I will not be writing any post game reports that detail the Miami Dolphins games on game day. I will always wait until the following day so that my judgment is not clouded by my insane desire to throw a brick threw my TV.
So, it is Monday morning and I am still stewing about the loss, but here is the game review anyways.
QB: Trent Green gets a high B for his performance yesterday. One errant throw at the end of the game could have been disastrous had Fred Smoot not dropped the ball. That was a poor decision that luckily cost the team nothing. The grounding penalty that he was given is still bogus to me, Green was not being rushed, had plenty of time and threw the ball to where he thought a receiver would be. The receiver was tied up off the tackle.
All in all for Green, it was a decent preview of a guy that can still play his game. He was methodical and moved in the pocket well enough to allow his WRs to make separation, which it did not appear they did well. Green was 24 of 38 for about 281 yards and a touch. Of the 14 missed passes, one was a long sideline shot to Chambers that missed by about 2 feet, one was the aforementioned grounding call, and one was the horrible throw to Smoot. That leaves 11 passes. At least 6 passes were dropped when the balls hit their target in the numbers, leaving 5 incomplete. Not a bad day for a guy who is 37.
WRs – Overall grade of a D. Chris Chambers still has an issue with dropping passes and there were 2 instances yesterday that he dropped passes that would have been easy 1st downs. Booker had the same problem yesterday as well, hearing the footsteps of an approaching defender. He dropped his first down ball before he got hit. Same can be said for David Martin who honestly looked more like Randy McMichael out there…at least his a lot cheaper.
Only a couple of plays with the receivers stand out and both belong to Chambers. The 2nd sideline catch behind Carlos Rogers was a nice touch pass and perfect example of catching the ball over your inside shoulder. The 2nd was the pass interference that was called on Chambers at the Skins 8 yard line. Chambers did not have him beat but used his body well enough to force Rogers to take a hold of him.
To sum up their play overall, both Booker and Chambers need to step it up and this yearly drop habit of Chambers is getting tiresome. He had 6 receptions for 96 yards which are fine, but those are not the numbers that anyone will be looking at. Of the TEs, only Justin Peelle showed why he should be on that field compared to Martin yesterday.
RB’s: Grade C. It is hard to solidly gauge what they can do considering that there was next to nothing in terms of blocking. A lot of questions will be coming in the direction of Cam Cameron over the use of Jesse Chatman more than Ronnie Brown. Both caught 6 balls for good yardage, both over 40. However, it was the running game that was non-existent. The Redskins showed how to brilliantly use a mix of runners to do the job and when the game was on the line in OT, Portis was fresh.
Cameron needs to learn how to use his two backs if that is what he is envisioning for this team. Brown is the type of runner that gets better with reps. The only thing that yesterdays game did, was add more fuel to the fire concerning the future of Ronnie Brown and his status of a “Bust” to some fans. Which in my opinion is completely unwarranted. Both RBs were productive in the passing game and made critical 1st downs. It was still the running attack that makes this unit questionable.
Oline: Grade – D. In pass protection they would likely get a B as Green did not see a lot of pressure for most of the game, the problem in the passing game was the separation of the WRs. No, the offensive line gets their grade for the horrendous job they did in the running game. When Miami lined up and ran the ball, neither RB was able to get to the line of scrimmage without feeling someone on them behind the line. When they did get to the line, the holes were non-existent.
Vernon Carey started off horrible, a false start, a hold, gave up a sack. But he did settle down, unfortunately not enough to improve the run blocking. This is the same line that we have had for the last 3 years and it is not good. I believe in the talents and the ability of Hudson Houck, however, without any real talent, you can’t mold a solid line.
The Dolphins have not addressed the Oline to any real degree since Vernon Carey was drafted. They have taken some later round picks with question marks in hopes that they would stick. Samson Satele was drafted in the 2nd this year and he could easily turn out to be a star in this league. His play yesterday was average as like the rest of the line, you play as a unit and you fail or succeed as a unit. Yesterday, they failed.
THE DEFENSE:
Secondary: Grade – C. Had it not been for two coverage mishaps by Travis Daniels, the Redskins would not have won the game. Daniels allowed Antwaan Randal-El to get behind him on two deep balls and although the coverage was o.k., the fact that on both of the plays Daniels failed to look back for the ball was a problem. Daniels has to play better than that as El is not the best receiver he will face this year. El looked like a stud out there yesterday who played beyond all expectations. Daniels to his credit did have an INT and the secondary as a hole had 2. All of last year they had 5. So that is an improvement.
Will Allen did o.k. as his receiver really was non-existent for the game. However, a coverage breakdown late in the game left Moss wide open, and Jason Campbell overthrew the ball by a mile. Allen needs to be on the same page with his safeties. This is the 2nd year that they have been playing this and those lapses should not be present at critical times.
The Safeties did a decent job although one of them should have been rolling up with Daniels to give him assistance. Bell for the most part was nowhere to be seen. Hill had some nice tackles and a pick. Still, it seemed they were primarily concerned with stopping the run, as it seemed late in the game, no one else could.
LBs: Grade – C. Zach, Channing, and Porter. Crowder did an excellent job most of the day yesterday, as I thought they would, the Skins spent more time testing that side of the line, the left, than challenging Porter on his side. Two time I can recall going after Porter and both were stops for a loss. Porter spent much of the day in drop back coverage and did go after the QB as much as we the fan would have liked. Because of this it is hard to really grade out Porter as I can not recall him breaking down in coverage or allowing anything to his side. I will of course need to watch it back and if anyone saw differently then let me know. He may not have made an impact with his body, but it seems that if they go the other way, then he is doing his job.
Thomas was his typical brilliant high-energy self. However, it was a critical breakdown in his coverage assignment that led to the OT field goal. On the 3rd and 7 play that Skins TE Chris Cooley caught a 1st down pass on, Thomas was clearly out of position. Thomas bit to the outside where the slant receiver was being covered, had he checked off the TE, he would have disrupted the route and likely plastered Cooley on the spot. Instead, he was over committed and could not recover. Cooley got the first down and the Redskins would win the game a short time later.
That is hardly the reason why we lost this game. Still, mental breakdowns are going to happen by everyone, they are expected, you just hope that they don’t happen at crucial times.
DE/DL: Grade F. Harsh? Absolutely. True? Probably pretty close. The Dolphins defensive line and DE’s are supposed to be the stellar guys on the field. They are the ones who we have had no problems with. Yesterday, they looked worn out, unconditioned, and out of shape. Blame the coach, blame the players, blame anyone you personally want. To me, these guys are veterans who have battled the south Florida sun for years and yesterday they got worn out.
Pass rushing was almost non-existent. In the past, you would see swarms of aqua jerseys around the ball carrier, not yesterday. The Skins lose a starting Olineman and replace him with a rookie, and yet Miami still could not get pressure on an inexperienced QB. Campbell had a load of time to throw the ball much of the day and that is a credit to our
“weak” secondary that more big plays were not given up.
When the game was on the line, the defensive front broke down and the game was lost. You can not blame the QB for this one. It is a group effort and as a group the Dolphins failed. The Miami defense was a far cry from the top 5 they had last year. Next week they are not facing a mediocre Redskins team, they are facing the Cowboys, and the Cowboys are a good football team. The front line of the Phins D’ needs to get it together and find out what is inside of them. Cam Cameron and Dom Capers need to figure out if Keith Traylor is worth the money they are paying him. He doesn’t play much these days and when he did yesterday, he didn’t stop Clinton Portis. Or Ladell Betts. Or Stellars. He didn’t stop anything….then again, none of them really did.
League defensive MVP Jason Taylor got his first sack of the year, but that was about the only time you heard him mentioned outside of the hail-mary at the end of the first half. Taylor needed to get into that QB and although there were times that he did, the defense failed to come up with enough schemes to put Taylor in position to make plays.
Special Teams: Grade B. This would be lower had it not been for a few nice kicks by Fields,although he did have one shanked bad and another that luckily took a Miami roll. Feely who is not known for touchbacks had 3 into the end-zone yesterday, one was brought out.
Ted Ginn did a great job of dancing, but not enough upfield running on punt returns. On one KO return he managed to get the ball out to the 50, late in the game Miami needed that. Otherwise, Ginn needs to stop thinking and start running. He hardly resembled someone who was selected with the 9th overall pick, a fact that has grown tiresome and boring, but one that will never likely go away.
Head Coach: Grade C-. For his play calling, he gets a B. For his use of the RBs’ he gets a D, for his clock management he gets an F. This was Camerons’ first real game as a pro-football HC and his lack of experience showed.
On the offense, his play calling was a nice change and mix of run and pass and play actions, however, he used Jesse Chatham too much when the game was on the line, especially after Jesse gave the ball up in the first quarter. Ronnie Brown was a non-factor in the game as he just didn’t play as much as he needs to, in order to get it going. Cameron needs to spend this week working with the WRs’ and their pass catching ability. I am sure that the rumors of Chambers being traded are not going to die with yesterdays outing.
The clock management was a joke and it is here that Cameron fails. End of the first half, Phins in the red-zone, take a time out. You have some use them. Instead, the Phins don’t and the game ends with a 3rd and goal with 4 seconds left. Had he utilized his time outs properly, or even at all, it could have been 3rd and goal with 10 or 15 seconds left and then that play would not have been as critical. For Cameron they got lucky that Green and Peelle could hook up for the Touchdown. However, Cameron looks like a genius for going for it and making it, he looks like an absurd fool if they didn’t.
Overall: Grade C-. This was a poor performance on many levels. Still, we took a team playing on opening day in their house with a loud rocking stadium into over time. For as many negatives as there were yesterday, there were some positives and those positives give a little hope that all is not lost. The Phins have the 8th toughest schedule in the league this year and it gets no easier next week when we play Dallas. Or the following week against the Jets. This is a team that needs to do some drills this week and get on the same page, especially the WRs.
More importantly, there are two sides of the ball that need to get it together by next week. The offensive line and the defensive line. Both will be tested quite often by the Cowboys.
For now the Dolphins start the year off 0-1.