Game Thread: Miami Dolphins - Baltimore Ravens Game Thread

[cards_fins1]

I don't know but I bet that if that was Tanny it would have been a fumble. They were all over the Fins on the BS calls. I also forgot the push off by smith on a big 3rd down conversion. The ravens got a lot of big plays from calls. I don't normally bring this up but it was blatant yesterday...

You're absolutely right Flyer, I've read several articles depicting how 'one sided' the officiating was in the game. I've heard it said so many times in the past-and I too believe it-penalties USUALLY even themselves out throughout the game. Yesterday, that never happened. Virtually any and all 'game-changing' penalties went against Miami and seriously aided in Baltimore's dismantling. Now, I will also say this: Good teams make their own luck. Good teams tend to have penalties/situations go their way throughout ballgames. Good teams don't ever have to use 'penalties' as an excuse for losing close ballgames. This truly has become the EPITOMY of the Miami Dolphins. Even WHEN officials completely screw this team over for real, it comes off as 'sour apples' because this team has been irrelevant for going on forever.

 

[FlyerFinFan]

Here's a comment from a pretty good poster on DolphinsTruth. It's basically all the things that I said on Sunday but didn't have the time to type. I'm just glad that I'm not the only guy thinking this stuff. I also hate blaming the refs but in a close game with all the injuries they have getting screwed call after call takes you out of the game. Yes some was self inflicted and if they were a better team they may be able to overcome this but why should any team have to? You know if brady was knocked down well after a pass there would be a flag...guaranteed. Pats fans don't have to worry about that shit. I'm sure that we'll see lots on Sunday especially in NE.... Anyway read below it's long but detailed and makes you understand how bad it really was:

PhinsUp
December 8, 2014 at 9:35 pm

I just re watched the game and here is my careful analysis.

We will pick this analysis up with the score 10 to 0 when things started to go I-95 South.

2nd and 10 with 5:28 left to play in 2nd quarter. Tannehill extends play and makes brilliant throw to Wallace for big gain. Called back on another intelligible man down field penalty. Okay so our players did extend past the line of scrimmage before he threw. My question is unless your an official looking to call that and not watching for other penalties, how could this have been called so many times? I wonder if I analyze the Ravens offense if I find them getting away with this multiple times. Its a difficult penalty to call and why it so rarely is.

Next: Missed block assignment on 2nd down caused strip sack
3rd and 26 screen pass called on next play? On 3rd and 26? huh? Punt.

Ravens 1st and 10 on their own 2 yard line. Watch closely Jelani Jenkins. I like him too but rewatch in slow motion. He moved right leaving that huge hole
wide open up the middle for Flacco to run through. There was no reason to do this but he must have seen something that wasn’t there.

Later on:2nd and 5 Forsett’s run . Reshad Jones is blocked in the back by number 39 or would have tackled for marginal gain. Penalty not called.

2nd half

Start the half with 2 false start penalties then the 2nd ineligible man down field is called. Even the announcers
disagree and state we never crossed the 30 yard line. We went from 1st and 10 to 1st t and 15 and finally to 1st and 20.

2nd down and 20 Screen pass to Wallace? hmmmn okay got about 9 yards.
after the play tannehill is yelling at somebody before the huddle. He’s pissed about something.

Next play is a decent pass but falls short of 1st down because unlike our defense. The Ravens tackle on first
contact most of the time.

Another ineligible man down field call on the punt.

Commentators suggest Harbaugh has campaigned for this call and it seems they are giving it to him.

Ravens ball 2nd and 7. Intentional grounding. Didnt look to me as if he had escaped the pocket as is the requirement.He threw while still between the hash marks and only moved to his left about 6 feet from center. But our guys get ineligible man down field calls if they are an inch too far up field.

3rd and 7 next play. Jimmy wilson gets beat watching the qb instead of his receiver for a 1st down. I dunno here and someone correct me if im wrong. But this tactic is bad b/c the receiver was behind wilson and could have run up further and gained even more space for a longer yardage catch. I get doing this if the receiver is in front of you but behind?

Our next drive after Baltimore scores making it 14-10.

3rd and 3 on the 49 yard line 4:16 left in the 3rd quarter.
Wide open screen pass to damian williams with more yardage potential than needed for the first down. Tannehill looks right at him then looks downfield and gets sacked. It appeared as if Damien Williams was first in his progression. This is pocket presence and decision making and is on Tannehill. Watch the play. It was a sure 1st down and this sack was a huge turning point of the game. Tannehill has regressed back to his previous years habits of failing to respect the pass rush.What happened to the pump fake to slow the rush down? What happened to the quarterback that played so incredibly vs Denver? Pass protection? not this time. Yes Dallas Thomas blew it. BUUUUUT. If you know your lineman are playing badly YOU have to account for that and be ready to compensate and adjust. I hated doing this in my sports time but its inevitable that your game is partially controlled by the inadequacies of your team mates. Tannehill WTF! THIS ONE IS ONE YOU PERIOD.

Fast forward: Ravens ball 3rd and 10 from their own 6 yard line. 2:22 left in the 3rd quarter. Flacco sacked in the endzone for a safety which wasn’t awarded to us. Watch the play in slow motion, knees down AND ball still in the endzone and NOT across the plane. NO CHALLENGE WHY? Further WHY wasn’t this originally called a safety to begin with? He fell foward after his knees were down. SAFETY period. Even Mike Carrey the officiating expert said it should have been a safety. I will say this again for effect. NO CHALLENGE WHY?

Punt by ravens then Awesome play by charles clay to get us to the 4 yard line.

1st and goal: Predictable run up the middle even though that choice wasnt working much lately. Tackle for 7 yard loss. Its too obvious there. Play action or run around to left or right. Up the middle? CMON

2nd and 11 on the Ravens 11. False start shelly smith. 5 yards

2nd and 16. What? Pass into the endzone to Mike Wallace = No effort to catch it . Okay okay so possibly the ball was un catchable in bounds. But if he had caught it and still was ruled out. What kind of morale effect would that catch have for our team and the Ravens? Even catches called out scare the opposition and effect their play calls. I feel the ball was catchable given Mike Wallace’s athletic talent and resume of big time catches in the past. How does this effect tannehill’s confidence in Wallace?

3rd and 16. Nobody blocks CJ Mosley. Tannehill is sacked. There is clear dysfunction creeping in at this point and its been brewing for most of the 2nd half. This is either execution or play calling. How does this happen when he lines up on scrimmage and nobody picks him up? If I were Dion Sims I would have atleast looked behind me to see if someone was handling that necessary block or assessed the O-lineman formation for insight. Why isnt this coached? Things go wrong all the time and the players who have a chance to save plays are not told to or dont care enough to insure it doesnt go wrong. Again this is called situational football, allow or coach the players to adapt even if it means abandoning the play. There are certain fundamentals for every play to succeed. These important aspects can be instituted and emphasized. This allows a team to adjust on the fly and just get it done no matter how. This play is a crucial window into the deep mechanics operating our team. Too much robotics and adherence to detail which can be summarized as Over Coaching. The play being run accurately over rides the necessities in plain view. I lean on the side of coaching issues here. Dion probably had a feeling but wasn’t coached to pick up CJ if he saw a troubling look and instead ran his route.

4th and 16 Caleb Sturgis FG. Really when you get the ball at the 4 yard line? The definition of our team. Almost but not quite good enough.

Ravens ball on the Dolphins 49 Yard line pass to Steve Smith for 1st down. Watch the play. Obvious push off on grimes caused him to fall to his knees. He even used both his arms to do it separately. No Offensive PI call.
Again no significant penalties called against Baltimore. This trend continues.

1st and 10 Ravens ball from Dolphins 31 yard line. Busted coverage, Tight end wide open for a big catch. Who was covering? Wheeler. They took the bait off a fake hand off and were out of position to defend.

1st and Goal Ravens. Run up the middle and hits a wall of dolphin defenders. Apparently they didnt learn a lesson from us here. When its blatantly obvious it probably wont work and it didnt.

2nd and Goal . Flacco is sacked with a fumble which is overturned afer review. Yes his arm was moving forward but the impact of wake was to Flacco’s upper arm causing Flacco’s arm to move forward involuntarily. If something strikes the mid area of your arm what happens? Your elbow collapses and your arm moves in the direction of its natural bend. Watch in slow motion you will see this should have been upheld as a fumble. Seems the reviews or lack thereof always favor the Ravens even though this one was close. His arm was in a backward motion when hit and when the ball comes out not forward. His empty hand was the only thing moving forward at this point. Even the announcers say his ARM was moving forward and I agree but it didnt have a ball attatched to it. Its a fumble.

3rd and goal. Easy run in for a touchdown. Demoralized the surrender was complete even if our offensive unit didnt know our defense had given up. The fake handoff slowed our advance on the play just enough to keep the hole open for the score. Why when it was so obvious!

 

[FlyerFinFan]

Part 2:

1st and 10 dolphins ball. Dallas thomas gives up a sack. He leaves his feet too much and plays too high. Allows rushers to control him predictably upon first contact. Once they realize they are dictating his blocking style they use that to put him into bad spots physically. Then seize the opening. He needs to play lower and his feet need to be closer to the ground and behind his center when adjusting. Use your waist and legs to twist and less 2 leg hops to gain leverage. Attack the mid section by lowering your legs and facing slightly downward while keeping your arms outstretched and engaged. If you play up high and your legs underneath you even for a slight moment, you cant oppose a rusher waiting for you to do that. I know this and never have played football except for games as a child in someones back yard.

2nd and 14. We obviously cant protect tannehill but refuse to run here. We should have and avoided a near interception. What about this game up to this point told us Lamar Miller couldnt get us some yards. NOTHING. And what about Charles Clay? He just had an excellent play earlier and appears to have excellent YAC ability.

3rd and 14 . 8 yard pass to Miller. Obvious ruffing the passer which was not called. I sense bias! A reff was within 5 yards and looking directly at Tannehill from directly behind. Even the announcers thought so. Isnt this Goodell’s team? Ive heard this rumor before and recall briefly watching them play the Steelers and the extremely questionable calls against Pitt when Baltimore were trying to score within the 5 yard line. Another drive sustaining penalty not called.

Next play. Punt by Dolphins. Illegal block in the back called against Baltimore. See guys this is how you keep your credibility while screwing the other team if your a referee. Non calls on crucial penalties but to make up for it, call something else later to maintain the appearance of neutrality on a play that matters little.

Ravens drive the nail in the coffin. 2nd and 10 after a stop for no gain. Forsett’s 44 yard run. Reshad Jones is out of position and cant tackle him within 5 yards. Instead has to chase him down. But more importantly holding from baltimore player 81 on cameron wake. Of course it wasnt called. Watch in slow motion if you dont believe me. And I ask this. How many times can the officiating and lack of offensive performance go on until frustration and hopelessness take over the mentality of a defense that knows in its heart and soul it is better than its opposition? This is that point folks. And the rest is history.
Reasons why we lost.

Lack of Offensive creativity. We failed to adjust to their adjustments and abandoned the run with little indication it needed to be. Play calling/coaching cost us dearly. What was odrick upset about while standing on the sideline? Well if we were on offense during those exchanges, then we all know. BTW in the post game interview with Odrick he almost lost composure and started crying. You can hear his voice stammer and see his eyes start to swell. This man has HEART and his love for the game is far beyond NFL pro status and the huge salary he gets. I looked for emotional people like him when I would recruit players. Even if they sucked bigtime it was only a matter of time before they became great. Odrick is one of those people. And he isnt petty so for his emotions to come out like that indicate something significant was nagging at him until he couldn’t keep quiet anymore.

Obvious issues with Pass protection which I just cant in good conscience acquit Tannehill of anymore. He’s done the crappy O-Line routine before and should have a sense for it. However, if hes over coached to follow the game plan and forget improvisation then possibly his performance isnt his fault. Who knows! But what happened to his near prodigal mobility in games past especially the Denver game which I feel he played better than Manning? Rare pump fakes in this game and even when it was obvious the pocket was unpredictable, he still stayed there like a sitting duck. Tannehill you need get it done and consider the play as a guide not a blueprint.

Officiating: Calling meaningless penalties against Baltimore but nothing significant. Nothing to stop a their drive and nothing to sustain ours. BIAS favoritism. Its a tall order to overcome that disadvantage.

Defensive frustration: Trying to hard to get back on track and impress with stops. Just embrace the fact that there is plenty of tape to study for your opponent. Shift into management mode and less on trying to regain your former place as a stingy defense. A win is more important than your identity and reputation. Didn’t you learn that from the Jets game?

Injuries: We are depleted to an alarming degree and it has much to do with the intensity and heart our team is playing at. There are only so many adjustments and schemes we can do to address this. Baltimore had the luxury of sticking the run and picking on our secondary when we shut the run down. This was obvious in their body language and execution. They were never worried or hurried and knew it was a matter of time before this game became theirs. Our lack of offensive production was a constant re assurance and gradual morale foundation for them to take the game away.

Thanks for reading my long post. Its been therapeutic for me. Now I understand the formula for this loss. If your not getting out of your own way, you cant overcome injuries and reffing bias. All Baltimore needed to do was play an average game. They did just that and didnt make any huge mistakes.

Whats the most significant problem? I feel its overcoaching and the absence of 2 way conformity between the players and the plan. Its one way and at times that direction can be shown in sad evident plays which could have but didn’t go our way.

Comments....what do you think?