I was one of the last defenders of Jakeem Grant, and I believe that a speedy playmaker is ideal on special teams. But even I have to draw the line with his lack of production lately. This trade (to the Bears for a late-round draft pick) had to be done.
In addition to muffing a punt right in his arms last Sunday–a game-changing unforced error that sealed a Dolphins loss–don’t forget that Grant also had a crucial fumble in the Bills game when we still had half a chance. Deep in Bills territory and ready to score a TD (or at least a FG), Grant coughed it up.
The only part of this that I don’t like is that Flores sees Grant as the scapegoat. Flores continued to sink his team deeper yesterday by reiterating that he will make no changes to his garbage offensive coaching staff. Protecting the egos of his inexperienced and unqualified friends is more important to Flores than winning games.
While we’re speaking of Flores–and how he’s not ready to be a decision-making leader–I wanted to mention the kickoff where Sanders pooched it out of bounds. Yes, that is Sanders’ fault. But he did not do it on his own accord. His coaches–ultimately Flores–told him to kick it short and to the right.
This was a point in the game with plenty of time left. We were down only 10. We had just scored, and we had a ton of momentum. You could even see our defense was primed and ready to take the field. Kick the ball through the endzone, and let a hobbled Carson Wentz try to march 75 yards on you, with our defense pumped up.
It’s an easy decision. A no-brainer.
Brian Flores proved what a no-brainer he is. He asked for a short kickoff to the right. Why? The BEST case scenario is that the Colts begin on their 15 or 20, instead of the 25. It’s not worth the risk. Instead, Flores allowed the Colts to start at their 40, and you could visually see the drain that had on our defense. They took the field sluggishly, having lost all momentum due to their head coach’s mistake. Again.
A direct quote from Flores yesterday is that he “likes the system we have in place” on offense, That’s not a typo. He likes a system that doesn’t score enough points, and he refuses to change anything.
Like I said in another post, Gase 2.0. The only hope is that Tua really, somehow, gets it and begins to look of Brees. This would allow this system to work. But there are, once again, too many varibles that Miami is just not good at. Oh, and the myth that this defense is good and is just on the field too long is utter BS. There are plenty of times where the defense is well rested and they still cant simpy cover gaps against the run game. This team relies only on the turnover on defense and that is not sustainable. Flores needs to admit that he is in over his head and get help. Hire a good, experienced assistant coach and learn. Cause right now, we are alot worse than last year and perhaps worse than during the Gase years (the difference is that we have alot more talent).
Yeah, we were 1-4 last year too, I think, but this feels much worse. Losing a winnable games or two stings a lot worse than getting blown out by a superior program.
Like the offense, I think the defensive playcalling is horrible. We blitz at the wrong times and we are so to get into the packages we need to be in. There was a time during the chat last Sunday when I mentioned that we should not blitz. Just sit back and make Wentz panic. And it worked! But then we got blitz happy again, and opponents practice against it. And their coaches prep them way better than ours. We have some studs in the secondary, so we should play a zone defense 0% of the time. Several back-breaking completions against us this season are by WIDE open guys simply sitting down in the zone. Our DBs look clueless.
Now…are they shitty athletes? No. Are they being told to go stand in a certain area and let an opponent run past you because a safety is behind you? Yes.
Our guys are doing what they’re told and getting pummelled.
I would agree 100% with this. look at the Chargers not allowing the Raiders a first down until like the 5 drive. Their line does not try try to penetrate on run defence but fundamentally just fill gaps, we dont do this. They all try to penetrate and the RB simply moves around them. THese are the fundamentals that I dont see out defense perform consistently. Its all about being hyperaggressive according to Flores style. Its a gimmick and not sustainable.
At this point we have blown so much draft capital it seems like we’re going to be doomed for another decade. Ross will stick with this garbage “system” that flo likes for at lest another two years than “blow it up” by moving a few guys around in the organization only to get the same or worse results for two more years before scrapping the whole thing and going on the hunt for a new head coach and GM. You might think well Ross won’t be alive that long and whoever gets the team will do the right thing! NOT! It goes to his buddy in real estate, the minority owner who knows less about football than Ross! God help us all.