Tackles Tunsil and James didn’t play like first round picks against the Eagles
Miami’s biggest surprise was the poor play of their Tackles
There’s no other way to say it: Laremy Tunsil and Ja’Wuan James played terribe against the Eagles.
And if you look over film of the game, you’d be surprised at how the performance is actually worse than you remember it.
Now, this isn’t a definitive statement on either players skills or how they will perform in the 2017 Season…
…but it’s a fact that both players laid a big, fat egg.
The mitigating factors for both players are legit. But even with the lack of practice time, game play, and injuries, this flop was bit of a shock, considering the Offensive Tackles were supposed to be the strength of the line.
And with less than 3 weeks till opening day, this does beg the question of, ‘what is going on’?
If you look over the first half, where both players played from beginning to end, there was only one play by them that you could definitively say, ‘Hey, that’s a nice play’.
Beyond that one play, there was a fair amount of snaps that was just the bare minimum expected at the NFL level… and sadly a lot, ‘WHAT THE HECK’!!!
Miami has invested too much in their Tackles to get poor play like this
Consider that Miami had over 30 offensive plays (my rough count) in the first half and in the film below there are 14 plays where either–or both–James and Tunsil were struggling or outright beat.
Somewhere around less 40% of their plays weren’t wins.
Ohhh, I added at the end of the second video the one play where a Dolphins Tackle exceeded expectations. I just wanted to end on a positive note. Keep it real, but keep it positive!
Anyway, in the video below, you see pass-blocking break down due to speed rush, bull rush, rips and swim moves, from the edge and inside… basically every aspect of a pass rush.
The run blocking didn’t fare much better, although James did edge Tunsil out in this department. Tunsil appeared uncommitted with little effort or technique.
James gets a kudo for a very nice seal block in the last play.
Again, this isn’t a death sentence or ‘the season is over moment’. But it forces the question, ‘why are the struggles so profound and can they be corrected by Week 1′. This was far more than a few gaffs. And if it takes a few weeks into the Regular Season for one or both to get up to speed, it could be very costly.
Remember James’ play last season?
Offensive Tackles play a critical role. And you don’t need pay per head sites to tell you the odds are very high that even one or two major mistakes from the bookends can cost a team the game… or worse their starting Quarterback.
Adam Gase must coach them up and quick and save me from another year of nervous Nelly ulcers. Go Fins!!!