The Dolphins 3rd Preseason Game will allow them to show they have corrected their mental mistakes.
Miami and Atlanta’s 3rd Preseason Game will be a dress rehearsal for Week 1.
The Miami Dolphins will be hosting the Atlanta Falcons tonight for their 3rd Preseason Game. Fans know that this is by far the “most important” preseason game because the starters will get the most snaps of Preseason, usually playing into the third quarter.
Now, let’s not rip the deck up or build a mansion on tonight’s outcome, this isn’t a make or break moment, unless there is a serious injury; however, it will offer a rough approximation on certain areas of the teams play and a general gauge player progresses.
This best idea we will get before Week 1, so get your gear on, get revved up and focused for some Dolphins football!
On offense, the biggest thing is going to be how Miami’s Offense line plays without Mike Pouncey at Center. Pouncey suffered a hip injury in the Dallas game, so he definitely will not be playing in the rest of the preseason games. There is a chance he may not be ready for the opener against Seattle. So this will be a good chance for Miami to get used to playing without him. Anthony Steen will be the starting Center, and to say he will be under the microscope is understatement.
One critical key is how Steen plays at the point of attack at the line of scrimmage and can he “block alone” at times. Here are some picks from last week that illustrate how Steen “can” actually be a huge upgrade over Pouncey:
In all three instances, Mike Pouncey (circled above) was beaten and beaten so badly that he was thee contributor, or one of the contributors, to the run play’s demise. Below, Anthony Steen received one snap with the starters, and against the starters. In that one snap drove his man, one-on-one, two yards off the ball. This gave Ajayi only one man to beat (Tunsil (67) whiffed on that one) and fairly good sized hole with which to pick up 6 yards. This is a small sample size, but Pouncey is very, very rarely able to do this.
What Pouncey does excel at, and what Steen hope to approach in this 3rd Preseason Game, is Pouncey’s ability to make blocks at the second level.
Also on Offense, a major key will be if Ryan Tannehill can take advantage of successful line play (if it occurs), and continue his progress in taking command of this up-temp offense, limit his mistakes and be accurate. But more importantly than even Tannehill’s play, I would like to finally see Miami’s running game be competent, and this will happen if there are holes.
Enter Isaiah Pead. Before camp, he was not even a remote bet to make the team, by even the best pay per head gambling fans. It will be interesting if he can push Foster and Ajayi in production and solidify his roster spot.
On Defense, after a downright terrible team performance against Dallas, it will be nice to see the D-Line with the addition of Cameron Wake get a steady pass rush on Matt Ryan. We might even see a play of the Wide-Nine…but, probably not. Everything starts with the D-Line because if they can’t get pressure then the secondary, which is already a weak spot, is going to be left on an island and picked apart. Our secondary needs as much help as they can get, and the best way to get them help is by having pressure on the QB.
The 3rd Preseason Game must seem greater discipline from Miami Linebackers.
More importantly though is the performance of the Linebackers. This is the most disconcerting aspect of the 2016 Miami defense. Linebacker play has been far, far less than stellar. They have had terrible discipline and execution in their Zone responsibilities. They have failed to swap correctly, drop correctly, they have bite on play action, missed tackles and plays, and left the back end of the secondary exposed far too often.
Below, the entire secondary bites on the play-action and allows the TE to slip behind and pick up a huge play, and get Dallas out of a bad situation. In the second shot below, Thomas (31) is solely responsible as the “first responder” to diagnosis this as a hand-off or PA and either, chase down the runner from behind, or prevent the Qb from escaping contain. He bites hard and leave the defense wide open.
In the slides below, Kiko Alonso fails in coverage for several reasons. Alonso instinctively stutters into man coverage discipline by following the wide-outs streaking to a post or fly in the middle. He doesn’t trust Jenkins, who is watching and playing proper technique, and follows deep for a step. This allows a prime, chain moving threat of Jason Witten to get underneath leverage, settle in and make a big catch for the first down.
The LB’s continue this trend, this time it’s Jenkins and / or Alonso who gets caught biting on the short. The receiver is pressing deep and Jenkins doesn’t realize this and pinches the line of scrimmage. Possibly uncertain of their responsibilities, both Lb’s sit, and this allows a large space in the Zone to open deep. Maxwell who is playing over coverage, giving the receiver the underneath to protect the top, expects underneath help, from the WLB or MLB, neither of which arrives. Alonso looks back and Jenkins realizes the breakdown as Misi who recognizes the breakdown before either is charging, but he gets there too late.
The Linebacker core is crucial as it ties both coverage and run defense together. Corner and Safeties will be playing a lot of Over-Coverage, allowing LB’s to make plays, tighten throwing windows and force QB’s deeper into their progressions. Zone defense has a far greater dependence on trust and adherence to scheme than man. This was exposed last week. The good thing is this can be corrected.
This will be THE key on defense tonight.
So, the 3rd Preseason Game is here and the good thing is most of Miami’s issues aren’t talent, but rather technique. The big question is, will the defense continue to grow as a unit and in understanding their responsibilities? That will be the million dollar question. Go Fins!!!