Very very disappointed if this defense doesn't improve soon this team is going nowhere.Theyvare worse than last year 2 teams with good QBs put up 82 pts in 2; games.

 

Yeah can’t have a QB take 9 hits and 5 sacks and expect your offense to be successful. I know Buffalo has one of the higher pass rush win rates but our OL got exposed today.
Defensively, we look worse and Fangio is supposed to be a defense guru. Maybe the players are still adjusting to the changes but you can’t expect to win a Super Bowl with a defense that plays this poorly.

Really would like to see more commitment to the run game next time we play them so their DL can’t just pin back their ears.

 

Buffalo is capable of doing two things with our OL. (1) - get pressure with just the front 4 (2) stop the run with a light box.

That is death to any offense. We need an OL that can do their job consistently.

 

I can’t be certain until I watch the All 22, but it looked to me like the Bills had 8 man boxes most of the game. Besides them being offsides on nearly every play ( it finally got called late in the game like 3 times) they ran over the oline and forced fumbles. The Dolphins averaged nearly 8 yards per rush, but when you’re behind 3-4 scores early that pretty much takes away the ability to control the clock and run. Not to mention it just allows the defense to pin their ears back and go after Tua because they know a pass is coming. When Eich decided to take a stroll downfield and took 7 points off the board that was when the game was over.

 

My silver lining from this game is that Tua looked durable today. He may not have finished this game in last season’s form. I’m hopeful he plays the entire season and we win a playoff game.

 

The questions I came up with after yesterday, is the talent on our D overrated? If we go through the D, there are some players who don’t play up to expectations like Wilkins, Chubb, Phillips and Holland, our LBs are nothing special at all. Interested to see if Vangio can get more out of this unit but as of now the D is not better then last year. Another thing that concerns me after yesterday is, that we might be to much of a finesse team…

 

Our cornerbacks were sleepwalking all day.

 

They're 3-1 and have played one home game so far. They have two home games coming up against the Giants and Panthers. They will be heavily favored in both.

Put this game on the back burner and get back on track.

 

Yes it is, and it's painfully obvious to see. As a fanbase we definitely over rate the talent on the defensive side of the ball. They just aren't consistent enough, they have some splash plays here and there but they also don't make plays when they should.

In essence we have been through 3 defensive co-ordinators with most of these players (Flores, Boyer and now Fangio) with results being very middling to downright poor for all of them. At some point you have to start questioning that maybe it's what they have to work with that is the issue.

We have D linemen who can't rush the passer, we have linebackers who are bottom tier, we have cornerbacks who can't be relied on to cover or tackle and we have safeties who take bad angles and can't cover well. It also looks like we gave up a first round pick and $100M for a guy that has one single pass rush move, a bullrush, that isn't even that good. You could also throw in that they are terrible at creating turnovers, I haven't looked at the stats but I'm guessing we are pretty close to the bottom of the barrel for turnover since last year.

They weren't sleep walking, they just aren't very good. X is done, he's definitely lost a step or three and I'm not sure we can get out of that contract next year without eating a lot of cap space. Kohou was a great find for a UDFA but he's not good outside and should not be getting tasked with covering a top WR without any help.

 

All I'll say is it's a good thing we have two very winnable home games coming up. Our D needs to get their act together and the O line is falling apart fast. Tua took a beating and made it out ok but they need to get back to keeping him clean from here on out. The season is still young and a lot can happen before Buffalo comes down here week 18.

 

I got the same feeling. The Chubb move looks worse the longer he is here, Grier should have gone after Roquan Smith instead. We got a good team, but I don’t think it’s good enough to make some real noise. Time will tell and hopefully we get through the season with less injuries then last year and Ramsey comes back sooner then expected.

 

I’ve wondered the same thing. Hate excuses because they’re part of the game but we were missing 2 of our top 3/4 defensive players in Ramsey and Phillips. I don’t know that it would have changed the outcome of the game but Ramsey wouldn’t be washing Diggs jock strap like Kohu was.

 

My biggest head-scratching moment was Kohu (instead of X) on Diggs...he just couldn't compete. The offense was moving the ball well early but the banged up line eventually got exposed. Give credit to Buffalo though for playing physical at the line to disrupt Tua's rhythm in our passing game. That's ultimately what made the difference and they announced that they'd do it before the game. That extra 1 second of receivers running their routes was all the difference in the world...and it's something we'll have to prepare for moving forward.

At the end of the day, we lost to one of the best teams in the league and are 3-1 overall. The sky is not falling and we are not doomed. The Dolphins will live and learn.

 

I still think we are good enough to make some noise but the offence is going to have to be perfect to beat the likes of Kansas and Buffalo if the defence can’t make any kind of stops. McDaniel will correct the offensive issues like defences timing the motion to blitz, I have every confidence in that.

If Fangio can somehow turn the defence into a middle of the road unit we can still cause issues come playoff time.

 

Is Boyers coaching anywhere ?

 

Fangio has said more than once that the doesn’t have all the pieces needed to run his defense. I was assuming he was referring to the linebackers, since that was clearly the weak link, but it’s starting to look like it’s more widespread than that.
He doesn’t see Smith as being ready. He probably saw in camp that guys like Ogbah and X are not what they once were. One thing I am seeing is that Chubb is only effective when someone (usually Phillips) is getting pressure from the opposite side.
Also, the Ramsey injury is probably more profound than expected - his presence was going to allow for a great deal of flexibility on the back end, and now that’s not possible, especially with X looking like he’s lost a step.
Hopefully, he can make improvements as we go along (and we won’t face offenses that good every week), but it might take another offseason to get the defensive pieces needed to get this unit to the next level.

 

we dropped Chubb back in coverage on third and 2 :( the guy he was supposed to be covering, i think, was wide open

 

Pass rush did nothing... hard to cover double moves when the QB is not worried. Terrible all around on defense.

 

I've always wondered about the offense letting the clock run down to a few seconds before snapping the ball, isnt that a HUGE signal to the defense to charge.

 

Phillips has been good in spurts but not consistent and now he’s dealing with an injury. I think it’s not a good sign that AVG has been our best defensive player so far. Not really worried about the offense unless the injuries start piling up especially on O-line. But the defense is an disappointment, hope Vangio can salvage something and Ramsey comes back sooner then later.

 

what I saw Brandon Jones looked terrible along with most of them. AVG even was invisible.

 

What did you watch AVG was the only one on D who had a good game…

 

None of the plays i watched did he do anything. What makes you think he had a good game?

My apologies , i see he had 2 sacks which would be really good. Sadly better then the starter.

 

2 sacks, 3 TFL and 2 QB hits. He was literally the only guy doing his job or at the very least, making some plays to try and slow down Buffalo.

 

That is awesome! I will go back and watch this again. He is my favorite D player. He must have turned it up the second half.

 

Ya think? That's why we consistently lose to teams that will punch you in the mouth like the Ravens and Steelers. We get knocked off our gameplan and can't win. It also speaks to the type of coaching we've experienced for years and why this team isn't mentally or physically tough. Mike McDaniel isn't a guy who's going to toughen a team up mentally or physically. I just hope he's half as smart as he thinks he is when it comes to game planning. I'm also beginning to think/blame the city of Miami itself. I think teams take on the personality of their cities and Miami is a party/night life city. Cities like Baltimore and Pittsburgh are a tough cities.

 

Our defense after 4 games is #28 in points allowed. This is worse than in previous years. Fangio has some serious work to do. Our offense on the other hand is #1 in points scored. Tua is #2 in passer rating (114.4) behind Purdy (115.1). Not that this matters that much given that it's less than 1/4 of a season, but that's where we are right now.

The closest any SB winning team has come to those kinds of stats is when New Orleans won the SB in 2009 with Brees coming in #1 in passer rating, their offense #1 in points scored, and their defense #20 in points allowed. The other example is Indy in 2006 winning the SB with Manning #1 in passer rating, their offense #2 in points scored and the defense #23 in points allowed. So it's not like it's impossible to win this way, but it's rare to win the SB with this kind of team.

 

Time to hold Fangio accountable

 

I know all of us are still trying to digest yesterday’s game and find silver linings and rays of sunshine. Depending on how you look at this…

Prior to yesterday, the last time Fangio faced the Bills, it was a humiliating loss for the defensive guru.

Allen was 28/40, 359 yards, 2TD, 0 Int and 2 rushing touchdowns. The Bills trounced the Broncos 48-19 in that outing.

Seeing how Fangio was beaten yesterday by nearly the same identical score and stats, hopefully he has enough footage to analyze and not allow a 3-peat.

 

lol

 

Is that why San Francisco won so many Super Bowls?

 

This will be a completely different defense once we get Jalen Ramsey back- Kohu got torched 3 times deep and 3 more times on intermediate routes. That was essentially the difference in the ballgame.

People over-reacted when we blew out a few teams, now they're overreacting because the Bills whooped us. Buffalo is a top-3 team and our defense got exposed. Our offensive line also got exposed and our receivers couldn't get open fast enough when getting checked at the line. Buffalo out-played us and out-smarted us...good for them. It's still exactly one loss though no matter how anyone tries to spin it. I know you know that as well as everyone, so that last line certainly wasn't for you.

We have a few softer games at home against the Giants and the Panthers, both should be solid wins. Then we go to Philly and see what we're made of at that point in the season. Then the Chiefs two weeks later overseas, before the schedule relaxes again. We finish with the Cowboys at home, the Ravens in Baltimore, and the Bills at home- those three games will determine our playoff implications and seeding.

I see this as a 12-5 to 14-3 team- we'll lose a couple to the Cowboy, Bills, Ravens, Eagles, and Chiefs but we should win a few as well. The real question is where 3 to 5 losses puts us in seeding and how much home field advantage we'll have in the playoffs.

 

I'm not really worried. Vic Fangio has a perfect record thus far in improving the defense his first year on a new team (excluding the two cases where he was DC with expansion teams). The average increase in ranking of points allowed is +9 his first year, with the smallest increase coming with his last job in Denver, where the increase in 2019 was only 3 spots from the year before.

We were the 24th ranked defense last year. So I'm expecting something around average by the end of this year. That's more or less where we need to be to be the next Peyton-led Colts in 2006 or Brees-led Saints in 2009. Most SB winners have a defense that's top 6-7 ish, same with offense (offense a bit more important than defense though). So unless we make a massive leap into that elite defense range, statistically we have to hope to be the Colts of 2006 or Saints of 2009.

It's possible. Hey, Peyton also had a massive loss of 17-44 to the Jaguars in 2006 and still won the SB. They were also a WC team, so maybe that's the mold we're trying to replicate.

 

I think you are being overly optimstic. I see us going 9-8 to 11-6 at best.

 

Vegas currently has our total wins at 11.5, so you're actually being a bit pessimistic relative to one of the best predictors we have.

At 11-12 wins that would make this is the first time since 2001 we'll have had 2 consecutive trips to the playoffs, and the first time since 2003 we'll have had 4 consecutive winning seasons. Very clear improvement. All we need is a playoff win and I'm going to hound you on admitting you were wrong about Grier lol.

I actually think we'll get our first playoff win this year, even as a WC, as long as we don't have to travel to Buffalo or KC, and it's likely one of them will have the bye, so there's a decent chance we can get rid of one of the biggest embarrassments in franchise history: currently #2 on the list of longest postseason win droughts at 22 seasons, only 2nd to Detroit (31 years), which also looks to break that streak this year. The new king would be the Raiders btw if both Detroit and Miami win a playoff game, and I hate the Raiders so that would be just great!

 

If I had the time, I’d actually take a look at first year Fangio defenses game by game to see when the demonstrated improvement kicked in.

His record speaks for itself. There’s no doubt Fangio is a proven defensive coordinator. I just hope it starts kicking in sooner rather than later.

Im just fearful that until we defeat one of these top 5 teams on the road, we’re not going to be taken seriously.

 

Oh that's for sure. Even if we blow out the next two opponents the narrative will be we haven't beaten a good team yet and it's the truth. Our next reality check is in Philly.

 

Can't see them finishing 9-8 unless we have a few catastrophic injuries. As bad as the defence has been this offence will still win games on it's own. With no major injuries I still think they can win between 11-13 games.