He brought a system that gave Tanny the best chance to get comfortable with the speed of the NFL. It's still obviously a work in progress, but you can see the leap Tanny made this year.

I think Sherman makes questionable calls at times, but some of the hate comes from people looking for a scapegoat. I would say that he's just inconsistent. Seems to be a team wide trend.

 

anxiety

 

He's not a bad offensive coordinator. He's by no means a great one either, he's pretty average. There are some things I'd like to see done different(pass protection packages), but I don't think a lot of the play calling criticism is very valid as it for the most part stops and starts with "play didn't work".

That being said, we could do better I'd like to see someone hire him as a head coach in the off-season and Miami go in a different direction.

 

I think he goes away from the run to quickly, also think he is what Tannehill needs at this point in time, unlike Henning he at least trusts THill to throw the ball into the EZ for Td's.

Think he is limited by poor blocking and young receivers on offense who are inconsistent catching the ball

 

His play calling is pretty frustrating but it has to be tough to try and run an offense when your run blocking is ranked 27th and your pass blocking is ranked 23rd.

 

The problem is. How much do you set Tannehills progression back by making him learn a new offense? I think he needs at least one more year under an offense he knows. I'm 100% fine with changing the play caller though.

 

If he can't "get it" under a new offense maybe its an indicator of bigger issues.

That said, I'm not sure I'm ready to throw in the towel on Sherman...the offense was moving the first few weeks before we got exploited. Part of me wants to complain at a lack of change up...but at the same time I'm not sure we have the personnel to change things up.

 

Probably not very much. It's not like Miami is going to go to an offense out of a Coryell-based tree or anything like that. It would be some WCO variant with a pretty solid overlap.

 

I'm wondering if that's more Philbin than Sherman (going away from the run). It seems like at A&M, in the games I saw (which admittedly were only a couple) when Sherman coached in Tannehill's last year, A&M ran the ball a lot in both halves. If Philbin didn't wear a head-set, I'd attribute it all to Sherman, but I kind of think it's a philosophy that this is a passing league, and we're going to pass the ball. Those philosophies stem from the head coach, in general.

 

To be fair, Sherman said he cares for and likes a run/pass balance. He also slipped in Philbin could care less about that balance. That might be one of the restrictions Philbin has laid down.

 

The philosophy seems to operate an offense from the pocket, he's teaching his Qb to operate from that at all costs it seems, so far, not so good..

 

I think of him as kind of average. Brings some wrongheaded ideas to the table at times in terms of game management. Biggest and most consistent weakness is showing things on tape that end up being run exactly the same way on the field which I think contributes to predictability.

But overall the system design is very sound, especially the ways of using interior receivers versus perimeter receivers to spring one another open.

 

I honestly only have one HUGE gripe about Sherman, and thats his use of Lamar Miller. Over the last few games...Miller has broken off a chunk yardage run. Right now, Lamar Miller is 13th in the league on Y/A. Thats WITH the stats of his first game where he averaged .3 yds. Take out that game, and his avg is 5.04 tops in the league.

I know they say he cant pass block...but..nobody is. So..why not give a guy that averages almost 5 yards a carry 20 carries a game? Im not getting it. Hes a huge weapon Sherman parks on the bench.

 

He and Thomas both had their best game of the season against buffalo so I think the light turned on there. If anything you could argue that we stopped using Thomas against the bills, cause he was doing great in the first half. If we had stuck to it, i think we win the game. Very frustrating.

But then again, Tanny said on his strip sack at the end that that was supposed to be a running play and he audibled out of it.

 

I don't know that it falls entirely on Sherman, but it really bothers me that two games in a row we have first and ten needing 15 yards (give or take) to get Sturgis into FG range to tie or win, and we get nothing. Again, not sure that falls on Sherman, as execution obviously enters into the equation. But, I would think as an OC/HC you'd have a handful of plays set aside (practiced until perfected) just for those types of situations.

I'm also reminded of that play when we only needed a foot or less (I think against The Saints) and Miller was caught for a three yard loss. I know some in here defended the call, but I personally thought it was a bad call. Of course, again I will say execution also was pertinent to the outcome of the play. But still.

 

But Thomas isnt going to change a game in one carry the way Miller can. If he gets the carries, Im tellin you, this kid is gonna light it up.

 

Heartburn.

 

- Familiarity with Philbin
- West Coast offense
- and now that we have RT, familiarty with RT and his system

(Hey, can't blame OC for RT's ineptitude, after all, RT is a QB because MS.)

 

Ryan Tannehill has Multiple Sclerosis?

Holy hell.....

 

Merely a twat hair more than Grandpa Henning.

 

He makes for a good scapegoat.

 

Probably like a lot of coaches, Miami coaches seem to fetishize knowing the assignment over pure talent, so they tend to value guys who do better in the classroom than on the field. Maybe that's a leap, but it's the only reason I can figure for Thomas over Miller. He's not a better runner. If he's better blocking, it's marginally at best. He probably can catch better, but he's limited after catching where Miller is better in space. I would go the other way, I think, but that's just me.

It seems to be this way on defense as well, which is why we see so little of Dion Jordan, who flashes and makes plays often when given the opportunity, but who sees far less time than Olivier Vernon or even Derrick Shelby in games, and now less time than Jason Trusnick and Jelani Jenkins. Jordan is more talented than any of those guys. But, hey, at least he’s out there blocking on the kickoff return team. (I haven't fact-checked on snaps, so I'm still speaking a little in bitterness, but it's just how it seems -- and why let facts get in the way of a good rant anyway? :tantrum:)

 

that's what you said about Dan Henning. WADR, is there an offensive coordinator in the league you feel isn't doing a great job? Just seems to me you have an offensive coordinator's mentality where lack of adequate production falls solely on the players for "failing to execute" and that the OC can do no wrong.

Sherman is becoming predictable; opposing players have stated as much in so many words. The creativity level has been pretty damn poor. It took 7 games to finally begin using Wallace in motion in the run game to offer the threat of the jet sweep to freeze the defense. Tannehill had been getting sacked heavily from day 1 yet our screen game to counter that pressure is one of the worst in the NFL. How many receiver screens are we throwing to Wallace, Gibson, Clay, and Matthews to serve as an extension of the run game while the actual run game itself had been stalling, plus to also force DBs to have something else to look for and prepared for? How many misdirection plays do we run? How about roll-outs and moving pockets to counter some of that increased QB pressure?

We do not have Montana, Rice, John Taylor, Roger Craig, Tom Rathman, and Brent Jones allowing us to run a straightforward offense capable of beating defenses on straight up execution alone.

 

Sherman is not nearly as predictable as fans. It really wasn't difficult to see this coming. In fact, back in December 2012, I said this would happen:

http://www.thephins.com/forums/show...fire-Ireland&p=1929885&viewfull=1#post1929885

 

I'd say your comment about Sherman making for a good scapegoat also falls under your fan predictability comment.

 

Sherman simply isn't being realistic with his play calling. He's calling plays based on the ideal way he sees the game unfolding in his head, instead of the game thats actually being played on the field.

There are plenty of times each game we see this, such as when sherman calls a play where tannehill has only 2 or 3 reads, all of which are 20 yards down field. Normally that might not be a bad call and in Shermans head its a good call, but when tannehill is getting brutalized if he holds it longer than 2.5 seconds its nothing more than a death sentence.

 

I think his perception, and probably his play calling, would be a lot better if the play execution was improved. Also if the OLine could all hold blocks for minimum of 2.2 seconds, and the receivers weren't among league leaders in dropped passes as a team. It's all relative IMO.

My biggest knock on him is the lack of creativity in getting Wallace and Miller more involved in the passing game each game instead of here and there.

 

I always laugh at the idea that "our coach isn't creative enough" with his play calling. It's almost like fans believe that creative play calling will allow you to overcome talent deficiencies. I personally think it is the other way around. The talent you have makes your play calling look better.

 

Oh come on. That's not true. I mean, look at the Eagles!

...Wait...

 

What talent deficiencies? We're talking about specifically using the talent we have in more creative ways. Wallace, Clay, and Miller have talent, and even Gibson & Matthews do to a degree too. Plus our QB isn't an immobile statue. The deficiency is at offensive line, so yes, creative play-calling can certainly help overcome that just as other offenses around the league benefit from it. And by creative play-calling we're not talking about double reverses, flea-flickers, triple-read options, hook-and-latterals, or wildcat QB mumbo jumbo; we're talking about simply going beyond the overly vanilla and into stuff that would be deemed normal for much of the rest of the league. Heck, it took 7 games to start motioning Wallace on sweeps. That's the type of stuff we're talking about. Now it just needs to be expanded upon. Your rationale would've been valid last year. However there's significantly more athleticism and playmaking ability in this year's cast but we're treating it like it's still Bess, Hartline, and Fasano.

 

Tannehill has a high enough IQ to play in any offense.

 

I disagree. You are going to have to show me examples of vanilla and creative to set what you are talking about, but everything starts up front. When you are getting beat at the snap like Miami's offensive line is, I don't care if you are running flea flickers or jet sweeps, they aren't going to work as well as they would if you could actually hold a block for a second and simply slow down the pressure/pursuit.

Also, was Joe Philbin and Mike McCarthy "vanilla" and "not creative" in Green Bay when they didn't motion the wide receivers much? This offense as a whole is far from vanilla the way I define vanilla. Heck, the biggest reason you are seeing more motion with Mike Wallace is the coaches have finally realized that he's not good enough as a route runner to make much of an impact in the short passing game because his false steps and round offs throw the timing of the passing game off when he is the target.

Heck, this offensive line cannot keep a 3 man rush with 5 blockers away from the quarterback, and we are criticizing the coaching staff for their creativity?

 

motioning Wallace on the jet sweep is for the benefit of the run game and has nothing to do with him as a receiver. Hopefully they're realizing that when you have one of the fastest players in the NFL at receiver there are more ways of utilizing the position than with Davone Bess. Secondly, our Oline is what it is at this point. What Sherman & Philbin decide to do with it from here out in terms of lessening the impact of its deficiency is on them. Maybe my perception is off but I was under the assumption that the type of creativity we're talking about - screens, WR/TE screens, sweeps, misdirection [including within the blocking scheme], rollouts, moving the pocket, delayed handoffs, etc - are all ways to improve production in the face of heavy QB pressure.

But forget all that. Let's just skip to the nitty-gritty. We had arguably the most explosive pass-catching back in the NFL in our offense last year yet he averaged 2 measly catches per game even though we essentially only had 2 receivers on the roster. Bush is now averaging 4 per game this year, and in 5 and a half games with Detroit has as many or more receiving yards, 1st downs, TDs, 20+, and 40+ as he did all last season. Detroit utilizes him in screens and moves him around the field to create matchup advantages that they routinely gain positive results from. Just as we failed to creatively utilize Bush's assets to the fullest last year, we're continuing on a similar trend this year. For the record, I use the term "creativity" loosely b/c it's not really creative when much of the league is doing it; however when we've been as vanilla as we've been recently, anything more than vanilla starts to feel creative.


And no, McCarthy wasn't this vanilla. He moved the pocket around for Rodgers and rolled Rodgers out more frequently, especially to buy more time to hit deep throws. How often are we doing the same with Tannehill to Wallace?
Green Bay receivers were used on screens and in other creative ways that Philbin/Sherman aren't doing in Miami, and Green Bay's backs were utilized in the screen game.

 

What a coincidence, we have a fast, explosive back who can line up at Wr and at Rb, he's touched the ball on offense..twice, once was a 50 yd play, the other a 5 yd play.

That falls on Sherman and this bizarre need to be consistent with player groupings, it is not that the offense has been poor, it is more we see the same Head=Meet Wall approach.

I'm not down on Sherman much, do notice a trend of he has groups he likes, he sticks with them no matter the results

Clay/Wallace/Hartline/Gibson, good talent, just believe more can be done as if we don't stretch the field soon, those pick 6's and fumbles will come more often as Defenses reduce the box they are defending to 20 yds, same as happened under Sparano/Henning/Daboll

To me, only Wallace and to a lesser extent Clay has prevented that from happening yet, THill won't stay healthy that way as 8 in the box works against short passing quite well as well.

 

My guess is the coaches would say (privately) that he is not as good at executing his responsibilities in pass protection, and lining up correctly, etc...

But the honest truth, imo, is that those two drops on those wheel routes cost him. If he had caught those, he'd be cemented as an offensive weapon whose upside to the running AND passing game made it worth keeping him on the field, despite any deficiencies.

However, if you're running well, and being unreliable in the passing game it doesn't give the coaches that compelling reason to say "How can we afford to take him off the field?"

 

Thinking the same thing, actually thinking "Boy would loved to have seen Thigpen run that route"

DTrain does more things, albeit some more poorly than others, Miller is a home run guy who does one thing really well.

 

He tried to turn Reggie into a 20 carry pounder, when he found out that Reggie's style doesn't fit with that, he got rid if him, hell my thoughts were if that's how were gonna use him, lets let him go and try to find a traditional runner..ala Lacey, Ball.

I think if you strip Reggie of his pass catching and open space ability, you really are left with what?

 

Daniel Thomas might not be stellar overall but he's a decent player out of the backfield which might just be the best part of his game, yet he has just 7 catches in 6 games. [slightly down from last year's average]. Over the past 3 years, 76% of the passes are completed to him for an average per attempt of 6.0 yards, plus a 1st down every 3.75 attempts. That's better efficiency than the run game when factoring in the ground game likely has 24% of its attempts go for 2 or less yards which is basically like throwing an incompletion.

Look at the difference between Thomas's receiving stats the past 3 years compared to 2013's ground game:
6.0 avg VS 3.9 avg
1st down every 3.75 attempts VS 1 per 5.71 attempts