Any time your defense keeps an opponent out of the endzone, that is praiseworthy. So hat’s off to the defense.
But there are some nuances here. First, the Vikings had a walk-in touchdown at the end that they chose not to score. So let’s not give our defense TOO much praise for not allowing a TD.
Second, we continue a gloomy streak: it’s been about 4 decades since the Dolphins were able to cover an opposing tight end. It doesn’t matter if the TE is a starter or an unknown 3-string bum. Black or white, slow or fast. We have no game plan. Ever. 14 completions out of 14 targets. One Hundred Percent of the time they tried to throw to the TE yesterday, it worked. Disgusting game planning.
To make matters worse, our D had been getting to Murray and harrassing him well all day. We caused sacks. We caused 3-and-outs. But then the Vikings adjusted. Adjusted. That’s a word unfamiliar to Dolphin coaches for decades.
Instead of looking for WRs, Murray simply tossed it to his wide open TE. Suddenly the sacks stopped late in the game (when we needed a stop most). The incompletions stopped. The Dolphins chances stopped.
All because the Vikes told Murray to toss it to the TE. The entire world saw this adjustment by the Vikes except for Jeff Hafley.
Toward the end of the game, Hafley blew his clock management for the second week in a row. He doesn’t understand basic clock strategy, and I’m tired of hearing that he’s a rookie coach and will learn. Nope. He must have learned it already at this point, but he hasn’t.
Here’s an example, we tackled the Vikings in bounds with the clock running and 2:06 left in the game, and Hafley called a timeout. Calling that timeout prevented the Vikings from running off 6 seconds (and then the 2-minute warning stops the clock).
The correct move is to let the 6 seconds tick away and get a free stoppage. That way, you save a timeout and prevent the Vikings from burning 45 seconds between plays. Poor poor decisionmaking.
I’m also disappointed in Hafley for not fighting more on some of the ridiculous calls that screwed us. I know the refs are not gonna change their mind just because Hafley yelled at them. I also know the NFL won’t care that the Dolphins were screwed on several calls (simply because we’re not a big national team like KC or Dallas). That being said, Hafley still needs to get in the refs’ faces.
There were 2 separate instances where the refs ASSUMED they had seen something that did not exist. They literally made their calls based on what they THINK happened, not what they actually saw.
Ollie Gordon went to the ground untouched, rolled back up, and scored a TD. The cameras clearly showed he was untouched. But somehow, the refs assumed he was touched. A touch that no one saw. How is this not huge national news as the worst call of the week? Because Hafley and Ross didn’t even know they got screwed.
And then there was the laughable tipped punt. I guess your don’t need clear video evidence to overrule calls that help the Dolphins. You just need things to appear close enough where maybe he possibly might have touched the ball. Garbage officiating.
Then there was the play where Malik fumbled the ball forward. The Vikings fought to recover the ball. The Dolphins, clearly not knowing the rules, stood around. The result? Vikings ball.
The announcer made a comment about how the Dolphins WRs can be taught to go after those loose balls. CAN be taught?? Not taught already? Not knowing it already? Not getting chewed out by their head coach? (who I seriously doubt didn’t knew the rule either).
All in all, I’m glad we got close, and I do see a win coming this season. And I give Hafley’s defense some props, but in the grand scheme, Hafley has a lot of improving to do.
And let’s not forget Malik Washington muffing FOUR SEPARATE punts/kickoffs. Four! Worst special teams in NFL history. Again. Every year. How is this possible?
Hafley as much to learn and it gets obvious each week against our opponent’s HC. It’s not a good look for our coach. Think of the HC’s we will be facing-the more seasoned ones will show like a prized thoroughbred. The first time HC’s are learning on the job and Hafley is one of them. Mistakes will happen but he and team must learn from them. I don’t even want to watch the game if it’s on TV-it’s frustrating, sad to watch this franchise owned by a billionaire who doesn’t know what to do with it! Ross is the worst NFL owner, flat out horrible. I have ended the season in my head so win a game or maybe two is not exciting. I hope there are some glimmers of improvement with each game. Was happy with the defense this week. Can they sustain being reliable? That’s another question.
Admin, I actually agree with quite a bit of this. The special teams were atrocious, and Malik Washington mishandling four kicks/punts is unacceptable. Willis wasn’t good either. He wasn’t sharp, he looked unsure at times about where to go with the football, and the sacks he took from holding the ball too long were on him, not the offensive line. Hafley’s clock management also has to improve, and allowing Hockenson to catch 13 of 13 targets is obviously something the defensive staff has to answer for. But despite all of that, I came away from this game encouraged.
Last week this team hung with Kansas City into the fourth quarter; this week they went into a hostile Minnesota stadium against an undefeated team and fought them all the way to the final drive. I loved the attitude of these kids. You could hear that crowd getting louder and louder, and before the snap you could see Dolphins players firing each other up as if they were saying, “This crowd isn’t going to fuck with us.” They came out and played physical, fuck-you football for four quarters. Nothing seemed to get them down, and for a young team trying to build an identity, that matters to me.
Offensively, there’s obviously a long way to go. Willis struggled, and I’m sure some of that is on him, some is receivers not getting open, and some is probably young receivers not always being where they’re supposed to be. Let’s be honest: Minnesota can take away good receivers, and right now Miami doesn’t even have a legitimate No. 1 receiver for them to take away. But I thought the offensive line played very well, and the running game was excellent. Ollie Gordon went for 100 yards on nine carries, and this offense is beginning to look much more physical than what we’ve watched in Miami for years. Defensively, Rodriguez continues to look like somebody dropped Zach Thomas into a time machine, Chop is starting to come alive, the pass rush is showing up, and they just handled an undefeated Minnesota team most of the game. There are plenty of mistakes to clean up, but I continue to see young players developing and the team getting better from one week to the next.
Which brings me to Hafley. Jeff Hafley wasn’t anybody’s dream hire, including mine. I was pissed when they hired him. But after thinking about the situation this organization was actually in, I’ve changed my perspective considerably. What established, top-tier NFL head coach was lining up to take the Miami job? This franchise has been dysfunctional for so long that I think people inside the NFL probably viewed it as a toxic waste dump. So the new GM comes in, starts getting a feel for the market and realizes he isn’t taking over Green Bay, he’s taking over an organization that has to be rebuilt from the foundation. Maybe he reaches into his bag, calls somebody he knows and trusts in Hafley and essentially says, “Come down here and help me stabilize this thing while we rebuild it.” I don’t know that this is literally how it happened, but the more I watch what they’re doing organizationally, the more I think that’s a reasonable way of looking at the Hafley hire because look at what the front office actually did: they didn’t rearrange the furniture. They blew the entire building up. They gutted a scouting and personnel operation that had failed this franchise for decades, they fired EVERYONE and started rebuilding it around the Green Bay philosophy the new regime came from—scout, draft, develop and build depth instead of constantly trying to buy a football team in free agency.
Maybe Hafley isn’t the guy who’s eventually going to take Miami to a Super Bowl. I’m actually sure he is not! But he is certainly good enough to stabilize the ship for two or three years while the front office fixes the cap, stacks draft classes, develops young players, establishes fundamentals and turns Miami back into a professional football organization.
Imagine Miami three years from now after three drafts with a competent scouting department, the salary-cap mess cleaned up, real depth on the roster, young players who have been developed properly, and a team that’s physical, disciplined and competitive. Now ask yourself what kind of head coach Miami could attract then. That’s the part I didn’t appreciate when Hafley was hired. I wanted the great coach immediately, but maybe Miami first had to become the kind of organization a great coach would actually want to coach.
They’re 0-4, and nobody should be happy about that. Hafley absolutely has to improve his game management, special teams have to get cleaned up, and this offense has a long way to go. But I’m also not going to ignore what I’m watching. Two weeks ago this team was hanging with Kansas City into the fourth quarter; this week they fought an undefeated Minnesota team until the final drive. This doesn’t look like an 0-4 team that’s falling apart. It looks like a very young team that’s learning how to fight and for the first time in a long time, I can actually see and belive in what they’re trying to build.
Our Defense was gassed by the 4th quarter. I think the Vikes ran 72 offensive plays. Way too many. I think that contributed to the unknown TE being open all the time. We got our old friend Gesicki this week so hopefully the game plan will include covering him. All told, I believe the team is on the right track. Hafley stated if the players don’t believe in the direction of the team, they should pack sand and talk to Sully. Remember, also, we are living in cap-space hell by paying players we gave massive contracts to and play with other teams. We’ll pull out a win soon. I even think we’ll pull out a win against either the Bills or the Patsies for our “feel good” game. Phins Up my friends!