The reason the Dolphins are bad.

[hawksfan515]

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/audibl ... ne-week-11

1) The Dolphins offense was by no means a jugggernaut before Week 8, but since then they have scored a total of 30 points the past three weeks against teams that were ranked 31st (Indianapolis), 29th (Tennessee), and 31st (Buffalo) in defense DVOA at the time. Having followed them closely this season, I don't see guys playing worse or not executing properly. Rather, I think what we're seeing lately is that, in the NFL, even the crappiest defenses can figure out how to stop a vanilla offense. Outside of motioning Brian Hartline or Davone Bess tight to throw a crackback block, the Dolphins use no pre-snap motion or pre-snap shifts whatsoever. Ryan Tannehill rarely audibles, if ever. As a 49ers fan, it's like Miami's offense is run by Bizarro Harbaugh.

And with a quarterback who must know the entire playbook like the back of his hand by now, their play-calling is pretty limited as well. Offset-I with a receiver motioning tight? It's likely an inside zone run. Tannehill under center with Reggie Bush as the single back? It's likely a stretch play. Tannehill in shotgun? It's a pass. Charles Clay in the slot? He's running a seam route. I've basically watched the same offense for 11 weeks, so the coaching staff doesn't seem to have made many adjustments to go against their tendencies. At some point, simply lining up and "doing what you do" ceases being effective. Chris Brown of Smart Football might say that Miami needs to start applying the constraint theory of offense.

2) As I've been saying all season, every Dolphins cornerback not named Sean Smith is terrible. The problem lately is that their continued terribleness has now been augmented by Smith not being as good as he was earlier in the season. And with that, I'm contractually obligated to mention the Vontae Davis trade.

Football Outsiders seems to think it's because their offense is very vanilla, and Tannehill never audibles. THey also say that the secondary needs massive improvement.

Just wanted to see everyone's thoughts on this.

 

[Sarlacc83]

If it's really that vanilla, we should see the return of the pre-season defense. I'll have to print this out for the game and see if I can get the plays correct, too.

 

[hawksfan515]

If it's really that vanilla, we should see the return of the pre-season defense. I'll have to print this out for the game and see if I can get the plays correct, too.

That would make it too easy on Tannehill. Rex Ryan's complex D shut down Tannehill pretty well before he got knocked out due to injury and Matt Moore came in. Me, personally, I wanna see some bandit.

 

[Lords of Scythia]

It would almost be an upset if Miami won.

 

[hawksfan515]

It would almost be an upset if Miami won.

At 10:00 AM on the road? There are no upsets in that scenario with the Seahawks.

 

[FlyingGreg]

It would almost be an upset if Miami won.

At 10:00 AM on the road? There are no upsets in that scenario with the Seahawks.

Yep.

:snack:

 

[sutz]

So, what you're saying is, that the Dolphins have been holding back all season, not opening their playbook fully, just so they could spring some surprises on us this week?

Sneaky bastidges.....

:twisted:

 

[rideaducati]

It would almost be an upset if Miami won.

At 10:00 AM on the road? There are no upsets in that scenario with the Seahawks.

I don't think that is going to apply any longer.

In years past, the Seahawks never had a complete team. They would have a great offense with one of the worst defenses. They would have one position group on each side of the ball that was good while the other position groups were among the worst in the league. THIS team doesn't have deficiencies in any position group on either side of the ball. They may not be dominant in all position groups, but there is no position group that would be considered awful.

THIS team is full of young players that needed to get to know each other. Even the best players in the league can't be put into a new situation and excel right away. They need time to learn how to work with the guy next to them. This team is just now figuring out what the guy next to them is going to do in certain situations. This team is starting to play well TOGETHER and has already beaten some pretty good teams even before the offense started clicking.

Now that the offense seems to be hitting their stride, THIS SEASON gives me the feel that there is something special coming.

 

[garydrake425]

Something very very special. I feel it too and im ready to see it all unfold. I'm P'd & J'd for this weeks game and wanna see how these 3 road games play out for us. GO HAWKS

 

[MontanaHawk05]

It would almost be an upset if Miami won.

At 10:00 AM on the road? There are no upsets in that scenario with the Seahawks.

So, we didn't beat the Giants? Was there some Tate-like controversy over that game that I didn't hear about, where we actually rightfully LOST to the eventual Super Bowl quarterback?

Tannehill is nothing. We're in good position to win.

 

[hawksfan515]

It would almost be an upset if Miami won.

At 10:00 AM on the road? There are no upsets in that scenario with the Seahawks.

So, we didn't beat the Giants? Was there some Tate-like controversy over that game that I didn't hear about, where we actually rightfully LOST to the eventual Super Bowl quarterback?

Tannehill is nothing. We're in good position to win.

Just saying that excuse will be thrown around if we lose.

 

[smashmouth59]

We will not lose this game.

That is all.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

Time to start being a team that actually wins on the road once in awhile. This game is huge in a lot of ways, especially if you think we're going 8-0 at home, getting TWO road wins would allow for a little breathing room. Sunday was so frustrating when it looked like Dallas and Tampa Bay were both DONE, it doesn't look like Tampa Bay is going anywhere, so we need to take care of OUR business.

 

[Zowert]

Dolphins are nothing special. Then again, the Seahawks have always been a lousy road team. That, and we're coming off a bye week. I wonder if that is going to have any effect. I know its good for Russell Wilson, because every week he improves. Not just because of games, but practices. He learns the playbook and makes more of a connection with Rice and Tate. They should just have Russell, Tate and Rice out an hour before practice every day. RW throwing the ball to those two on every route in the book.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

It's frustrating that you never know what to expect of this team on the road. Let alone how nervous you get when they are on the road. True championship caliber teams win games on the road. Other than back in '05, we've been brutal on the road forever. There's no excuse for losing to crap teams on the road, year after year.

 

[Hawks46]

I will hold optimism until we can be more consistent on the road, and I mean consistently good, not bad.

Miami doesn't have much of a home field advantage, but they will come to play, since technically they are still in the AFC wildcard race.

All signs on paper point to the Seahawks winning. Now, we need a full team effort and guys actually EXECUTING plays. WRs catching balls, not dropping them. LBers filling the correct holes. No coverage breakdowns. Pass rush in force. Be assignment correct in run blocking, and Lynch will hold up his end.

We don't need an outstanding game from all of our guys to win. We just need to have our guys limit mistakes, and execute their plays and we'll be fine. Hopefully it will give us a bit of needed confidence about playing on the road, we'll need it for CHI.