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Whitney Mercilus??
- Thread starter 2slik4u
- Start date
Nawzer
Alienz
That probably had something to do with his injury. The OLB weren't bad, but they didn't play like their usual self today. Hopefully, they'll get better as a unit.
Merci was out there quite a bit in passing situations.
Honestly, Tannehill did a good getting the ball out. I didn't watch a lot of him in college, and really, I thought he was a good looking player.
But when he did hold the ball for a split second too long we had people on his ass.
It's not like dude was sitting back there surveying the field and patting the ball and we just couldn't get to him. He did a good job stepping up and getting the ball out on time.
Honestly, Tannehill did a good getting the ball out. I didn't watch a lot of him in college, and really, I thought he was a good looking player.
But when he did hold the ball for a split second too long we had people on his ass.
It's not like dude was sitting back there surveying the field and patting the ball and we just couldn't get to him. He did a good job stepping up and getting the ball out on time.
Easy cowboy...Im not broadcasting some underlying point here, just an honest question if he played a single snap.
I didnt see him but on the flip side I really wasnt looking for him. I checked the stat sheet and noticed he didnt record any stats so the question begged if he actually saw any game time.
simmer down...
TimeKiller
Guest
Nobody's making THAT much money...
TdotTexas2Step
Rookie
Everyone but Watt had trouble getting penetration today. But at the same time, Mercilus didn't really impress me during preseason. As it currently stands, he still can be a solid rotational guy for us, but not the Defensive Rookie of the Year that one article posted on here predicted.
The OLBs as a whole didn't do much, but Jake Long normally shuts everyone down so now surprise on his side. But you would think we'd be able to get pressure on the right side. How far have we come as a franchise by the way? You would think we lost today by reading the message board and not have won by 20 points.
With a greater team comes greater expectations...but yes, I agree with you. We can probably enjoy our season opening win before we start picking apart our deficiencies (sp.) but on the other hand...who the hell wants to read a bunch of sunshine posts?
Agreed..... I also think this board has some of the most knowledgeable posters around. I was kind of blah about the win too so I'm not one to talk. Like Ellis said in a previous thread, we can play a lot better. You could tell Miami was focused on getting the ball out early too. Its what a Sherman offense does. Merci, Barwin, and Reed will get plenty more opportunities this year to make plays.
Bulls on Parade
2017 Astros: Earn It!
Whitney Mercilus deserves the benefit of the doubt when it comes to being patient. I sort of compare him to Brooks Reed in terms of where I expect him to be from now until the end of the season. Keep in mind that Reed didn't do much after the first game last season. And like Mercilus, he wasn't starting at that point in time.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/gamelog/_/id/13997/brooks-reed
I mean, just look at where Reed was last season after one game. I guess the point I'm making is there's no need to panic. Mercilus is a hell of a player just like Reed. I trust Wade Phillips when it comes to evaluating pass rushers off the edge.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/gamelog/_/id/13997/brooks-reed
I mean, just look at where Reed was last season after one game. I guess the point I'm making is there's no need to panic. Mercilus is a hell of a player just like Reed. I trust Wade Phillips when it comes to evaluating pass rushers off the edge.
No panic here...at all...
We are finally at a point in our teams maturation where we dont HAVE to have our draftees play AND contribute right away. We can finally develop these guys into well rounded football players which I think is the case here with Mercilus. I think the kid is going to be a great addition in Wade's defense and the longer he can learn techniques off the game day field, the better he will be on the game day field.
No panic or busting on him at all...just didnt see him play today which I thought I would have...guess I would have if I wasnt glued to the laptop watching my (3) fantasy teams kick everyone's ass.
GP
Go Texans!
I'm not sure, but I think if we were to really re-analyze the game...we'd see the following:
1. We shut down the pass. How may times did Tannehill and his WRs or TEs really put an ass whipping on our secondary? Maybe the pass to Fasano and the pass to Hartline is all I can recall, otherwise there was no pass game for the Dolphins.
2. If number 1 is true, then this means the Dolphins were possibly max protecting the QB a lot. Keeping a RB in there most of the time, maybe even a TE too. Dolphins putting a premium on keeping Tannehill upright.
3. I have to wonder if the run game was not as planned for by our D as it should have been. As if maybe we were thinking their run game was not as good as it turned out to be today. I just never recall us having that much trouble last season. Something, for some reason, was out of whack today.
The Dolphins were not the old Dolphins. They had discipline, they had confidence. They were a game opponent today. We found a way to overcome some stale play, seize the key opportunities as those were presented to us, and I'm happy with the results.
Does not mean that next week we'll win. I hope that the whole team stares at itself long and hard in the mirror this week, works out the kinks and figures out how to get that fast twitch reaction and that impulse reaction back that it had last year. Things looked like it was happening in slow motion all the way across the board today. Andre Johnson looked like he was playing fast, and OD too, but everyone else looked like they were running in quicksand.
Everybody was on Holliday's jock because of preseason, and I said "If he would be as good as JJ Moses, I'll take mediocre return skills over flash-in-the-pan TDs any day." JJ Moses was here for two years, handled all kickoffs and punts, and only fumbled twice in those two years. A helluva lot of touches and only two fumbles. Holliday has bobbled a kickoff today and it made us start off at the 5 damn yard line. That's unacceptable.
1. We shut down the pass. How may times did Tannehill and his WRs or TEs really put an ass whipping on our secondary? Maybe the pass to Fasano and the pass to Hartline is all I can recall, otherwise there was no pass game for the Dolphins.
2. If number 1 is true, then this means the Dolphins were possibly max protecting the QB a lot. Keeping a RB in there most of the time, maybe even a TE too. Dolphins putting a premium on keeping Tannehill upright.
3. I have to wonder if the run game was not as planned for by our D as it should have been. As if maybe we were thinking their run game was not as good as it turned out to be today. I just never recall us having that much trouble last season. Something, for some reason, was out of whack today.
The Dolphins were not the old Dolphins. They had discipline, they had confidence. They were a game opponent today. We found a way to overcome some stale play, seize the key opportunities as those were presented to us, and I'm happy with the results.
Does not mean that next week we'll win. I hope that the whole team stares at itself long and hard in the mirror this week, works out the kinks and figures out how to get that fast twitch reaction and that impulse reaction back that it had last year. Things looked like it was happening in slow motion all the way across the board today. Andre Johnson looked like he was playing fast, and OD too, but everyone else looked like they were running in quicksand.
Everybody was on Holliday's jock because of preseason, and I said "If he would be as good as JJ Moses, I'll take mediocre return skills over flash-in-the-pan TDs any day." JJ Moses was here for two years, handled all kickoffs and punts, and only fumbled twice in those two years. A helluva lot of touches and only two fumbles. Holliday has bobbled a kickoff today and it made us start off at the 5 damn yard line. That's unacceptable.
TEXANRED
Texan-American
Me. I do. It would be a nice change of pace from the normal.
Personally I love getting 3 and outs on Defense. We were really good about this last year and I want to see us continue that. That would be my only complaint.
On the bright side though I have seen one "Kareem Jackson sucks!" Post yet. Progress after all.
The defense was a mixed bag yesterday. I saw some things that I didn't like, or rather, I didn't see some things that I wanted to see. They certainly didn't "dominate" from a statistical standpoint but I as I was watching the game again I counted 14 hurries, 4 knockdowns and 3 sacks. In 36 dropbacks that is getting pressure on the QB 24 times. The first quarter was pretty bad but after that the defense did what you want. If there was a concern it was the run defense but even that might be a little missleading. That all came on the first two drives (42 yards). After that they did nothing offensively at all Throw in that they only converted 2 (out of 10) 3rd downs.
Once they got it together there were two plays (11 and 13 yards) but he was contained for the majority of the game. In that situation though you are just trying to avoid giving up the long play. I'm ok with them. Tidy up a little bit though and this is still a dangerous defense.
Mike
Once they got it together there were two plays (11 and 13 yards) but he was contained for the majority of the game. In that situation though you are just trying to avoid giving up the long play. I'm ok with them. Tidy up a little bit though and this is still a dangerous defense.
Mike
The Pencil Neck
Hall of Fame
Something I liked were his shows of enthusiasm when the D made plays.
Exactly. I look at results, because in the end, the W or L is all that really matters. But, it's good to look at the details on how we got there, and only giving up a FG for four quarters is never a bad thing.
Texecutioner
Hall of Fame
I thought Kareem Jackson looked really good yesterday.
He was solid..... I meant to say "I haven't seen one", but I'm sure everyone knew what I meant. I think they only completed 9 passes to receivers so I would say it was an effective day for our Corners. On 610 they set his over/under for interceptions at 1.5 so he's well on his way to covering that even if he needed an assist to get it.
michaelm
vox nihili
Somebody correct me if I'm wrong on this because I had a few beers in me at the game, but my impression watching it live was that Wade was calling a fairly vanilla game. I remember thinking that he wasn't showing all of his cards because he didn't need to in order to win the game.
I felt the same way. Almost like he knew they could beat a rookie QB with a simple plan, so no point in giving game film to future opponents.
The second half was a really soft coverage once we were up 21 points, and very vanilla from where we were sitting (Madden view!).
The Pencil Neck
Hall of Fame
I haven't gone back and looked at the game again but I felt that way, too. Sure, we ran some blitzes and brought some pressures but it wasn't too different from what we were seeing in the pre-season.
He definitely didn't pull out all the stops.
Hopefully he can save some stuff up for Peyton so Peyton doesn't have our entire defense on tape to study.
The Pencil Neck
Hall of Fame
I wasn't really paying attention, I guess, and haven't gone back to watch in more detail... but... Mercilus got more playing time than I thought.
He was on the field during Cush's interception. I only realized that because I was watching the highlights on ESPN and saw Mercilus coming into the screen when Cush hit the ground.
He was on the field during Cush's interception. I only realized that because I was watching the highlights on ESPN and saw Mercilus coming into the screen when Cush hit the ground.
El Tejano
Hall of Fame
Especially when you consider how The Dolphins were winning the field position battle for much of the first half.
Actually, I counted 27 pressures.
After the network displayed 2 sacks, 12 Hurries, 5 Knock-downs (QB Hits) and 3 Batted Balls, I counted 5 more situations:
1. The Texans hurried Tannerhill into a quick dump-off.
2. Another QB hurry resulted in an incompletion to the TE Fasano
3. A batted ball by Jamison
4. A safety blitz forced another hurried throw (and incompletion)
5. A sack by Jamison
And don't forget that we stopped Bush twice for a negative 2 yards each, but decided to accept holding penalties.
The Dolphins were also 0-3 on 4th down conversions.
The first quarter fumble by Tannerhill on 3rd and 6 was due on a 6-man blitz (5+Quin); Tannerhill was in a hurry to get the ball so he can get it off quickly to avoid the blitz.
A run blitz allowed Cushing to force a fumble on 3rd and 2.
The Phins were lucky to recover the ball and kicked the FG.
In the second quarter, Watt penetrated into the backfield while A. Smith shut down the other side. This allowed Quin to come in to knock the ball loose from the runner (Manning recovered).
The defense gave us good field positions to score 3 quick first half TDs.
And they didn't allow the Phins to do much in the second half.
I thought that was an outstanding performance.
GP
Go Texans!
Yeah but the Jags and Broncos can easily look at 18 games worth of film on Wade's defense from last year.
How much would Wade deviate from what he did last year? Then again, IIRC he did state that he only installed about 75% of the defensive playbook due to the lockout shortened season last year...so we'll see.