FanPost

Monday Roundup: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly.

We are all pretty excited Miami not only came out victorious, but they did so against their biggest competition for the postseason. There are many takeaways from this game. Most of them are good and a few of them are bad. Overall, there is a lot to like. It's only week one and that is the easiest week to upset an opponent so we shouldn't get too high on Miami just yet.

The Good:

The Offensive Line - This unit did a great job yesterday in both pass protection and run blocking. They weren't pushed around a lot and provided enough pass protection. Vince Wilfork said after the game New England knew what Miami was doing with their inside zone runs, but they couldn't stop it. A comment like that is a testament to Miami's offensive line. Last year their offensive line was just that - offensive. They're off to a good start this year in proving these aren't the same guys.

Knowshon Moreno - He deserves as much credit as the linemen in front of him. Moreni was quick and decisive to hit the lanes, the biggest necessity in a zone system. Not only was he quick to hit the crease, but he did it with power. He was not getting pushed back and was tough to come down. This is how good power RBs make their yards. When they are hit after 3 yards, they find a way to push forward and fall forward, turning a 3 yard gain into a 5 or 6 yard gain.

Mike Wallace - It was far from a perfect game for Mike Wallace as he could've done a little better, but he did make Darelle Revis look remarkably human much of the game. He could've done even more if there weren't two more missed opportunities for a score.

The Defense - I can single out Cameron Wake and he would be deserving of being singled out, but the entire defense did well this week. Last year the offensive line held meetings at strip clubs. Yesterday, the defensive line held meetings over Tom Brady. Wake made big plays for sure, but the entire front seven was getting to Brady with consistency. They made it hard for Brady to move the chains for New England, especially in the second half. The secondary also did a good job in coverage against New England. Julian Edelman was the only target for New England that provided consistent production. Will Davis did an especially admirable job, allowing 3 catches for 22 yards, as Brady tried and failed to pick on him. The second year CB was targeted 12 times and held his own.

Special Teams - It's hard to ask for much more out of the special teams. They blocked a punt to set up a Miami touchdown and Jarvis Landry did a quality job on his kickoff returns, returning one for 29 yards and the other for 28 yards. What I liked about Landry's returns was that he ran tough. He didn't try and dance around, often leaving yards on the field. He ran tough and decisive, earning every yard he could. He was the same returning punts as he took what he could and helped Miami's field position by not trying to dance around. He certainly looks like he's going to be a tough guy to tackle because he's not afraid of contact on ST play. Miami was good on punt coverage, but their kickoff coverage could use some work. Caleb Sturgis did a good job on kickoffs and he did what he needed to on field goals, going 4-4, though all of those kicks should be expected kicks he should make.

Third Down Offense - This is what will help Miami become a much better team. It kept their defense fresh, wore down New England's defense, and kept drives alive. Miami was 7-13 on third down. This is due to the offense being in much better third down situations than we were accustomed to seeing last year. Much of these third down situations were less than five yards to go whereas last year many were 10+ yards to convert. Again, this goes into several areas. The offensive line and Moreno were generating positive yards, allowing Miami to have the unpredictability of the run or pass to convert. The offensive line held up much better in pass protection and had a great day with penalties, not providing Miami with the negative yards we were accustomed to seeing last year.

Bill Lazor - When the offense works great, the Offensive Coordinator deserves a lot of credit. His game plan worked great. The three turnovers were all on the players, not the play. Despite that, and a penalty negating a TD that forced Miami to later settle for a Field Goal, Miami consistently drove the ball down the field. The only thing we'd like to see more out of the system is seeing Miami finish more drives. Of the 4 FGs Miami had to settle for though, only 2 I would say were due to stalled drives. The last Miami FG was the result of trying to run out the clock, not to score a TD. Another FG, like mentioned, was the result of a touchdown that was called back due to penalty. Still, at the end of the day FGs outnumbered TDs and it has to be the other way to consistently win. This week there were good reasons for that. Lets not make it a trend.

Miami's motivation - This team played tough, encouraged, and confident on both sides of the ball. There was a lot of emotion on the field for both units and this was something many attributed to Moreno. Truth is that Miami brought in the likes of Moreno, Cortland Finnegan, and Louis Delmas because of their leadership and because they play 100% on the field. You could see it today that Miami's aggressiveness and confidence was contagious. This is something we didn't see in Miami last year and it is good to see the entire team respond.

The Bad:

Outside Tackling - Miami did a good job shutting down New England for the most part, but there were still some concerns about tackling when the ball carriers were outside the box. There were many one-on-one situations where the defense could have and should have made the open field tackle. It's great that Miami swarmed to the ball more often than not, but missing open field tackles leads to big plays.

Turnovers - Luckily I am not so worried about the fumbles quite yet. If it becomes a trend for Wallace and Miller then I will become more concerned. I am more disappointed in Ryan Tannehill's interception because he had the play, but it was under thrown. A could have been touchdown ended up being an interception. That could be the difference between a win and a loss. Tannehill had the time to get a better throw off and could've made the pass even earlier as Wallace had him beat so there were no excuses for the under thrown pass. Tannehill ended up having a mixed day in where there was more good than bad, but sometimes we need the all good to win.

The Ugly:

Fortunately, there wasn't really anything I'd put in the ugly category. I could put the three turnovers here, but they did come from three separate players. I'm not worried to put it in this category quite yet where I feel it's a worrisome trend that may derail Miami's season.

Conclusion:

It's only week one, but it's a big win to knock off New England. It's a win that needs to be happen whether it is Week One or Week Ten if Miami wants to push New England and give them a challenge or at least compete for a Wild Card. Another encouraging sign is that this game wasn't Miami's A game. This was more like a B- or a B performance due to the turnovers, but they still fought through early turnovers and a 10-point halftime deficit to come back and dominate the second half. In years past it took a near flawless effort to put together even the smallest of victories over quality teams. This time they won by a two touchdown margin despite leaving a lot more on the field. Like I semi-joked about in a live thread, I hope Philbin shows Miami only the second half during film review. All he'd need to say is, "This is what we could be." Miami showed us what they could be if they put it all together. Now they just need to go ahead and do it consistently since they proved to us they have the ability to do it.

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.