As the first half wound down, the Miami Dolphins were in prime position to get back int he game.  They had a chance to overcome the atrocious game plan of Vance Joseph and make a game of it.  A chance to get within 7, with us receiving the second half kickoff.  Everything was in place.

Until Matt Moore gave the game away.

Matt Moore watched James Harrison come around the left end.  He watched a little longer.  He now had some choices.  It was only first down, so Moore could have thrown the ball away.   He could have taken a knee.  He could have ran forward.  ANY of those scenarios brings up second and goal.  But Matt Moore did something else:

He handed the game away to Pittsburgh.

Despite what the blind Phil Simms had to say, this was not a blindside hit, nor was it Branden Albert’s fault.  Matt Moore looked right at James Harrison racing right at him, and inexcusably he slowly jogged his his right.   A second later, it was Steelers’ ball.   It doesn’t count as a blindside hit if you watch the man come at you and then turn your back to him.  Slowly.  Moore blew the game right then and there.  Moore created his own blindspot.

Matt Moore looked right into the storm, and did nothing about it.
Matt Moore looked right into the storm, and did nothing about it.

For anyone who still thinks Moore didn’t see it coming, observe my screen shot above.  If Moore just fell over right then and there, we have 2nd and goal.   But instead he decided to turn his back on Harrison and assume that Harrison would just disappear.    Phil Simms said that except for the interception, Moore played a perfect game.   Simms’ own word, not mine.  Maybe Phil should watch  Matt Moore fumble the game away and re-assess his announcing.

Look, I get it.  Fumbles happen.  But when you see a guy coming right at you and then turn your back to him anyway?  That’s simply atrocious.

More to come, but I turn it over to you guys to get your thoughts.

78 Comments

  1. Three starters out in the secondary and a weak linebackers corps. The Dolphins coaches made chicken salad out of a chicken shit defense all season.

    1. Yes and the injuries didn’t help 3/4 of their secondary thats harsh. LB’s already weak. I really can’t fault the coaches for this they simply couldn’t tackle or were out of position.

  2. As far as Matt Moore he can fill -in but he’s a back-up. And will always be a back-up despite what some football clueless, ball-watcher fans say.

    1. Yes all things considered he did what a backup does. He definitely could have better ball security although why call empty backfield when it’s under 5 yards can’t stand that. Leave your best guy off the field if anything a decoy.

  3. Ok…… I still believe that the coach did a very bad jod. Pit came out just to stop Ajayi and there did. Phins could have try play action, something deep and stop being 2 and 3 and loooong and pass for 2 yd…
    Our WR were killing Pit.

    1. No,our WRs were not killing them. Maybe 3 passes of 10+ before the game was over early in 3rd qtr. After game was out of hand,then they made some catches. Catching a 4 yard pass in not killing them.

    2. I called this before the game that they should start with some passes. Pitt was going to do everything possible to stop the run so take advantage. You see teams like the giants chuck it deep to loosen things up. Then run and balance it out.

    3. Author

      Moore was having success when he sat in the pocket. He made three gigantic mistake when he tried to move. It’s the exact opposite of Tannehill.

  4. Why the game plan never change. Every play looked the same and Pit was able to read the offense.

    1. Yes,we use the same game play for every team. Nothing changes. All the coaches on offense never change from week to week. They make 1 game plan before the regular season starts and never change it.

  5. Off topic,as I said during chat,Rogers will get hit time after time today. And they are hurting GB even without their best pass defender going down on 1st series.

    1. Author

      They hit him at first, but man did that guy adjust and buy time. Tannehill needs to study his footwork for the next 7 months

  6. Big Rapist in a cast ! We broke his ankle !!!

  7. @Admin

    I wrote that this would be our fate several weeks ago if we had to keep starting Moore. He has compiled an ample body of work as a starting QB and this is what the man does which is why he has been sitting on Miamis bench year after year.

    I really don’t blame him that much and it’s hard to blame Gase that much either for his actions during the Bills game proved he knew that if he let Moore sit back and throw Moore would simply give the game away so the last three drives of that 4th quarter Gase was content to hand it off and then hand it off again.

    Last week he was content to lose but didn’t want to do it with Moore throwing pick after pick because he needed his confidence high going into a Playoff game and then he took the gloves off because really what else was there to do?

    As you say, “…..Moore gave the game away.”

    Not just the play you highlighted but the pick was horrible he watched the defender the whole way while he was dropping back and he tried to throw the ball over him but Moore just doesn’t have the arm strength to make that throw because he threw it to late. Had he thrown it on time it was a TD but Moore was all over the place with his placement today?

    I was also screaming at the TV when Sims kept talking about how Moore played a perfect game and if it hadn’t been for the Blindside hits he would have had the game a lot closer.

    What an idiot! None of the hits was a blindside because he was looking and running from all of them.

    Anyhow, no sense talking about all Moores mistakes because he is a perennial backup for a reason (We saw most of them today) and he made all the typical backup mistakes. It really is hard for me to fault him.

    It is painful that we had a chance to get within 7 to end the half and then get the game close to tied to start the 3rd only for both of those drives to end in the red zone (Or close enough to it to get points) with a Moore turnover.

    Especially since our defense actually started slowing Pit down right about that point.

    No reason to keep beating the dead horse. We had a great year for sure and we know who the starting QB is next year (All of us except Dolphin Dave aka Jay who’s head is still inside Moors jock strap) and we KNOW we will have more talent on the defensive side of the ball!

    Things are actually looking up for us for once!

  8. The defense might be the worst in the league. When your awful against the pass and the run you can’t get much worse. I know a lot of people are hurt but the team depth is awful, there’s a crazy drop off between starters and backups. Good teams don’t have that problem. Matt Moore showed why he is a backup today, a great backup but nothing more than that. He can win games when everything else goes right (21 points from defense/special teams against the jets, and 200 yards from ajayi against the bills) but he has proved he can’t win when he is the first option. The offseason will be interesting, the top needs in my opinion are linebackers, cornerback, center, tight end, and a veteran safety to team up with reshad jones. I would also love to see suhs contract restructured. Landry and ajayi are eventually gonna get big paydays and Miami needs to be ready for that.

    1. Yep I can live with that I’m more confident now than last year at this time.

    2. Author

      Good points, Zach.
      Gase made the most of what we had. If Stills didn’t drop that pass in Week 1, we beat Seattle.
      But then if the Bills, Browns, and Cardinals didn’t miss two field goals each, we lose those three games. If the refs saw Suh drag down Kaepaernick by his facemask, we lose the 49er game. If Kenyan Drake didn’t pull off a miracle kickoff return in the first Jets game, we lose that. The Rams and Chargers games? Big, late mistakes by the opponent turned it in our favor, rather than us clearly earning those wins. We could easily be a 4-12 team.
      The difference is that Gase had the boys take advantage of all the opponent mistakes. Philbin never quite got guys to play to their potential.

      1. How many teams did we beat that had a winning record when we beat them? 1 I think-Pittsburgh and us beating them put them in a 4 game tailspin. I agree with your post-we got nearly every break possible to beat crap teams!

    1. Prefer informative thanks. He’s still learning but seems like a smart guy…

      1. He has made plenty of mistakes as a rookie HC, but I think the success he has had in spite of those mistakes is a testament to his great potential.

        1. Yes and I meant pretty informative. I feel 100 times better than philbin. They will increase overall talent and depth. They also now believe that they can make the playoffs not just hope….thats a big thing.

    2. Author

      I like most of Gase’s leadership. Don’t like his playcalling. He really needs to reassess all those many many 3rd and threes that he called passes on every single time.

      1. I think it’s easy to play armchair HC and say Gase needs to back off of his pass first mentality. The Dolphins would benefit from a more balanced attack – agreed there. I don’t think you give Gase enough credit though. He has transformed a stagnant offense into a very potent one over the course of a year. We also won 10 games along the way. So if we did all that with shitty play calling, then I can’t wait to see what we look like with mediocre play-calling.

  9. @Tom

    Welcome to Dolphins Truth great first post! I hope your right it will be nice to have good coaching year after year!

  10. We’ve got big contracts decision coming up. Keep in mind that Jarvis Landry is entering his final year in his contract this season. In the next two years we have a couple soon to be free agents, Kiko Alonso, Landry, Jawuan James, Reshad Jones, Kenny Stills. We already know Reshad Jones wants top dollar, Alonso is the only good LB we have, Jarvis Landry is probably going to want big money, Stills is good enough to get a big contract from a desperate team who needs WRs (Cleveland, SD,) We probably wont be able to resign all those guys realistcally. Lets hope Mike Tannebaum knows what he’s doing.

    1. “Lets hope Mike Tannebaum knows what he’s doing.”

      I hear ya. While I am confident we have the right coach – a guy who knows how to maximize the potential out of his players and put them in a position to win. I am not so confident we have the right GM.

      We need a GM that can find the talent for Gase to develop. Good coaching only gets you so far, at some point you need the talent to get you the rest of the way.

      I hope Tannebaum gets it right!

      1. @Tom

        I have sounded off on this many times! I am so worried about his past mistakes. He basically left the Jets in ruins and what has he done to show he has learned anything different since then? Did he take some classes on talent evaluation or does he think he was sabotaged by the coaches and he is the best talent evaluater Jimmy Johnson?

        Answer = the later

        That is what worries me! However last years draft wasn’t that bad.

  11. Here is the crucial difference for me: Miami basically had the same offensive players as they did in 2015, with the noticeable exception of Tunsil. Outside of a few games, if felt like our offense was pretty stagnant; if we fell behind early by double digits, it was too big of a hole for offense to overcome.

    Fast-forward to the last two games of 2016. I know the scoreboard at the end of those games suggests “same old Dolphins.” The funny thing is, however, even though we fell behind early by two to three scores against both the Patriots and Steelers, in both games I felt that the offense had the potential to get us back in the game. In 2015 if that happens, I would say game over! A year later, however, I am confident that our offensive is explosive enough to match these teams point-for-point. And if it weren’t for some costly turnovers, those games might have been winnable, or at the very least more competitive than the scores suggested.

    That’s the difference. It finally feels like we have an explosive offense that can compete with any team in the NFL once we clean up our costly mistakes.

    That’s the kind of turnaround Gase brought to the Dolphins with basically the same group of guys.

    1. Yes and they improved throughout the year which is key. Take away some of those injuries and they would have been in this game. Even still they will improve and will have some cap to burn to add a few FA’s.

    2. Author

      Definitely have the juice on offense to win games.

  12. Author

    It’s a similar feeling to when we last won the division but then lost the following week. So much talk about next year and our improvement. But then a few injuries, and a decade goes by with no playoffs. Gase needs to make sure the boys are not satisfied with “making the playoffs” Even Ross said we “needed three more wins,” which means his goal is to only MAKE IT TO the SuperBowl. The goal is to win it. We took a step closer this year, and still have a few parts to go until we can be up there.
    The draft will be key. Need some playmakers on defense. Definitely need better backers, and I’m not shy about saying that Vance Joseph was overmatched far too often. Our DBs and LBs are playing 10 yards off the ball. They make it too easy.

    1. Honestly, I like Vance Joseph as a DC because of his play designs. For example, that game against the chargers when Alonso bluffed a blitz backed out of it and picked off Rivers and took it back. That was a perfect play design by Joseph. Same thing with a Cameron Wake pick, the Jordan Phillips pick, and the one where Earl Mitchell should have had today. Outside of the Dline there only serviceable healthy players left were Tony Lippet who while he can cover decently he can’t tackle for his life. (I’m not counting Alonso for his thumb) The one thing that I don’t like about is when he calls man defense on 3rd down. When most of your D-backs cant cover and your LBs cant stay with a TE, man to man defense is not your friend. But if we can get him so good personnel our defense is easily a top one in the league. Even with what we had this year we still had the 4th best 3rd down defense in the league. I read that he is the top candidate for the Broncos HC. I like him for that job because his play calls and designs would make their defense even better and stronger. Then again about half the human population could easily coach the Denver Defense to success/

      1. And Suh dropping back late in a game to defend a pass a few weeks ago.

  13. Author

    Also, if Matt Moore didn’t hand the game to the Steelers, we’d be talking about how that fake punt turned the game around and how it was so important. As it turns out, just another play.

    1. Matt Moore is clearly better than TannePuke but still is not the franchise QB we need to take the next step.

      They should be drafting a QB in an early round every year until we get one.

      1. Author

        At least Jay isn’t defending his play today. He played better than Tannehill for two weeks, but then the rust and his reputation as a fumbler caught up to him.

        1. @Admin

          Your comment disgusts me! Jay isn’t defending him for obvious reasons. However he and now you state Moore played better then Tannehil.

          Jay has stated that a good QB elevates his team to win regardles of how badly everyone else is or plays including coaches.

          If we give Moore the cardinals game

          Moores record this year is 2-2
          Tannehills record this year is 6-4

          So there you go…..

          and for the last month you have been absolutely silent about Moore’s past stats so why dont you stay silent now.

          Jay has been a TROLL on this site for YEARS and when his guy finally has to come in Jay is completely proved wrong and you give him a free pass?

          To me something dosn’t sit right about that……..

          Dolphins Truth?

          How about Dolphins Selective Memory?

      2. @Jay

        GO THE HELL AWAY….. MATT MORE IS YOURS BABY….. YOU HAVE ASKED FOR HIM FOR THREE YEARS AND NOW YOU GOT HIM SO

        OWN IT – LOSER!

        1. FUCK YOU JACKASS!!! MOORE IS BETTER THAN TANNEPUKE!! FACT!!!

          1. LOL…. me living rent free in your obviously polluted mind

            It’s so cool!

    2. @Admin

      Thanks for the reminder – the fake punt was great. I just wanted to mention a point that I was thinking during the game. Remember early on in the year all the announcer would call Darran Rizzio a special teams guru and we would all be yell at the tv for them to shut up because we miss every other kick and can’t hold on to returns? Well I think he actually did ok the second half of the season.

      Also I think it’s really hard to give an honset grade to Vance with the garbage he has had to play with. I will say this, the man threw the book out there today. He called at lest 17 diffrent coverages and I even saw the corners up hitting receivers and we got burned for a TD when the receiver (I don’t remember who) blew right by our corner when he whiffed on the chuck so there is that but at lest he tried it.

      He also tried the old corner blitz and got burned too.

      He played man up and got burned

      then he went man under with a two safety zone over the top and thats when we started to slow them down a little so they decided to just run it down our throt untill we went back to the base look and then they went over top of us again.

      I like the guy and I think he understands defensive football well and from what I saw today he can switch it up on a dime.

      Why didn’t it work?

      Execution – we don’t have the players to execute!

      1. Agreed, it is hard to assess Vance when he had a patchwork squad of second and third string guys for his secondary, and a line-backing crew that has been a liability (to put it mildly) since they let go of Dansby.

        I am interested in seeing what he can do with better talent.

      2. Real (read “quality”) QBs see all of those blitzes coming. Rivers,Brady,The Rapist,Matt Ryan, ect. And know where the outlet is. It’s a reaction for them-no thinking required.

  14. Author

    I’ve been meaning to mention this for weeks, and finally read my notes. Here’s a trivia question. When Joe Philbin took over the team, he had both Moore and Tannehill on the team. Who did Philbin choose to be his starter?? David Garrard.

    1. @Admin

      Do your notes remind you of why?

      As I remmeber Moore was the backup (even idiot philbin figured that out) and he didn’t want to throw Tannehill out there so raw so he wanted to put a vertran out there Tannehill could learn under.

      Philben drafted Tannehil to be his QB after hiring Sherman (His collage coach) to run the offense and build it for Tannehil.

      I could be mistaken but the way you presented your question above makes it seem like even philbin didn’t think Tannehil was a good QB? Is that what your insinuating?

      If so it’s 100% not true.

      Philbin was all in for Tannehill if anything he brought him in so he could sit Moore as moore was the fan favorite but Philbin knew he wouldn’t get anywhere with moore hell Garrad was beating him out from day one!

      http://www.espn.com/nfl/trainingcamp12/story/_/id/8239856/david-garrard-top-qb-miami-dolphins-first-depth-chart

      Garrard would have started and played at lest half of the 2012 season and Tannehill would have learned on the side line. That was the plan but when he old knee blew out on him that was it Miami released him and started Tannehill there was never any talk of Moore starting over Tannehill.

      Except in Jay’s mind and apparently yours now.

      http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/8337460/miami-dolphins-release-veteran-quarterback-david-garrard

    2. Another great example of why Philbin is no longer a HC in the NFL.

  15. Matt Moore should be the backup next year but there is no way Miami is wasting a draft pick on a quaterback. Tannehill did enough to be the starter for week 1 next year. If he has a better oline and a solid defense with the weapons on that offense, watch out for the fins next year.

    1. @Zach

      I agree although it seems both Jay and Admin think Moore to be the superior QB on the team now. Interesting that it was Tannehill who played the first half of the year….. oh ya when the new offense was being installed and the Oline was still allowing like 197 sacks a game. (Did I see a stat that said Moore had been sacked 3 times in the last 3 games not including today? Tannehill never got that.)

      Anyhow it seems now that Matt Moore is the MVP again we will not only have Jay but also Admin calling for him to be the starter…..

      Priceless….

        1. @RickJames

          No not yet I’m just getting started. I’ve listened to Jay opine for YEARS on how great Moore was and how great QB elevate bad teams and bad coaches. Well Moore had his big shoot and went 2-2 and didn’t just not win today, he gave the game away in Mark Sanchez fashion.

          Now Jay wants to say, “oh Moores not a franchise QB we need someone else”

          No crap Moores not a franchise QB! Now where have we heard that before?

          From everyone on this forum EXCEPT Jay!

          Sorry after all the grief Jay didn’t get to walk away from his plethora of stupid comments.

          1. Damn brian layin the verbal smackdown.

      1. Author

        No, I was always encouraging and enthusiastic about Moore, but I never thought he was better. If Tannehill played yesterday, the result might have been the same. Or he might have held onto the ball and pulled out a W. No way would Tannehill have made it worse.

        1. @Admin

          One thing for sure is when Tannehill pulls the ball in to run…….. HE RUNS! Also that pass that Moore dosn’t know he can’t make because he thinks he has great arm strength Tannhill makes all day long effortlessly.

          His arm and his legs make him 50x better then moore. We (I’m not including snowflake jay in with we) have been saying that for years. One thing we all agreed we would love Tannehill to inherent from Moore is his FIRE and HEART!

          Moore is easy to like because he has the passion…… if he was only a foot taller and 50lbs heaver!

  16. There’s nuthin wrong with the Dolphins that a franchise QB wouldn’t fix! DRAFT ONE!!!

    1. Oh no I thought for the last two years our franchise QB was sitting on our bench Jay.

      We’re you WRONG for two years?

    2. By the way Mr. I’ve been proven WRONG, we have the 22 pick and a franchise QB on the PAYROLL! Even if we want to move him it would be very difficult until at lest the end of next year and even then it will be painfull unless the raise the cap limit substantially or we cut some of our big payroll players which I can’t see happening this offseason.

      Oh but I’m sure you have the right answer for everything.

      1. Author

        Yeah, it seems odd that Jay spent his entire commenting career calling for Matt Moore, and when he got his wish, the tune changed to “Well I never said he was the answer.” I keep watching and rewatching Moore’s first fumble and having nightmares. He saw it coming a mile away and still let it happen.

        1. All I said is that he’s better than TannePuke…..which is obvious.

          1. No it isn’t obvious…..

            This year with the crappy start due to streangh of oppenent and new coaching and offense Tannehill went 8-4 as a starter! I got the stat wrong last night so read that again.

            Moore – 2-2 as a starter this year
            Tannhill 8-4 as a starter this year

            Can you divide fractions or do you need me to do that for you Jay?

            8-4 is MUCH BETTER then 2-2

            as you said OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER

            Good QBs win dispute crummy teammates and coaches.

            Well I guess Moore is not a good QB and according to your very own methodology Tannehill is a good QB.

            If you don’t like the facts go somewhere else

            I think after hearing your crying I’ll change your name to..

            SNOWFLAKE JAY!

    3. As far as I’m concerned Tannehill took us to the playoffs that’s franchise QB for me and most everyone else

      1. A franchise QB that never won ONE playoff game????

        HILARIOUS!!!!!

        NEVER HEARD SUCH UTTER NONSENSE!!!!!!!!!!

        1. AND HAS A LOSING RECORD??

          TOO FUNNY!!!

          1. Derek Carr has a losing career record and no playoff win in his career but everyone knows he’s a franchise QB

          2. @Jay – Ill repost the FACTS for you snowflake

            This year with the crappy start due to streangh of oppenent and new coaching and offense Tannehill went 8-4 as a starter! I got the stat wrong last night so read that again.

            Moore – 2-2 as a starter this year
            Tannhill 8-4 as a starter this year

            Can you divide fractions or do you need me to do that for you Jay?

            8-4 is MUCH BETTER then 2-2

            as you said OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER

            Good QBs win dispute crummy teammates and coaches.

            Well I guess Moore is not a good QB and according to your very own methodology Tannehill is a good QB.

            If you don’t like the facts go somewhere else

            I think after hearing your crying I’ll change your name to..

            SNOWFLAKE JAY!

        2. @Jay

          Just re-read any of your comments if you want to see utter nonsense!

  17. “Today was a nightmare day for Moore. He threw an interception. He took a vicious hit that seemed to knock him out for the day but only kept him out one play. And he fumbled twice, reminding us of 2011 Moore when he fumbled 14 times in 13 games.
    This day, in other words, pulled the mask off Moore as a starter. Those folks that argued for so long that Moore was better than Ryan Tannehill must surely understand now that they are dreaming”.

    Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/armando-salguero/article125303129.html#emlnl=5-Minute_Herald#storylink=cpy

    1. Are you telling me that Moore was prone to handing games away? Who would have known?

Leave a Reply to karmatourer2 Cancel reply