our O played uncharacteristically against the ravens. we have 5 turnovers at least. unacceptable. if smiley and thomas come back this may change. how many sacks did we have? none. I think we still need to draft players that have a decent pass rush who aren't porter or more along the Oline. thomas hasn't proven himself and I'm weary of the pressure that was put on our QB. i think we had a wonderful turn around but i believe the ultimate goal is the super bowl. anything short and you've failed. i mean, kinda. we had the league best turnaround in one season but for what? to lose in the wildcard game? there are definitely some pieces missing and we had an awesome offseason last year (as it turns out) and an awesome season this year (definitely). i'm looking forward to seeing what we do in this offseason. regardless of where we pick and who is doing the picking (i'm nervous about parcells leaving but haven't heard anything about sparano or ireland and I have faith in them) I think they'll pick where they think we need.. and we've got some real gems in Cobbs and Bess amongst others. go phins!
We need our guards back. Period. There was constant pressure up the middle all day. I'll say it, if we had our starting guards I believe we win this game.
Interior line should be addressed, as well as the inside linebacker spots, young corners should be brought in and the current ones re-signed, a free safety should be considered and a pass rushing OLB. I wouldn't be against adding a receiver late in the draft.
Thanks for the response guys. I feel all these issues are valid. Me? I'm a defensive minded guy. Look at what the ravens did to us. If we can have a top team in defense we dominate. period. if you stop their offense you stop their team. not every team has a great pass rush. or a shutdown corner. we have "no name receivers" and yet we're still able to get the job done if we can get a good defense against the other teams offense. this might just be my opinion but if i'm picking I go D side no question.
Just to amplify. O-Line - need to improve quality and depth along the interior and re-sign carey. WR - we've got our smurfs we need a tall jumper. ILB - we need a beast to put our D up into the Pittsburgh/Ravens category NT - we need to get younger without sacrificing quality
We need a stud @ ILB! Channing crowder has played his last game as dolphin IMO. Posted via Mobile Device
We definitely need help on the interior line. Getting smiley back, helps bigtime, but we still need help on the right side. Thomas may come back and be great, but depth wont hurt along the line. We definitely need some guys to generate some pass rush. Aside from Porter we've got nothing aside from the odd safety blitz thats worked. So help on the DL, and the LB core is key. Getting a young corner would be beneficial as well. Allen and goodman proved their worth this year, after that though we're hurting. Hell, even a Safety would be good. Renaldo Hill should be replaced back there. As "good" as he's been, that position could be alot better. Finally, a WR. I think playing Baltimore's D today reconfirmed it to us that as good as our WR's have been this year... we need a bigtime receiver. Thats alot of needs, but maybe im just being greedy
IMO there are still a decent bit of needs. It's not being greedy because we all just want this team to improve. The important thing is I think we've got the personnel in the FO to make it happen .
I think obviously you need depth at reciever. You had 2 active receivers at one point, and you can't hope to mount a comeback with 2 recievers. Also you might want to look into drafting a playmaking safety. Bell is a decent player at SS, but I think you need more of an Ed Reed (not to rub it in) back there to swing the tide of games going away from you.
We need WRs guys...WIDE RECEIVERS. Plural. Bess is the only real one we have. GC is comming off an injury. Ginn we need to trade (or he has to get tougher in the offseason which I doubt). I am not even going to mention London or Wilfork ...what for?
LOL Ed Reed is one of the best safeties ever Miami will have a difficult time finding a player of his caliber.
Bell is a very good player and I'm not trying to be a homer. I would agree that we need a playmaking Safety though, and one that knows how to tackle. Awful stiff-arm on Renaldo Hill by McGahee. Whose Wilfork? Ginn did fine this game, I thought so at least. He can still stretch the field. I still don't believe he develops into a number one receiver but I'll take him as a number two. I think he needs to work on concentrations because he doesn't have a good crowd reaction.
Ginn needs to stay and I think London has potential but I agree Miami needs to sign receivers this off-season.
It's hard to say what our worst need is. Our offensive line still isn't that good, but our interior defensive line is worse. Our DBs played over their heads, but I still think we badly need help at safety and cornerback. We also need help at linebacker. We also badly need a tall, dominating WR. Frankly, in the draft I think we take the best player available who isn't a QB or RB. In free agency, I hope we go after a veteran WR.
Hill is a solid veteran IMO. Yeremiah Bell has preached how good Hill has been in making sure everyone is lined up correctly and making the calls in the secondary. Maybe he's not starting material in our eyes but he's a solid guy who can play the Cornerback spot, if needed.
Multiple times I saw Joey Porter not setting the edge today. I'm not sure if he understands that you don't need two linebackers to hit one gap. He stays outside and Ayodele hits the gap.
This team still needs alot, sometimes we have to remind ourselves that it's only year 1 of the rebuilding process. I would say that the OL needs to be straightened out, Carey may or may not be back, Satele may or may not fit into our plans and we can't count on Thomas to come back and pick up where he left off. The running game has suffered as a result of OL injuries and poor play, we need to strengthened it this offseason. Obviously pass rushing is another priority, Porter did really well this year but we can't expect him to repeat this years performance. I would look for another LB or two who can get into the backfield. WR has to be another area in need of an upgrade, Ginn, Cammy and Bess played great this year, but we need some size out there. And we can't forget about the secondary too. We need alot, we'll see which way the team decides to go in FA and the draft.
I've seen him whiff on too many tackles to justify keeping him regardless of how good he is making the defensive backfield calls. I thought he was a good player before the injury but not so much anymore.
I wouldn't mind drafting a WR in the second round( maybe Hakeen Nicks or Kenny Britt). But we DESPERATELY need interior offensive lineman, and linebackers. A FS like O.J Otagwe wouldn't hurt either.
I actually meant to say that this hypothetical playmaking safety should be starting opposite Bell. He's definitely a very solid safety, which is what an SS should be. Hill isn't providing good enough coverage or tackling to justify his lack of big plays.
You cant forget that we were missing Camarillo this last few games of the season. That's one of our best go-to receivers and I think he would have made a huge difference in today's game. With Ginn, Bess and him, we should do fine. Maybe we can try Henne out for next year, and give them the ability to go long.
They need a physical large WR to be sure. Bess needs to become the fourth WR or compete with Camarillo to be the third WR. We have the same needs we've had for a while to be honest. Interior line SOLB WR NT Re-sign all major players, they're doing fine.
I take by the number of you listing ILB as a need you're not big fans of Crowder? He's a little lean, I think he needs to bulk up some but I think he could be a really good backer.
He's solid IMO. I think we could do better than him though, just not sure when or where. Possibly the draft.
I agree Ayodele isn't a fantastic ball player. He cost the phins a pick today when it was still close.
Cost us a pick? You mean the pass that he batted down? Who knows if Yeremiah Bell would have intercepted that ball. That was a smart play by Ayodele IMO. I'm still not a big fan of him though but two starters for a fourth round pick -- what a highway robbery by the way lol --, I'll take him. He's got experience in the 34 and he's made the calls when he was in Dallas. He's a guy who could be brought off the bench but I don't think he's a good starter.
I disagree, I would imagine Yerimiah called for the ball, and Akin should have been receptive to it because he should have known what area of the field bell was covering. That was poor awareness in my opinion.