The Dlphins (there is absolutely no “O” in this team) got their annual Massachusetts Massacre out of the way today to close out September at 3-1.
While the defense played poorly, this loss is not their fault. As I wrote all week, the defense will yield points to Tom Brady. All defenses do. We simply had to match them on offense, and Adam Gase made certain we didn’t do that.
As bad as the defense was, consider this: What if I told you that our D would have 2 interceptions, numerous batted balls, several hurries and pressures, forced punts, and stopped 3 different wildcat/trick plays for no gain. The Defense did some good things.
But they were exhausted and undermanned, and finally it became too much for them. And our offense threw them an anchor instead of a life buoy.
It wasn’t necessarily trick plays that won for us the past month, but speed plays. Nothing tricky about a simple one-yard pass to Grant and Wilson. You give them the ball in space and let them score touchdowns. Unless you’re Adam Gase, of course, who apparently does NOT like to score touchdowns. After watching his speedsters toast defenses the past month, Gase decided to go back to the same old nonsense. Bubble Screen on first down. Draw play on 2nd (when the D knows you’re going to run it). 5-yard slant play on third-and-8. Without question, the worst playcaller in the NFL.
It’s as if Gase didn’t see what Wilson and Grant did last week. Like he was punishing Grant and Wilson and refusing to call on them today. Speaking of punishing Wilson, Gase had him out there covering punts on defense. THAT’s the way to utilize your most dynamic receiver!! Make him tackle punt returners.
And how about a rollout or bootleg. I guess Gase forgot that Tannehill has been our leading rusher for a couple of weeks. He can run for first downs, but Gase apparently thinks that incompletions are better than first downs.
We need Tannehill to run, because he sure couldn’t pass. He played another pig of a game and was leading guys right out of bounds on the side patterns, and short-arming the ball on the deep patterns. He wasn’t close all day, except on his first toss of the game. The game began promising, with Tanny hitting Kenny Stills for 20 yards. The Patriots made no adjustments after that catch, and they looked confused. So Gase took advantage of that…by never running it again.
The play of the game occurred when Tannehill fumbled twice on the same play. After dropping the snap (and the announcers laughingly said it was the center’s fault…NO!), Tannehill then dove on the ball with his shoulder. An inept effort to say the least. Patriots’ ball. Embarrassing football.
There’s no shame in losing to a better team. But to be outsmarted by your own coach all day long? I wish Cam Wake would just go punch Tanny and Gase in the face. I’d pay his fine for him. But those two jokers need to learn that when you throw a game away, your defense hates your guts. It’s unforgivable to call those plays and have that little effort.
We play the Bengals next. So I switched over to the Cincy-Atlanta game to watch the Bengals lose…to hopefully put them in a down mood heading into the Dlphin game. But no. Seems every time we want Atlanta to win, they find a new way to choke. So the Bengals are on a high and Miami heads there in the doldrums.
Oh, and did I mentioned we lost 4 more starters today, 3 of whom are probably out for the year?
Yeah, pitiful showing! Our game was actually the local Denver main early game and they just switched it over to the Cincy vs Atlanta game for us….. wasn’t even worth watching that debacle any more!
Yeah, this one was really gross, no doubt about it. I would say Tannehill’s worst game in the pros. It is truly amazing to me how no matter what the situation is, the Dlphins always get shredded by NE. Give Brady some highschool kids and he’ll still outscore Miami by 30. A real shame to end the month on that note, after so many promising games
Admin….. go to the NO game and look at the muffed kickoff by NO with about 3:44 left to go. Sean Payton was so PISSED and he was YELLING at everyone. Went down the line and dressed down his assistant’s and then told the player what an idiot he was when he came off the field. Compare that with “So-Smart” Gase who pats his idiot players on the butt after every holding penelty, dropped pass, overthrown ball…etc.
Don’t forget that every single snap count was on one again. Oh, and how about a pitchout instead of every single run up the middle behind our substitute linemen
The whole team stunk hopefully they can rebound as the bungals are playing well. I was hoping that they’d get some guys back like Jones but you’re saying more hurt now??? Who?
McCain likely out for good. Frank Gilgore out indefinitely. Ju’Wuan James hurt
With Kilgore gone and backup Jake Brendel already on IR, we are now on our third-string center.
Kilgore not the end of the world as Swanson will be ok but McCain and James is brutal if out long term. They were doing so well with injuries now everyone’s hurt…
On a good note we at least know that the refs don’t love the bungals. should be a fair fight.
Patsies believe that the refs were fair and didn’t miss a call. I mentioned that the first 2 holds were ticky tacky and one pass was uncatchable. They can’t comprehend this as it never happens to them. Also the pick on the CB they can’t comprehend this either as it’s never called on them even though the CB was laid out on his back. You can say the the refs may not call something that close to the line of scrimmage but it’s regularly calls on Miami plus you still can’t lay a guy out maybe a brush would get by. Either way I don’t think it would make a difference today as the Fins were atrocious in all phases. Coaching pathetic too. How on earth do you let gronk have a free release and single coverage to boot on most plays???
I remember the Miami Herald saying that Gase had a bunch of “Trick Plays” ready to throw at the patriots… what happened!!! The only trick I saw by Gase was when he put Osweiler in the game and kept the Dolphins from an embarrassing skunk (shutout).
Guaranteed Gase will say The trick plays did not present themselves. Duhhhhhh. Thats why they are called tricks. You don’t wait for the D to expect it
Admin, I know one thing you and I do agree on, and it’s that Gase needs to give up calling plays. How many times did we see Gase call crap like this:
1st and ten, passing play. Oh oh, a flag. Now it’s a 1st and 20 run play that nets two yards. 2nd and 18, pass play that nets only 8 yards. 3rd and 10, bubble screen pass play that nets nothing. Punt.
Gase’s play calling was so unimaginative and repetitive to where the Patriots didn’t have to adjust anything defensively. On the other hand, the poor Dolphins defense was just tired and worn out from being on the field for so long.
Phil, Gase’s play calling is indeed frustrating, but that frustration turns into infuriating when you hear the guy explain his rationale. He speaks like a true defeatist, with cliches thrown in. “Well, starting off first-and-20 puts us in a bind.” “Not too many plays in the play book to pick up a third-and-20.” “Not much you can do when a penalty makes us go 20 yards instead of 10.” Does he not hear himself? Is gaining 20 yards so impossible for this joker that he literally says “Not much you can do.” Other teams do this constantly. Especially against us. Running a draw play on 1st and 20 used to work in the 1970s, but it’s a wasted play nowadays.
Yeah.. and it’s also apparent that – old fashioned screen plays, draw plays, quarterback role out plays, and quarterback option plays are all a waste of time to use as far as Gase is concerned.
Well Gase is supposed to be some offensive guineas which is why he calls his own plays and draws up the game plan so since we find ourselves committing so many penelties every week and needing 20 Yards is more common than not shouldnt Gase have an answer for it by now?
I’m so tired of stupid coaches
Brian, one thing Gase must always realize when the Dolphins play the Patriots is that, he must take into account the officials on the field. In my opinion, too many of them are secret Patriots fans. And, they can be bought, which it then comes down to the highest bidder. That Cleveland Browns vs Oakland Raiders game yesterday is a prime example of officials getting paid.
The first “hold” on Xavien was the worst call of the year. Didn’t even touch the guy. The bad call was made worse, becasue it was their opening possession, and we held them to 3-and-out. I think the game has a whole different complexion if our boys got off the field tied 0-0 after stopping their first drive. The Refs simply wold not allow this.
Yeah, and if your defense is on the field for 20 minutes in the first half, as an offensive coordinator that should tell you something about your play calling and your quarterback.
I’m glad we didn’t use the trick plays this week-if they even existed-and saved them for the Bungles-at least we have a bettter shot of beating them. NOT!
LOL…. well we probably have a better shot of beating the Bengals but only because they arn’t the NE Patriots!
Cincy plays hot and cold, so let’s hope we catch them in a cold week. After that is the Bears, and no way on earth are we losing to Mitchell Turbo. With our without Khalil Mack, the Bears are a bottom-rung team
Were going to make the Bears look like they are going to the super bowl
I agree that we should NOT try any trickery when down by 38. But what about to start the game? Or when down only 3? The moment you see that your base offense is not working, then you change it up. Except if you’re Adam Gase, who is never wrong of course.
Same old dolphins just a different year.
is there anyone who sees Tannehill as much of the problem other than myself? How many years does it take for this guy to “get it”??? He’s not gotten it yet! I’m disgusted with the complacency of this organization around him. He stinks- flat out and until he is replaced we are mediocre at best! We haven’t had a legit QB since Marino! Do they not see Tannehill is not going to get it done? Frustrated constantly with this team.
I’ve always been 50-50 on the guy, but I’m leaning toward turning on him. I say that now after watching other QBs this weekend. I saw the way young kids like Mahomes and Baker Mayfield lead. We watched experienced leaders like Brees, Brady, Flacco, and other do it. I am sorry to say that I see no similarities in Tannehill. When given time and given a specific open target, he hits the passes well. but in other leadership intangibles, I just don’t see it. And he’s had years to improve. years to prove us all wrong. I do not doubt his physical ability. But his leadership and will to win and fire & passion? I can’t put my finger on it, but he is clearly in the middle-to-low echelon of QBs in this league. And that makes me sad to report.
Definitely up and down but let’s not overreact after last Sunday he did play decent the first 3 weeks. Some of this is horrendous play calling too.
Fins just cut Phillips as he was whining about not enough playing time. Gase basically said oline coach controls reps based on production and others have been better….
Yes, just like Damien Williams and Senorise Perry were “better” than Jay Ajayi.
The D-line coach kept Phillips on the bench because he liked the way his crew was stopping Brady every series. Truly, Gase has a dizzying intellect.
I don’t think that Phillips was consistent. His effort very up and down sounds like this was mutual. Wonder if he gets picked up?
The Defensive line got pummeled for 38 points. Would Suh have made a difference?
I have also been watching these newbies at QB this year and yes, they have learning to do BUT the difference is you can see at their current rookie stage, they display a whole lot more than Tannehill has his ENTIRE time playing football!! They are showing they have POTENTIAL-I never saw that with Tannehill…oh a good pass here and there, a decent game (luck, or a good day on the field?) but for the most part of his time with Dolphins, he’s shown no solid signs of taking it to the next level, which at this point, he should have. We have a moron owner who we are stuck with until he croaks-that’s a huge problem my fin fans.
I’ve defended Tannehill a lot of times, and I’ve been on his back a lot of times as well. But it wasn’t until this year that I’m starting to feel it’s time to move on.
Between the teams with elite QBs (you know who they are) and teams with up-and-coming stars, you definitely see the passion in their play that is missing from our QB.
I think a lot of it is coaching. RT knows the playbook inside and out and he always know what he’s supposed to do. I love his IQ. HOWEVER…and this is huge… when something goes wrong, he lacks any improvising. He MUST understand that he’ll probably have a defender running at his blindside. Instead, he thinks, “Okay, well the guard is supposed to pull and block the D-end, so I don’t have to worry about the d-End.” Wrong! Have you seen our line? He has to take in the whole play as it happens, instead of imagining the way Gase drew it up in practice
I have also been watching these newbies at QB this year and yes, they have learning to do BUT the difference is you can see at their current rookie stage, they display a whole lot more than Tannehill has his ENTIRE time playing football!! They are showing they have POTENTIAL-I never saw that with Tannehill…oh a good pass here and there, a decent game (luck, or a good day on the field?) but for the most part of his time with Dolphins, he’s shown no solid signs of taking it to the next level, which at this point, he should have. We have a moron owner who we are stuck with until he croaks-that’s a huge problem my fin fans.