Phins High-Priced Coverage Abused Week 2
The Phins offense woke up, but the secondary went into a coma
Against a linebacker depleted Bills defense, the Phins offense showed up as expected. Unfortunately, the Dolphins secondary was a complete disaster allowing Josh Allen to have a career day with 4 T.D.s and 417 yards. Hopes for Miami to make the playoffs in 2020 is now in serious jeopardy with a short week and a Thursday night game against the Jaguars in Jacksonville ahead of them.
First, Jimmy Bourbon nailed the prediction and I was wrong.
Ouch!
But, in my defense, I never expected the Phins high-priced free agent corner, Byron Jones, to go down on his first drive with a groin injury. Still, there’s no denying I’m eating crow on this one.
Just because you want to… doesn’t mean you can
Yes, I get the loss of Jones is big and Noah Igbinoghene is a rookie… and obviously, the lack of pressure compounded the issue. But there was more to the ugly coverage than just this.
The Phins defense was a primary focus of this offseason, so should one player going down cripple it? It would seem that we need to include the rookie defensive coordinator Josh Boyer in the equation.
The Bills were very obvious about using crosses to stymie man coverage right out of the shoot. You’d figure with your elite man corner down and the opponent using constant crosses that mixing in more zone coverage would be smart.
There was the power outage, so I didn’t see every snap, but I believe the first zone coverage didn’t get called until there were 5 minutes left in the 1st Half! It was when they added a good dose of zone coverage that Allen slowed down. This adjustment came too late. But, we need to remember that this Boyer’s first go-around at coordinator. A learning curve is to be expected.
But, what won’t be understood is if the Phins continue to force a flawed defensive model.
Let me be 100% clear: This secondary is currently terrible in man coverage. Again, part of this failure is the lack of pass rush with only 15% of Allen’s passes getting pressure. But, even still, the coverage was nearly always trailing the receivers early and the disruption at the line was minimal. Clean get offs by the receivers makes man-coverage very hard without a pass rush. It might serve the Phins well to mix up coverages because if they don’t this ugly play will continue… at least until Jones returns–we hope.
Man coverage by the nature of its design is unforgiving on a defense. And when you are a rookie as Igbinoghene is or not exceptionally gifted physically like Needham, the margin of error is razor-thin. The Bills went after Igbinoghene 11 times for seven completions, 145 yards, and two touchdowns. Why did it take so long to protect him?
To be fair…
The defense did limit Allen for a stretch in the game, had a crucial stop negated by a penalty, was in position for two big interceptions, and caused and recovered a fumble. So, there are positives to take out of this game both on offense and defense because Miami put themselves in a position to win the game in the 4th Quarter…
… But, Brian Flores adheres to the Art of War like his mentor Bill Belichick and flexibility and quick adjustment are keys to victory according to Sun Tzu. So, we need to see a better gameplan, more diverse looks, and quicker adaptation to circumstances and the opponent going forward. With a new OC and DC, it’s expected. But, we should see a strong improvement from both soon… if they are the right men for the job.
The Bills have exposed the Dolphins secondary in their current makeup. You can bet with the Pay Per Head Reviews that the Jags will do the same. Will this weakness continue when Jones returns? I don’t know. I sure hope not with all that was spent. Either way, we need better results starting this Thursday. Go Phins!!!
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MJ,
Terrible game. The win was there for the taking! Possible Int’s by Howard to end the game late in the 4th Qtr., dropped TD on 4th down by Willians, this would have won the game too!
Regarding the defense, big time laying an egg again! $250 million dollars in off-season acquisitions, and they have been horrible the last two (2) weeks! For once I would like to see a DC who does not have his head up his ass!!! Why did they not move Howard onto Diggs??? Why have their best receiver covered by Needham or a rookie??? This loss is on Boyer and Flores big time! I am absolutely livid MJ! I was hoping for at least a realistic 1-1 after 2 weeks. Going into Jacksonville this Thursday night is a critical game! If we loose this game, I say call it a season and put in Tua and give him the experience. Jacksonville is not a playoff team either, must find a way to play a complete game and win this one if there is any hope of having a winning record or even being 500. We have two (2) first round picks and two (2) second round picks in 2021. I say we need to draft a studd DE, and WR. Parker is excellent, but he is always hurt. How does an NFL supposedly elite receiver keep getting hamstring issues? We also need to keep drafting to the DL because I have never been a fan of Godchaux, and to me, Wilkins is disappointing too! Then we need a CB in either the 1st or 2nd round because Howard is not going to last. For sure his knee or something else will come up and make this extremely highly priced veteran CB just marginal! Finally, Boyer has 1 year to show he can do the job or else we need to go out and get Matt Patricia to be our DC next year! Patricia is on the bubble in Detroit, and he will be fired this year just like Gase!!! (Gase is horrible and we all knew it). Your thoughts? Signed a very pissed of Dolphins Fan!
For once I would like to see a DC who does not have his head up his ass!!!
Yeah!
Why did they not move Howard onto Diggs???
My opinion on that is Howard is recovery both his knee and confidence. Diggs could have blow out both… I think this was a long term consideration. I just don’t like the heavy-handed man coverage… if I’m not mistaken, Howard has been at his best in cover-3.I set this defense as a rigid one that opposing offenses have a peg on early. Is this just due to the lack of preseason and rooie players and coaches? We’ll see… Jags are tough, Stephen. They pushed Tenn to the limited in Jacksonville… I find it hard to believe we will win this week. But,
we’ll see. I agree on Godchaux, but not Wilkens… so far he is having a tremendous season… He is ranked the 7th best interior DL… pass rush is still in need of growth… but so far this season I have zero complaints. Godchaux needs to go to another system though.
It’s early… but, we might need to accept this is a 6-9 win season. Think how bad it looked last year in Weeks 1 and 2?! We need to see this season through before we melt down…. but I was melting down over that game as well… it’s like footballl PTSD being a Phins fan…
MJ,
Thank you for your comments. I feel the same. Not sure about the DC? Flores needs to jump in more on the defensive side of the ball and help out our young DC. Like I said earlier, maybe we can coax Patricia to come down to South Florida and be our DC next year after he is fired in Detroit? He is on the bubble and I don’ think he will last. He won’t get another HC job anytime soon! Just a thought. I hope Boyer is successful, but I have seen this rodeo before with the likes of Coyle, etc. It ain’t pretty, but I guess it is all part of the “hard re-set” this team decided to do, which was absolutely necessary. It took guts to for-fit a “re-tool” “band-aid” approach. We tried that and it never worked. Kudos to Ross, but essentially he told a “tired and feed-up fan base, to be tired and feed-up a little longer. What gets me is that we spent $250 million dollars in guaranteed money this off-season to shore up our defense. I know that we have many new faces on both sides of the ball, and I agree a shortened camp, no pre-season, has hurt this team. Maybe guys like Howard and Williams are “rusty”. We need to shake the rust off this Thursday! Team leaders like Karras, Van Noy, Rowe, Ogabah, etc., who have won championships need to teach the younger guys how to prepare, do the extra, do whatever it takes to learn your assignment, but no excuses, we win now!! Jags may be tough, but they can be beaten and are not yet a playoff team either. Having said this, Dolphins have been absolutely horrible on national TV the past several years. We generally have got killed! I personally hate Thursday Night Football. The road team is at a disadvantage. I think the league is trying to schedule games like this Thursday where teams can have very short plane rides after a morning practice. The we get Seattle after 10 days off. Hopefully the heat and humidity plus 3 time zone changes affect them big time! If we go 0-4, then a 5-7 win season is the best we can really hope for! Go Fins beat Jags!
It’s hard to say what will happen. I think the run game will be crucial to help the defense. Jags aren’t great in run defense and I like Gaskin more and more. His tape popped to me in the offseason and he has continued that play with better pass blocking and even better decisiveness. We’ll see, but the season is surely on the line. 0-4 would mean 2020 is about morale victories and not much else… that’s okay too though. BUT, Year 3 will mean playoffs or concern.
We have been told that improved talent will take care of passing defense. Well I saw the same thing as last year happening: slot receivers and tight ends running free across the middle and guess what, they also got behind our corners. This is beginning to look like coaching incompetence. Putting a rookie receiver on Diggs is boneheaded logic, I don’t care how good a draft choice (first round) he was. We also did not stop the run. What the heck is going on with this team?
Have to approve first-time posters… wacky system we have here, Victor… so, sorry for the delay.
I think the Phins were in a hole. Howard is recovering from his knee, so I think it was partly because of that. Diggs is very hard to cover. If someone was going to take a beating let it be the rook. I think they lean too heavily on man coverage. A mixed bag is tough to build into but in the long run it is best. We should have added more zone early to ease into it. I didn’t like the early gameplan, especilly post Jones injury. Josh is a rookie too… so far, I’m not to crazy about his calls or his personality in interviews… a little nervous… still it’s early. I’ll give it some more time.