Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Mid-Week Markdowns

Everything must GO!  All sales FINAL!


After the loss to the Patriots, I can't help but understand that faction of Dolfans that want to cut/release/trade/fire everyone on the team.  I get it, losses sting, and when you get stung, you want to swat the wasp.  That makes sense.  It even makes sense to gauge the risk of the wasp stinging you before it happens, and deciding whether or not to swat it before any sting actually occurs.  


So when facing a losing record, and a team that under-performs (I won't listen to any arguments that we 'hung in there' with an elite team - the truth is the DOLPHINS lost that game, the Patriots didn't overpower us in any elite fashion.  The dropped passes and bad personnel choices by the coaching staff is what handed the game to the Patriots) it makes sense to want to dump the excess cargo that won't bring any value on the other side.  But that's what those crappy teams out there do (Kansas City - Larry Johnson/Tyler Thigpen - for example).  Most teams are content to get their team together during the offseason and only make these kinds of team-changing transactions due to major injury or the possibility of a big time player being available (NYJ- Braylon Edwards, for example).

So keep in mind, as we head into the Tampa Bay game, that nothing major is going to change with this team roster until the end of the season, so there's no point in dwelling on it too much. 

I think there's no doubt that we need wide receiver to be a focus of the 2010 off-season, along with a few tweaks here and there.  Overall I think the roster is solid.  I take the stand that the coaching staff is more responsible for the Dolphins 3-5 record than the players are.  The players are out there playing hard.  Anyone can see that.  There have been mistakes on the field, but they are decreasing week by week (turnovers have gone down considerably).  The dropped passes are as much a coaching issue as a receiver issue.   After Ted Ginn dropped some big play balls, he was benched.  But nothing ever happened to Anthony 'Olive Oil' Fasano, (Olive Oil because he has slippery hands, and when the ball is thrown to him I stand up and go "Oh....Oh...." in anticipation of a drop or fumble) and Davone Bess is still starting both at WR and at punt returner, both of which he's failing miserably at. 

The failure of the coaches to reprimand these players, or give more snaps to Hartline, Camarillo, and Turner (who has been inactive all season despite the receiving corps actually LOSING games for us) is what they call 'beating a dead horse'.  The inability of the passing game to get going is not Henne's fault.  He played very well vs the Patriots.  Henne was 19 of 34 (56%) for 217 yards (11.4 ypa).  I counted 12 dropped passes by 7 different receivers.  Not all the passes would have made for easy catches but they were all catchable.  Had they been caught, Henne would've had 31 completions for an estimated 354 yards and would likely have been the FedEx Air Player of the Week also known as the Peyton Manning Trophy.

Our receivers and coaches are hurting Henne right now.  How much longer before he loses confidence in his team?  Last year the Dolphins preached again and again about accountability and no one being safe.  This year they seem to have dropped that mantra almost altogether.  They need to learn by the example they set themselves last year.


I will continue to cover this team with the hopes that they somehow squeeze into the playoffs but at the moment it looks like they cannot lose another game for the rest of the season in order to do so.  


Keep in mind, that I am fully ready for the 2010 draft and free agency.  I have several wide receivers on my radar from the draft, as well as the key free agency player the Dolphins should pursue, San Diego WR, Vincent Jackson.  I know what you're thinking, but if we can blow $28 million on Gibril Wilson, we can pay out to Mr. Jackson. 


 

14 comments:

  1. Wow, that was fast!  If I had known, I would have done it sooner. (referring to post on the Tech. Memo)  LOL

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  2. The Knight who say Ni!November 11, 2009 at 9:03 AM

    Tin, we don't have the personnel to put good teams away. That's become clear with all the 4th quarter losses. We've had a chance to win every game in the 4th quarter and we've lost 5 of them. Dropped passes, lack of big plays on defense, especially the pass rush and no forced turnovers late.

    The teams we've lost to have a combined 32-8 record.

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  3. ...there is a lot of responsibility for the Patriot loss to go around ...some of it you hit on, some not ...as you said we beat ourselves.

    ...the coaching staff ...in particular, the WR coach, has to take responsibility for the performance of Bess and Ginn as WRs

    ...this is Ginn's 3rd year and he continues to drop key balls ...why is he being thrown to at all? ...we're repeatedly told that he is by far their best receiver ...in practice ...but as even the Ginn bandwagoneers must acknowledge by now, in practices he has no fear factor affecting him ...no one is going to slam his body into the ground if he catches the ball ...but where it counts, in a game, unless he is wide open or has a couple steps on the defender, he appears to think more about getting hit than catching the ball ...and he either drops it or doesn't really try to catch it ...the fear factor is the only thing I can think of that would account for the difference between practice and game time ...and imnsho, you can't coach the fear factor out of a player ...surely the coaches know this by now.

    ...and then we have Ginn the KR who has no apparent fear factor when he has the ball in his hands and is on the run ...I'm not about to try and explain that contradiction, I'm just stating what we all have seen too many times ...so why is Sparano insisting on using him as a KR/WR when to "idiots" like me he should be returning kicks and punts and otherwise warming the bench.

    ...which brings us to Bess ...first, as above, why is Bess still doing PRs when he's not proven to be even average at the job ...give that job to Ginn ...and then go to the WR Coach and find out why our best receiver last year with hands of glue has suddenly developed the dropsies ...we know he can catch in heavy traffic, we know he can run ...he did it all repeatedly last year ...this year he's a different player ...I hold my breath everytime he's on the receiving end now because I expect him to lose it ...again ...and again! ...WTFO?

    ...and then there is Fasano ...who last year was the go to guy when the game was on the line ...and this year he's a shadow of himself ...again, WTFO?

    ...so what is the common thread here ...why have a known reliable WR and TE suddenly developed stone hands? ...I don't know the answer any more than any of you ...but me, I'd be waterboarding the WR coach for an answer real quick now ...or replacing him.

    ...as for Henne, I don't see what a lot of you apparently see in him ...what I see is an average QB at best with a strong arm but one with accuracy and touch problems ...I look at his stats and I compare them to Penne's with the same set of WRs and I don't find a franchise in that comparison ...yes, he absolutely needs better receivers who can catch the ball he throws ...but again, Penne had much better stats with those same receivers ...so maybe old noodle arm couldn't sling it long but he sure could put it exactly where he wanted it short to mid and with the touch that adjusted each throw for the receiver he was throwing it to ...I don't see Henne doing that ...not yet and he had a full year under Penne to learn.

    ...our safeties are not cutting it of course; Wilson is not proving up to the FA money he got ...we got little pass rush out of Peezy to match his mouth ...and like KC last year, Crowder's absense hurt ...a lot, as did Ferguson's ...Soliai wasn't terrible, he just wasn't Ferg and in a 3-4, that's a killer ...the defense lost this game, no question ...but the offense had opportunities to win it despite the defense and just couldn't get it done.

    ...as for the draft, three years in and we still have gaping holes to fill ...WR is obvious, as is NT, and for me at least, ILB and Safety ...but a lot depends on our draft position of course [...]

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  4. Tin, I see it exactly how you do! Winning out is the only way to make the playoffs, not a likely scenario, so they're already planning their next trip to the grocery store.

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  5. The Knight who say Ni!November 11, 2009 at 10:23 AM

    This is the first season Ginn has had trouble catching the ball. His first two years he displayed very good hands. I don't know what the deal is.

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  6. We can't blame Henne for the drops because there were just as many if not
    more drops when Pennington was in before the injury.

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  7. I agree with Tin that we should try everything to sign Vincent Jackson as a FA (unless they franchise him). If we can get him, we could use our 1st rounder on defense. NT (Cody), ILB (McClain) and S (Barry, Mays) are needs. If we can't get Jackson, I want either WR LaFell or TE Gresham in round 1. Both are playmakers who would immediately help our mid-range passing game.

    But let's first make the best of this season before contemplating next year...

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  8. Lemmus would you just keep drafting QB's every year again and again and cutting loose the ones we drafted the years before without seeing if they develope?  Go and check Peyton's stats the first year as a starter.

    Peyton:
    Year Team G Att Cmp Comp % Yds Yd/A TDs Int Sacked Yds Rating 1998 <span><span></span></span>Ind 16 575 326 56.7 3739 6.5 26 28 22 109 71.2

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  9. Lemmus, the Dolphins have been spending a second round pick for a qb EVERY FREAKING YEAR for the last 5-6 years. You Cannot base your opinion on a QB on his first 6 starts.  Look at Peyton's first six starts, look at Brady's, Look at Eli's and Drew Brees' They were not much (if any) better than C. Henne at this point in their careers.

    and just because you take one in the first doesn't mean they will work out. There have been a huge SLEW of QB "busts" in the first round the last decade.  You have to take the guy you like and coach him up, let him play and develope.

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  10. I agree with that...there were drops with both QB's with what most would consider very catchable balls, and I'd have to say it isn't a QB issue.  So what is the common denominator?  The receivers, the coaches, the playcalling, officiating, bad karma, all of the above, none of the above?  These are just some of the explanations I have seen to explain it....there are probably more.  Camarillo seems to do OK, but is it me or do we just see him lately making catches late in the game?  Where is he the rest of the time.  If he is the only one who can consistently catch, then they need to throw to him a bit more.  And with as spotty as the receivers have been, you have to wonder, just how bad could Patrick Turner be?  I mean, can't he have his chance to drop a few in a game just like the others?
    ;)

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  11. ...yes, two 2nd round picks by the trifecta and as yet no visible sign of a franchise QB ...I don't blame Henne for ALL the dropped balls ...I do look at his stats and his field leadership compared to Pennington's and find nothing that supports any belief in Henne as a franchise QB ...his accuracy is marginal at best and when he does put it between the numbers, its usually a rocket ...how many of those dropped passes were fingertip or reaches? ...yes, great receivers make those catches, but franchise QBs make better throws ...and yes, a number of the better QBs took some time to develop ...but their accuracy and touch were there from the start, they just had to learn the NFL game ...but we've watched Henne for two years now and the pattern has been consistent whether practice, pre-season, or the starts ...you're suggesting that if we wait another couple of years that "maybe" he'll become a franchise QB ...I'm suggesting that we can't afford to wait on that "maybe". that we need to pay the price this time around instead of reaching into the 2nd for another "possible" QB ...there are 1st round busts at every position, just look at Ginn and JA ...doesn't mean you don't roll the dice and depend upon the trifecta to get the right guy ...so far their 1st round picks have been hits.

    ...and yes, we've all seen Ginn drop passes that our mothers could have caught ...that speaks to Ginn, not Henne ...I'm looking at Henne and not seeing a franchise stamp anywhere.

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  12. Who is the wide receivers coach? Is it the same one from last year? It just seems like there are more dropped passes (although it could just be more glaring since we are losing this year and last year we won). Fasano and Bess last year were clutch or so I thought. This year, I cringe whenever the ball is thrown to someone other than 83. And for the love of everything holy, please do not throw to Ginn when the game is on the line.

    I think our playcalling needs to change over the next couple of weeks. Teams are stacking the box, then we need to adjust. Even if those passes are not made all the time at least it will spread the defense and give us some kind of chance.

    For me, I will be following the blog, because I don't follow college football that much. I want to see what you guys are thinking for the draft. This year is over. Even if by some stroke of luck we get into the playoffs, we are not ready to compete with the big boys. JMO though.

    As usual---Thanks for the blog!

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  13. "but is it me or do we just see him lately making catches late in the game?
    Where is he the rest of the time."
    on the bench. Bess and Hartline have been starting, and we rarely run a 3
    WR set, so Camarillo doesn't get that many chances. But to be fair, he has
    dropped 2 or 3 this year as well.

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  14. yES kARL dORREL Is the same coach as last year. Fasano dropped a lot of
    balls last year too, especially mid-season.

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