Thoughts on the Dolphins/Vikings Game

"KeyFin wrote:

Remember just yesterday when I said I thought I was back on the Tannehill bandwagon? That was pretty short lived.

Do you see why you shouldn't wobble on him based on a good game here or there? Guy was never the answer and a bunch of us knew it years ago. Don't ever let Tannehill make you a believer in him. As I told you weeks ago it is completely and utterly irrelevant how he plays to end this season: he is NOT the answer. He's the ultimate "tease" (as you yourself said).

Tannehill is the answer and you will see it next year when we field a healthy team. The fact that we're 7-7 with this MASH unit of a team is a testament to Gase and Tannehill and a slew of other never say die Dolphins. That others expect more is a testament to their ignorance or frustration. You can't overcome injuries. You might be able to scheme your way around it with certain teams and create a win or two but when you face a team where their strengths line up against your weaknesses you have no chance

We were brought back down to earth with that shellacking. Pretty upset right now. You cannot give up 200 yards in the first quarter and win a game. Obviously need a DC. No words Gase seems so vanilla in the playcalling.

"adamprez2003 wrote:

Tannehill is the answer and you will see it next year when we field a healthy team. The fact that we're 7-7 with this MASH unit of a team is a testament to Gase and Tannehill and a slew of other never say die Dolphins. That others expect more is a testament to their ignorance or frustration. You can't overcome injuries. You might be able to scheme your way around it with certain teams and create a win or two but when you face a team where their strengths line up against your weaknesses you have no chance

No way man. Look at the league as a whole....even the Browns have 6 wins. Most of the league is utter trash with the few elite teams being MILES ahead. Miami and tannehill are both far far away from being elite.

"adamprez2003 wrote:

Tannehill is the answer and you will see it next year when we field a healthy team. The fact that we're 7-7 with this MASH unit of a team is a testament to Gase and Tannehill and a slew of other never say die Dolphins. That others expect more is a testament to their ignorance or frustration. You can't overcome injuries. You might be able to scheme your way around it with certain teams and create a win or two but when you face a team where their strengths line up against your weaknesses you have no chance

I appreciate your positive attitude. For the Phins to be a championship level team we have to beat teams that have a good defense/pressure the QB. We are so far away from going to Pittsburgh or New England and truly competing. I respect Tannehill. He is tough, he does his best every week, but this team as currently constituted is eons away from a championship. The only way to get there is either luck, i.e. draft a Randy Moss/Aaron Rodgers guy on offense and a Reggie White/ Aaron Donald on defense or bottom out, draft strong lines, and build out. This 7-9/9-7 mediocre bullshit just will not get it done.

"Berezo wrote:

No way man. Look at the league as a whole....even the Browns have 6 wins. Most of the league is utter trash with the few elite teams being MILES ahead. Miami and tannehill are both far far away from being elite.

We will finish 8-8 or 9-7. Teams that finish in the top 10 for games lost due to injury only have approximately a 10% chance of making the playoffs. Therefore when you get as many Injuries as we got the best you can reasonably expect is a 9-7 season. So we got the most you can expect with the injury curse. That expectations don't take into account injuries isn't the problem of Gase or Tannenbaum or Tannehill. It's only the problem of those who hold ridiculous expectations

"mbsinmisc wrote:

I appreciate your positive attitude. For the Phins to be a championship level team we have to beat teams that have a good defense/pressure the QB. We are so far away from going to Pittsburgh or New England and truly competing. I respect Tannehill. He is tough, he does his best every week, but this team as currently constituted is eons away from a championship. The only way to get there is either luck, i.e. draft a Randy Moss/Aaron Rodgers guy on offense and a Reggie White/ Aaron Donald on defense or bottom out, draft strong lines, and build out. This 7-9/9-7 mediocre bull**** just will not get it done.

This is the year to draft defensive linemen. There will probably be around 25 with first round grades

I put very little of this on Tannehill. This is only the OL, but more than that, on the Offensive prep. Even if Tannehill is quicker with his feet it doesn't fix that horrific scenario. The coaches need to scheme for this and help them out. They were trying to run their same offensive play calls with a swiss-cheese o-line. You have to see that, recognise it, and adjust.

Injuries factor in here. We have a poor interior line and there's only so much you can do with the talent you have.

However, like Key said, you add backs, TE's, whatever it takes, and you find a way to get some yardage and some runs.

"Galant wrote:

I put very little of this on Tannehill. This is only the OL, but more than that, on the Offensive prep. Even if Tannehill is quicker with his feet it doesn't fix that horrific scenario. The coaches need to scheme for this and help them out. They were trying to run their same offensive play calls with a swiss-cheese o-line. You have to see that, recognise it, and adjust.

Injuries factor in here. We have a poor interior line and there's only so much you can do with the talent you have.

However, like Key said, you add backs, TE's, whatever it takes, and you find a way to get some yardage and some runs.

Exactly this! The game plans and play design fall squarely at the feet of Gase. He isn’t some guru god everyone thought he was. He does however, get his players to play hard for him but that isn’t going to get the job done.

"KeyFin wrote:

Remember just yesterday when I said I thought I was back on the Tannehill bandwagon? That was pretty short lived. =( The story of the day was defensive pressure and Tannehill simply had no answer for it. This is such a recurring theme that we've seen year after year.....teams dial up the pressure, the line collapses and Tannehill turns into a deer in the headlights.

To Tannehill's credit, he was scrambling for his life and this was MOSTLY an offensive line issue. It's never the QB's fault when an untouched defender lights them up, and it's even harder to blame a guy with a sprained ankle. But at the same time, we can't win football games without an answer in sight. Either we need to leave two TE's in there for max protect, keep two backs on the field...something.

One thing I watch for in these games is a close-up of Tannehill's face in the replay, and what I have seen this season is not promising. On a few of today's sacks he had his eyes/mouth wide open (a look of panic), his eyes were closed once (a look of defeat), and a grimace of anticipated pain on several others. He simply cannot react fast enough to evade pressure and I don't know how he's ever the answer without stellar protection.

When he's safe in the pocket the guy is incredible- maybe a top-5 quarterback. When he's challenged though, he falls out of the top 30. I had to stop watching with about 4 minutes left after his 8th or 9th sack- he just didn't belong on the field taking those hits.

Fear not though Dol-fans, because this was a game most of you expected us to lose. Just like the Miami Miracle was a single win, this was only a single loss. We still have the Jags at home next week and it's a very winnable game to at least reach .500 on the season.

The other good news, hopefully Howard is ready to go next week....he's sorely missed! He would have negated 3 of those passing TD's from McCain and McTyer getting smoked straight off the LOS. Not saying we would have won today with him on the field, but it would have at least been a contest in the closing minutes.

I think we probably should just face reality and not get our hopes up until they prove us wrong. I am looking to celebrate the little things and see if anyone exciting emerges. Other than that, I am not expecting much.

I love my team so much
And I know them so well
I might have been the only one that didn’t get excited or celebrate last week.

Let’s face it we’re not a very good team
We need a creative OC ,QB with pocket presence and smarts and DC for sure for sure