Unlike others here, I thought Sanchez was mediocre, but since that's not the OP's question... The OL. Much better overall. Slauson didn't do much, but Hunter and Moore both definetely played better. Mangold showed no signs of his recent injury and more or less returned to form (I know he was taken out late, but as Ryan said that was just a "normal precaution). Ferguson was not perfect, but very good. Revis. I would hardly call it a performance showing improvement, but it's still nice to see that he can crank out a great game even when he is challenged. Best player on the team. Some of the bench players showing some promise. K Ellis looked good, which is great since I was wondering if he was being hidden because the coaches think he sucks in practice. Maybin is a contributor in the pass rush, but Ryan said more or less in the post game that he needs to learn the D. McKnight and Kerley didn't do anything spectacular, but their both beginning to show they contribute is a good sign. I'll also say a somewhat good word about Ryan for a change so far this year. A loss here could have been catastrophic. He had dissension to deal with last week, and a news media and let's face it fandom that was questioning him a lot. He's still got a lot to fix, but he got it done this week, so I think we need to add Ryan to this list.
The 2nd & 13 pass to Keller on the 1st scoring drive. Up until that point you could tell Sanchez was jittery & rushing all of his throws. On that play, he actually held the ball for a while, & Keller eventually got open. That was the play that Sanchez woke up & realized that the Dolphins pass rush couldn't touch him. Before that it seemed he was still shell shocked from the the last few games. Hopefully that carries over.
The Dolphins really showed no pass rush at all last night. El Guappo finally converted on 3rd down with 5:30 remaining IN THE FIRST HALF! After that, he exhibited more confidence and got a string of 1st downs going. Let's hope the O-line can give him that kind of protection throughout the rest of the season because it's painfully obvious he's still a QB who's going to need time back there if you want 3rd down conversions. It also helped that Greene and LT seemed to get into a rythm finally. The Chargers and Patriots will be the test if this is sustainable.
Rushing defense is a concern once again 25 rush attempts for 118 yards 4.7 avg....that is terrible once again
1. McKnight is a playmaker, but he did make some bonehead mistakes that we can ill afford against good competition. (Ie Fumble, nearly muffed punt) 2. Maybin brings a different dimension to our defense. It looked like Thomas was going to go for 20 yards and out of no where Maybin chases down the play. Man if only he could bulk up and play better against the run. SPEED is something we need at LB. 3. Ellis played really well for his first game, even when he didnt initially get a push on the line, he never stopped moving and ended up making some nice tackles. -The one on 2nd and Goal on our 2 yard line was impressive!! I think he will continue to get better. 4. Green played well. He needs to get the ball more, due to his running style later in the game players shy away from his contact. Blocking at the second level needs to be better, but if greene can keep the D honest, than we get our playaction going, which IMO Sanchez is one of the better PA passers in the league. All in all solid game, would have liked to see them start a little faster, but hey a win is a win....is a win.
They did a bad job on the 36 yard Bush run early in Q1, but other than that the Dolphins averaged 3.4ypc, which is pretty well shut down, in my book.
W. Hunter did a great job on C. Wake. C. Pace with 2 sacks, hopefully more to come. Running game came around by the second half. D. Harris de-cleating Moore. OL gave lots of time (whatever happened to Miami's "quality D")? Joe McKnight has lots of skill but he needs to hold onto ball (1 fumble, another all- most fumble). Even though he gave up some catches, Revis played really well, vs. a high quality receiver.
Calvin Pace and Kyle Wilson had great games. Pace with the 2 sacks and made some nice tackles while making no bad plays. Wilson had great coverage in the slot then filled in for Cro very well at the end of the game.
I didn't find anything promising about the win, just like I don't look back at the Jaguars game as indicative of anything to be excited about. the offense looked mediocre against a bad defense just like Jaconsonville, and the defense playing well against an 0-5 team doesn't get me excited when they have looked awful against two teams with winning records. play better against San Diego and I will see it as promising.
Okay, but give the Mangold absence some credence and the fact that the O-line is getting back into a rhythm. Defense had to contend with Reggie Bush and Marshall all night long, which isn't an easy task, and I'm going to tell you that Matt Moore is the real deal. In fact, for a moment or two, I actually found myself thinking Matt Moore might be the Miami version of the second coming of Tom Brady off of the Pats Drew Bledsoe injury. The kid is fearless and wings the ball wherever he thinks it's a possible catch. And they basically had almost nothing to lose last night, which shouldn't be discounted. He was there to fucking win it or lose it, but he was there to throw it regardless. So yeah, while San Diego and the Pats are the true test, for now, we should take this win as a positive. This game was no push-over, IMO.
Waa Waaa Waaaa. I agree that the team needs to step it up against those high level teams, but they needed this win really badly. I hope we can build on the momentum we created in the second half and come out strong Sunday afternoon.
I'm embarassed so many respected posters here think it was a good win. Between Sparano's brain dead decisions and the clear lack of an effort, a pass rush barely even attempted at all. Marshall ran out of bounds rather than score when he had his man beat! Have you ever fucking seen that? We should have fucking put a 50 point beatdown on them by the third quarter. Somebody else said it. Our retards played better than their retards. The Chargers will be a real test. I had ten different people today bust my fucking balls on how pathetic we looked.
Game after game after game Sanchez has had about .2 seconds to throw the ball before getting laid out... so turned into a turtle hiding in his shell (and who can blame him!?). Last night he actually had some time to think and throw. He'll need a little time to trust in the o-line again and last night was the beginning of that.
needing the win badly doesn't equate to whether the performance was promising because it doesn't project to an ability to play at that level against good teams. prior to the three game losing streak we destroyed Jacksonville, and then lost to three in a row to winning teams. yes, it was a promising win if all you are interested in is how good we are against winless teams. just as the Jacksonville win was promising in that it reflects how well the team can play against 1 win teams. I have higher expectations for this team. but this game in no way reveals how well we can play against good teams, so there is nothing to project from it onto any other game and thus there was nothing promising about it. promising means to show development, and there is no way you can judge whether this team has developed by beating a winless team. the ridiculous "but we really needed this game" excuse is actually the only whining in our two posts.
i was thinking the same thing - he droped an easy pass for a 3rd conversion the other week, but he had some good blocking in the 2nd half for the run game... we need that ...
While we seemed 'desperate' for the win, my crystal ball says we should have laid down for this game to keep Luck out of the ACFE for the next 10 fucking years. Brady would gave driven to JetLife stadium and given Rex a foot massage. Someone bump this post 5 years from now.
