26-7
7 minutes left in the 4th Q
-Miami will fall to 11-7 this year
-Miami went 9-9 last year
McDaniel is now 0-2 in the Playoffs
Skylar Thompson looked a lot better losing 34-31 at Buffalo last year than Tua tonight losing 26-7...Miami has NO OFFENSE, i thought this was Mikey McD's specialty?
Why is Mike McDaniel revered so much? What does he do that is so special to fans and people looking from the outside at this team?
Rich Eisen soundbites?
Pathetic effort tonight top to bottom, coaching to QB to the rest of the team
Miami sucked hard tonight, disappointing to see this as the end of the 2023 season
The needle has not moved
Brian Flores 19-15 his last 2 seasons as Miami Dolphins Head Coach who would not carry out Stephen Ross' requests with $$$ that he throw or lose football games.
M&M is 20-16, similar records and yet one is held in a Ghandi like light at the moment and the other is viewed as a terrible head coach that held Tua back
Hmmmmmmmmm, we might need to revisit this
Well, in the post mortem of the season there is always blame to go around, so lets get to what is good and what is not so good.
The good:
Aside from what MoP might feel (and I have no idea why he is still mentioning Flores): Miami has a good young coach. His players on both sides of the ball want to play for him and he gets the best out of them. He still needs to "mature" into the role and not everyone is Sean McVay, but the last coach alienated as many players as he uplifted, and his(Flores) defensive scheme had more issues than Miami's offense scheme did.
Miami's defense when healthy was top tier. Injuries derailed a likely championship caliber D. Now, it does need some work. The Linebackers and the Slot corner position needs to be better. Anytime Allen or Mahomes needed to make a play, one was available over the middle where the Linebackers or Kader Kouhu was.
Tua: he will be in the "Bad" as well, but he led the league in passing and until things started to fall apart in December you felt no lead against us was safe.
The Running game: Achane is the guy. We will always have a committee approach, but the kid can ball. We are no longer "looking" for our RB. He is now on the roster on a rookie contract. Wilson, Mosert, whomever will be the "complimentary" back.
The Offensive line and OLine coaching. Excellent Job. Can't say enough of how this mash unit was able to both protect Tua and Open holes for the running game. Most of our O line woes (remember the Flores lines with essentially the same players) have been solved.
The interior Defensive line: Seiler, Watson, and the other guys simply changed games.
The Bad:
Injuries: Some would call this "bad luck" but the past few years have been marked by some really bad injuries to key players. Last year it was Tua. This year it was everyone BUT Tua. Baltimore changed their Strength and conditioning staff after the issues they had a few years ago. Maybe this needs to be addressed?
Dumb Penalties: When you are an "on the cusp" team you have to be better diciplined. Chubb, Watson both had bad penalties in games that were outcome changers. Penalties as much as wins and losses are a coaches stat. Shula and Tony Sporano were the only phins coaches who's teams were the least penalized. They are also the last coaches to win the AFCE.
In game coaching: This has to improve. I think McDaniel takes his scheme too much for granted and builds his counterpunches the week after a team shows it to him. Self Scouting and in game adjustments need to evolve. Your run game can score from anywhere, yet the "jet sweep" style concepts have not been seen in 5 weeks.
The QB position: Tua is likely the type of QB that needs everything perfectly set up around him to succeed. Can we win a championship with him? I think so, but he is not a QB anyone fears ala Mahomes, Allen, Stroud, Purdy, Rodgers, etc. I'm not sure we can "swtich" tracks on this in any meaningful way, but McDaniel needs to decide what he wants to Develop at QB beyond Tua. Maybe a reclamation project like a Mac Jones, or a day 2/3 draft pick. I use the perfect "What if" scenario: What if the Dolphins took Purdy in the 7th round rather than Skylar Thompson? Where would this team be? Teams should always be "developing" Qbs. Mike White may have been a decent add, but if he and Skylar are in the room next year Miami is not improving at the position no matter what Tua's status is. Tua needs to keep working on his game. Brees get himself into sick shape and had a lengthy and stellar career. Tua solved the concussion problems with judo and a new helmet. Now he needs to add a running game and some "pocket breakdown" moves when things get ugly.
The Offensive Line: Kudos to what they managed to do, but its time to draft and develop a center/guard regardless of Connor Williams' status. Eich is a good "depth" Player and tough as heck, but if you need to start him at any position for more than 5 games then you didn't build your line correctly. We saw what Creed Humphrey did last night and I was screaming for the Phins to draft him but we took Eich instead. Imagine if Our first three picks were Holland, Phillips, and Creed????
Linebacking: Not sure what linebackers are supposed to look like in Fangio's system, but the ones in Baltimore and Buffalo are faster and better than what we got.
Slot Corner: No more Kader Kouhu. Either develop a better boundry corner and move Ramsey into the slot as he gets older, or get one who can compete. Also, we still need more depth at corner.
The Draft: Stop drafting guys that don't play. Tindall in 2022, Can Smith this year, The WR who sat on the bench the whole year in 2022 (Ekzuma) and got hurt this year. Players need live reps. If you are going to use a second day pick on a guy he has to be able to contribute. If Cam smith sucks then either the scout who got him should be fired or the guy coaching him. No player maybe other than a QB gets better sitting on the bench a whole season.
I'd say our window is open and 11 wins is nothing to sneeze at. Everyone, Coach, assistant coaches, players, etc, need to develop.