seen and witnessed this year. It's been a great ride.

    Congratulations, Miami Dolphins, on a tremendous year. Hats off to Coach Sparano, Jeff Ireland, Bill Parcells, and of course all of the players. You guys have made me proud to be a fan of this franchise. I can’t wait to see what this franchise has in store for me in the coming months and years.
     
  2. alen1

    alen1 New Member

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    Nice post as always man. Can't believe we went away from the underneath stuff when we had success. Awful part on Henning and Pennington's part.
     
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  3. Vengeful Odin

    Vengeful Odin Norse Mod

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    Seemed to me like the game plan was to try and beat the Ravens over the top. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me when Baltimore has arguably the best defensive player patrolling their deep secondary.

    We had success when we went to the hurry up and hit them underneath. Those routes were open all day - we should have used more of it, particularly in the second quarter and early portion of the second half.
     
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  4. alen1

    alen1 New Member

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    Also, how underrated are Trevor Pryce and Derrick Mason? Wow. Mason has ten straight seasons of at least 750 yards and he got 3rd Pro Bowl alternate? I got a lot of respect for Mason and Pryce, specifically Mason. One of my favorites out there.
     
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  5. Big E

    Big E Plus sized porn star

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    The first interception Penne through really ticked me off. He was under pressure and chucked it, but we still had an overall successful yr with minimal talent on our roster, we can only go up.
     
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  6. Vengeful Odin

    Vengeful Odin Norse Mod

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    Mason was a quiet killer out there today. He actually led all receivers today in terms of yardage.

    That sideline snag of his was a backbreaker, I failed to call that out in my OP, but it was a huge momentum boost for Baltimore that led to points for them. Great effort by both those guys.

    Baltimore/Tennessee is going to be a slugfest next week. It'll be a fun one to watch.
     
  7. Mkdave

    Mkdave New Member

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    Yeah, mase doesn't get alot of love because he's not a burner or a man-hulk like T.O, and he doesn't make a big fuss about himself or personal accolades. He's a very, very poor man's Jerry Rice.
     
  8. brandon27

    brandon27 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    great work as always VO. Can't wait to start reading these things again every week next year.
     
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  9. PMZQ

    PMZQ Banned

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    VO you're the best. What an awesome end of the season post. :up:
     
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  10. Big E

    Big E Plus sized porn star

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    The one pass he caught close to halftime to set up the FG was phenomenal.
     
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  11. Vengeful Odin

    Vengeful Odin Norse Mod

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    Yeah, he caught it right along the sidelines, it was textbook.

    Mason doesn't get enough recognition as a WR, I read somewhere that's something like 3rd among all wide receivers in terms of yardage since 2001.
     

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