Finally rewatched the A22 Thurs although not from my own GP. **** is getting out of hand. I might have to sign up through the UK to get it. Can't believe it's this hard. If it's gone it'll only hurt the small guys - good guys and further the gap between big/small media.
Also and perhaps most obvious, you really don't know what happening unless you watch the tape. Who's really open, teams are playing Man and Zone on opposite sides. The trench plat. It really isn't close. There's so much you don't see and miss on broadcast. If you're a fan of analysis you should want the A22 openly available to anyone.
I've mentioned several times over the past year that the Dolphins we're somewhat of an enigma. Tough but no real identity. We knew they're trying to be NE South but how were they going to make it happen. We saw a glimpse last week. Game 1, playbook isn't wide open, yet. You're trying to establish a foundation with a young team. It made sense.
Tua could run a master class in RPO's, throws the slant as well as anyone - even though he wasn't peak last week - and was an incredibly efficient in college. Essentially that's how we lost. Slant/flat leveraged off RPO's. Play soft and Tua will eat that up all day. Again it was bread n butter in college and almost unstoppable. So what does Mia do? Assemble Waddle, Parker and Fuller (gone already??) who are tough to press bc of the damage they can do behind you. I bet some of the "calls" were based off simple stuff like press/cushion. If it's there, take it. If not we have options and again the ability to beat you over the top on occasion. We saw a little but of that and Miami will absolutely have to capitalize on that going forward. Teams will eventually press to get up close, limit yac and dictate instead of taking it.
Tua's accuracy dropped dramatically off his 1st read so Miami working around and maximizing what they can on the first with multiple things he's good at. They've been working with Tua with second reads and the Waddle pick only helps. A healthy Waddle and Parker could be a sweet duo. And Fuller would have been a nice WR3 for them.
I wonder if our lack of press had something to do with our best player being out. I suspect it did but wasn't certainly wasn't the sole reason. It brings me back to a convo on here a few days ago about Bill collecting info, what & when he shows you his hand (Sorry I forget the posters involved). It's game one so we're definitely A)collecting info and B)making Tua beat us - actually make it happen and C) seeing what their plan B is
I'll admit the lack of adjustment was a head scratcher but we obviously had faith in our corners to tackle. Something Miami was great at. Very disciplined and fast. That whole defense is on the same page from top to bottom. Run support, pressure designs - everyone is focused, ready and on point with where/what they're supposed to do.
Saw communication issues on defense for us. Although not as bad as a few years ago, instead of guys looking like they never passed off targets before. Guys were running in late, looked a tick slow up getting ready up front. This has been brought up before by others but lots of moving parts between young & older players. It was always going to be a climb with this group, without Gilmore. I'm not concerned or even passing judgement until early Oct but I'm obviously taking notes. It's a new group with old faces, without our best overall player. Potential but work in progress for sure without him.
It'll be interesting how we approach the RPO going forward bc our LB are not built for coverage. It really puts you in a bind and it looks like Bill is having ours play the run as the priority, first and second. The slant is such an advantageous play off it and hard to stop. Saban will tell you all about how hard it is to stop. Again it goes to show how much faith Bill has in his secondary to tackle but eventually he's going to have to make a change imo. Fortunately for him we have guys like Phillips, Dugger who can step up in box to replace or rotate with a LB.
Mac was very good and after a rewatch the biggest thing he did was handle the blitz. Said it last week but he was unbelievable in terms of poise and behavior in the pocket. He looked a little robotic a few times, lack of natural arm strength showed up a few times but he looked very good all-around. Very prepared pre-snap. The video above mentions it, he did leave a few plays on the field for sure but they were few and far between. Sure that's the difference between winning and losing most days but he was the best offensive player we had and made about 5 mistakes his rookie start. You can't get on him, game one, facing Flores. The flags and fumbles lost this game. Going forward, as he gets more comfortable and experienced you'll expect more but he was very good game one.
The OL was a little bit of a mess and Brown going down hurts big time. Biggest thing I noticed was the lack of feel for pressure/stunts. It was everyone across the line. Really no one played well. Onwenu and Shaq gave up multiple loopers off stunts. Flores did a great job at making everyone move, not just a left or right side. He got Andrews involved a lot. Clogged up the middle and attacked the edge. Sent delayed DB's. He sent the house week one. We absolutely have work to do there. Esp if Brown misses extended time. Losing him or Wynn for weeks would be a killer. Communication and chemistry must improve.
This was interesting from Wade ..
“I’m not going to lie: It’s very, very hard. Just going to Baltimore, learning their defense, how they play, how they practice. Coming here it’s totally different atmosphere,” Wade said. “They practice different. They lift different here. The coaches are different here. The system is different here. So it’s just something I have to adjust to and that’s a part of life.”
Wade later explained how the lifting program is different in Foxborough.
“Here we do a lot of legs,” he said. “In Baltimore they do single legs, single arms and stuff like that. Here you do a lot of legs. You bench and things like that, but every day is definitely a leg day here. I see they really want to work on your explosion here. That’s the No. 1 thing.”
play at 43 is 5 over 5/diamond that has given us problems before. Butler does a great job penetrating and taken bodies with him. Looks like Onwenu and Andrews get caught here leaving Wynn to deal with two rushes. Wynn hasn't that bad but this whole OL needs work.
