Went over the Dolphins game again and decided to share my take on what I've seen. I didn't think Winters played that well when I watched the game live but he looked pretty solid actually even though he obviously got some help from Nick & Breno. But he was pulling a lot, made some really good blocks. Will try to include some pictures from some of the formations and situations that I thought are noteworthy. Also gonna have to split this up in 3 parts. Offense: QB Fitzpatrick did a great job changing plays at the line when he saw certain matchups he liked. Adjusted the offense to the looks the defense gave him. Showed off great athleticism and pocket awareness by escaping 3 easy sacks and getting yards with his feet instead. Was wildly inaccurate a handful of times, missing Ivory twice out of the backfield, Decker over the middle for a bigger gain, Devin Smith on the interception. Timing & anticipation was bad at times, other times there wasn't enough zip on the ball. But overall it was a decent performance. RB Ivory went East Mode again. Broke tons of tackles, showed good vision, hitting holes that were there. With better lead blocking he could have done a lot more damage. Was open in the backfield a few times but Fitz missed him. LT Ferguson is no spring chicken at this point but he held his own against a young capable pass rusher in DE Vernon. Shut him down for the most part but Vernon did have a couple of decent rushes where he beat Brick with his quickness. Runblocking was solid. RT Giacomini was matched up with DE Wake who this year doesn't really look like he cares anymore. Breno had his way with him but also got pancaked once. Helped out Winters with keeping Suh in check, his run blocking was solid as well. Plays with a lot of fire, sometimes too much. Gets in shoving matches regularly after the whistles blows, he needs to cut that down. RB Powell was asked to lead block a couple of times but that should be thrown right out of the playbook. He doesn't want any part of it. Got knocked back once by CB Grimes. Otherwise he was his usual self. Great pro, was seen getting TE Davis & RB Stacy lined up correctly. Reads defenses before the snap, does a great job picking up blitzers. You can just tell he studies a lot. It's like having another QB on the field. Lined up as a receiver a few times. RG Winters held his own out there. He got some help from Nick and Breno but when he went 1 on 1 with Suh he did good, he was not a liability, he didn't embarrass himself. Had a good block when he had to pull that got Ivory over 20 yards on the left side. Stepped on Fitz' foot once that ended in a sack, it happens. The chemistry was good on the right side, even if Colon gets healthy I think Winters should stay in the lineup until he starts to struggle. FB Bohanon doesn't see the field properly. Makes bad reads, him and Ivory don't see the same thing, they don't gel. We left a lot of yards out there because Bohanon wasn't much of a help as a lead blocker because he'd block the wrong guys. Got pancaked a couple of times in pass protection. I'm not sure why we're not bringing in another FB who can actually run block. TE Davis ran routes, more than we'd imagine. Had his ups & downs as a blocker but he was solid for the most part. Was blocking DE Wake and DE Fede 1 on 1 a couple of times and took them out of the play. Started out really well, whiffed later here and there. But overall very promising if he can keep it up. Might as well continue to start even if Cumberland gets back. WR Decker & WR Marshall are very hard to cover. Decker at the very last moment always somehow finds a way to seperate just enough to keep the DB from making a play. Marshall is a monster when the ball is in the air, he always goes up and gets it. He'll always have a size & strength advantage. Also very dangerous on screens and short inside slants. Terrific addition. TE Saxton "tried" to block DE Vernon once but got pushed back 5 yards, he's clearly overmatched. Another time he was seen running over the middle trying to find somebody to block, but he just kept running by defenders, looking lost. He's not ready yet and should be headed back to the practice squad. LG Carpenter is a revelation. Did a tremendous job in pass protection, got to the 2nd level as a run blocker to take out some linebackers here and there as well. Another great addition.
Defense: CB Skrine is as aggressive and tough a corner as I've seen. His tackling is impeccable, he's a great blitzer, he's extremely physical and can't be blocked. He made TE Cameron who is twice his size look like a fool by pushing him around. Not enough can be said about how good of a football player he is. DE Douzable was playing in the nickel and struggled against the run. He always has that inside move and takes himself out of the play when the run goes to the outside. He needs to play with more discipline and make sure guys don't bounce to the outside. DE Wilkerson had his way with any of the linemen really but mostly rookie guard Jamil Douglas on the right side. He was literally just pulling and pushing him around with one arm and going after the QB with the other arm. Had two sacks, could have had 2 more. NT Harrison did a good job in the base 3-4 but he shouldn't be playing in the nickel, he was ineffective and doesn't generate any pass rush. Would rather see Coples take his spot there inside on passing downs. ILB Harris was a force against the run. Gets to the ball carrier in a hurry. Also had a highlight play as a pass rusher where he pancaked RG Jamil Douglas. ILB Davis still struggles in run defense. Makes bad reads, runs into blockers when he really shouldn't. Was effective as a blitzer, forcing two incompletions, almost had a sack on top of it. Got beat in coverage a couple of times but nothing big. OLB Coples didn't play much but when he did he made his presence felt. Great edge setter, pushed RT James back a few yards, blows up plays and helps the guys around him make plays. Had 3 more QB hits during the game despite only getting around 20 snaps. He needs to play more, a lot more. Want to see him inside in nickel packages next to Williams with Wilkerson and Mauldin outside at DE. DE Williams had a terrific game, shredded whoever he had to go up against. Very disruptive as a pass rusher, also made some plays in run defense. He's already further ahead than Mo was when we drafted him. Great pick and a future pro bowler. CB Cromartie had his ups and downs. Got beat a couple of times for bigger gains, had a flag, probably should have gotten another one on a deep ball. But with how much we're blitzing Cro and Revis are being asked to do a lot. He did redeem himself later on when he showed tight coverage on a deep ball. Got confused on crossing patterns a couple of times. Gave up the 2nd touchdown pass. Needs to clean up those mistakes. OLB Pace had a quiet game statistically but I was surprised that he still showed some quickness off the edge late in the game when he beat the LT on an outside rush. Had another QB hit a few plays later. Missed an easy tackle though that cost us a 1st down. S Gilchrist was roaming the middle trying to make a play with receivers crossing routes, sometimes even stacking the box but mostly just lining up deep. Does a great job making sure there are no holes in the secondary. Gets everybody lined up, great communicator, plays clean coverage and is a sure tackler. Again, a great addition. OLB Mauldin missed easy back to back sacks with 3 minutes left. He needs to play with better and more control. I don't know if he's just too excited but he's been missing those easy sacks since the preseason, he has to fix this. It's great that he can get to the QB but obviously getting him down is the next step. He got very upset with himself after the play. Once he gets this fixed the sacks will come in bunches. NT Barnes didn't play much but he looks like a future starter, very promising talent. Impossible to block 1 on 1. He only received a handful of snaps but I think he had a sack over the left guard, I'm not sure if the NFL credited him with a sack there. Also batted down a pass. Would like to see him on the field more often. S Pryor was in the box for the most part as well as some centerfield, showed off great instincts in run support. Glides through the O-Line regularly and makes plays in the backfield like a heat seaking missile. Did a good job in coverage as well on TE Cameron. S Bailey who took over for Pryor because of the injury got beat bad for a TD but was lucky it got called back. Received an earful from Revis shortly after. Made a good tackle in the redzone for no gain when the Dolphins picked on him again. Was 1 on 1 with TE Cameron outside just a play later and the Dolphins went after him again but he showed good coverage in the endzone, forcing an incompletion. ILB Henderson looked a bit lost in coverage as he gave up a few short catches over the middle. He was blitzing a lot, had a nice tackle for no gain in the 4th quarter. Base defense: DE Williams, NT Harrison, DE Wilkerson, OLB Coples, ILB Harris, ILB Davis, OLB Pace, CB Revis, CB Cromartie, S Gilchrist, S Pryor. Nickel defense: DE Douzable, DT Williams, DT Harrison, DE Wilkerson, ILB Harris, ILB Davis, NCB Skrine, CB Revis, CB Cromartie, S Pryor, S Gilchrist. Dime defense: DE Barnes, DE Bowen, ILB Pace, ILB Harris, ILB Davis, CB Williams, NCB Skrine, CB Cromartie, CB Revis, S Pryor, S Gilchrist. Special Teams: OLB Maulin is already one of our best gunners, maybe the best. He also was close to blocking a punt once. K Folk had some nice kickoffs that went deep into the endzone as well as a nice squib quick. Missed an easy FG when TE Davis failed to block his man on the right side. FB Bohanon almost allowed a Dolphin player to block a punt. Missed a tackle on key punt return that got a bunch of yards. DE Williams almost blocked a punt.
First play of our offense sets the tone. Dolphins show a generic 4-3 look, then the safety creeps up and stacks the box. In the 2nd picture you can see Fitz notice the look they give him, he points out the safety and changes the play. Not sure what the original call was, probably a run up the middle. Fitz however goes deep to Marshall instead.
Wow DB Awesome analysis. Really. Thanks for putting this much effort to your OP's. I am too drunk to comment but all around very good write up.
One example of Bohanon completely screwing up. There's a huge hole for him to run through and block at least one linebacker. What does he do? Runs into Giacomini for no reason. Ivory hits the hole, is being met by two linebackers.
The formation we used a bunch of times. Enunwa behind the tackle, Bohanon behind Enunwa, Ivory behind Bohanon.
Picture perfect blocking. Kellen Davis on Cam Wake. Breno & Winters on Suh, Mangold & Carp on Mitchell, Brick 1 on 1 on Vernon. In the 2nd picture you can see the play develop as Winters and Carpenter let go of their guys, get to the 2nd level to take out both linebackers. That's how they drew it up and that's how it played out.
Suh actually showing some sportsmanship for a change. I was shocked. Maybe the kick wasn't intentional after all.
In re: lead blocking, bohanon recently said something like, "ivory only needs a little bit of daylight." I understand his point, But the way he said it, it was like he was downplaying the importance of his own assignment. I didn't like it.
I noticed those screens to Ivory that could have been were both to the right and the successful screen was to the left. Something to keep an eye on.
Where does Bohanon go??? Im trying to find him in the second pic and its like he completely disappeared :S. Any chance of circling him?
Nah, that was a failed attempt to "accidentally" break his thumb. Outstanding breakdowns btw. I love looking at this stuff when it's well presented.
Thank you BH for another time consuming great write up. Appreciate it! Is there any way to post supporting vids as well as stills? Can't get enough of my j-e-t-s!
It's very hard to spot him but he ran right into Winters to help Breno block #79. In the first picture you can see I guess what any decent fullback would have done, no matter what the call was. Maybe Bohanon really was supposed to block #79 but he should have seen that there was no need for that and that there is a giant gap over the LG/C he should have went for instead.
Would love to do that. Unfortunately I don't have any experience when it comes to creating gif files and what the quickest way would be, the best software to get that done and stuff like that. Will read up on it or watch some youtube videos I guess, hopefully that'll help.
Thanks for that. He really is engulfed back there just counting helmets. Hopefully he takes the bye week to get on the same page with the rest of the offensive line and Ivory. Or we bring in someone who is more instinctive at the position. Gotta miss the days of Richardson where we didn't have to worry about the position.
