When a team scores 36 points, your first reaction is to blame the defense for giving up so many.

Until you examine how it happened.   This loss was caused by Ryan Tannehill.   He picked a poor time to have his worst game of the year.  The stats might show worse games, but when you factor in the timing of his mistakes, the locations where he made them (all were deep in our own territory), and the severity of them…there truly is no one else to blame.

His lack of fire and lack of passion reminds one of Joe Philbin’s style.   The team feeds off of a quarterback, but if the QB is not feeding them anything, the team starves.

Lauren holds onto a slimy, slippery fish better than her husband held onto a dry football.

For  quick study of how well the defense did, when it was 9-0, the defense clamped down and forced the Patriots to punt 4 times in a row.  FOUR TIMES IN A ROW they stuffed the mighty Tom Brady.  The last defense to force the Patriots to punt 4 times in a row was in 2002.

It’s been 13 years since a defense handled Tom Brady so masterfully, but every time our D forced a punt, Tannehill gave it right back to them.

Let’s start with the safety.  Pouncey called it a miscommunication.  Which is a nice way of saying “Ryan wasn’t looking where he should have been.”   We all know Pouncey; if he screwed up, he would admit it.  But he didn’t.

A quarterback has to be alert at all times, and Ryan Tannehill was looking around with no urgency.  The ball came at him, and with no peripheral vision, Tannehill didn’t see it until it was too late.   Like when the non-blindside blitzes come right at him, his reaction times are abysmally slow.

So anyway, that only made it 9-0.  It was 12-0 when he next got the ball back.  He promptly threw it right to a Patriot.  No fire on the ball whatsoever.  He lobbed a slow pass to a covered receiver.  No excuses for that nonsense.   Boom! A minute later it’s 19-0.

The next series was after halftime.  He had Kenny Stills wide open on the left side and terribly underthrew it. Stills had to wait and wait and wait.  To add insult to injury, Stills was still wide open when the ball got to him, but then dropped it !    We eventually scored on that drive and N.E. could only answer with a field goal.  Down 7-22, we’re still in the game.

But Tannehill threw another pig of a pass to a Patriot.  Again.  These interceptions weren’t even close.

Throughout all of this, the pass protection was surprisingly good.  I watched Jason Fox all night, and he filled in well for James.  The backs picked up the blitzes.  But despite this, Tannehill rushed himself all night long.  He was scared when he didn’t need to be.  I don’t know why.

At other times, he was too slow to get the ball out.   The screens to Miller that were so crisp for two weeks in a row now took too long to develop.   The slants to Matthews were open for a second, but it was too late before T-hill saw him.   He was like a different QB than we saw the last two weeks.

The playcalling was questionable many times, but that was a smaller problem.  We still spread the field on 3rd-and-one plays.   Meanwhile, New England had similar situations and called a QB sneak.  They always do.  It always works.  We never do, so it never works.

The double tight end sets are great and they do allow for extra protection, but Tannehill couldn’t take advantage.

Jonas Gray dropping an easy screen pass with no one in front of him hurt.  Lamar Miller missed some holes and that hurt too.  Dan Campbell’s decision to give Tom Brady the ball to start the game was a head scratcher too.   The o-line missed some blocks.  Because of those factors, I only blame Tannehill for 99% of this loss.

Look, we only have 4 losses this year with a lot of football still ahead.  Better teams and worse teams have been crushed by the Cheatriots this year.  We expected to lose, and we did.  Let’s forgive and forget and move on.  Time to beat Buffalo.  And time for Tannehill to get that dumb look off his face.  Let’s see what Campbell can do with him.

47 Comments

  1. Author

    Our “friends” at the Phinsiders are still reporting that Cam Wake suffered an Achilles “injury” and hope that it isn’t severe.
    First, an Achilles injury is always severe.
    Second, He’s out for the year, so the Phinsiders can keep hoping all they want
    Third, I read the Phinsiders these days for comedy. Some of the worst writing from the least-educated Dolphin fans.

  2. Tannepuke sucks. Trade him for a 4th rd pick before he’s totally worthless like Henne.

    1. We’re stuck with with TanneBUST possibly for the rest on my life.I’m in my 60s. And a $100 million contract no less. He’s like a ststue in the pocket with ZERO awareness of what’s going o around him. A QB has that when he’s been a QB all his life,not just recently. It’s Year 4 here and he still doesn’t have a clue. I remember our 1st win in the OB,in 1966. It was against the Oilers IIRC. We had a string of bad QBs because we were an expansion team and we made our 1st (od many) draft mistakes by drafting a clown named Rick Norton from KY. The ‘BUST isn’t much of an improvement.

  3. Yes once again as Ive been stating . Tannehill is a fair weather QB . Though I love him when he’s on I think we all agree he cant mentally put the team on his back. Hes never really displayed this intangible. And I agree this loss is more on him than anybody else. Once again I bring up his toughness as one douch trolled me here about . I asked if hes ever been in a fist fight. I know hes physically tough taking sacks but what about his inner pride and line in the sand mentality. That type of toughness? I havent ever seen it.

    1. Author

      Have to agree. I don’t know if he’s ever been in a fist fight. I wonder if he’s ever been angry in his whole life?

    1. Author

      Parker was a wasted draft pick. Even if he were sensational, which he’s not, but even he were…we still didn’t NEED yet another wide receiver. It was a stupid pick, and we’re paying the price now with zero productivity.

    2. After getting rid of Wallace, Hartline, Clay, and Gibson we desperately needed another WR. But he was damaged goods and they knew it and a horrible choice.

  4. Tanny was bad but who on the offense played well? Fifteen yards rushing. And Jason Fox gave up back to back sacks. Didn’t see where he played well even though Tanny held the ball too long on several occasions. Who the phuck has coached him to not throw the ball away ever? On that note, Brady and Belicheck haven’t lost at home in the regular season in two years I think. This is why Ross killed this season by bringing back Philbin and therefore Coyle. Incompetent coaching lead to losses in a winnable game like the Jacksonville game and now not even an emotional spark can override the fact that this wasn’t a winnable game by the schedule anyway. 8-8 would be lucky at this point and the fool Ross can only blame himself.

    1. Author

      This is no excuse, but it is a fact: The schedule maker has a big role in a lot of these games. For example, the Dolphins are one of only a few teams who have to play THREE ROAD games in a row. New England doesn’t have to, and most other teams as well. the Patriots also get a three-game homestand, and the Dolphins do not. We had to fly to Europe to play a home game. (That last one is Ross’s fault, and the only good thing about the London game was the removal of Philbin.)
      Yes, everyone says that BOTH teams have a short week for Thursday Night Football. True. But only one team has to travel. And New England was already home last Sunday. And home again in 10 days when they face the Redskins. That is a LOT of comfort built into their schedule…a comfort that the Dolphins do not get during the season. The Patriots are good enough as is. They get away with cheating as is. The NFL doesn’t need to favor them even more by giving them a three-game homestand while having zero 3-game roadtrips.

      1. Ross requested a lot of road games to allow for the stadium upgrades.

  5. Fellow Fin fans, I can’t see how long this Tannehill experiment is going to continue. I have never had any bit of faith in his QB trial and error. He…does….not….have….it!!! No excuses, no more he had a great game so he’s worth it again. No more!!! The position is not natural for him. Tannehill can’t lead. The safety was utterly embarrassing. I think there was overall intimidation playing NE last night- they felt really good about themselves with those 2 wins and NE knew it. So they came at them with nothing they expected. Belicheck is an excellent football mind and been at this for many years. Give Coach Campbell some slack; it was his 3rd game. I put onus on the Tannehill and some crap-ass plays from offensive coordinator. At least our punter is awesome. And while I’m on a roll, our owner is still a moron.

  6. Ross is the worst owner in all of sports.

  7. @Frustrated Finfan for years

    This isn’t a QB Experiment. Remember the big contract he signed? He isn’t getting traded and he isn’t getting benched. This is what we got!

    He absolutely sucked the entire game last night. Even when he was hitting passes on the one drive he kept missing the wide open guys streaking to the endzone which in my opinion (and none of you guys ever see this (Talking to you Jay) but he always throws a 1 yard check down when a receiver or TE is streaking behind the defense compleatly uncovered for a sure TD!

    I don’t know how this gets fixed

    I also saw a ton of great protection last night until the end and yes Fox had a few bad snaps but manageable.

    Also @Admin I don’t put much blame on the receivers for drops since Tannehill isn’t going to tell them they did anything wrong he should then take the blame!

    1. Brian M., believe me, I am well aware of the stupid ridiculous contract they gave Tannehill who does not worthy of it but we are stuck. My frustration is he is the QB we have! I’m sorry he’s not getting us OR will ever get us to the level we need.

  8. The first play we run Miller gets 8 . Then James gets injured. A couple plays later Miller gets 3 more. Then the rest of the game on 7 more attempts Miller gets 4. How is that possible? Is James that big a factor to our run game?
    We can blame Thill for his shitty game, attitude, smoking pot, and chewing gum but we will not win if we do not run. Thill is not going to win us games on his arm. We have to be able to adapt during the game, make changes, design plays that will get the run game going. It would be a completely different game if we could run. I don’t care if we have to pull guards put in 2 TE a fullback put in some defense players instead of WR. Build a wall for Miller to run behind. Whatever it takes. Or we can run every play out of the gun and them tell them we are a throwing team so they can blitz, sack, and pick off our rattled QB.

    1. Tannepuke makes everyone around him worse. If he was accurate more than 5-10 yds downfield it might open up the run game. We need a much better QB if we want any chance at the playoffs.

  9. @admin

    When a team scores only 7 points, your first reaction is to blame the offense for scoring so little.

  10. Well, the good news is we wont lose tomorrow! Haha

  11. Ya we need the rest. Wonder which team will show up next time we play.

  12. When was the last time New England lost at home? Stop overreacting. The worse part about this game was the loss of Cam Wake. When you looked at the schedule at the beginning of the season or when it came out did anyone actually think this was a win. Brady threw four touchdowns, how many were deep balls. Gronk, breaks a tackle on a 12-yard route and goes 47-yards for a td and nobody says anything about how Brady didn’t do much on that play. Tanny does it and ten people are jumping to say how Landry or whoever did all the work. And most of them are so-called Dolphins fans. The damn offense produced 15 yards rushing. If you’re one-dimensional and don’t have Brady or Rodgers you will lose. Those are the only two qbs still beating people with their arms only. Used to be Brees and Peyton too but they’re done now. Unless your defense is stellar, and our isn’t, we weren’t going to win that game. Miami has tons of other holes to be assigning all the blame to the qb. Now the defense played admirably mostly due to the d-line wrecking havoc but the linebackers still suck in coverage. Aikens and Jamar Taylor are still liabilities in coverage and the guard play is still inconsistent. Every team has holes though. But the ball-watchers consistently blame the qb. Not a good game from Tannehill but bad games happens. Especially in hostile territory. Anyone who thinks he’s not the answer please tell me who is. Luck? Flacco or Eli? Despite the Super Bowl rings the latter two haven’t looked worth their contracts either. That’s why the front office believes in Tannehill. Because they know that similarly talented players have won with the right mix of talent behind them. We lack a power run game, that’s the equalizer we need to take the next step. Look at Seattle with Marshawn and Dallas last year with Demarco. It can make a huge difference. Remember Knowshon running over New England last year week one. Football is the ultimate team sport. Stop blaming one player at one position for shit that isn’t his fault.

    1. @DOLPHGANG!!

      Flacco, Eli, and Luck are all possible HOFers. Flacco has already won more road playoff games than any QB in NFL history. They shouldn’t be mentioned in the same sentence with Tannepuke.

  13. Flacco and Eli HOF’ers already? That’s your argument. I mean you believe this? Not in this qb-friendly era of football. Super Bowls aside, Eli has only two 30 tds plus seasons in 12 years but has several 20 plus picks seasons. This is a pass happy era where the elite guys are throwing 40 plus tds a year. Same with Flacco. Flacco played with Ed Reed and Ray Ray during the early years of his career and has had the benefit of a consistent power run game. And don’t let me talk about the seasons that they played great in the play-offs but only made it there to begin with because their teams carried them their despite their own inconsistent regular season performanxes. Plus both have had the benefit of consistently good overall coaching. Both have been on better teams consistently. Neither has been great consistently overall throughout their careers. The teams they’ve been on have though. Up until recently. Now if Eli and Flacco are so good why are the Giants missing the play-offs so much recently and why is Baltimore struggling mightily this season?

    1. Its one year. Heck, Eli can easily go to the playoffs again. He’s already won 2 SB’s. Flacco has had a tremendous start and he’s not done yet.

    2. @Dolphgang

      Its big wins that is the only meaningful stat and Flacco, Eli, and Luck all have them. Its why they play the game. Big wins.

  14. Here is Joe Flacco’s records SO FAR!!

    First rookie quarterback to win two playoff games[47]
    Most wins by a quarterback in first six seasons: 62 (regular season only)[48]
    Second-most combined regular and postseason wins in first three years as a quarterback: 36 (tied with Dan Marino)[49]
    Only quarterback to start and win a playoff game in each of his first five seasons[50]
    Most touchdowns in a postseason: 11 (tied with Joe Montana and Kurt Warner)[39]
    Most touchdowns without an interception in a postseason: 11 (tied with Joe Montana)[40]
    First quarterback to have a passer rating over 100 in all four games of a single postseason[4]
    Most consecutive playoff games with at least two passing touchdowns: 8
    Most consecutive playoff games with at least three passing touchdowns: 3 (tied with Bernie Kosar, Kurt Warner, and Aaron Rodgers)
    Most consecutive road playoff games with at least one passing touchdown: 7 (tied with Donovan McNabb and Brett Favre)
    Most consecutive road playoff games with at least two passing touchdowns: 5
    Fastest quarterback to record five touchdowns in a game: 16:03[51]
    Most road playoff wins for a quarterback: 7[52]

    Ravens franchise records[edit]
    Most career passing yards – 25,531[53]
    Most career pass completions – 2,213[53]
    Most career passing touchdowns – 148[53]
    Most regular-season wins – 72[53]
    Most postseason wins – 10[53]
    Most consecutive pass completions: 14 vs. Denver Broncos (November 1, 2009)[53]
    Most passing yards in a playoff game (331 in 2013 vs Denver Broncos)[53]
    Most 300+ passing-yard games in career by a starting QB – 16[53]
    Highest completion percentage in a single season – 63.1% (2009) (in 16 starts)[53]
    Highest career quarterback rating – 84.8[53]
    Highest single-season quarterback rating — 93.6 (2010)[53]
    Most times sacked in a career for a starting QB – 241[53]
    Fewest interceptions in a regular season by starting QB — 10 (2012) (16 starts)[53]
    Most career fourth-quarter comeback wins – 14[53]
    Most career game-winning drives – 21[53]
    Most game-winning drives in a single season – 4 (2010) (tied with Elvis Grbac)[53]
    Flacco’s records SO FAR!!

    1. @Jay

      Wow I didn’t realize Flacco was Mr Playoffs. Barring injury he is definitely a hall of fame QB.

    2. Author

      Joe Flacco’s main statistic is that he played with an incredible defense giving him the ball dozens of times a game.
      Without a good defense, you see what Flacco is doing this year. ONE win.

      1. Sour grapes. The defense didn’t give him most TD’s in a postseason, most TD’s in the postseason without an INT, first QB to have over 100 QB rating in all 4 postseason games, most consecutive playoff games with at least 3 passing TD’s, fastest QB to get 5 passing TD’s , 21 game winning drives, etc, etc……

        1. Silly Jay. It’s not sour grapes tp state facts.

          1. Eli 6 TD’s no INT’s, Flacco ANOTHER game winning drive. YIKES!!!!!!!!!!!

  15. I’m up in NJ and have Giants and Jets broadcasts. I watch I love football and support Giants as my second team and bec there is no f’ng way I could cheer for Jets. That saying, I would any day any time want Eli as QB. He’s smart, has football acumen that Tannehill could never possess, even with the difficulties this season. I remain with my thoughts that Tanny just does not have that “potential” for the cerebral-ness that the position needs. Physically good, but a QB must see the field and plays unfold before the defense does.

    1. @Frustrated Finfan for years

      Yeah, using Tannepuke in the same sentence as Eli, Flacco, or Luck is moronic. He a lot more like Chad Henne or Tim Tebow or E.J. Manuel.

    2. Im so ticked off at how star struck T-Hill looked and played in NE. Jeez is it too much to ask that your own team isnt also a secret admirer of their opponents? Even Campbell was over praising the Pats in the pre game presser. Sometimes I wonder if they left the NFL and had to choose a team to root for , which one they would prefer. You cant be a player/opponent and also be a fan the aforementioned at the same time. If you are then they have won before the game even started. In games past Tannehill seemed to feed of the presence of great quarterbacks like Aaron Rogers, Peyton Manning and played well emulating their style and doing it well. But when Brady is on the other side he wilts and gets nervous and you can see it in his eyes before each snap. Campbell should have pulled him aside akin to the coach/catcher in baseball do to calm the pitcher down. You could tell Tannehill was nervous and not responding well to the pressure. Im glad someone else here besides my self has finally noticed this. Campbell said his specialty is knowing how to motivate people, I understand hes a brand new HC with little experience but this was a no brainer. He needed to console and reassure him to get the best performance out of him not leave him alone only to get worse as the game progressed. This is what good coaches do not just X’s and 0’s but control the attitude and keep the team focused when things become challenging. Find out what areas need attention and for god sakes do something about it. One last thing who listened to Campbell’s post game conference. I couldnt believe it when he said and you cant make this up. ” we got to play better in all 3 phases of the game” does this sound at all familiar? Have you heard this before?Hmmmn who came up with this catch all response? Im not bashing Campbell here but damn, I was so sick and tired of hearing that phrase.

    3. Author

      I lost all respect for Eli on day one, when he whined his way out of the draft and refused to play for the team who wanted him. Classless move used by scum like Eli and John Elway. That being said, Brady would have 6 rings if it weren’t for Eli, so I do like that part of him!

  16. Author

    Tannehill’s star-struck looks are not just for New England. We’ve been commenting for years on the dumbfounded looks on his face, how he never gets angry, how he seems confused. Almost every time after a pick, he is shown on the sideline with a shocked look. It’s like he just learned a new rule about the defense being allowed to intercept a ball. His face says, “Huh? What happened?”
    Look, NE has beat 7 other teams this year, almost all blowouts. We’re one of many who aren’t as good as them. Forgive, forget, and move on. The Bills are next, and they have zero offense. Let’s see how Campbell makes the guys respond after a loss. A lot of AFC teams are around the .500 mark, and making the playoffs will be easier this year than ever before. I mean, Cincy and Denver and NE are locks, but no one else is ding anything. Our usual playoff competition (Baltimore, San Diego, KC, and Pissburgh) all suck this year. We actually have better teams thean them. We just need to show it and get over this NE game

  17. Author

    ALSO… Dan Campbell said this, which I like a lot:
    “I don’t want them to forget that feeling right there. Don’t forget it. I hope it eats away at them just like it’s eating away at me…”
    See, I don’t think Philbin was EVER hurt by losses. He knew he got paid win or lose or fired (yes, he is still on the payroll even when fired) One sentence from Campbell shows you it’s not about the money but about winning.

  18. And while we’re talking about the price of tea in China. Coincidentally who was originally the first qb to be bemoaned for his nonchalant reactions and stupefied looks whenever he lost a big game, underperformed, or made a bone-headed play? Eli Manning that’s who. Didn’t stop him from winning two Lombardis. All that emotional shit is inconsequential and has nothing to do with winning or losing. And as far as all those stats you listed about Flacco they are basically useless in regards to this argument because I never implied that he and Eli weren’t clutch in the play-offs. I just stated the true fact that they were average at best in the regular season through several regular seasons that still resulted in play-offs runs because they’re teams had the overall talent to carry them. They benefited from good coaching that had offensive systems that were set to feature the qb as a complimentary piece and not the feature. So Flacco’s stellar play in the play-offs was a bonus and not a neccessity. Surely it helped them win games that they wouldn’t have otherwise but that’s the nature of the postseason in any sport. Players expected to shine don’t and players that are considered afterthoughts turn into absolute saviors. Thus Eli and Flacco being play-offs superstars. Meanwhile guys like Peyton and Marino choke their asses off consistently under the same spotlight despite spectacular regular dominance. Now let’s take a look at the relevance of the organizations in question. The Giants were in the Super Bowl in this decade without Eli at qb. Remember Kerry Collins. The Giants went to the Super Bowl with Kerry Collins at qb and got blasted by who? Flacco’s future team the Baltimore Ravens, with Trent Dilfer at qb and Ray Lewis at lb. Even after Dilfer left the Ravens and they toiled without a franchise qb until they drafted Flacco was well understood that all they needed to contend was a qb. Meaning they had the pieces in place for a Super Bowl and all they needed was one more. Plus they had a winning front office that consistently evaluated and developed quality talent behind Ozzie Newsome. Dolphins had Jeff Ireland and Cam Cameron making great picks like Daniel Thomas, Jonathan Martin, Michael Egnew, Pat White, and Ted Ginn, Jr. That’s your current source of irrelevance for the Dolphins. Not the qb position. Switch Flacco with Tannehill or Eli and same record, same results. They couldn’t win with consistently bad coaching, disorganized front office structure, or menial roster depth either. Aaron Rodgers or Tom Brady maybe because they’re elite and don’t need a stellar roster around them to produce wins consistently but certainly not those tow qbs you named. Archie Manning pretty much admitted as much about Eli in the draft when he told San Diego not to draft his son. Archie was a great qb playing for a bad team his entire career so I’m sure he’d agree that a qb’s success is usually tied directly to his supporting cast. Ed Reed, Ray Lewis, Michael Strahan, Anquan Boldin, and Tom Coughlin are just some of the sure-fire future HOF’ers Flacco and Eli have been surrounded with. How many sure-fire future HOF’ers has Tanny been surrounded with? When he gets a team that can carry him to the play-offs like those two have had several times and then he chokes once he gets there then I’ll judge him as a potential bust. Until then he’ll remain a budding young qb with an inadequate supporting cast.

    1. Author

      Michael Egnew can cover a WR better than Jamar Taylor. There, I finally gave Egnew a compliment

  19. From Unitas to Brady, whom I consider to be the greatest because he’s accomplished the most with the least talent around him, I’ve been watching elite qbs come into the league and develop into stars. Some shined right away. Others took up to 5 years to develop.

    I regret to inform you that there is nothing in Mr. T to remind me of any elite qbs. He can be a typical NFL qb which is an accomplishment in itself. And if you put a great team around him and he happens to have a great season, he might even win a Superbowl.

    Unfortunately, I know that all I have to look forward is for the dolphins to land the next elite qb, who right now could be in college, hs or elementary.

    So far Mr. T has shown he just doesn’t have it. Criticizing his play is like criticizing my fat neighbor because he ran a 5K in an hour.

  20. Exactly! Finally someone that understands that winning in football is determined by the overall roster. Not one position. If an elite qb was the only determinate then a Brady, Brees, Rodgers, or P. Manning led team would win the Super Bowl every year.

  21. Tell Eli, Flacco,& Russell Wilson that.

  22. None are elite. Just had the advantage of being drafted by great organizations. All are play-makers and have looked good when things around them are ideal. Currently things around them aren’t quite ideal. Which one of them is a threat to beat you with his arm only on a week to week basis? Neither. All their championship teams had one thing in common. Those teams had an identity. And the identity wasn’t based on a game-changing qb. It was on defense, running the ball, and playing physical at the point of attack. Neither of those guys are consistent top ten qbs but you’re implying that they were reason they won. Which in itself would be enough to cause you to fail a basic football I.Q. test if there were a such thing.

  23. Shula is undoubtedly another of Jay’s many aliases.

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