Good write up Brother! I will add that the Phins do have many weaknesses. People can score on us in bunches. Our defense starts off very vanilla every single game. It's gonna be easy for a team like Atlanta or New Orleans to build up leads in the first two quarters. And our offense is in no way built to score all of a sudden, it can, but It's not made that way.
Thanks, man!
You're probably right about our defense but at least we can say it's yet to be proven. I'll agree that they can give up chunks of yards at times but the points haven't been too easy to come by, especially down near the endzone (same as last season). I agree with you on our offense, it's designed for short to medium plays that help sustain long drives. Tannehill hasn't been going for the home run very often at all.
I do think there are some positives in this last game though.
The defense was able to adjust perfectly in the second half only allowing a field goal.
Tannehill didn't have any turnovers. (that call was stupid)
Sherman actually realized that the zone blocking scheme sucks, and changed it.
Sherman ran sweeps and outside runs for once.
Miller actually chose better cutback holes.
Dion Jordan exists.
Agreed on all of these. Great points.
Things I didn't like.
Dion Jordan only plays the second half of games it seems. He is only put in on third down. So basically we drafted Ted Ginn 2.0. A player that only plays %20 percent of snaps. If he is hurt, why play him? If he is not hurt, why aren't you playing him in the first half? What are they waiting until the other team is tired to put him in?
I'm not too worried about Jordan. Right now he is a backup because of how deep the d-line is, so the Phins are fine with using him in certain situations only as his development progresses. Think of it this way --- the fact that the Dolphins have the luxury to sit Jordan most of the game and make 22 year old (younger than Jordan, by the way) Olivier Vernon the starter shows that Ireland has had some real success in building up this line. It's too early to judge Jordan one way or the other but as of right now I'm happy with how he's being utilized (primarily in the "speed" package which includes 3 DE's - Wake, Vernon, and Jordan).
Our pass rush sucked in the first half. Kevin Coyle was probably too worried about Lucks legs, but he burned us anyways. Might as well play aggressively and use a LB to spy.
Completely agree. I have no idea where the pass rush was in the first half, and honestly it didn't look much better during a big portion of the second half. Coyle is not shy about dialing up blitzes but the Colts were dealing with them quite well for the most part. Also, Wake was shut down on the outside the entire game which was disappointing.
Tannehill still would rather take the sack than run for it. He needs to learn to roll out of pocket after his progressions are done, this is how Big Ben usually sets up big plays.
Yes, what is up with this? You'd think the guy would have more confidence in his evasive ability given his background as a WR but he has looked like a statue in the pocket at times. He especially needs to get better at getting rid of the ball quickly on 3rd downs (particularly when he's being blitzed).
I woke up the baby when we sacked luck on fourth down. I felt bad
If there was anything that called for waking the baby up, that was it!
Also, from now on whenever the Phins have a big play I will refer to it as "waking the baby."
