First of all, Henne played good ball, NOT great, but certainly good. So a tip of the hat in his direction. He most definitely played BETTER overall for 60 minutes than anytime last year IMO. This is a positive step in the right direction. A few “issues” with game management, and one or two dumb audibles, but the kid showed vastly improved pocket awareness and his overall accuracy was sharp. A few missed opportunities, and some weird shit (communication?) with Marshall – but that may have been more on the receiver than QB. Bottom line, Henne showed up to play and didn’t embarrass himself. My overall rating: a solid B.

The OL was leaky all night and didn’t move the DL at all. Pouncey looks like our best OL right now, and the kid is definitely a player. Overall rating: C-

Reggie Bush showed up to play, and he made a number of positive plays, but he’s NOT a legit every down NFL back IMO. There’s no way he’ll stand up to inside punishment, and frankly I thought we looked like a team in need of a workhorse RB. Let’s hope Thomas gets healthy real soon and he can add some serious physicality to the running game. Overall C. Note: I don’t understand WHY LJ was not used. If he’s that “bad” why give the dude a roster spot?

WRs – I came away from the game thinking we didn’t get the ball to our best receiver enough – and that’s Bess. The kid is a real player and always makes positive things happen. He needed more touches IMO. Marshall was physical and looked good. He had his man beat at least for one TD we missed, but there’s something about his “game” that’s not complementing the team. I think we’re forcing the ball to him sometimes, and every time we do that a player like Bess is out of the equation. Hartline looked solid and made a few grabs – but we didn’t go after NE deep (at least a few times) the way I thought we could have. Clyde looked OK as a first time starter rookie – but no impact in this game worth noting. WRs overall: B.

Fasano made a few great catches and looked really solid. Him and Bess are our 2 most legit receivers. After that, Reggie out of the backfield.

Offense overall: C+ They played in streaks, which was not enough to keep NE’s O off the field. We missed a number of opportunities and left some points on the field. Not sure we could have won this outright – but we could have made it closer and most important – EASIER on the D.

Like I said before the game. I was concerned it would come down to a dual between Henne and Brady, and regretfully plugs got his usual legal holding OL play and basically stood in the pocket like the priss that he is most of the game. The complete ABSENCE of inside pressure doomed the D, along with the inability to match up with NE’s TEs. Frankly we looked overmatched on D most of the game. I came away with the impression whenever NE didn’t score a TD we had somehow done a great job. I know in this era of 900 yards via the air that’s the “game,” but I find it rather crappy football. In fact Brady plays flag football and basically stands in the pocket playing pitch and catch. I don’t’ like it – but it is what it is. Prissy faggy football IMO.

Overall D rating: D. Not much to highlight. And it’s fair to say we NEVER had a chance to really shut NE down. Coaching on the D side was not impressive at all. That and we need guys to get their ass in much better cardio. It’s embarrassing us wilting at home like that.

Last, I saw NOTHING from Sparano that indicated he was truly instrumental in this game. I certainly didn’t see any adjustments or obvious game decisions he made that impacted the outcome. Like I’ve been saying, I like the dude but I don’t think he brings anything decisive to either side of the ball. Again, not sure it would have changed the outcome, but it would be nice to see more evidence our HC was making a positive impact on game day.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/12/2011 06:50PM by BigNastyFish.

Essay much?

Didn't see a's many screens to Reggie a's I thought we should have. Pats d was really pursuing upfield on a lot of passing downs.

D to the D?!!.....HOW BOUT F!!....and I wont mention what the F stands for!!

Yea I guess an F for the D is possible. But they made a few plays and set up an easy TD for us. In this type of game our O has to be more consistent and not play in streaks. A big part of beating NE is keeping Brady on the sidelines and maximizing every opportunity on Offense – frankly we didn’t do that.

On the bright side we did score first and set the table for the D to make a statement – but they failed miserably and looked out of shape the entire game. That part is correctable, yet inexcusable on Miami’s part. We should be the best conditioned team in the league, or at least on par with any other team.

Not sure it’s definitive, but last night our D just couldn’t match up with NE. It’s like we’re built to deal with power football teams and not the prissy pitch and catch track meet the Pats featured.

How in the hell did Nolan Carroll make the roster? And did Burnett make a single play last night? Dansby seemed MIA. We had months to prepare for this but the D looked confused and couldn’t answer any of the fundamental challenges NE presented.

D coaching: F as well.

I give the D an F sorry.

Yeah defense no pass rush no coverage= F

Henne= B he didnt do stupid things...playingcalling was suspect

Bush= C+ he was goin hard to bad the O-Line stopped blockin after the 1st drive coulda got more creative with him I think using him as a bruiser idk

We in for a tough season the way these offensives goin and our D IS CRAMPIN LOL

Special team coverage teams stunk sucked too. That has been a problem for to long.

Henne = A+ (416 yards passing!! 2 TDs throwing..one running!! Int at the end was meaningless)

Pass Rush = D (Wake got a little pressure..oddly enough, after JT went down)

Coverage = F (Pats seemed wide open all day)

Play calling = B- (I'd give it an A, if not for that stupid goal-line pass play)

Bush = C+ (some good runs, but he mostly disappeared. Where was he in the passing game?)

mizzou15 Wrote:
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> Special team coverage teams stunk sucked too. That
> has been a problem for to long.

How so? I thought they were adequate. Certainly better than last year!!

offense a B-

Defense D+

- Henne played OK, not that great. He threw for alot of yards, but he also had 49 pass attempts. Alot of overthrown and poorly thrown balls. Very inconsistent all game, but hey whats new?

- Bush had what? 38 yards on 11 carries? Pretty self explanatory

- The receiving core looked great. I was impressed how Fasano played. I hope he can play that way all year long. The WRs/TEs definitely the bright spot of the night.

- D was just awful - What else can I say? Where was the D-Line? Absolutely no pressure on Brady. Where was our secondary? It seemed like we got torched on EVERY play.

561_Dolphins Wrote:
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> - Henne played OK, not that great. He threw for
> alot of yards, but he also had 49 pass attempts.
> Alot of overthrown and poorly thrown balls. Very
> inconsistent all game, but hey whats new?
>

Really? He was 30 of 49, that's over 60% completions. And he had drops by Bess, Bush, and 2 by Marshall. And he had 2 completions wiped out by penalties. And once New England knew we couldn't run against them, he took a lot of hits in the pocket. A lot. Even Jake Long was struggling in protection by the end of the game. He hit 7 plays over 20 yards, and ran for 60 yards himself. If completing over 60% of passes, throwing a couple of TDs, running for another TD, throwing for over 400 yards, and running for 60 yards merely merits an "ok" rating, then I think you are going to be disappointed in our QB play for the rest of eternity.

Let's keep in mind that the season is a marathon, not a sprint. Yes the defense was pathetic last night, but the offense had problems as well.

Henne was very effective, but it is obvious to me that we still do not have the talent - team wide - that is needed to win consistently.

There are many positive things that can be built on from last night, but our phins have their work cut out for them.

Tony - you need to learn from game experience. What are the other successful clubs doing strategy wise and what type of talent are they using.

I am pretty sure that my 9 year old Labrador could have given better pass rush. I think Tom completed his Christmas wish list in the pocket last night. If the other team's QB does not go down, we do.

All in all, I am very excited about this year's Dolphins football, but this game showed some opportunities for our team.

Actaully, I think Jaws's comment last night during the game summed up the Dolphins performance in word: (and I quote)

"$h!t".

So I wasn't the only one who heard that, then. Funny. No mention of that in the news today.

There was an article on one of the news pages yesterday about it. ESPN stated that they would not issue anything about it because Jaws apologized on air for it during the telecast inwhich he made the mistake.

Makes sense. They didn't need to blitz. And like you said, their pass rush is not one of the best.

For Henne to survive he's going to have to make quick reads and get the ball out of there.