Post-mortem after 2nd loss in 2nd preseason game

Worried about the Dolphins?

Well, it is not exactly time to push panic buttons. But it is time to identify where such buttons are located because another month of this stuff is going to be bad.

"We know we're better than what we've showed," Dolphins quarterback Matt Moore said after last night's 23-17 loss to Carolina, a game which wasn't as close as the score because the Panthers totally outplayed the Dolphins early when the starters were in the game.

"Yeah, we should be a little concerned."

This was a game that was supposed to give clarity to the Dolphins quarterback competition. It didn't. Coach Joe Philbin was asked if he'll be able to go through with his plan of naming a starter for next week and he seemed at a loss for an answer.

"I don't know that to be honest with you," he said. "I really don't."

Nobody was happy with their work. Ryan Tannehill wasn't.

"Obviously, it didn't go the way I wanted it to go but I was excited to ge out there, compete with the guys and I think it's a starting point," he said.

True.

This also is true: As I wrote in my column Tannehill didn't get much help from anyone. Moore, meanwhile, failed to step up when he had the chance.

"We got a lot of work to do," Moore said. "You have to credit Carolina, they came out and played well. But we have a lot of stuff to work on."

The Dolphins ran the ball 12 times for 37 yards Friday night. Yet Philbin wasn't all that concerned about it. He said it has not been a point of emphasis. That's good. But maybe the Dolphins should start emphasizing it a bit.

Because the regular season is coming.

Check out Tannehill below in part of his post-game talk:

Comments

[Clarence]

Texans will be a tough first game. I will consider a victory if they don't totally embarrass us.

[bill connors]

disagree 100 percent clarence. pats score alot and very quickly and win most every game. teams get ball back quickly and always trailing = garbage stats

[Rob in OC]

YG,

You got in mang! The original post said at least 3 years as 3 years which is probably more close to the average of most coaching regimes and not 5 years.

The "at least" part is my caveat of enough with the turn-style turnover already. Bobby12, Craig M and others had preached against turnover for a long time. I just feel that they wanted to hold onto the wrong guys in TS, Henne and Ireland as well.

Philbin will be given 3 years imho as I believe that his time frame will be tied to J.I's. If the Fins aren't getting it done in the next 3 years that will have been more than enough time and changes to coaches, staffs, draft picks etc to properly rebuild the team.

The whole Parcell's partial shield excuse of "he made all the final decisions" would be long in the rear view mirror.

If J.I. doesn't win and go to the playoffs and win a game or two within 3 years...he's done imho. That may be too long for some that say he should have already been fired but Ross seems allied with him at this point.

Cheers,

[Clue]

Clarence the Texans will obliterate us! Let's move on to the Raiders

[Yesterday's Gone]

Clarence,

To the contrary, you may want to rethink yours. The Dolphins defense finished ranked 15th overall. 25TH against the pass and 6th against the run. Dont confuse being ranked 6th against the run to mean we are a top 10 defense. That is so far from the truth.

Dont believe me go to nfl.com and click "team stats" then from the selection box click 2011. Im not pulling this stuff out my ass.

Sometimes, even having a good against the run ranking is decieving. Because its partially due to teams knowing your primary weakness is defending the pass. So they game plan to naturally throw far more than they run the ball. Bottomline, just like last year the defense is having huge isuues getting off the field on 3rd downs. Doesnt matter how youre ranked when this happens. Ity can truly be decieving.

[Clarence]

Clue

Get a clue. The key word in your post was PreSeason. It's meaningless. The bills lost all their preseason games and won the AFC championship several times. Tampa would win them all and lose all their games.

[Rob in OC]

YG @ 2:18... Great quip!!!!

LOL

Cheers,

[Clarence]

Reeling in this conversation back where I started it...

My only point was to disagree and say that we have more than 3 players that would be starters on another team. That is still my opinion. Now many of you are dragging in all kinds of other issues not pertinent to my original rebuttal.

[Yesterday's Gone]

The sign of a really good defense is directly linked to how efficiently do offenses convert 3rd down opportunities against them. Going on this, we were sh!tty last season. Very sh!tty!

[Clue]

Clar,

Dont get your panties in a bunch, Im just looking forward to a 6 and 10 season again, I see nothing that will say otherwise.

[Yesterday's Gone]

Clarence @ 2:31 PM,

Last I checked, the talent level on our roster is light years away from the talent level of those Bills teams going winless in preseason and winning the afc championships.

Having you lost your mind trying to compare the two. You really are related to Jeff Ireland, arent you? LOL

[Clarence]

Haha. No need to worry about my panties Clue. Sounds to me you may have gone too long without seeing any panties.

The attention span here is shorter than a camera flash.

[Yesterday's Gone]

In the championship years the Dolphins had the "no=Name" bend but dont break defense. Now we have the "Nobodys" just keep bending defense.

[Clarence]

Yesterday,

Like the others here, you evade the real point being made and drag in things totally unrelated in the interest of making yourself look right. Have fun.

You conveniently took my statement about preseason (which you know is true, its meaningless) and twisted into being a comparison of us now and the Bills then. Nice try, but even a jury of 4 year olds would see through that.

We have more than 3 players than can start on a good team, and since you can't address that directly, move on. You have my opinion and I have yours on that.

[Yesterday's Gone]

Look at the bright side fella,

Most the time this defense is able to make the opposition work for 5 plays before they allow a score. There your silver lining. LOL

[Clue]

Clar,

With your last post at least we all confirmed you do wear panties :).I'm curious to know who's do you think your beloved Dullphins will do this season?

[Clarence]

What we have now is the break don't bend defense. Bending would be an improvement.

[Clue]

How*

[Yesterday's Gone]

Clarence,

Youre a total homer, run in the dark with your eyes closed sort of naive numb skull.

Just like CRAIGM. You can change your screen name but the idiosy continues to shine thru. CRAIGM! LOL

[Clarence]

Clue,

I'm thinking 5 or 6 wins. We've seen this group is slow to start. They'll eventually be competitive enough to win 5 on a soft schedule.

[Yesterday's Gone]

Clarence = CRAIGM

Cant you tell by now. LOL

[Clarence]

Yesterday

You have issues. Take a pill. Make sure its the right color.

Why are you even here if you can't handle a simple opinion different than yours?

Check that, take two pills.

[bill connors]

i miss the days of surtain and madison locking it down with marion back there. jt and odel rushing passer. thomas plugging the middle. bowens and gardner shutting down the run

[Rob in OC]

Clarence,

I completely disagree that it would be some big "upheaval" to start Moore and then if he is not cutting the mustard in 2-3 games rotate next up which would be Tanny as Garrard is still out most likely.

If Moore wins, then the Fins org wins all around as even if he is not our long term guy we just had a guy learn yet another offense and succeed and he is for sale...hello draft pick(s).

If Moore loses then he got a fair shot and the team will realize he is not the answer (maybe even as a back-up) while still having 13-14 games to earn a playoff spot.

The Tannehill era will usher in regardless by late in the season or next year at the absolute latest.

It's the ultimate sink or swim and in my mind creates a win-win for the Fins.

As a side benefit, if the Fins are loosing with Moore he is probably taking some punishment from sacks. They would be saving Tannehill from some of those shots.

I see your side of the arguement about not wasting the time but it aligns perfectly with a guy playing WR for two years and being "brought along" so to speak.

Just know that I am a HUGE sink or swim and "get the rookie in there playing right away" guy...I agree with you time is precious. With Tannehill's limited experience, this may still be the best way to help him long term without the whole "He has to hold a clipboard for a year or two" crowd going off the deep end.

It will be interesting to see how it all unfolds.

Cheers,

[Clue]

Well Clar at least we both agree on the Wins total.

[Yesterday's Gone]

CraigM has found that so many here are on to his lunacy that he has changed his screen name to CLARENCE.

But the same old CraigM is still shining thru. LOL...

[Yesterday's Gone]

Rob OC,

Youre not talking to Clarence, youre talking to CraigM. Having you noticed the exact duplicate of lunacy shining thru.

You're busted Clarence aka "CraigM" LOL..

[Clue]

The best we can all hope for is Tannehill has a Cam Newton sort of rookie year. I doubt it though since we have scrubs WRs and suspect pass blocking. As far as Philbin someone ask the other day does he even yell? Granpa better speak up if he wants his teams respect.

[Yesterday's Gone]

The odds of a new poster coming here and having the exact same characteristics as CraigM. Is about as small as CraigM actually having a brain.

The gigs up Clarence, you can go back to using "CraigM" now. LOL...

[Clarence]

Well not that I am likely to get a sincere response, but I wonder what the rest of the bloggers think about Yesterdays statement that we only have 3 good enough to start on another team?

Poll

How many of our players would be starters on another team:

a. 3
b. 3

I've chosen c. I'm guessing most here will say b just to go against me :)

[Clarence]

a. 3
b. 3

[Clarence]

Yesterday now you are going awol. Whoa. Nope, I'm not that other guy. Have a nice day. I hope you find many new friends to agree with all your comments.

[bill connors]

whats the benefit of starting moore, name one

[Clarence]

strange, this program doesn't print what i was typing.

3
less than 3
more than 3

Forget it..haha, not worth it

[bill connors]

of our defense 3? id say 4. wake soliai dansby starks

[Yesterday's Gone]

CraigM,

Just as usual, you omit stuff to make your useles point. I said for "GOOD" teams. Its very important not to omit the word "GOOD".

Same old damn CraigM. LOL

[Clarence]

Rob

I see you took your vitamins today. You posted an opinion. I was totally against it and told you why. Then, magically, miraculously, you responded directly to what I wrote. You didn't create any new subjects or distort anything either of us originally said. You just explained why you don't agree with my opinion. It didn't even hurt. No names, no mockery.

So, my response is that I see where you are coming from. It's a philosophical issue anyway with no certain right or wrong answer. I respect your response. Your opinion is not changed and neither is mine. No harm, no foul.

[Rob in OC]

YG,

To be 100% honest I never worry too much about which screen name is who in real life. It's too much of a time sink.

I found out just after arriving to this blog moons ago that it is chuck full of imposters, posers, and multi peronality folks etc. I just parse the blog looking for the screen names and/or posts that I can chat with. LOL, even if it is a Batman alter ego screen name...if it's a good post I'll drop my 2 cents in.

There are a number screen name Sybil's but that's no problem. It's the actual content that matters to me not the screen name.

Cheers,

[Clarence]

bill

The poll was for the entire team, not just d. So you say 4 on d, I'm assuming you think we have at least one on offense. Either way, you are already over 3 which agrees with my opinion that we have more than 3 players that can start on a GOOD team.

[Clarence]

Yesterday

Read Robs rebuttal to me. He totally disagreed with me, but respectfully, no distortions or mockery. Try it sometime. It really is more fun that way.

[Rob in OC]

Big hat tip to you Clarence @ 3:00!!!

A very cool post bro. We will have to wait to see how it shakes out as time marches on. If I was betting, just from the sheer magnitude of pressure from numerous sources as well as the near 50/50 or 60/40 nature of their QB battle I believe Tannehill will be starting day 1.

I simply mapped out what I would do and tried to add my best logic to the point. I feel your method will actually be what transpires though. Good call by you, well done my fellow blogger.

Cheers,

[Yesterday's Gone]

CraigM,

Im done with you fo today. Too much hard work for things literally meaning nothing at all, to one who still will never understand. LOL

[Yesterday's Gone]

CraigM,

Just one last thing. I was so wrong in my thinking. They do teach kids to use computers in special-education classes today. Not to confuse that with the dunber now getting smarter. Ok? LOL

[Rob in OC]

Gotta run gents (and ladies as it were),

It has been a long off season but realistically may be a tough season to get through this year as a fan. I hope the Fins surprise us.

Let's not implode on the board with in fighting.

Cheers,

[bill connors]

offense long,incognito,pouncey maybe

[superPHIN]

Bring on the "in" fighting....what else is this blog good for...sure as heck isnt about how good we expect to be this year..thats not happening

[KozyMotto]

my left nut says we win 3 games this year, my right nut just icthes alot and needs a good scracthing.

My C o c k says is it basketball season yet?

[Jung Li]

DC u r such a tool

[JackSparrow]

Well, if you stack up last years 2 preseason games with this years 2 preseason games and its quite clear.

We regressed...AGAIN!

[Bruce]

I think us Dolphin fans need to be patient.
I know it's been a long time since Marino and the Glory Days.
But You can't expect a new coach to turn this around in 2 pre season games.
I do believe that we've got a QB finally. But lets face it there is only 1 Dan Marino.
If this kid get some time to develop he will be what we've been missing.
I also agree with letting Chad go. and letting Marshall go.

You don't need that kinda BS when you are trying to put a team together.
So lets not jump to conclusions. It's gonna take another good draft and a good free agency pick up to really get to be an elite team.
I believe in Philbin and I don't think Ireland is as bad as we think.
Lets face it Parcell was here when we wasted a 2nd round pick on Pat white.
Last years draft was good and we have QB now.

SO lets give them all a bit of slack people, as long as we compete in every game this year.
Thats all we can ask for with a new Coaching Staff and rookie QB.

GO FINS

[Rick]

They seem to have only one receiver that can get open. 7-11 Hogan! It is a mystery to me why they don't throw the ball to him.

[Fins11]

I feel this is going to be a long season. I agree that joe robbie would be so mad of the way this team has become. And nobody wants to hear about rebuilding. We true have fans have waited long enough. Nothing since 1973. Lets get this thing together or i feel Philbin will be out the door sooner than you think.