This is a moderated phorum for the CIVILIZED discussion of the Miami Dolphins. In this phorum, there are rules and moderators to make sure you abide by the rules. The moderators for this phorum are JC and Colonel.
The Chargers are favored in this game (not surprising).
I'm still not sure about this Miami team; can't get my hopes up too high (I've seen many epic failures from the Dolphins over my many years of following them). I hope they win (of course) but if they don't, here's hoping they are at least competitive. I hope McDaniel has some good plays called to both open up the passing game and also get some good running to help the offense. Will Fangio get this defense to play well? Gonna have some real issues with Herbert, as does the rest of the league.
Miami is going into this game with two of its stars....Armstead and Ramsey, not playing, unless Armstead isn't as bad off as everyone thinks. OLine has improved, but can they do the job without him? We shall see.
First game of the season is when you can usually sneak one past a superior team, as the Lions found out last night. The Chargers are not necessarily a superior team but, the Dolphins didn't look particularly ready for the regular season from what I saw in the preseason. If anything, Miami looked soft. All of the injuries in the Jaguars game was Miami players on the ground. I agree with TreasureCoast's take that McD, on the sidelines, looks too much like "one of the boys" and not enough like a coach in charge.
Except for that 1 sack on the 1 yd line......this defense has nothing. Wilkins is it. Even Ogbah is silent. Is the Chargers oline that good or has our Dline under Fagino gotten worse!?
OK TUA wasn't perfect, but some of his throws were Lazer accurate. Hill is not human. I'm convinced he's an ET or something. Incredible athlete.
Wilkins? They better sign him . Best defensive player since 54 and 99.
Special Teams. WTF IS THIS KICKER STILL HERE? last year when he missed 3 in one game wasn't enough? He almost caused us to lose on an extra point? WTF!!!?
CAN HIS ASS. Make an example.
McDaniels finally showed some passion on that grounding call. Congrats....his balls dropped.
In the past Miami loses this. We are different, but we have significant issues Fagino needs to work out.
Not into the game at first, and soon began to roll my eyes when the snap to Tua was lost in the red zone. Grabbed a cup of coffee and watched as the game started to gain momentum. The connection between Hill and Tua aroused my interest and soon I thought this is going to be a shoot-out and that came true. Glad we won! Defense came alive at the end of the game...it was timely.
We have lots of weaknesses and only super game play from the receivers will keep us in the game. Fangio needs more magic.
How does the old saying go? Any win on the road....
As was said, our D came through when it counted most. But they need to stop giving up big plays especially on the ground.
We also need to stop committing turnovers--leave the mistakes to the other team. And speaking of which, how about SD committing pass interference on the hail mary play at the end of the first half. That allowed us to get a field goal that did end up making a difference in the long run.
Yes Sanders missed an extra point. and that sucked. These days, that's almost like missing a mid range field goal since they moved back where it is snapped from. So he only missed one kick out of 7 for the game. Not putting a shine on a turd here, but I'm old enough to remember Uwe Von Schamann.
Well I hope the analyst who pissed of Tua a week or so ago with his comment about Tua needing more time in the gym instead of getting a sleeve tatoo feels like an idiot with his asshole all puckered up.
That was a great road win. The scheme is new on D and will take a little time. Fangio called some timely blitzes to end the game. After the pounding our D took, that was nice to see.
Tua outplayed Herbert all game long, but more importantly, when the game was on the line. He drove for the go ahead TD with some clutch 3rd and long conversions. Herbert grounded the ball, got sacked, dump off, got sacked to end the game. You throw that ball up for grabs on 4th down.
The Oline, especially our tackles, played great games. If Austin Jackson can turn into a serviceable RT then we have a chance. Lamm did a great job subbing for Armstead.
It's week one. Overreactions are common this time of the year but again, winning on the road is a great start.
I only watched the game live, so haven't revisited any of it for a 2nd time. But, it was a bit weird the way it played out and I don't yet know what to make of it on the defensive side.
I definitely didn't like seeing us get gashed by their ground game and we were lining up the same DL as last year's crew that was 6th in the league in terms of rushing yards allowed at around 100 YPG. But, I did like that - for whatever reason - the Chargers seemed not to want to rely on what I consider to be their best player in Herbert. I didn't get the sense that we really shut him or the receivers down. Not only did Herbert have decent stats for the number of times he threw, but also there were throws that ended up with DPI that are essentially completions/drive continuers. In a way, I guess I like that they led with the run game. And, I can't deny that our D tightened up signficantly at the very end, which I didn't think was going to happen having watched the first 50+ minutes of the game. I think I just need to see more to understand the approach in greater context.
On the offensive side, it was definitely fun to see how effective the passing game was. But, for me, the huge win was the pass protection especially by our OTs. I know it's a lot of things that combine to provide protection and enable an effective passing game, but OT was seemingly an actual strength even w/o our blue-chip LT.
I understand that this was the first game, but....Fangio's defense did not impress me. Luckily, Miami's offense is strong and Tua was on the money most of the game. However, the offense can't keep that up...impossible to do!
My one issue with the offense is the lack of rushing attempts. Where was Brooks? He can pound the defense; wear them down, then open up with Mostert and allow Tua to hit his (more) open receivers.
I understand Fangio doesn't like to blitz very often, but our D was getting killed on the ground. Look what happened on the final couple series when he had Miami blitz. Chargers didn't stand a chance of moving the ball when all they needed was a FG to win the game. Too bad Sanders missed the extra point, but he was on the money with his FGs, which helped win the game.
Patriots are next and Miami should be able to win the game, but....the Pats are an AFC East team and we all know how that goes - anything can happen. From what I heard (and saw what Jones did yesterday), the Patriots are a strong running team, so I sure hope Fangio does something this week to at least slow down their rushing attack. I also hope McDaniel uses the running game a little more. The Pats will be sitting there waiting for Tua to throw against them.
captkoi Wrote:
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> I understand that this was the first game,
> but....Fangio's defense did not impress me.
>
>
> I understand Fangio doesn't like to blitz very
> often, but our D was getting killed on the ground.
> Look what happened on the final couple series when
> he had Miami blitz.
>
>
No doubt. This is a very good defense and this past off season we actually added to it. Remember Mel Gibson in Braveheart? It felt like that scene when the other army was marching and Gibson's character told them...." hold" (Fist up) " Hold"......."Hold"
And then........finally Fagino released the "D"!!! NOW!!!!! and boom the Chargers didn't know what hit them.
One of the better game endings but I have to be honest when That kicker missed the extra point I thought it was over rover.