Wednesday, September 23, 2009

The Negative vs. The Positive (and some Unknown)

NEGATIVE             Gibril Wilson getting burned
UNKNOWN            Can Chris Clemons do a cold-start? 
POSITIVE            Our secondary was awful last year at the start and was turning it around by mid-season.  Wilson wasn't all bad in the game, he made some big hits and good tackles as well.  He just needs to play deeper and drive to the ball harder.


NEGATIVE              Channing Crowder looking sluggish.  
UNKNOWN             Is he injured? overweight? too busy staring at Serena?
POSITIVE              If he IS overweight, a couple of days in San Diego will drop some lbs between the alfalfa strawberry pumpkin seed salad special and the forest-fire-toastiness.


NEGATIVE                The Dolphins like to change up their game-plans and be tricky so it's unlikely they'll play the same smash-mouth run the ball style they did on Monday Night.
UNKNOWN            The Chargers may think that Miami will be spending all week on defensive fundamentals so it would be a good time to pull out their own version of the Wildcat to catch us off guard.
POSITIVE                  It won't gain anymore yards than LT and Sproles would gain on screen passes anyway.

NEGATIVE             The Dolphins are having a WR identity issue.  Fans and media are jumping on Ted Ginn.
UNKNOWN                  This is unknown by the fans and the media so I'll state it.  Ginn is on pace to catch 104 passes for 1,072 yards.  Fan favorite Greg Camarillo is on pace to catch 40 passes for 248 yards.  Anthony Fasano is on pace to catch 24 for 88 yards.  Maybe the fans should lay off Ginn and lay on the other receivers?

POSITIVE                    Ginn will not drop every touchdown pass thrown his way, but will continue to get open in intermediate routes, something we didn't see before this year.  And remember, there's always a chance we can still land Crabtree....

NEGATIVE                The Dolphins are 0-2 to start the season.
UNKNOWN                Pace numbers:  Ronnie Brown, 1432 yds rushing, 16 TDs.  Ricky Williams, 864 yds rushing + 176 receiving = 1,040 yards from scrimmage.
POSITIVE                Almost every successful NFL team has a trifecta, if you will, of players who reach that 1,000 yard plateau.  Between Ronnie, Ricky and Teddy (sounds like a 50's rock band), we have that in the making.  Patrick Cobbs will also cross a thousand thanks to kickoff returns, alone and Davone Bess may do the same combining receiving and punt return yardage.

NEGATIVE             Pat White has not completed a pass or run for a single yard in a half dozen snaps taken.


NEGATIVE               The Dolphins are ranked 27th in Points Scored and Passing Yardage, and 23rd in Passing Yardage Allowed.
UNKNOWN               Will these numbers get worse going up against San Diego, a team that both passes very well and defends against the pass very well...
POSITIVE                The Dolphins are 3rd...that's right, THIRD in the NFL in running the football.  Want to know who we're ranked ahead of?  EVERYONE, except for Dallas and Minnesota.  Minnesota has the best RB in the league and the most run-intensive gameplan, so no surprise there.  But it is a surprise to say that we outrank Baltimore, the Giants, Tennessee, Carolina, Atlanta, etc.
                   


40 comments:

  1. Just an aside, speaking of our secondary last year, my BFF (can guys say that w/out it being/sounding gay?) who lives in Houston but supports Denver said Goodie has looked very good this year.

    Going 0-3 pretty much kills our season according to history (I read only 2 teams ever made the play-offs and neither won a post-season game) so I sure hope we have a good gameplan to attack the Chargers and our D turns up this week to stop them. I really expected better things from our D this year.

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  2. Btw - I like the shirt to the right, but somehow it reminds me a little too much of the saints on a screen - maybe a bit more colour and a tad less black (I know you like your black but it's not a good colour for Ca or Fla?)

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  3. The Saints? There's no gold on there....I tried it with grey but the colors
    'pop' better with the black, and black is my favorite color....lol

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  4. Tins,

    You know Wilson'd back-up is Culver not Clemons right???

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  5. In what bizarro world?

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  6. Negatives--If we lose in SD this season is lost. 

    Positives--If we go 0-3, it will be time to start Henne.  We need to find out what we have at QB for 2010 & I'd like to see if Ginn can be a difference maker with a QB that can throw the deep ball without it looking like a water balloon. 

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  7. a water balloon comes down quickly, it's more like the goodyear blimp...

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  8. UK,

    You are correct.  For all intents & purposes 0-3 would mean we have no chance this year.  Anyone who says differently is delusional.  We're going to play team other teams this year like the Saints that can score a lot of points.  We just don't have the kind of personnel to do that with our WR's & Pennington.  Don't get me wrong I like Pennington but he'd be a great back-up for some team.  We're in need of a QB that can stretch the field.  I can only hope that guy is Henne but if it's not then we're going to have to do what the Jets did in order to get Sanchez.  The only problem is which QB coming out is worth trading up for???  Bradford???  I'm not sold on him.  Tebow???  He's not a pure pocket passer.  I think he's a great athlete but I don't think I'd roll the dice on him.

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  9. Look at the Dolphins depth chart on their website.  Wilson is a FS & so is Culver.  Clemons is a back-up SS.  Tell me I"m wrong???

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  10. Let's face it, the guy throws lobs & with all the rules favoring QB's & offenses we are not going to consistently score a lot of points.  Not having a safety valve @ TE doesn't help but it's still masking the problem.  If we want to be an elite team we're going to need to have an ELITE QB or at least a very good one.  Pennington would make a great back-up.

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  11. WHP - it's not over til the fat lady sings right? But she's warming up. Penne was always a stop-gap in my view - his age and limitations prevent him from being the long term answer. But there are much worse QBs that have won SBs than him (.....Trent Dilfer etc). It's a team sport and no team ever has all the answers, but the best have most of them. At the moment, we have a lot of them, but in the second year of rebuilding a 1-15 franchise, it shouldn't be a huge shock that we don't have most of them yet. As of now, it looks like we don't have enough this year, but the same could have been said about last year. Someone on the SS pointed out that Gangrene started off red-hot last year too but fell short, whereas we got better. It's a lot more about how you finish than how you start. That's what I'm clinging onto right now.

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  12. I like the black, but it needs more orange somehow?

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  13. Grothe can stretch the field and can be had for cheap ;)

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  14. I won't tell you that YOU are wrong, but that the Dolphins site is wrong.

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  15. Against the Chargers we'll have to be able to pressure, frustrate and harass Rivers. Peyton, he isn't!

    And hopefully, Tiger Woods won't be on their sideline like he was against the Colts. LOL

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  16. The deep ball is WAY over-rated in my book. When you throw a pass, three main things can go wrong. 1/ It can be an INT, 2/ It can be a sack and 3/ It can be incomplete (I've excluded line penalties as they can be on runs and passes). The good things that can happen are it is complete or, infrequently, there is a PI call. On the deep ball, the chance of any of the 3 bad things happening increases and the chance of completions decreases. A PI is probably marginally more likely to happen.

    I'm not saying don't do it, but really, unless you have an exceptional QB and WRs, there are big drive-killing risks associated with the long ball as well - it's not just all upside. What's needed is balance. If we get RnR running amok like they did on Monday, you just watch the play action pass open up and see Chad's completions go up and we go back to efficient, ball-control football. No mistakes = winning games.

    Look where throwing deep first got the raiders!

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  17. Is the wheelchair thrown in with the deal?

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  18. The Knight who says Ni!September 23, 2009 at 3:13 PM

    The bottom line is somehow we have to come away with a win in San Diego. I don't care if we win 6-3. We have to get a W!

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  19. Well I just watched the most insane derby match last night, so no score
    would surprise me at this point.

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  20. The Knight who says Ni!September 23, 2009 at 3:30 PM

    Tin, if we lose it's going to get real tough for this team. History is against them and they already need to get some things corrected. What's your gut for this game? All I know is that I will be nervous watching this game. I was really hoping we didn't have to start in a hole again this year.  :(

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  21. Well I WAS going to do my preview tomorrow, but here's a sneak
    peek....Vernon Carey is apparently injured, as is Brian Hartline and
    Camarillo might have a tweak. The situation sets itself up nicely for
    another 40 run play game plan. I'm sure Carey will play but the Hartline
    injury sounds serious and might keep him out. This should be the game where
    Cam Wake makes his entrance...Moses and Anderson are invisible. I suspect
    they will move Anderson inside for obvious passing downs, taking Crowder
    out. I'll tell you the rest of my thoughts tomorrow :)

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  22. The Knight who says Ni!September 23, 2009 at 4:23 PM

    What the hell happened to Carey, Hartline and Camarillo? It looks like Turner might get a shot this week.

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  23. Could you not come up with an unknown or a positive(in a potential kind of way) for Pat White?  :-E

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  24. Hey tins, are you going to make a suffolk dolphin fan happy and livestream the game?  Otherwise i'm stuck with Steelers at Bengals (yuck!) and Chiefs at Eagles (What the hell!!!!). 

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  25. No, I know what he is, and I see no positives...lol

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  26. As I said a couple of weeks ago, I will do my best to host all the games
    here alongside the chat, that way those who just want to watch can do so,
    those who can watch on tv can chat, and those who want to do both (like
    myself) can do so. So, the answer is yes. For what it's worth, I don't get
    the game on local tv either, and I'm IN california!

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  27. All the reporters have said that Carey was wearing a knee brace and was
    limited in practice, Camarillo was having issues cutting and was favoring
    his back, and that Hartline had a 'pronounced limp' and looked like he had a
    foot injury.

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  28. Turner, Ginn and Bess would be a good combo to take a look at anyway.

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  29. The Knight who says Ni!September 23, 2009 at 7:03 PM

    Unfortunately this season might be an audition for a lot of players. I'm not giving up but 0-2 is already exhausting. We need to play a great game Sunday. We have to win that game unless we are a team that likes to change history. I'm not sure I'm ready for another season like that. Last year was fun but come on, enough already. LOL

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  30. A deep pass does not have to be completed to be effective.  Just the threat of the deep ball keeps the DBs honest, and stops everyone from crowding the line of scrimage.  It's hard enough to run the ball with 7 or 8 players packing in tight.  Something has to move those guys out of there to make more room to run the ball.  A QB that can hit the open WR in stride and on time makes every part of the offense better.

    Defenses have to respect a QB that can get the ball to open man in a hurry.  We saw that last week against us.

    But this week, we are not going to have to worry about all this stuff because the Dolphins will win this game.

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  31. NICE STORY TIN,was GASPING for fresh air,THANX for the hit of defibulator voltage!!
    ESP LIKED,"" Want to know who we're ranked ahead of,EVERYONE except Minn,and Dallas""!!

    I agree on TG !!

    ENJOYED the unknown's,and the positives,NOT too fond of the negatives(but I'm aware of them)!!
    Overall,I feel good about what the team is TRYING to do,towards this season and the future!!
    Vs TWO TOP NOTCH PLAYOFF opponents we've played extremly well on both sides of the ball,
    Defensively vs Atl,and on O vs Indy,JUST HAVE TO COMBINE THE TWO in one game @ a time!!
    AND ELIMINATE turnovers,and clock management errors!!


    I thought the missed FG,was HUGE!!
    ALL THING'S the same incl personnel,(JUSPRETEND),we're kicking for the WIN w'6 seconds left,instead of the hailmary!!

    TOUGH,TOUGH LOSS,but I'm PROUD of the TEAM OVERALL!!
    I'm EXCITED about watching THIS TEAM EVERY WEEK,
    KNOWING that EVENTUALLY it WILL be a well-oiled,finely-tuned unstoppable machine,
    NO MATTER who ends-up playing @ various positions!!
    CHANGES WILL COME,(DUHHHH),and I'll support them when the paid EXPERTS make them,
    until then I'll support the decision's that the pd EXPERTS are making
    on EVERY PLAY,and EVERY PERSONNEL decision!!

    EVEN as a yet-to-be near finished product,
    ONLY PMANNING,and DBREES can do what was done vs this team on Mon nght,
    simular scenario's,we win vs most,(DUHHHH)!! Inspite of the errors!!

    I think we're ready for any AFC team(playin smart,and not losing the TO/PEN game,ie balt 08),
    we'll be in EVERY game w'an opportunity to win,
    but there's about 5 NFC teams that I don't believe we match-up well w'in 09,
    Luckily we only play one of them in 09, most of'em in o10,
    (we'll definately be well-tuned/oiled by then)!!

    AND we'll witness many EXCITING W's THIS YEAR!!

    GOFINS!!!     B    E    A    T       sandiego     !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   AND ALL'S WELL !!!!

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  32. Thanks tin, I really appreciate it!!!!!!!

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  33. "ALL THING'S the same incl personnel,(JUSPRETEND),we're kicking for the WIN
    w'6 seconds left,instead of the hailmary!!"
    Good point. Let's sack the kicker!

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  34. i call bs on your projections.  you use ginn's stats to say he is projected to get 104 catches and 1072 yards then say he wont drop every td.  well if you are using his stats to project 104 catches and 1072 yards then you have to project he will drop every td pass and end up the year with no td passes.

    either way tin, i dont think we can make any prediction on just two games.  either for brown, ricky, ginn, or any other player.  so i guess based on stats so far, penny is going to have 7 td's and 14 ints, if memory serves me

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  35. "so i guess based on stats so far, penny is going to have 7 td's and 14
    ints, "
    That's why its just a 'projection', ffr. I'm not suggesting that this is
    how it will go down, simply stating that dropped TDs aside, he is having a
    good year. If you recall last year he had about 3 catches for 26 yards at
    this point in the season....now he has 13 catches for 134 yards. BTW, in
    his entire career he has 103 catches for 1344 yards and only 4 touchdowns.
    I know you hate the guy so I won't convince you otherwise but he HAS stepped
    up his game so far and was never a TD threat as a receiver before, but that
    doesn't mean he isn't an integral part of the offense. In any event. we're
    supposed to run the ball into the end zone anyway, not pass it.

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  36. tin, i dont hate the guy, hell he is on the fins, i pull for him every week.  i just have pointed out he has not been the super star he is suppose to be. 

    and again i state, how can you say he is having a good year so far.  he had one game he didnt show up and another he did.  i am pulling like hell for him to have 14 more games like his last one, but i am not ready to say he is having a good year just like after two games not going to say ronnie is having a good year or our d backs are having a bad year.  i would at least wait till a quarter of the season before we are seeing trends

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  37. You're right, but at the same time, couldn't you say the same for pre-season
    projections everyone does of who's going to make the playoffs and how many
    games they're going to win, and who'll be in the Super Bowl? If you take
    away these early projections, the NFL network would lost about 4 months of
    programming.
    Plus I was trying to write something positive rather than focus on the
    negative like everyone else.

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  38. i think his game was positive.  him dropping the potential game winning sucked, but that doesnt take away it was positive to see him in the game plan. 

    and as for that other projection crap, that is just what it is network filler to waste time.  i for one dont pay any attention to it, like i said, lets see where we are after 4 or 5 games.  wasnt it the giants and the panthers that great for most of the year but fizziling at the end of the year.  aint how you start it is how you finish

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  39. Be carefull on the subject of being negitive ffr, no one here likes that.  I don't think you're being negitive, mostly because I do the same thing as you are with subject of Ginn.  Nearly everything you say about him is true.  I don't think it is a lack of ability, it's mora a lack knowledge, and being hard headed on his part.  Plus I know you feel he is afraid of contact in a contact sport.

    For myself I think he was really green when he came out of Ohio State, and had no idea what he was in store for when he joined the NFL elete.  If he were a 5th - 7th round pick I think he would have been cut by now, but that is not the case so he was given time to learn under a bunch Moronic coachs.  That was not his fault, and neither was his draft position.  The same could be said for Pat White this year, and Willford last year.  The trifecta has made some mistakes, but I still love them and particually TS.

    I don't think you're negitive at all, you just point out the other side of the equation thats all.  Some bloggers don't see it that way, so you will take some heat for it.  Don't worry though we all know you love the Dolphins and you have a right to your opinions and Tin will agree with that even though he may not like it. 

    I still love you Tin, but not in that California way.  :*

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