Yeah, well they look like complete garbage today. 4 turnovers. Just going to assume it was one of those games. All things considered the defense looks pretty good.


Somebody needs to glue Fasano's hands together if he falls asleep on the way home. Idiot.

uh oh. Not liking what I saw.

And again, I hope I'm not knee jerking here, but Chad Pennington and his constant dumping down is starting to wear thin. The most exciting play of the game for me was when Pat White launched that bomb, even if it was 7 yards too long.

When you have 45 minutes of possession and run for 200+ yards and lose, you have to almost be trying to lose. Our secondary is a joke. Gibril Wilson is a gigantic bust. He cant cover or tackle apparently. Our play calling is bad when it counts. How many times can you run on 3rd and 6+ in Colts territory? You do not beat Manning by kicking field goals. Find your balls Sparano, please. You play to win the game.

How much more obvious can we make our blitz packages. Hint: If you put 7 guys on the line of scrimmage, a good QB like Manning will recognize the blitz and adjust. Our lack of interest in disguising our blitzes is mystifying.

Our two minute drill needs work. How do you run the ball twice to start a two minute drill? Who is calling these ****ing plays? It is not like Miami has quick strike capabilities. You need to save time. 3mins and 18secs is more than enough time to get down the field especially with a timeout. The way they wasted time was a disgrace. How do you let 40 seconds run off the clock and then call timeout. How? Just pathetic.

Other thoughts:

Ted Ginn had the worst 100 yard receiving day in the history of the NFL. Two enormous drops in the end zone. Hey, I am glad he can catch a 8 yard button hook.....but when you draft a deep threat with the 9th pick it would be nice if he could give you anything at all down the field. If you want to be a #1 WR, you need to make those catches. Ginn is a total bust in terms of what we drafted him for (to make big plays). He also gives us nothing after the catch. He either falls down or runs like a girl to the sideline. I hate him.

Why do we have two safeties who are good against the run and lousy against the pass? Wilson and Bell are both good run stoppers. Neither can cover. You need to have one of each. It is not a coincidence that we keep getting shredded by good tight ends. Oh and we play San Diego and Antonio Gates next week? Fantastic.

It would help if Pennington could actually, like, throw the ball down the field.

That game was pretty awesome/hilarious.

I am perfectly aware that Pennington has a noodle arm but he hit Ginn on the hands twice on 30 yard plus passes in the endzone and he dropped both.

He cant throw it more than 50 yards I bet but he made the perfect throw down the field twice to Ginn and they were both dropped. Fasano dropped a TD pass of reasonable length too.

It is fun to mock Pennington's arm (I did it a lot when he was a Jet) but he played outstanding last night and it would be great if one of his receivers or tight ends could make a ****ing play.

I'm definitely more of a fan of Pennington than Ginn, but it just seems to me that he would have a better chance of being a legit deep threat if his QB could throw NFL deep. I could throw 30 yards downfield in middle school. Of course, I am a super awesome stud athlete. Of course. Anyway, I pretty much agree with you, just picking nits.

This is such a homer analysis IMO.

Ted Ginn had a very solid game, I think like 5 of his first 6 catches were for 1st downs, pretty much all in 3rd down situations. He dropped a HUGE TD and a second one earlier on, yes. But "worst 100 yard receiving game" is such a horrid statement. "Play calling bad when it counts" is kind of questionable too. I give that staff a reprieve with how amazingly they controlled the game. You need to realize that those 3rd and 6 run calls were on the colt 31 yard line....which is a big grey zone for your kicker. 4 yards there is huge for the FG. FG's don't usually beat the colts....but the coaching staff played this game perfect, sans those last 2 minutes (which even then everyone would be gushing over if ginn catches that pass). I'd be pissed with the loss if i cared about the dolphins (was gonna bet them +3.5/+3 all week, and decided no at the last minute ), but the whole gripe here is big WR dropped passes and defense getting owned by the best QB in the league at owning young players.
I think your rant is way overdone w/ respect to the team in general/playcalling/etc.

I am sure there is a lot of "homer" bias creeping in. Yes, they had a gameplan. Yes, they executed it very well for the most part. But that does not mean you settle for field goals. Especially when you are having so much success throwing on third down (14 for 19 right?). If Pennington is playing so well, why settle for 40 yard plus FGs? I think that is inherently bad football strategy.

As for Ginn, I stand by my analysis. You talk about how solid he was and how many third downs he picked up and then kind of gloss over TWO DROPPED TDs. I believe two dropped TDs invalidates 11 catches for a paltry 9.5 yards per catch average. I am sure some will disagree. I think Ginn proved it is possible to have a 100 yard receiving day and still have a bad game.....hence, the worst 100 yard receiving day ever. Maybe some guy once had 101 yards receiving with two lost fumbles and three big drops. Then he could take that title instead.

Peter King summarizes beautifully what I was talking about:

But even a plan this intelligently neo-conservative needs some guts, and Henning's ultra-safe call with 4:33 left in a 20-20 game was just plain wrong. Miami had the ball at Indy's 30. Third-and-six. Be Henning for a second. Think.

• If the Dolphins convert here, they get to cut more time off the clock, and maybe the Colts have to start using their three timeouts, and maybe Peyton Manning gets the ball back with less than two minutes left, needing a field goal or touchdown to tie or win. Or, if the Dolphins can get two more first downs before kicking a field goal or scoring a touchdown, the clock could bleed down to zero and Miami will have won without letting Manning have another possession.

• Think of the previous third-and-five-yards-or-longer snaps for the Dolphins. In inverse order, here are the five in the second half that preceded this playcall: Third-and-seven, 21-yard pass to Ted Ginn; first down. Third-and-five, 15-yard pass to Ginn; first down. Third-and-six, seven-yard pass to Ginn; first down. Third-and-seven, incomplete pass to Ronnie Brown. Third-and-five, 10-yard pass to Ginn; first down. All five were passes. Pennington completed four of them, all first-down conversions.

• If Pennington throws an incompletion, kicker Dan Carpenter has a 48-yard field-goal attempt. Carpenter's a second-year kicker; his career-long is 50, and so far on the evening, he's hit 45- and 44-yard kicks and missed wide-right on a 49-yarder. Running but not converting the third down could make it a slightly shorter kick.

Henning called for a run by Brown behind the left side of the line, behind guard Justin Smiley and franchise tackle Jake Long. But the play gained only three yards. Miami settled for a Carpenter field goal from 45 yards out to take a 23-20 lead with 3:55 to play.

An eternity for Manning.

It took Manning 32 seconds to go 80 yards, thanks to the 48-yard catch-and-run by Pierre Garcon, the replacement for Anthony Gonzalez. That made it 27-23, and the Dolphins couldn't score in the last 3:18, so that was the final.

Just as I have to believe Erhardt would have let Jeff Hostetler try to hit Ottis Anderson in the flat or Mark Ingram on a short curl in a similar situation 19 years ago, I have to think Henning is kicking himself today. He has to be. You have one of the play-it-safest quarterbacks in recent times behind center, and you don't choose to put the ball in his hands. Instead, you choose to put the ball in Manning's hands, with enough time for him to score three times. A big, big mistake.

A year ago, Miami started 0-2 but rebounded to win 11 of its last 14 and win the AFC East. The difference between then and now: The Dolphins had the Wildcat to unveil, and used it to help whip the Patriots and Chargers in the next two games. What element of surprise does this team have now? A year ago, Miami had the soft midsection of a schedule (Buffalo, Denver, Seattle, Oakland) to run off a winning streak. Now, in the next six games, it has: at San Diego, Buffalo, Jets, Saints, at Jets, at New England. Can the Dolphins go 4-2 against that slate to right the ship and get in playoff contention? I'm thinking no.

Yep, and I'll gladly admit that I'm biased.

Also, I've been out of the country for a while so I haven't been able to keep up with the goings on here.

I really just wanted to offer some support for the "I Hate Ginn" campaign.

I agree-ish cane, and I guess I agree that the call on 3rd and 6 is crazy soft. Im guessing the thought was "3-5 yards his huge for getting some points on the board, and since we've ran 10 yard routes every time all day hooking at the sidelines in this situation, the there should be some room to run in the hashes, plus a sure 40 more seconds comes off the clock regardless by running." You can't game plan for Manning to score in 40 seconds, you just can't.

i dunno. I guess if we were talking bears football in the same context, i would have pretty much the same gripes as you guys do. I still think it was a great game strategy to the end, and if ginn holds one ball there w/ 30 seconds left or whatever, people are pretty much fine with everything that happened in the game and consider it brillance (unless manning scored again in the last 30 seconds, which appears possible with that secondary).

Maybe you can't, but you should definitely try.

If there's anyone in the leauge that can score in a short amount of time, surely it's Peyton Manning. I mean, the dude's a beast at his posistion. He's not just one of the best QBs in the league, he's one of the best ever, and that's saying a lot considering he's still got 5+ years in him.

Apparently Henning's play call was a run-pass option. Pennington made the call based on the defensive personnel Indy had out there. So, in a sense, he did put the ball in his hands.

Anyway, the "gutsy" call isn't to pass there since they've passed on third and 5+ every single time in the second half (as pointed out later in his article); the "gutsy" call is to run. That's the call that goes against the grain. But the real gutsy call is to run it twice. Two plays to pick up 6 yards. That would've been awesome.

I think Cane is right. As far as Ginn goes, we're more upset with Jennings (who covered him) on the Colts side then we are scared of Ginn as a receiver. Our secondary is typically top notch, but this article is general sense of most fellow Colts fans that I know.

" There was a very interesting comment from the Indy Star's PhilB in his post-Monday Night Football live chat with readers:

' Jennings definitely gave more cushion than Powers or Hayden. I guess we have to attribute that to the guy's coverage skills. The Dolphins receivers had little problem running him back at least 5 yards, then making that out cut. I know it's maddening to watch. It reinforces that Jennings is probably nothing more than a fill-in guy, a nickel back when needed if Jackson is ever moved out of that spot. '

After re-reading several comments in the post-game thread, one consistent criticism of Jennings was that he gave too much cushion to the Miami Dolphins WRs, in particular Ted Ginn Jr. Chad Pennington seemed to pick on Jennings a bit, always throwing his way whenever he needed to convert on third down.

Interestingly, Bill Polian discussed the "zone cushion" on his HANK FM radio show Tuesday night [via Colts.com]:

' First of all, you need to understand the construct of our defense, which is that we try to get pressure with our front four. If you get pressure with your front four, then you can drop your linebackers and your corners and safeties into zones, then you can drive on the ball and you can make the kinds of plays necessary – usually a hit that will knock the ball out to prevent those kinds of plays. In our style of defense, which is designed to prevent the big play – which we did a good job of Monday Night, by the way – you’re going to give up some of those depending on the coverage you call.

...

This game was really no different – albeit with more talented players on the opposition side – than the Cleveland game last year. We won that one on a sack/fumble recovery by (defensive end) Robert Mathis in the fourth quarter. We played a cleaner game last year. We had too many penalties Monday Night, and we didn’t to a good job stopping the Wildcat, but the talent level on their offense was better than that of Cleveland. Essentially, it was the same style of game. Our theory was let’s not give up big plays if we can avoid them. '

The issue with Jennings is two fold: One, he isn't that great of a coverage corner. He seems to give big cushions because he is coached not to get beat deep. Second, when he closes on the ball carrier, which is what he is told to do, then he is not doing enough to create turnovers or disrupt the receiver prior to or after the catch. With Jacob Lacey looking better at corner than Jennings, and with the eventual return of Jerraud Powers, Tim Jennings might fall further on the depth chart. "

Me too. I'm here.

I picked the Fins in my football pool this week. Nick Hardwick is out, which is big for the Chargers and so is LDT, but I get the impression the Chargers no longer care if LDT is out. I think we have the ability to beat these teams but we have to play perfect, which is hard in THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE (TM Ron Jaworski, who I'm starting to hate more than broccoli)



also, I am usually not that animated during a game and just roll with whatever happens, but that 3 minute drill almost made me vomit, then drop my phone in the vomit, then throw my vomit covered phone through the television, but it would've slipped out of my hands due to the slippery vomit, hit the dog in the jaw, knock out one of his fangs, then I would have had to take the dog to the doggie dentist and that would've been expensive. So, basically, I'm glad I kept my cool.

3 red zone trips, 6 points.

Ladies and Gentleman, your 2009 Miami Dolphins!!!!

I do not know what is worse.....that we stink and are going to go 4-12 or that Chad Henne has looked so bad. He looks a bit more composed finally late in the 4th quarter but that TAINT he threw was about as bad a throw as an NFL quarterback will ever make.

Well, it looks like we will get a serious look at how Henne can develop over the next few months.

I am disappointed for Pennington but this is probably the best thing for the Dolphins. They will find out what Henne has over the next three months and if he stinks they should have a high pick again to address the need.

Miami has the Dolphins
It hurts to watch them play
They take the ball from goal to...one
Then fumble it away
They cannot block
They cannot catch
They cannot even pass
The best hands on the football team
Is Camarillo's ass
Yes, they're the...Miami Dolphins
Cute, playful Dolphins
A lamer mascot they're cannot be
And now you'll see that
This is what happens
When a team's named after
A smiling mammal of the sea!

-Fake Pavarotti




The "cute, playful Dolphins" part just kills me.

I can't do that, but I can give you this..

That was a fun game to be at. Glad I went. Henne looked ok and the rush offense and pass defense were superb.

The bills suck though. Real bad.

not sure but I hadn't listened to the show in a while and got back to it and remembered why I love it. Great stuff.

Oh yeah, Go Fins. I hope we ass rape the Jets

Timmme to dieeee. Squish the Fish.

Cotchery is questionable.

I like this matchup for Miami. Miami cant cover anyone but the Jets dont throw all that well. Jets dont let anyone throw on them with Revis and the exotic blitzes.....Miami wants to run the ball as much as possible anyway.

Miami 13 --- Jets 10

The good news is that the Dolphins beat the Jets (despite the officials doing everything short of intentionally tripping Dolphins players to help the Jets win. Seriously, has a home team ever gotten hosed so many times on MNF? just ****ing brutal.)

The better news is that with the Pats looking vulnerable.....maybe the Dolphins will hang around the AFC east race a while.

The best news is that Chad Henne looked spectacular. Not one mistake. Great deep ball to Ginn. Two clutch throws to Camarillo late. Never got rattled by the Jets blitz.....only QB to have a good game against them this year. I think we might have a keeper. Looks like a completely different guy than the QB who came in against San Diego.

Sanchez to Braylon was pretty impressive though.

Complaints: The special teams coach should be fired now. Not tomorrow, now. Every kickoff our blocking is so horrendous the return man gets blown up at the 15. Our punt coverage is weak. And two fake punts.....come on. I am not sure that has ever happened before. This game really should not have been so close but for special teams blunders (and bogus, ridiculous penalties).

We still continue to have the worst safety tandem in the league. Every week we get beat deep often. Already crossing my fingers that the Dolphins get Taylor Mays or Eric Berry in the next draft. We need an elite safety in the worst way to help shore up the secondary.

god miami has the best running game in the league

Seems to get better every week. And now they have an arm to take advantage of play action. Henne's numbers out of play action tonight: 7-7 for 140, 2 TD. Awesome. All starts up front. O-line is playing well, and both Ronnie and Ricky are at a high level. O-line is very young too. They could be building a really special (and very retro) offense (still could use a #1 WR....why didnt we try to trade for Braylon? he looks pretty sweet now that he escaped purgatory).

I'd like to see a few weeks of consistently good performances, but I'm definitely encouraged by last night. It's nice to see they're bringing him along slowly (lots of safe passes, check downs, hand offs, wildcat plays, etc.) but I'm glad they're willing to let him take a shot deep. It will take a lot more than one deep touchdown catch to get me on board with Ginn but they definitely have a chance to take advantage of his speed now, so I hope they throw it up for him more often and see what happens.

Overall, I'm very happy with Henne last night. It's only one game, but if they can keep the running game solid and keep easing him out of a game manager role and find a way to make some plays down the field then I like they way our QB situation looks. We REALLY need a consistent playmaker at WR.




It should definitely help with Henne's development, that's for sure. They have a very solid tandem of backs and, fad or not, they execute the wildcat better than any team in the league.


EDIT: And Rex Ryan can suck it.

Miami is a fun team to watch and that's saying a lot for such a run-dominated offense.

"This is what happens when a team's named after.. a smiling mammal of the sea... yeah"

Ahhh, thank you thank you.

I was thinking "teams" not "team's" so I was thinking it had something to do with the opponents.

Stats of the Week No. 10: A total of 29 players handled the ball -- running, passing or receiving -- on offensive snaps in the Jets-Dolphins game Monday.

Calvin Pace on the wildcat:

"I can't respect that stuff because we're in the NFL, man," linebacker Calvin Pace told reporters. "If you're out there running that nonsense, it's crap."

Calvin, remind me again why you didn't play the first four games this season? And you don't "respect" a team because of a formation they run very well? Well, then.

Who?

Was my reaction as well.


Ed Reed said the Wildcat is just a gimmick until a team can throw out of it successfully.


Is there any reason Tebow can't be used in this way? Bring him in for ten snaps a game and I think he would be have some real value there.

Jets LB who was suspended for performance enhancers. I just find it funny that he's bashing the formation after Miami ran it successfully against his team and using the word 'respect' considering he just got done serving a suspension. It might be a gimmick, sure, but they're using it effectively for now. Baltimore shut it down twice last year so Ed Reed has every right to criticize it, but teams who don't stop it shouldn't bitch about it.

That's why Miami drafted Pat White in the second round ( probably a bit of a reach, really), because he's the perfect weapon for the wildcat. It's also a shrewd trade for tyler thigpin, because he should be athletic enough to run the wildcat decently. Miami has a ton of non traditional offensive weapons, it really is a fun team to watch.

I don't think he was criticizing it so much as saying that you can scheme against it, but when a team can throw out of it just enough to keep defenses honest, then it's going to be a beast to stop.

I thought the same thing about Thigpen, I wouldn't be surprised to see him eventually take a few snaps out of it. I agree with the idea of Pat White being a good weapon in it but, still, he needs to be able to actually throw the football.





It would be interesting if they could find an effective way to throw out of it more often, and maybe they'll try to now that they have a better arm at QB. I'm pretty sure Monday's game was the first time they threw from it this season (and that was Ronnie Brown).

Pat White looked really good throwing at the combine.

Pat White overthrew a receiver in the Atlanta game out of the wildfish

Thigpen won't get any reps because of the third string qb/inactive rule but I think they are going to continue to mix it up but also, if Henne continues to look solid, I think they might cool down some of the over the top stuff and let him try and flourish. Alllllthouuughhh, they were getting wacky in the 4th and it was hyper-successful, so we'll see. Either way, it's gonna be a bumpy yet exciting ride.

At this level, they pretty much want you to be able to throw in a game.

Pat White looked awful in the preseason. But he is another intriguing option out of the wildcat. I think Thigpen will end up being the #2 some day.....I thought he was actually not half bad playing for a terrible Chiefs team last year.

Ed Reed is basically right. If you are a great run defense (like Baltimore) the Wildcat is very beatable because you know it's a run 98% of the time. But if there was lots of throwing involved then the wildcat could threaten even a great defense.

Also, as an aside, Baltimore owned the Wildcat last year because their interior D-line just flattened Miami's center/guards. Samson Satele, the Fins center last year, was particularly victimized. So they traded him to Oakland for Jake Grove who has been terrific so far. So, it is possible Miami might have a lot more success against a Ravens level run defense this year.

If Miami can find a way to somehow come out of the next stretch (Saints, @Patriots, @Jets) 2-1, then they might make some noise this year because the schedule gets very easy after that. But it is conceivable they could got 0-3 in that stretch and crater then make a "run" to 7-9. They got a break that both the Panthers and Titans are horrible this year after being great last year.

Them doing the wildcat with 10 seconds left, and no QB on the field was basically a **** you to the jets saying... " hey, guess what we're doing, and what you won't be able to stop, even though you know what we are doing". Very impressive.

I loved that. And it was the right call, Jets D had to be a little gassed. The way they put together so many 7 and 8 minute drives is fantastic. It saps the other team's will.

I loved Channing Crowder's response.

Nice, I was going to post that earlier but I got distracted by work. Channing Crowder talks more shit than any other mediocre football player I've ever seen.