Rewatching the dolphins game: Defense

[BobDigital]

This will go into a lot of detail.

Defensive thoughts - Overall my thoughts after this game is the dolphins failed miserably to exploit what was a good match up for them all game. This is the down field passing vs our CBs with their WRs.

Dolphins 1st series - The dolphins didn't get much going on the ground. Lamar had an 8 yard run to start the game and that is his highlight of the night. Short pass vs Hightower - 1 yard. Run to the right for a penalty which would have been a loss if not for the hold. Instead now being 3rd and 11 they decide to pass down field and Ryan is beaten By Matthews for a 1st. Miller runs for no gain. False start brings up 2nd and 15. Now in long distance they are forced to pass again. They do for a first down and are near mid field. Next 3 plays QB run -1 , Miller +3, Screen pass read and failed; sack.

2nd Series - Pass across the middle batted down by Hightower. Screen pass read for a loss. Safety. Again the plays all made by the front 7. The pass hightower knocked down would have been for a first if caught. The CB was close to the play but the Miami WR had a step. A good on target pass would have made it.

3rd series - Run no gain, short pass over the middle. Dropped. 3rd down pressure causes an incompletion.

4th series - short pass taken for 10. Run no gain, Short pass to Grey dropped (Worth a note, Ryan looked down field first but the secondary held well here), Would have only been a 3-4 yard gain likely anyway. 3 man rush drop 8 and Jones beats the double team for a sack.

5th series - 1st pass intercepted by Ryan. This was good coverage by the whole D and not much pressure. Simply a bad choice and even worse throw.

6th series - Short pass to Miller behind the line and a shoe string tackle. Run and a fall. Would have been no gain anyway. Deep pass into double coverage for Cameron is knocked away. 3 man rush on a 3rd and 13.

7th series - no time left junk series and a missed long FG.

8th series (open of 2nd half) Now this is an interesting drive. First play hand off fake and a pass for 15 yards. Hand off fake and pass to Miller for 8... Front 7 failed to pick Miller up out of the backfield. A rare breakdown for them this game. Miller run for 4 (first down). Deep to Stills and Coleman knocked it out. Upon further review Stills was at fault. He had the ball but kept it up and looked up field as opposed to holding it in and protecting it. He left the ball extended away from his body. Just dumb. Blitz pick up and down the field for Stills for 25. Hightower almost knocked tha ball out before the throw but a 1/10th of a second too late. Roll out and pass to Cameron for 28. Just a high point throw and Cameron comes down with it. 2 yard run to Miller for the TD.

This is the only drive in the game in which Miami attacked us deep down the field all drive and only used the run for short yardage situations.

More to come.

 

[BobDigital]

9th series - Short pass to Miller 4 yards. False start on Dolphins O. fake the handoff and Landry for about 15. Matthews on the outside for 7. Draw play for 2. run for a loss.

This drive was interesting to me. After what they did last drive they passed early and again had success. A lot of the passing was to the outside and aimed at our CBs as oppose to LBs. And then running on 2 plays ends the drive. It seemed like they figured out a way to attack successfully and then abandoned it.

10th series - Pass to Miller for 3 (DBs read it well and McCourty played up to help Butler. Pass down the field but it just sailed and was picked by Harmon. It was a good play by our DB unit but considering this was a pass Ryan was not under pressure for it was a very bad play.

11th series - After a big run back... Sack, sack, dump off for nothing. Great defensive series by the front 7.

There are a few other drives but honestly I don't wanna talk about them.

Generally my thoughts are this. When Ryan went down the field and attacked our CBs he generally had success. His only bad players were drops by his WRs or bad passes by him. Rarely did our CBs or Safeties make plays down the field to stop their WRs. I am just very surprised by the game plan the Dolphins came in with. It was almost like they were scared to attack our secondary but happy to pick on our weak front 7. Which is so backwards. I am left to wonder how much different this game would have been if the plan was to pass down field and attack our CBs all game. When they did it generally it worked and this game showed even though the D played well overall I doubt we will get such cooperative opponents in the future.

 

[patsfaninpa]

Some of our sacks/pressures were because he was looking downfield. You can't toss those plays aside and say it was only done on 1 drive. Once their LT went out and they couldn't run the ball, it wasn't feasible for their qb to hold on to the ball too long

 

[kudzif]

BobDigital nothing you said surprised me. Our front is good and can get better but our secondary is poor and can be exploited : the good thing is we are really not going to face any good qb's this regular season. The only worry should be in the post season against Cinci or Steelers offenses.

 

[PatriotsPimp136]

BobDigital nothing you said surprised me. Our front is good and can get better but our secondary is poor and can be exploited : the good thing is we are really not going to face any good qb's this regular season. The only worry should be in the post season against Cinci or Steelers offenses.

That's why they should try and acquire a corner through trade

 

[JMC00]

Oh give me a break. You're basing this whole thing on Tannenhill completing a few passes downfield and you having the opinion that he could have completed more if the choose to.

His only bad players were drops by his WRs or bad passes by him.

Well this is wrong.

Rarely did our CBs or Safeties make plays down the field to stop their WRs.

As is this.

 

[VectorPrime]

This is why I would still be thrilled at acquiring a corner.

 

[Zuma]

Rarely did our CBs or Safeties make plays down the field to stop their WRs. I am just very surprised by the game plan the Dolphins came in with. It was almost like they were scared to attack our secondary but happy to pick on our weak front 7. Which is so backwards. I am left to wonder how much different this game would have been if the plan was to pass down field and attack our CBs all game. When they did it generally it worked and this game showed even though the D played well overall I doubt we will get such cooperative opponents in the future.

Yep. Good stuff Bob.

 

[VrabelJr]

All I got from this was that our defense sucks if you subtract all the good parts of our defense and the other team's offense makes the ideal play every down.

 

[everlong]

So the two picks were bad decisions by the QB and the secondary gets no credit even though Logan Ryan ran the route for the WR and Harmon made a catch that's on Sports Center if a top WR makes it.

The fact is the game plan was don't let them run, don't let them throw short especially screens. When that's the case you're going to give up some deep stuff. Just like when you're facing a team that likes to go deep and you take it away you'll give up with the underneath stuff.

 

[ausbacker]

Oh give me a break. You're basing this whole thing on Tannenhill completing a few passes downfield and you having the opinion that he could have completed more if the choose to.


Well this is wrong.



As is this.

I'm with you @JMC00, I completely disagree with @BobDigital's Tannehill assertion. Sure, the Dolphins receivers dropped some passes but the Pats D played well. In fact, they played very well.

 

[patfanken]

I appreciate the effort Bob, but your agenda is crystal clear. Everything good on defense comes from the front seven and everything bad from the secondary. So when you describe a completion it is the CB who was beat, and when it is an incompletion, it was always a mistake by the offensive player.

Bob you have been making this accusation now for 7 weeks now. We get it. The secondary sucks and needs to be improved. Eventually you have to get over the fact Revis couldn't have been signed. You have to understand that the OTHER side gets paid as well, and virtually all the rules are in their favor. Passes WILL be completed. In fact close to 60% of them will be completed on average, even against the BEST secondaries. You would seem to have us believe that all of them should be blamed on the DB's. You can see how ridiculous this sounds.

You would be better served to think of the defense as a whole instead of 2 separate entities. You would be better served to live with the fact that there will be a lot of completions that are NOT the direct blame of any DB. They are also the result of a good scheme, good routes, perfect throws, and great catches.

I'm not saying that this secondary is great. But it doesn't have to be. Like the OL it just has to be "good enough". It has to make plays, which it has. It has to play solidly, which it has. It has to keep improving as the season goes on. It has, and that is the most important factor.

It is well to remember that perhaps the worst Patriots secondary in it's history was the 2011 group. A group that was part of the 2nd worst defense in NFL history as far as total yds.go. But it continued to improve as the season went on. Yet by the time the playoffs came around they were in the top half of all the playoff teams in most defensive stats, and allowed less than 20 points in the superbowl loss.

This defense is worlds better both in the front 7 and in the secondary. It isn't perfect but it is "good enough" for right now. But that being said, it would be good have an additional CB, but only after the OL issues are addressed. And thanks again for effort.

 

[I.M. Fletcher]

fact of the matter, the two best QBs we have faced this year have been Tyrod Lewis and Big Ben in week one. I think our secondary has had some really strong moments, but its hard to separate their strength from the weakness of opponents.

The good/bad news, the best QBs in the second half of the season are Eli Manning and Tyrod Lewis for round two. So, we may not actually get a true test until the playoffs, at which point you hope they keep improving as they have.

 

[Angelpats]

I'm with you @JMC00, I completely disagree with @BobDigital's Tannehill assertion. Sure, the Dolphins receivers dropped some passes but the Pats D played well. In fact, they played very well.

I agree with both of you. Defense played well and secondary even two picks. Yeah the Dolphins receivers dropped some passes but at least they were given an opportunity to catch it unlike the muggings that were happening to ours. We even dropped some too and imagine if Brady was on point with all his throws. The game plan was to make them throw it deep and it worked great. We only gave up 7 points so it can't be all dropped passes and bad throws.

 

[BobDigital]

So the two picks were bad decisions by the QB and the secondary gets no credit even though Logan Ryan ran the route for the WR and Harmon made a catch that's on Sports Center if a top WR makes it.

The fact is the game plan was don't let them run, don't let them throw short especially screens. When that's the case you're going to give up some deep stuff. Just like when you're facing a team that likes to go deep and you take it away you'll give up with the underneath stuff.

I mentioned at times the DBs did well. In fact I mentioned on the first interception it was good coverage by all members of the D. I am simply saying Ryan should have thrown that one away.

The second pick also had good coverage and should have been a throw away. That was a bad pass that sailed when i think he was trying to fit it in to a tight window.

Both interceptions involved good coverage. I simply don't grade all interceptions equally. Some are lucky tips (like the Colts got against us). Some are great plays. Harmon's int to me was the more difficult play to be made than Logan Ryan's. Though Ryan covered well it was thrown as if right to him and he did not need to make a play on the ball. For Harmon's it was of higher difficulty and more impressive to me.

 

[50-yard-line]

This thread is a perfect example of someone who has dug in his heels and will not get out of the mud no matter what...

We played a team that put up 82 points in the last 2 games. They got 7.

 

[BobDigital]

All I got from this was that our defense sucks if you subtract all the good parts of our defense and the other team's offense makes the ideal play every down.

You misunderstood my post then I think. Yes, I highly question the Dolphins game plan. They ran smack right into the best part of our D which is the front 7 and tested it all game. In fact they almost never made a play in meaningful time vs our front 7. I was just very surprised looking at the play selection they chose. They concentrated on the thing that did not work for them all game and actively tried to stay away from the thing that worked a fair amount of the time.

 

[BobDigital]

This thread is a perfect example of someone who has dug in his heels and will not get out of the mud no matter what...

We played a team that put up 82 points in the last 2 games. They got 7.

I am simply stating the facts of how each play went down. I think our D played well but I also feel this was a horribly coached game by Miami when looking at the play calling. I think our front 7 had a pretty amazing game actually.

 

[50-yard-line]

I am simply stating the facts of how each play went down. I think our D played well but I also feel this was a horribly coached game by Miami when looking at the play calling. I think our front 7 had a pretty amazing game actually.

And if Miami had sold out the run and short pass, Tannehill would be dead on the field in Gillette.

 

[BobDigital]

And if Miami had sold out the run and short pass, Tannehill would be dead on the field in Gillette.

IMO Miami should have only ran in obvious short yardage situations (provided the line is not stacked). Passes behind the LOS often didn't work very well particular for Miller but there were a few occasions they worked out okay.

Where they had success generally were outside short passes to WRs and passes between 10-15 yards down the field to the outside area. These were their best plays and usually they were able to get them off pretty well. It also must be pointed out that plays like these where the ones they had their interceptions on. However considering it was the only way they successfully moved the ball on the Patriots for any sustained time they should have stuck with it cause nothing else worked for them all game. This would have probably lead to more interceptions but also perhaps more points.

Also I would ask you to keep in mind Landry is pretty damn good and Matthews is no slotch so it is not like the time our CBs got beat they were being beat but no names. It is probably one of the better 1-2 tandems we will face this year.