As expected, this was a tough day for the Fins against a team with better coaching, better players, better discipline and better execution. There were very few opportunities to keep this game competitive and even when we had shots, you get Devante Parker not even looking for the ball on a play that was designed specifically for him. There's just no chance to win the game when people don't know what they're doing.

As usual, Landry had a solid day and I think Matt Moore played pretty well under the circumstances with the line struggling. To go from two total sacks in two weeks to letting your QB get hit over a dozen times is completely unacceptable, but you also have to look at HOW the Patriots racked up 7 sacks. At times it was rushing around the edge, and at times it was beating the interior line. Other plays saw a lack in fundamentals such as the entire offensive line ignoring the Mike and leaving a 7 yard gap in the middle of the field for him to rush through...the blocking was just plain bad.

You do have to credit that Pats though- they open with a three and out, only to run a fake punt from their own 20 yard line. That takes serious balls and they kept us off balance for the majority of the game. And once again, we bent a little, bent a little more and then completely broke the floodgates wide open for the Pats to impose their will on us when they needed a big down.

Now let's talk about some positives on the day- and there were several despite a very lopsided day-

- Juice played a solid game and I believe him on that pass he wanted challenged...I think he caught it with his legs. While the ball was moving, I don't think it ever touched the ground. I won't say that was definitely a catch...but I think it was.

- Both Williams and Drake looked good on the afternoon save the one fumble, which I didn't see (I went to grab a drink right before that play and didn't see the point in rewinding). I do wish we would have ran a little more today but I understand why we didn't.

- Jones had a very solid game with the TD and good coverage on Gronk most of the afternoon.

- I also thought the front four for Miami played very well for the most part in generating pressure and stopping the run. That may sound silly since NE ran for over 150 but it was mostly chunk yards...we also had lots of stops on 3rd/4th and 1.

It still bugs me that Parker made such a stupid mistake on what should have been a jump ball...if he hauls that in, we're going to the locker room down 4 and getting the ball back for the 2nd half. That TD would have taken the pressure off and we would have been punting the ball instead of going for it on 4th and long....which is where NE's final TD came from. Parker being oblivious literally changed the entire second half, and it's a little ironic that the only two passes his way were picked off. That tells me that Moore/Gase just doesn't trust him to execute and he's essentially out there as a decoy...sort of like a "Don't throw it to Stonehenge!!!" type of formation.

I am hoping that we look to trade him away this off-season since he just can't get with the program.

Overall though, I thought it was a pretty good day for the Dolphins considering that none of us expected this one to be competitive. We did punish Brady a lot and he certainly wasn't today's MVP. That's about all you can ask for in Gillette with their lip-reading gurus and well-informed coordinators.

 

Every week, I try to give an unbiased review based on what I saw- the good and the bad. Should I just post, "The team sucked, everyone sucked, fire everyone...the end"??? We already have a few members for that so I try to go a different path.

 

There wasn't much good to be found, in all honesty. I just always include that kind of stuff to give folks something to look forward to in the weeks ahead. We certainly sucked YET Landry is making a case as one of the best receivers in football. Wake's looked his age lately YET he played one heck of a game today. Suh knocked the holy hell out of Brady twice today and punished a few running backs. Jones played great in coverage and was all over the place.

Oh, and Wake had a forearm to Brady's nuts that made me smile from ear to ear! While it doesn't make the loss any less crappy, I think the perspective helps some folks.

 

Because I choose not to be negative. Most people don't realize that it's an actual choice.

 

Um, did you see Wake throw a forearm to Brady's nuts while running full speed in the 3rd quarter? That's a half-full glass all by itself, even if we lost by 50.

We all knew we were going to lose, so it's really just what you took from this game and the 10 others. Do you want to be pissed because we didn't blow the opposition out and/or play perfect football? That means you'll be pissed at almost every game no matter who you root for. My expectation for today was for our team to go in aggressive and play hard. They did that for the most part, so I'm not really that disappointed.

It still sucks either way so what's the point of getting mad/cynical and letting it ruin your afternoon? That's why I look at pros and cons every week.

 

I completely disagree...but that's okay.