The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

Before I go thinking carefully about individuals for this poll, I just can't imagine a lot of people not picking Pasqualoni.  So, let's see if it's all we need.

  How could it not be Pasqualoni?  That defensive performance was flat out awful.

That's kinda my point.  When you can't stop a team all day, they score 40+ points, 500+ total yards and 400+  in the air, it's pretty much a defensive problem.

Not disagreeing that the Defense should get the goat trailer....but I'd give mine to Teddy Ginn...he started out strong, but between all the dropped passes later in the game and the boneheaded, run backwards 15-20 yards to our own goaline (kick return or punt return...i don't remember), he played like shit.

The offense scored a lot of points and Ginn had 88 yards.  That's very, very respectable.

eh, i don't fault him.  we needed 2 TD's in a VERY short time, someone had to try and make a play happen

Half of his yards came from one play early in the game.  In the second half he was dropping everything Penny was throwing at him.  At the risk of sounding like John Madden, you have to play four quarters to win the game.

Even if half his yards came early, on one play, he still got the yards.   ...and that means that he got 40 yards later in the game....still respectable.

I'm trying to be as respectful as possible in calling you a lunatic.

I'd like to see Ronnie Brown get the Goat Trailer this week.

He was invisible today. What bothers me about Ronnie Brown (and why he is not a Pro-Bowl caliber RB) is that he has one game like in week 3, and then another in week 5 where you think he is the #1 RB in the league, only to come back to this week and rush for 37 yards. The keeper of the beast (of the wildcat formation) only got 37 yards rushing.

It's very clear to me over the last few weeks against Oakland, Seattle, and now vs. the Pats that this whole Wildcat fad has had it's 15 minutes of fame. It's the same play every single time - Ricky Williams in motion, Pennington as a WR, and Brown gets the direct snap (and either rushes up the middle of hands-off to Ricky for negative yardage). It had the "shock and awe" factor in week 3 and week 4 because it was so new, but ever since Baltimore trounced it, it has become highly ineffective.  This is hurting Ronnie Brown - and say what you want to, last year, before Brown tore his ACL, he was leading the NFL in rushing - and there was no wildcat formation being used by Cam Cameron.

Just because the Dolphins have used it, doesn't mean they should use it. Teams are now 100% in tune with it, and have been for about a month. Maybe it will work against crappy St. Louis or crappy San Fran, but if you wanna talk playoffs, contender, and compete for the division, you need to get serious and stop playing college football. You don't see the Giants or the Titans run the wildcat or the RB option or the wishbone or the unbalanced line.

Anyways, the main cog of this is Ronnie Brown, and he did nothing all day yesterday. The Dolphins needed big plays, and he was nowhere to be found.

Just last week, we had more big plays from the position.  We couldn't run the ball, so the wildcat was ineffective.  When we are able to get push, it works quite well.

Call me a lunatic all you want, but late in the game MIA was still in it, and him running backwards 20 yards to our goal line hurt the team big time.  All of his dropped passes hurt the team when they needed someone to step up.  If a QB passes for 350 yards, and has 3 TD's, then in the fourth quarter throws 3 INTs wouldn't you criticize him a little bit?  Now comparing a QB to a WR is apples to oranges, but I think you get my drift.

Oh and I'm adding Penny to the list as well...you can call me a lunatic for that one and I'll agree...no good reason...just because he was a stinkin' Jet.   ;D

Henne for QB in '09!!!

When the defense gives up 48 points, how can you blame the offense for not scoring more than that?

I disagree with your assessment of the Wildcat.  Obviously it has been less successful than it was the first week vs. NE (But really NE couldn't stop any rush that week, let alone a new formation such as the wildcat), but it is more successful than normal formations for the team.

Sure, but 3 INTs in a quarter is about as bad as you can do.  ...and in the end, your stat-line would be 3TD, 3INT....not great.  And let's be real, an INT is more costly than a dropped pass, in most cases.

He did drop some passes, yes, and he did run backwards on a play (when the game was out of reach, I'd argue, and he was gambling for a big play.)  But none of those were difference makers.  Had the defense done ANYTHING to stop the onslaught of points, we would've won the game.

We scored 28 points, none of it in garbage time, and Ginn contributed to those drives.
We gave up 48 points!  Forty Eight!

Be real.

I am being very real Dave.  I don't disagree with you about the Defense playing like absolute dog shit...in fact I say that in the first line of my original post.  MY OPINION is that Ginn deserves some criticism for his lack of concentration towards the end of the game.  Maybe the game doesn't get out of hand if he doesn't drop those key passes.  I didn't think the game was out of hand when he ran 20 yards backwards.  After he did I thought it was over.

What is the point if everyone says "yes the defense was horrid today" over and over?  I was bringing up other things in the game that I think could have affected the outcome.

And don't get me wrong, I am no Ginn hater.  In fact I think he could be a superstar one day if he has a QB that can actually throw him the deep ball.  But he wasn't one thing that we needed him to be at the end of the game, and that's clutch.

I don't have a problem with you criticizing Ginn.  I just find it odd that you'd choose him for the Goat Trailer, the person that most cost us the game.

Dave, the run defense did ok.  The pass defense shit the bed.  It should go on Todd Bowles, not Pasqualoni. 

I don't disagree with you.  But the defense is only partially to blame.  Gin's boneheaded move starting us at the 2 and ended up giving New England great field position.  I think NE's average starting field position was something like the 37.  Yes, we scored 28 points - on a very suspect defense.  Only slightly better than ours. 

But when the average starting position for NE's offense was close to the 40, Pennington chucks up a duck returned inside the 10, Miami can't run the ball to save their lives and the defense is on the field all the time...

Can you REALLY lay it all on the defenses feet?  Or maybe, just perhaps, did special teams and offense stalling have ANYTHING to do with that?

I'm sorry Maine.  The Pats scored EVERY TIME they touched the ball in the second half.  Ginn had absolutely nothing to do with that.

Sure he did.  Miami starts at the 2.  I think we punted at the, what?  11?  New England fielded the punt at the 30, was returned to something like the 41.  They scored on a Moss touchdown pass once inside the 40.

It all ties together - which is why it's called a team sport. 

How many times can you expect a defense to (1) be on the field and (2) stop a team on a short field?  New England didn't start one drive inside their own 25.  Not one.

You would expect a halfway decent defense to stop them at least a couple times.  The Dolphins defense failed to stop the Pats once in the second half.

Hey, like I said, I don't disagree that the defensive showing was pathetic.  I don't think Ginn was the reason why lost the game, or Brown...or Pennington's INT (although that REALLY hurt, it was a ten point swing).

You're right - we needed a stop or two.

I'm just saying that a lot factors into a defensive performance.  90% of it is on them, there is another 10% of other things that weighed into them allowing those points (IMO).

You need your memory checked.

It was 41-28 with less than 7 minutes remaining and Ginn went backwards a net FOUR freaking yards.

Something special needed to happen and your kick returner HAS to try.

Lots of NFL teams have come back from 13 point deficits with 7 minutes remaining in the 4th quarter....Don't act like the game was out of hand at that point....starting at the 2 yard line dosen't help the TEAM at all.  ;) 

Even on Monday Night Countdown, Chris Carter called out Tedd Ginn for his poor decision on the kick return and the 2 critical drops in the 4th quarter....Ginn did't cost Miami this game, but he did make several devastating mistakes that hurt the team badly.

YES!  Without a doubt, yes.

We won the turnover battle, and we still gave up 48 points, none of those were from special teams or defensive scores.  You can lay ALL OF THE BLAME on the defense, with enough blame to carry over to next week.

The offense scored 28 points.  That alone is enough to win football games, or at least keep them close.  The defense couldn't stop the Pats from moving the ball at all, the entire game.  The only time we were able to stop them is when they turned it over on a bad throw or fumble.

I'm fine with calling Ginn a dummy for running backwards.  But it was one, insignificant play.  The defense was unable to do anything all game long.  We will never win games, allowing 48 points.  Never.  It's ALL on the defense.

Me! At the begining of the third quarter. Make a break up the stairs wide open at the vendor, grab two cold ones out of mid air , make my move ,fake left then right  spin I'm all alone, through the tunnel at the 20,the 15, the 10,5,row one! Make my seat, bump the cup holder and spill a full beer on my brand new DOLPHIN SHOES!!!! Just F@#%&ING bench me!!!!
     (true story)
The defense ,when we needed a stop they couldn't stop my fat ass!

My co-goat trailer goes to Paul Pasqualoni and Dan Henning. 

Clearly we can't play pass defense to save our asses.  That can be blamed on a bad secondary. 

Twice inside the redzone, we let the defense spread us out and left no one in the middle.  Twice we gave up touchdowns, Cassel's 8 yard run and a 10+ yard run late in the game (Sammy Morris?).  In other words we used the same defense twice in one game that actually cost us the Texans game.   

Now, knowing that our pass defense sucked and wasn't going to get many breaks against New England's recievers, Dan Henning for no particular reason decided once again to throw every down.  We ran the ball 19 times the whole game.  The main difference this time was when the 4th quarter came around, we kept throwing the fucking ball.  Instead of oh shit, let's wear them out in the Florida heat, it was oh no let's have a track meet and play right into their hands. 

Oh no.  They stacked the line.  Oh no, we stopped even trying to run the football and control the clock, which is important against any high scoring offense.  We scored in 2 minutes, then they would score in 2 minutes.  You guys saw the damn game did you not?  Did we not spend the entire second half almost in the shotgun or with an empty backfield? 

It's football 101 guys, you have a mediocre or streaky defense, the other team has a great offense, what do you do?  Control the clock.