Holy S**t! Did this guy drink some kind of special energy drink before this game? He gets game Ball IMO. Some of those hits were devasting. He singly handedly stopped a touchdown and made the game winning Interception. He was ALL over it. I bet Zach Thomas was grinning. This guy will be a pro bowler.
What needs to be mentioned, and is barely in Dolphin nation, is that Kevin Coyle is a monster of a coach. He seems to be easily out coaching what Mike Nolan did.
I don't think it's a coincidence that guys like Sean Smith and Koa Misi are having their best seasons.
A couple of weeks ago we mentioned Reshad Jones’ improvement as something to watch going forward, and he’s repaid that praise with some very impressive play of late. His performance against the Bengals was perhaps the best yet, as he showed both an ability to come down in the box and play the run, as well as drop back into coverage. He graded positively in the run game (+0.7) despite missing a pair of tackles because he made up for it with two tackles for loss. Safeties rarely make plays in the backfield, but Jones has turned into a very good player and made a pair of them against Cincinnati.
Jones’ work in coverage was also very impressive, as he allowed just the solitary completion on three targets, and for just 5 yards. With the interception to end the game, Jones now ranks as our top player at his position in the entire league. He’s given up a QB rating of just 39.7 when targeted and looks to have developed into a better player than even the Dolphins could have hoped.
Vernon made a good defensive play on the ball on the last Cincy drive. The play was negated by a penalty but it was good to see the rookie playing some good pass D in crunch time.
ChambersDeepBall Wrote:
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> Now if he could just get out of the way of
> punts
Like I say......high school coaches RETEACH fundamentals, college coaches RETEACH fundamentals and pro coaches gotta RETEACH fundamentals.
One fundamental of a special teams players RECEIVING the ball is "IF YOU'RE NOT TRYING TO CATCH THE DAMN BALL, STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM THE DAMN BALL." No exceptions.
His job was to double team the gunner to free up Thigpen to field the punt and make a return.
Jones made the block. Thigpen did not field the ball. He let it bounce. He needs to get himself in position to field that ball. For one, he would have had better field position in a safe catch and two, he prevents the ball from bouncing into his blockers.
The Ball took a weird bounce and hit him from behind. It was a 1 in a 1000 fluke thing. Can't coach that. Again at least he was around the ball. Fing Refs blew it when they stated that guy had control of the ball too.
outside blockers are trained to follow the gunner. Not the ball. It's Thigpen's job to at least warn them to get back. He watches the ball from the time it's punted.
I agree that Thigpen should have yelled a warning. It's usually something like "fire! Fire! Fire!"
However even as a blocker, you have got to have ball awareness. It works both ways. Not only do you need to be ready to block but you have to FIRST be aware of where the ball is. It's not that hard to do both. Like walking and chewing gum at the same time.
Aqua&Orange Wrote:
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> What needs to be mentioned, and is barely in
> Dolphin nation, is that Kevin Coyle is a monster
> of a coach. He seems to be easily out coaching
> what Mike Nolan did.
>
> I don't think it's a coincidence that guys like
> Sean Smith and Koa Misi are having their best
> seasons.
100% agree on this point.
Philbin has assembled the best staff we've had in decades. Better than anything JJ put together and way better than what followed.
I think you'd have to go (way way) back to Shula and Arns for viable comparisson.