/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73721053/usa_today_24483239.0.jpg?w=1200&resize=1200,0&ssl=1 "Eagles-Cowboys Film Review: Jalen Carter is flying under the radar")
Eric Hartline-Imagn Images Well, it appears that this Philadelphia Eagles defense is awesome. This was another fantastic performance, but you have to put a huge asterix next to it because Cooper Rush and this Dallas Cowboys’ offense were absolutely awful. They were not competitive. How bad must Trey Lance be?! Anyway, despite the weak competition, I enjoyed this one a lot. Let’s get into why. (Previously: Eagles-Cowboys offensive film review) Defense I was very critical of C.J. Gardner-Johnson last week, so it’s only fair that I credit him this week. He bounced back and played really well. The first play of the game set the tone for the rest of the game. One thing I really like about this Eagles’ defense right now is the aggresiveness in the flat. They aren’t giving up easy yardage and they are trying to defend every single inch of the field. This is a big difference from previous iterations of this defense. Here’s another example. Cooper DeJean has turned this defense around. He’s the perfect modern day nickel cornerback as he looks like he could play cornerback, safety, or linebacker. He flies downhill with real intensity and aggression and blows up this play in the backfield. However, he does miss the tackle. Rallying to the football is one of the best traits of basically any good defense. Look at the hustle that Nolan Smith and Zack Baun show here to get to the receiver. How good is it to see 3 young athletes combining to make the play. I love this play! This play is going to be my ‘Concept of the Week’ this week, so I’m not going to get into the design of the play. I will, however, point out the absolute star that is Quinyon Mitchell. Defensive rookie of the year? Although it’s really hard for a defensive back to win it without any star plays, real analysts will recognise that he should absolutely be in the conversation. He is going to go up against Terry McLaurin a lot on Thursday night, and a big performance will increase his national profle. He’s been so good. There’s no obvious weaknesses with him and he seems to do everything well already. I don’t know what else to add about Zack Baun. He’s awesome every single week. The Eagles need to sign him as soon as possible because the price tag is increasing. I like to think that I am a realistic, rational sports fan, and I understand the business involved in sports. But I will be furious if Baun ends up on another team next year. The Eagles must pay this guy. I’ve been dreaming of a linebacker like this for years! I’ll get to Jalen Carter later because he’s also awesome, but it’s worth pointing out that he is frequently being double-teamed, and offensive linemen are struggling to get to the second level. This makes it much easier for both Baun and Nakobe Dean to excel. If you think back to the Falcons game, the Eagles were slanting Jalen Carter, which allowed the guards to get to Baun immediately. That isn’t happening right now. Carter doesn’t have the huge sack numbers that other defensive stars do, so he is going under the radar. However, he’s playing extremely well. He was fantastic against the run in this game. Whenever the Cowboys tried to block him with one man, they failed. He blew up multiple runs, and it looked easy for him at times. He’s a star. When the sack numbers start to reflect how good he is, people are going to talk about him a lot more. People often think Fanigo’s defense is easy on the outside cornerbacks, but that is not true. When they play standard quarters (quads/cover 4) coverage against a 3×1 set, the weak safety will always look out for crossing routes from the strong side (this is known as Trix). This means the weak side cornerback and linebacker will also end up one-on-one. In addition to this, there is a lot of room for safety and linebacker coverage. Quinyon Mitchell doesn’t seem to care, though. He covers this well, and I love how aggressive he is at the catch point. He plays the ball so well. This is an outstanding rep. Fangio teaches the gap-and-a-half technique, where the defensive tackle has his main gap but also keeps an eye on the gap next to his. He needs to use this because, with two deep safeties, he needs to ‘cheat’ a gap. Carter plays his perfectly here. Jordan Davis uses a different way of shutting down a gap by just shoving the tackle back into the A-gap! Davis hasn’t taken another jump yet and is pretty much just an early down run defender at this point, but he’s doing it well. He still has a valuable role, even if it’s limited. The route distribution in this game was excellent. I don’t care if you are playing Cooper Rush or Patrick Mahomes; you can still see how the route distribution looks from the All22. In the first month of the season, the Eagle’s route distribution from their single-high zone defense was awful. Remember when they just couldn’t cover a crossing route? These issues seem to be resolved now. Fangio’s defense is complicated and it can take time to perfect, but it feels like this current secondary are running it at at a very high level now. He obviously teaches it very well, to his players and his coaches! It must be very hard for opposing quarterbacks because every single coverage looks identical pre-snap. The Eagles ability to stop the run with a 4-man front is enabling them to line up with this split-safety look pre-snap every single time. The Bryce Huff stuff is interesting. I watched Fangio’s press conference this week and he was adamant that Huff isn’t playing as much because he is hurt. Fangio rarely lies in his press conferences so I am inclined to believe him. It
Eagles-Cowboys Film Review: Jalen Carter is flying under the radar
Zack Baun is NFC Defensive Player of the Week for the first time in his career
Tim Heitman-Imagn Images Philadelphia’s inside linebacker is a total beast. Saquon Barkley is NFC Defensive Player of the Week for Week 10 of the 2024 NFL season, according to an official league announcement. Baun was an absolute BEAST in the Philadelphia Eagles’ win over the Dallas Cowboys. He logged a team-high eight total tackles (three solo), two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, and one tackle for loss. We raved about Baun in this week’s edition of Winners-Losers-IDKs: The thought struck me on Sunday afternoon: is Zack Baun the best Eagles linebacker … ever?! I’m aware it sounds hyperbolic. And, look, I was born in 1991, my memory of watching the Eagles goes back to the early 2000s. But I feel like Baun is the best Eagles linebacker I’ve ever watched. He’s an absolute beast. Really, is there anything he can’t do? Baun has looked great in coverage. So much so that I nearly mistook him for a defensive back the way he gained depth to break up a pass against the Jacksonville Jaguars last week. He’s allowed just a 72.6 passer rating when targeted. Pro Football Focus has him graded as their second-best linebacker in coverage this season … only slightly behind FRED WARNER. Baun is dominant against against the run. He leads all NFL linebackers in defensive stops, which are tackles that constitute a failure for the offense. He has 40. Three players are tied for second with 36 … and they’ve all played one more game than Baun has. Safe to say the Eagles really nailed this free agent signing. Speaking during his Tuesday press conference, defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said Howie Roseman put Baun on his radar … but it was Fangio who foresaw a position change maximizing Baun’s strengths. Q: Zack Baun gives you a lot of credit for helping him become the player that he is this year. What is it that you saw in him that gave you the belief in him? VIC FANGIO: Y’know, I don’t know. When I evaluate players, there’s no check box, things you check off. You just watch the tape, watch the movement patterns, watch the player play. And Howie brought him up to me first, but he had a vision for him as a backup outside linebacker/special teams demon. After I watched him, I said ‘No, I think he’s an inside linebacker.’ Luckily, it hit. Baun is the first Eagles player to win NFC Defensive Player of the Week since Brandon Graham in Week 14 of the 2022 season. Baun is the first Eagles inside linebacker to win NFC Defensive Player of the Week since … Jeremiah Trotter Sr. all the way back in 2005. With the way he’s playing right now, it wouldn’t be surprising if Baun wins this award again before the season is over.
The most-improved NFL teams at every position group in 2024
PFF takes a look atthe most-improved teams at every position group, using the difference in PFF overall grade from 2023 to 2024.
Rams’ Good, Bad, and Ugly: How is this the cheapest defense?
Kirby Lee-Imagn Images Magical defensive effort gets washed away with offensive disappearing act The Los Angeles Rams currently have $190.7 million invested in their offense this year which is the second-highest paid offense in the league, but that unit only put up 15 points on Monday Night Football in a deflating loss against the Miami Dolphins. Meanwhile the league’s cheapest defense did everything they could possible do to keep LA in the game. Defense = Good, Offense = Bad, Losing = Ugly. The Good Rams officially have a top-10 defense PICKED! Christian Rozeboom has it for the @RamsNFL! : #MIAvsLAR on ESPN/ABC : Stream on #NFLPlus and ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/ruREK3xAW7 — NFL (@NFL) November 12, 2024 Sean McVay’s offense once again wasted a magical performance by Chris Shula’s defense on Monday Night Football. The Rams had a total of 10 tackles-for-loss, three sacks, and two turnovers. Jared Verse was an absolute game wrecker once again and was credited with a forced fumble and a recovery while Christian Rozeboom (you read that right) had not one, not two, but three passes defended and an interception that could have easily been two. Omar Speights, the undrafted rookie from LSU, was the lead tackler with eight combined tackles and helped hold De’Von Achane to just 37 yards on 12 attempts. Even the secondary, who many believe to be LA’s weakest unit, didn’t allow a single 100-yard receiver and held Tyreek Hill to just 16 yards and Jaylen Waddle to 34. On paper, Monday’s game shouldn’t have even been close with the defensive efforts put on by one the league’s youngest defenses. If the Rams have a chance to make the playoffs it will be because Shula’s defense is far outperforming all expectations. Joshua Karty is the answer at kicker Joshua Karty : 5/6 FG’s (Career-high 55-yard FG at the end of the 1st half. Accounted for all of the team’s 15 points) pic.twitter.com/Wi6OmkXsRl — Lee Harvey (@MusikFan4Life) November 12, 2024 It is hard not to talk about the kicker in a game where he was the only one scoring for the team… so here we are giving our respect to our rookie special teamer. Karty made five of his six field goal attempts with his only miss coming on a 57-yard attempt that he punched in easily from 52 before a Beaux Limmer false start negated the try. He was good from 34, 55, 53, 22, and 31-yards out. The Bad Matthew Stafford was off Matt Stafford had Kyren Williams wide open and didn’t see him pic.twitter.com/XhJV8erpVF — Tedd Buddwell (@TedBuddy8) November 12, 2024 We will get to the offensive line in a second, but regardless Matthew Stafford looked lost on primetime. He finished the game with a decent stat line (293 yards on 46 attempts) but finished with a QBR of just 77.5 and missed on a number of opportunities in the redzone that could have put his team back into the game. It seems like anytime LA gets in the 10-20 yard range this season Stafford has a knack for throwing the ball into the back of the endzone where no one has a chance to make a play on it. His biggest miss on the night came in the fourth quarter at Miami’s 4-yard line where Kyren Williams came untouched and unguarded out of the backfield and should have been an easy dink-and-dunk touchdown but ended in an incomplete pass to Demarcus Robinson. Kyren Williams fumbles again KYREN WILLIAMS FUMBLES. THE DOLPHINS RECOVER AND TAKE OVER pic.twitter.com/uvuesWMrNz — NFL Retweet (@NFLRT) November 12, 2024 Is it an overreaction to fear that Kyren Williams in Cam Akers 2.0? Akers was becoming a star for LA before tearing his Achilles in the preseason of LA’s Super Bowl season but found a way to miraculously make it back on to the field by the playoffs. He very nearly single-handedly cost the Rams the Divisional round against Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers with two unforgettable fumbles. In just nine games Williams has already fumbled three times which matches the amount of fumbles he had in the entirety of 2023. Blake Corum may get some more opportunities if McVay cannot trust Williams to secure the ball which just feels like Deja-vu all over again. The Ugly Jonah Jackson pic.twitter.com/iKYlUqPDlr — Sosa Kremenjas (@QBsMVP) November 13, 2024 Apart from Rob Havenstein, the Rams offense had all of their weapons back from injury on the offensive line—what did that look like? Stafford was sacked four times, hit six times, the ball batted at the line twice, two horrific snaps, and seven tackles-for-loss. Meanwhile Limmer and Justin Dedich watched their quarterback get harassed after the duo allowed only one sack in three games as starters. Maybe it was rust, maybe it was cohesion, but whatever it was we will learn quickly about how McVay felt about it when the starting lineup is released ahead of their matchup against the New England Patriots on Sunday.
Arthur Maulet breaks down why he’s not a Raven just yet
Arthur Maulet breaks down why he’s not a Raven just yet glenn erby Every player signed or drafted by Baltimore wants to play like a “Raven” or be designated one by fans and head coach John Harbaugh. It’s a title earned, and for Arthur Maulet, he’s not quite there yet in his mind, nor are his head coaches. While addressing the media on Tuesday, Maulet stated, “I’m not a Raven yet,” Last season, Maulet played in 14 games and logged 37 tackles, two sacks, two fumble recoveries, an interception, and five passes defended. The 30-year-old Maulet will compete with Ar’Darius Washington for the slot cornerback role.
The Colts want fans to ‘trust the process’ regarding Anthony Richardson? Really?
Photo by Lauren Leigh Bacho/Getty Images The Colts are “going through a process” right now regarding recently demoted 2nd-year quarterback Anthony Richardson—whatever that means, leaving many fans increasingly skeptical about the organization’s future. Despite poor play from his replacement, Indianapolis Colts head coach Shane Steichen wouldn’t divulge why 2nd-year starting quarterback Anthony Richardson remains benched—only reiterating that the team is ‘going through a process’ (via The Athletic’s James Boyd): I asked #Colts HC Shane Steichen about the vagueness surrounding QB Anthony Richardson: “ … Not ever losing faith or trust in him. We’re going through a process right now and that’s where it’s at.” What does that mean? “Like I said, we’re going through a process. That’s it.” pic.twitter.com/9zgmrxSxou — James Boyd (@RomeovilleKid) November 11, 2024 Beyond NFL Network Ian Rapoport’s article from a few weeks ago, which alluded to his lack of “preparation and attention-to-deal” from an NFL starting quarterback, very little else has been leaked publicly about the real reasoning behind Richardson’s recent demotion—more so just increased speculation by national talking heads stemming from that initial report. Perhaps being ‘too casual and lax’ with the Colts starting quarterback job reached a boiling over point when he infamously ‘tapped out’ during the 3rd quarter of Week 8’s narrow road loss to the Houston Texans—as he was benched immediately thereafter. Whatever the real reasoning is, Richardson’s benching doesn’t appear to be performance-based, as Steichen indicated on Monday that he would’ve admittedly helped against the Buffalo Bills in short yardage situations compared to the nearly immobile Joe Flacco, but still didn’t see the field during an otherwise close game—without disclosing exactly why. Initially, it was because Flacco provided “the best chance to win right now.” That has since been debunked, as after consecutive starts (*and any hope of improved passing game accuracy and efficiency), Flacco has committed 6 total turnovers over that same span with putrid advanced offensive stats—looking every bit his old football age: Joe Flacco’s Turnover EPA per 100 Snaps: -21.2 Anthony Richardson’s Turnover EPA per 100 Snaps: -17.7 https://t.co/SDv4MbHmwr pic.twitter.com/y72Qnphi20 — The 33rd Team (@The33rdTeamFB) November 10, 2024 The Colts have since pivoted a bit on, “the best chance to win right now,” to the “best chance to win now . . . because of his veteran leadership.” The Colts are obviously wanting to hit the ‘reset button’ on Richardson by having him start from the beginning again—meaning there will be no cut corners regarding this attempted learning lesson, and he’ll have to actually earn the QB1 job again, whenever that may be. They reportedly aren’t giving up on his future with the Colts, but being a benched former top quarterback first round pick significantly clouds—and even impedes, his possible track to reach franchise quarterback status with the Colts. It’s just hardly ever happened in the NFL historically—let along for a work-in-progress passer who admittedly needs the reps. Despite once clinging to the final AFC wild card spot with Richardson, the Colts have fallen to the AFC’s #8 seed after two consecutive losses under the struggling veteran Flacco—and are now on the outside looking in. While the Colts are very much still in the AFC playoff hunt, especially with a Week 15 road game against the AFC’s #7 seed, Denver Broncos, coming up on the docket, what’s the real reasoning for any confidence right now? This team has shown some occasional flashes, but not enough to consistently win games against the good to better NFL teams these days. They’ve mostly beat up bad opponents. They’re in the hunt because no one has separated themselves among the fellow ‘middle of the pack’ AFC teams, while the Colts are clearly trending downward these days among such still playoff hopeful competition (*which includes Joe Burrow’s Cincinnati Bengals). If the benching was indeed to send a message to Richardson to take the QB1 job more seriously and put in the extra time, work, and preparations both on-and-off the field, then shouldn’t a two-game benching be adequate enough—especially if he’s reportedly already changed his behavior and actions in response to the recent demotion? The Colts have been candidly vague publicly about the real rationale for Richardson’s benching and seemingly want the Horseshoe faithful to “trust them” on this one, again. However, Colts fans trusted them on Carson Wentz. We trusted them on Matt Ryan. For the better part of a year and a half, patience was consistently preached that all Richardson needed was more experience and reps. What exactly changed from a singular tap out? Instead of a brief teaching moment, it’s seemingly become an indefinite banishment. Starting a young quarterback only to yank him indefinitely the first sign of choppy waters? Trust you? Why should we, again? “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times, shame on both of us.” -Stephen King To be honest, this current front office regime has shown, “It knows quarterbacks,” to-date, as much as the average Colts fan knows how to adequately fly a spacecraft or perform brain surgery. Since Andrew Luck retired, it’s seemingly a new proposed answer at starting quarterback almost every year for the Colts. Every year! He retired after 2018! That was six years ago! You try to give them the benefit of the doubt, but at a certain point, results matter! Richardson may not be a significant upgrade to Flacco right now, but his elite dual-threat mobility would at least open up running lanes for the Colts ground game, while also providing escapability in the pocket when the pass protection breaks down. I also feel like he would’ve committed less turnovers than Flacco did over his past two starts. I mean honestly he’d be hard-pressed not to. At the very least, the Colts would be providing Richardson critical game day reps, which is something that he desperately needed up until two weeks ago—but seemingly now won’t be obtained anytime soon due to an apparent “lack of preparation.” The Colts organization would be able
Raiders rookie watch after bye: Brock Bowers is balling
Brock Bowers | Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images How has the draft class fared in first half of season? Let’s look at how the Las Vegas Raiders’ rookie class fared in the first nine games of the season before the bye and what it means heading into a Week 11 road game at the Miami Dolphins. Kickoff is at 10 a.m. PT. Brock Bowers: The No. 13 overall draft pick has been one of the best rookies in the NFL regardless of position. The Georgia product is on pace to be a first-team All-Pro. He is the Raiders’ best offensive player already and a major building block. He has 57 catches for 580 yards and two touchdowns. He became the first rookie tight end to have, at least, eight catches in three straight games. He has 47 catches this season, which is the most ever by a rookie tight end after seven games. Jackson Powers-Johnson: The second-round pick from Oregon has started six games after getting healthy. He was up-and-down in five starts at guard and has penalty issues. But he had perhaps his best game of the season in Week 9 when he started at center for an injured Andre James. Scouts have thought center is his best NFL position and he showed glimpses of that. He could end up there on a full-time basis soon. D.J. Glaze: The third-round pick started for the injured Thayer Munford, but then he has kept the game because performance. He has started six games. The Maryland product has not been perfect, but he looks like he could be a long-term starter. Decamarion Richardson: The fourth-round pick missed the first five games with a hamstring injury. He got his first major defensive playing time in Week 9 and was impressive. He should get plenty of chances to play down the stretch, Tommy Eichenberg: The fifth-round pick from Ohio State has been active for five games as he has dealt with injuries. He has mostly been a special teams player when active. Dylan Laube: The sixth-round pick has ben active just three times and he has been inactive for the past three games. He fumbled his only rush attempt and hasn’t played since. The Raiders were excited about the New Hampshire product in training camp, but it may take take to develop. Trey Taylor: The seventh-round pick missed six games with a knee injury. He has been active twice and played on special teams. He was inactive in Week 9. Not on roster Seventh-round pick, cornerback M.J. Devonshire was cut and is on the practice squad. Taylor may be ready to play soon. Undrafted free agents: Linebacker Amari Gainer, defensive tackle Jonah Laulu and safety Thomas Harper. Gainer is a core special teamer. Laulu, claimed off waivers from the Indianapolis Colts right before the season, is a rotational player at defensive tackle. He’s a part of the defense, especially with Christian Wilkins out. Harper is mostly a special teamer but he does get some defensive snaps.
What we learned from the Bills’ Week 10 win vs. Colts
What we learned from the Bills’ Week 10 win vs. Colts What we learned from the Bills’ Week 10 win vs. Colts Kam Towle The Buffalo Bills continued their 2024 schedule with a Week 10 win over the Indianapolis Colts, 30-20. The Bills (8-2) needed a full-team effort to come away with the road win at Lucas Oil Stadium. The defense forced timely turnovers and Tyler Bass made some difficult kicks to help out a slow-starting offense. The Bills have now won five straight as they enter the year’s second half. As the season unfolds, we are learning more and more about this year’s Bills team. Here are five things we learned from Week 10’s win over the Colts: A historic start Imagn Images The Bills’ 8-2 record is their best mark through 10 games since 1993. In what was considered a “rebuild” year by some media members, and a “transition” year by the Bills front office, they’ve gotten out to their best start yet under head coach Sean McDermott. The meat of their 2024 schedule is coming up, starting with a Week 11 clash against the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs. We’ll see how the Bills fare over their final seven. Turnovers set the tone USA Today Sports A big reason why the Bills have gotten off to a historic start is their ability to cause turnovers. Through 10 weeks, Buffalo leads the NFL in turnover differential at +13. That is four better than second place. The Bills are second in total takeaways, third in fumbles recovered, and fifth in interceptions. Buffalo turned over the Indy offense four times on Sunday and scored 17 points off turnovers, with seven of those points coming from a pick-six by cornerback Taron Johnson. Tyler Bass shining after game-winner Getty Images The game-winning 61-yard field goal against the Miami Dolphins in Week 9 has seemingly boosted Bass’ confidence. In Week 10, Bass was a big factor in the Bills win. He was a perfect six-for-six on kicks. Bass made three field goals and three extra points. Bass made field goals from 28 yards, 29 yards, and 47 yards. Also, one of his extra points was from 48 yards out after a penalty. Pass rush shows life Getty Images The Bills got home for a sack four times against Indy, which was their most in a game since Week 3 during the blowout win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. They only had one in each of their last two games. It’s been an area of struggle for the Bills for much of the year. Their pressure rate of 32.4% ranks 22nd in the NFL this year according to Next Gen Stats. In Week 10, Greg Rousseau, Taron Johnson, AJ Epenesa, and Quinton Jefferson all had a sack. Offense lifted by defense, special teams Imagn Images The Bills had a complete team win in Week 10. The offense played well for the most part, but they did start the game slow and had a couple of turnovers. Luckily for quarterback Josh Allen and the offense, the defense forced four turnovers and held QB Joe Flacco and the Colts to just 36% on third downs. The special teams came through as well. It wasn’t just Bass who had a great day, Sam Martin had a booming punt to pin Indianapolis back. Both of his punts landed inside the opponent’s 20.
Poll: Does Joe Schoen deserve to continue as New York Giants GM?
Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports He expects to Joe Schoen offered a simple, declarative “Yes” when he was asked during his bye week press conference on Tuesday if he expected to be retained as New York Giants general manager after this season. “I communicate with ownership all the time. I know Dabs [head coach Brian Daboll] talks about that continuously each time these questions come up,” Schoen said. “And we have a really good relationship with ownership, and we communicate constantly with them. And there’s confidence in the plan and where we’re heading.” Should Schoen get a fourth season to continue trying to build the Giants? Vote in the poll below and let us know how you feel about that? “We’re not far off” Schoen said on Tuesday. His argument despite the Giants’ 2-8 record this season, and their 6-11 mark in 2023, is that there is a good nucleus of young players and a good group of young-ish veteran leaders in place. That the Giants, 1-5 in one-score games, could be in a much different place this season had they made a couple of plays in at least some of those games. “We have 19 of 22 starters under contract for next year. I believe it’s 41 players on the 53 (man roster). So, there is a young nucleus of players here, and some veterans, that are going be together,” Schoen said. “We’re finally in a position where there will be some continuity year over year. “I’m excited about the young players that we have. The build’s tough. It hurts sometimes as you’re going through it. But, you got to go through it to get to the other side. I like the young foundation that we’ve put in place … There’s some young pieces here in place in terms of the foundation that we’re going to continue to build on. Another year of free agency and another draft, we’re not far off. We’re not far off.” In my view, Schoen — and by extension Daboll — should be given more time. Both the GM and head coach have made mistakes, but the 2024 rookie class is outstanding and it’s hard to argue that the overall talent on the roster and the organizational structure have not improved since 2022. While there are other issues, finding a difference-making quarterback remains the biggest one. And the toughest one to solve. The next seven games might change my mind, but right now I believe the GM and coach deserve a chance to try and identify and develop that quarterback. What, though, do you think? Vote in the poll below.
Five Things I Think I Think About the Miami Dolphins – Week 10
Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images meliorate (verb) – to make better Hey all you cats and kittens! Remember? Tiger King? Whatever, shut up. I’m out of Dolphins related intros. Strong starts are becoming a theme Unlike this article, Miami started strong again on Monday night, in prime time. The Fins’ offense came out hot against the Rams with a 5 play, 70 yard touchdown drive and the defense backed them up right away with a 3 and out. Then, the offense, much like a thing with a weak middle, had a weak middle. Man, I am not used to coming up with stuff after wins. I don’t care for it. Thankfully, the defense kept their momentum going, restricting St. Louis to drives of 6 plays or fewer on all but one first half drive (nabbing an INT and forcing a fumble along the way, to boot) en route to two field goals by halftime. The offense was again shot out of a cannon to start the 3rd quarter, going 53 yards on 6 plays for another touchdown. How can I find a negative in this? I guess I can ask: Are they becoming a scripted offense? Is that a thing? They seem to do really well on their opening drives, i.e. ones that could possibly be scripted and then just okay on the remainder. Could it be that Mike McDaniel isn’t decisive enough when calling plays that aren’t pre-planned? The calls do get in late sometimes and blowing timeouts sure seems to be scripted. That said, I’m not going to get bogged down in criticism after a win. I’ll just say that if the opening drive(s) offense showed up every drive, why, they’d score 70 points against the Broncos. Tua showed some escapability A big knock against one Tubert Tagovailobert is his supposed immobility in the pocket. Now, I watched Ryan Tannehill get wrecked like a freshman at the first frat party of the year every time he put on a Fins uniform, so I know what immobility looks like. (In a magnificent example of Dolphins’ coaching prowess, he started his career extremely mobile and they taught that out of him immediately). Tua isn’t exactly Lamar Jackson with his legs, but he can make some nice moves here and there and Monday was a little here and a little there. He extended a couple of plays with his feet and made some great throws outside the pocket. Then there were the times where he seemed to stare at the defender from 10 yards away, wait patiently for him to get up to speed, drop the needle on a vinyl copy of Chariots of Fire, and get blasted into the stratosphere. I’m not sure why he’s so boom-or-bust on working the pocket. He either looks like Jon Heder in Blades of Glory or the mom in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? Ask your parents. He also made a ridiculous choice to try to tackle Rams linebacker Mumford Andsons after an interception, receiving a knee to his famously fragile head for his trouble. Tua’s not perfect (a slogan built for t-shirts), but it’s nice to see him manage a collapsing pocket and look a little more like the mobile QBs he’s compared against. Even if it’s only some of the time. Pass catchers are floundering a bit “Why do you always have negative things to say after a win?”, you ask, wasting both of our time. Because I have nothing but hate in my cold, dead heart and it’s in the shape of a dolphin wearing a football helmet. Buy me therapy about it. I rag on Julian Hill a lot, but that’s only because he deserves it. He’s like Eustace Scrubb in that way. Ask your parents. Just to prove that J-Hill isn’t the only J-man who could stand to improve, Jaylen Waddle dropped a freebie and Jonnu Smith, well, he actually looked just fine. But to prove that J-Hill isn’t the only Hill who can underperform, Tyreek Hill caught 3 whole passes for 16 whole yards. Yes; one was a touchdown. Yes also; that was his first since Week 1. Malik Washington seems better than OBJ, but that’s a low bar so far. But it’s something. For such a vaunted and capable passing attack, Miami’s pass catchers have been nearly M.I.A. this year, it feels. Maybe it’s just the mismatch of reality to expectations, but I really hope to see them turn it on like we all know they can. Julian Hill too. Defense is defending Okay, here it is. Just plain old good stuff. The defense. After being pretty paltry the last two weeks, Anthony Weaver’s group got it together (with help from returning stalwarts Zach Sieler, Kader Kohou, and Jevon Holland). They stifled the Rams ‘Greatest Show on Paper Only, Since about 2001’ (consciously ignoring 2019 and 2022), holding them to 15 points off of 5 field goals. You’ll note: that’s 0 touchdowns. Quarterback Matthew Stafford was hit 6 times and sacked 4. Chop Robinson seems to be finding his footing a bit, getting his second sack in as many weeks, adding 2 QB pressures, and a TFL. Sieler wreaked havoc and Calais Campbell continued to tell the Grim Reaper to shove it, making his presence felt. The secondary had some injury issues with Kendall Fuller missing time, as well as Kohou briefly. Cam Smith got meaningful reps as a result, which should only help in the long run. Jordan Poyer is still out there, though. So. Can’t win ‘em all. But they did win this one. Mostly because of the defense. The climb is still steep So we’ve made it. The Dolphins won, they’re heading to the playoffs, and the Superbowl is imminent. Or. Miami has to basically win out just to squeak into the postseason. However, I’ve seen this story play out before. Teams with good rosters and bad streaks strike it hot at the exact right time and noodle their way into history. It’s not
