Some thoughts from the Motor City

1st and foremost, I got my pic with Miko, she was very cordial about it and seems nice in person. I posted it on Twitter and hashtagged #dolphaholic so ya'll would know it was me. She re-tweeted it and so did Aqua and Orange. You wanna put a face to my smart ass comments, check it out.

The funniest thing I saw all day was a bum begging for money with a sign that said "I'm too ugly to get laid, need money for a hooker" he then charged us a buck each to take a picture. Marketing genius

The best part about visiting Detroit is leaving Detroit, enough said.

Dolphins fans travel well, that was my 9th NFL stadium and Miami fans are always in abundance on the road, makes you proud.

Onto the game

Detroit should only have 1 maybe 2 losses right now due to poor kicking earlier in the year, they are one of the better teams in the NFL this year, they are stacked on offense. We went into their house, with them coming off a bye and took them down to the wire. Moral victories suck, but this loss is not the end of the world, we did not play our best football in the first half (again) and still almost won.

From my vantage point in the stadium, I don't recall us blitzing a whole lot, we were getting pressure on Stafford, but it was without blitzing (some of the guys that re-watch the game might correct me on that), it's hard to blitz a team with soo many weapons to account for so I have a feeling i'm right about that. We basically shut down their offense except for the one long bomb to Calvin (who made a great play by the way). Having said all of that, you can't fault Coyle for NOT blitzing on the final drive if that's what he did all day and was succesful. This nitpicking every coaching decision after every loss is getting old.

Who knows if RT17 will be our next Super Bowl QB or not, but whoever doesn't love this kid for his effort on the almost pic 6 is crazy in my book. 31 other QB's would not of made that tackle that far down field, he still has alot to work on, but you have to love his effort.

Grimes is a freak of nature, that one handed INT and his overall body of work all day long was something special.

Dion Jordan flashed a little bit of his potential yesterday, he even covered Calvin a few times, not sure he was worth what we gave up for him yet, but I'm intrigued.

Jarvis Landry is gonna make it hard to bring back Hartline at his salary next year, get ready to take a pay cut Brian, or start house shopping in Cleveland.

We're about to see how smart of a pick Juwaun James was for Hickey, the team didn't seem to miss a beat when Albert went down and he slid over to the left side. Don't get me wrong, losing Albert is huge, but I have a feeling James is gonna do just fine manning the LT spot (unless Hickey dials up Mckinne again?)

Miami doesn't have a power running game, they run alot of 3 WR sets and a good chunk of their rushing yardage is gained on gimmicky type plays (read option), you can't really expect them to magically become that type of team when we need to kill the clock in the 4th quarter. Big play Clay HAS to make that catch and we score a TD instead of a FG late in the game, a TD there changes Detroit's play calling on their final drive.

This Thursday is our season, Buffalo is running their mouth about coming into our house and whipping us again. This game is a must win game. We are playing way better on defense since the first meeting, and them having the less mobile Orton under center might be the difference. Whether we go on to make the playoffs or not, we have to send a meesage that we're the second best team in the AFC east right now. Buck Fuffalo.

"Second best team in the AFC east"??
Our SB for this season.

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The Clown Show Continues



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Going for second!! wahoo!

Until proven otherwise, that's what we are fighting for, not saying i'm happy with it, but it's a cold hard fact.

I agree with you.

Glad you enjoyed the game.

Nice breakdown, holic.

I wouldn't say Clay dropped that pass. It was a great defensive play to knock it out.

if we're going to lose at least it was to an NFC team. Can't do that in conference and expect to make the playoffs.

a few plays that stood out....

we baited them into that 2nd fake punt attempt. That was a great call. we left the gunner alone out wide only to have #35 circle around and snuff it out.

tannehill's effort on the int. no other QB in the league makes that play. they score game over. that hustle play netted us grime's incredible int.

Dolphaholic--I enjoyed reading your post. It's obvious you had a good time at the stadium and got to see a hard fought game. Your observation about Tannehill is accurate in my opinion. Despite still learning to play QB, he has guts, and is one tough kid. However, I have to make an observation about him from my easy chair and TV.

This morning I re-ran the last 4 minutes or so of the game. We pulled ahead with a FG and the score was 16-13. Now it was up to us to stop the Lions and we do with a 3 and out. We get the ball back and this series effort fails. This is the crucial opportunity for us. Damian Williams is at RB and he gets the ball and hesitates, dances for a moment, and his forward opening closes. As for Tannehill, and this is wholly subjective, at the beginning of this series his eyes show doubt. I spot a lack of confidence in what he's about to do. It results in not making a first down with three tries. We went flat, totally flat. Momentum shifts. We punt and it's decent with just a 3 yard return. The Lions are on their 25 with 75 yards in front of them.

On this drive, Odrick jumps and we are penalized. OOPs. Detroit screws up and are penalized 10. THEN, Golden Tate makes a huge play. Stafford is 5-5 on completions and follows it up with 2:02 on the clock with a longer thrown to Johnson which he completes.

The Lions continue to move the ball and then the controversial catch by Golden Tate. On TV we could see there was a question as to whether he had made the first down. At the same time, the officiating crew was stating the Dolphins had called a time out. Philbin protested that he had not. Ian Eagle the commentator thought Tate was short by 3-4 inches, but the ruling on the field gave the Lions the go ahead first down--and a big shot with 1 minute or so to make a TD.

During this effort we see, Dion Jordan make a play knocking the ball away from a hungry Calvin Johnson. Wow I thought. It was soon followed by a mismatch play when the Lions sent Theo Riddick out of the backfield covered by Reshad Jones who lost a step or two on Riddick who became the target of Stafford's game winning TD pass.

By the way, as we know, Philbin did not call a TO at 1:02. No team called a TO. It was restored to the Fins, but the 1st down damage with Tate's catch was done. We were done for unless...our D made a stupendous play.

When we finally got the ball back, there was no chance in hell that RT was going to move the team down the field for a TD. There was no time to do it. A miracle was needed. Brady, Big Ben, nobody that I know of could have saved the day. Not enough time...period.

The crucial turning point, IMO, was our inability to move the ball down the field and consume more of the clock as noted above. If we had taken another 30-60 seconds off the clock we might have really put the onus on Stafford. It may have come down to a tie game and OT if we had done that, but who knows.

It was a hard fought game. Tannehill showed his mettle often and has opened the eyes of many. He's getting better. He's still maturing. Grimes was amazing. He was the best CB in the NFL yesterday. Highlight reel plays. One-handed catch will be seen for years.

Dolphaholic, thanks for sharing your on-site observations with us.

I thought Tate was short on the play.

Tannehill went flat, but in fairness to him. Why not give him a chance to get a first down on the first play? I mean why run twice then decided to throw?

Assuming you are trying to run the clock out on those first 2 runs, why not do it a 3rd time and make them burn their last time out?

I've seen other QB's make tackles on INT's before.

should be another good matchup

dolphin Wrote:
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>
>
> I've seen other QB's make tackles on INT's before.



Was any of them named Matt Moore? LOL.

GO DOLPHINS!!!!

Cool post, thanks for sharing Dolph.... By the way you still look like a South Floridian.. Chicago hasnt midwested you yet........hahaha

The only thing I saw on sunday that I didnt see you mention was the play of RB Damian Williams... I thought he had a great game, and really showed some signs of being a great RB.. Even if Miller is hurt, I dont think we miss a beat with Williams in the backfield....

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All things are subject to interpretation whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth.
Nietzsche

jsm08 Wrote:
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> This nitpicking every coaching decision after
> every loss is getting old.
>
> so true


No. When its deserved I will Rip Phibin a new Ass. The Buffalo game and the Greenbay game was just disgusting from a motivating factor. But I thought they played lights out yesterday. Yes coaching has room for improvement , but I wasn't horrified like the Buffalo game before the half.

GO DOLPHINS!!!!

I think JSM08 is related to the coaching staff. Could "J" stand for Joe?

treasure, what does philbin do to motivate and inspire the team?

I'm sure it's no "slip the jab" commentary like we heard from Mick in Rocky. Meaningful words that were educational, memorable and inspiring.

We were basically screwed once Finnegan left the field. Taylor is not a good (or even adequate C and Davis is just as bad. The Lions completed 6/7 passes against Taylor for 62 yards in the final 24 snaps! Thanks Jeff. We will be looking for a CB early in the draft next year and I would be surprised if either of those two made the 2015 team. All they did this year was cost us a good player like Nolan Caroll.

jsm08 Wrote:
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> Nice breakdown, holic.
>
> I wouldn't say Clay dropped that pass. It was a
> great defensive play to knock it out.

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No, he didn't drop the ball, but...

As I said on an earlier post - Clay has to learn that when he is in traffic like that, he has to catch the ball and bring it in to his body and tuck it away. What else does a DB have to do in that situation except try to knock it away? If he had held on to that ball, who knows what the outcome would have been. RT couldn't have put that ball in there any better than he did, right dolphin?

BTW, Clay is a beast when defenders try to get him down.

jsm08 Wrote:
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> if we're going to lose at least it was to an NFC
> team. Can't do that in conference and expect to
> make the playoffs.

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That is true for (basically) tie breakers. There are too many AFC teams with better records than the Fins, thus no worries about tie breakers.

JoeFootball Wrote:
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> We were basically screwed once Finnegan left the
> field. Taylor is not a good (or even adequate C
> and Davis is just as bad. The Lions completed 6/7
> passes against Taylor for 62 yards in the final 24
> snaps! Thanks Jeff. We will be looking for a CB
> early in the draft next year and I would be
> surprised if either of those two made the 2015
> team. All they did this year was cost us a good
> player like Nolan Caroll.

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CB will be a position Miami will be searching for in next year's draft, but I think Miami will go the FA route, ala Grimes and Finnegan, unless the draft is loaded with CBs.

Miami has to get more help on the OLine (Albert not projected back until the November time frame) and our interior has problems playing against good DLines (see Detroit and Buffalo).

Miami also needs a hot shot OLB and the only way they will get one is thru the draft. So that is my projection as to what will be Miami's #1 pick.

Pouncy calmed down and took care of business , they showed a play were he actually put SUH on the turf. But yes, we need better Olineman. Have for a while. That's why I was screaming mad when we moved up only to grab a DE? Only when Hickey arrived did the position get addressed. He has had only one season so he couldn't fix every problem. But it was addressed and its better. But next draft we need to hit it hard again. A Right Tackle and a guard. See who is available in Free agency. Albert may never be the same again.

GO DOLPHINS!!!!

Or a guy who can play both...like a Zach Martin...

"RT couldn't have put that ball in there any better than he did, right dolphin? "

You mean other then throwing it behind him?
Even TAnnehill said it could have been a better throw, but I guess that does not matter.



Treasure you do realize they started double teaming SUH right??? You do actually watch the games right?

Based on his play at RG so far, Pouncey is a much better center then RG IMO. Either that or he is still not 100 percent after coming back from his his surgery, for whatever reason...

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All things are subject to interpretation whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth.
Nietzsche