FanPost

Are The Dolphins Progressing Though?

I heard Tony Sparano say in his post game presser that although the end results of these games have been losses, the team has been showing progress. We ( or most of us) see that Chad Henne looks a lot more comfortable and in control, Daniel Thomas has looked great so far and our passing game has looked a lot more aggressive, but the team is still struggling to do what is most important, scoring TD's and stopping teams from scoring TD's. But lets take a look at the numbers to see what areas are showing progress.....

2010 statistics through 3 games....

PPG. Offense 17

PPG. Defense 17

rushing avg. 112 yds.

passing avg. 207 yds.

rushing against avg. 117 yds.

passing against avg. 193 yds.

3rd down efficiency offense 20/45 (44%)

3rd down efficiency defense 14/39 (36%)

TD's 5

TD's against 6

FG's 5/6 (83%)

times sacked 7

red zone efficiency 4/7 (57%)

2011 statistics through 3 games....

ppg. offense 17.6

ppg. defense 26

rushing yards avg. 129 yds.

passing yards avg. 258 yds.

rushing against avg. 104 yds.

passing against avg. 311 yds.

3rd down efficiency offense 10/39 (26%)

3rd down efficiency defense 16/39 (41%)

TD's 5

TD's allowed 9

FG's 6/9 (67%)

times sacked 11

redzone efficiancy 5/13 (38%)

So obviously the 2 biggest problems have been redzone efficiency going from 57% to 38% and third down conversions 44% to an abysmal 26%. These 2 stats define a good team and a non playoff team. We are moving the ball and getting more oppurtunities in the redzone but doing even less with them. Carpenter has even regressed going from 83% to 67%. The offensive line has given up more sacks too. We've scored the same amount of TD's as last year's "putrid" offense and to add insult to injury, we are giving up more on defense. There really hasn't been much of a progression outside of Henne Maturing, anywhere on the team, Offense is about the same in the end and defense is worse. Another interesting thing is that both Sparano and Henne have said that "we take what the defense gives us", this is not an aggressive attitude on offense. I understand u want to pick your spots with man on man coverage but there comes times in games when u just have to throw it up for your big dog (Marshall) to go get it. Im watching Nfl network and in every highlight, the winning team at some point late in a close game, threw it up to their alpha WR to make a play even if they were double covered. U have to take more risks and for the love of God, throw a screen to bush instead of running him like he's mike alstott.

It's also a sad day when our beloved Dolphins are not favored to win against a Cleveland brown team, everyone predicts and expects the Browns to win and they do (especially in that fashion). No disrespect to the Browns but this is embarrasing for this proud organization and it's fan base. We are the homecoming game for teams now, like when The U back in the day would take on Luisiana st. polytech community college of the arts. We are so bad, they dont even show any highlights of our team on nfl network, its oh by the way browns beat the dolphins 17-16, here's colt mccoy's pass to massaquoi... and thats it, on to the next highlight. I like sparano, i hope and wish he was able to turn this around, if the team isn't progressing, what are u suppossed to do? Well, i guess theres only one thing left to do....Win..The..Whole..F*cking..Thing.... 4454

via www.chicagonow.com

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of The Phinsider's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of The Phinsider writers or editors.