Up Close Study: Phins Blocking Against Jags

Phins won by dominating the 2nd Half… 1st Half Blocking left much to be desired, though

The Phins beat the Jacksonville Jaguars 22-7 in their 3rd game of the preseason…

… that’s good news!

The bad news is that the Dolphins blocking in the 1st Half left much to be desired.

Still, the context of that blocking may bring both the fanatics and boobirds to a middle road.

There’s no doubt the blocking had issues and there’s no doubt the Dolphins won. But what do both say about the Dolphins offense come the Regular Season? That’s really where the rubber meets the road.

What’s the context and specifics of the Phins awful blocking against the Jags?

First, the Phins best Offensive Linemen, Laremy Tunsil, didn’t play a lick… not a snap. That’s a big deal. But, to be fair, his replacements weren’t the primary culprits.

Here’s a “Close Up” of 18 offensive plays from the first two quarters play to fine-tune the ‘reasons’ for the Phins poor blocking.

FYI: I wanted to keep them in order, but in trying to get this out in a timely manner, it became jumbled.

Phins struggled at blocking in both the run and pass game

• #1: RG Shaq Calhoun allows a defender deep into the backfield. He struggled with Run Blocking in college.
• #2: TE Dwayne Allen overshoots on his motion and misses the key block on Josh Allen
• #3: Wayyyy-back up, LT Sterup misses his spring block
• #4 RG Shaq Calhoun chases the switch on the stunt to the outside and doesn’t support the under, inside rusher who gets penetration.

• #5: TE Smythe can’t seal or eject the outside defender and Dieter loses control of his interior linemen.
• #6: Blocked perfectly… except WR Ford who misses his block
• #7: Dieter loses and puts Fitzpatrick on the run… Fitz ran a lot. Sometimes he ran for the right reasons and more because of shadows.
• #8: Smythe again allows the edge to collapse

Tight End blocking was expected to be at least solid… It hasn’t been

• #9: Fitzpatrick ‘does the happy feet’. Gesicki is coming across the middle (out of pic) free, instead of stepping up and throwing the pass he doesn’t trust the protection and runs into a sack.
• #10: (see #4) This was a lot of cutting and pasting… oopsie, doubled up.
• 11# This isn’t another double, but this is Fitz with the happy feet, again. He drops his hands and is ready to run instead of climbing the ladder and hitting Ballage coming across the middle, open.
• #12: TE Allen missing another block… hope it’s rust because so far, he’s been terrible.

• #13: TE Allen bypasses edge defender to get upfield and Deiter gets blown up.
• #14: Deiter gets beat, but Fitz gets the pass off by sitting tight.
• #15: RT Davis lost the edge and Deiter is beaten inside so Fitz can’t step up.
• #16: Fitz has a clean pocket and makes the ansty read… not the right one with the LB shooting that hard.

• #17: Ballage gets tunnel vision, gets caught in the pile, and bounces outside too late.
• #18: Davis would likely have ridden the rusher wide, but Fitz can’t climb the ladder to hit Allen because Deiter is beaten again.

The win wasn’t as good as it looked nor the blocking as bad

Context is key in all things as mentioned above. While this context does mitigate some concern, it should still be a concern.

Tunsil not playing is an obvious negative that will be fixed come Week 1. He is essential to this offense. You have to remember that because Tunsil was missing, Davis became the centerpiece. He received little to no help and bore the burden that Tunsil would carry. Nearly all the help went left with Tunsil’s absence.

Don’t throw too many stones at Mr. Davis

I like Davis… as I’ve said over and over and over for three years… But, he’s moving from Right Guard to Tackle and isn’t, and never will be, elite. Sorry, Mr. Davis. He’s a solid Right Tackle with room to grow.

Josh Allen, on the other hand, is elite… right out of the box. In a real game with Tunsil, Davis would get loads of help with the scheme, play call, and TEs chipping.

Also, overall, Shaq Calhoun did almost alright. His mistakes are survivable. And while Fitzpatrick was a bit rusty, he’s played so little in the Preseason. His nervous feet in the pocket… that’s understandable. You can bet with the best bookie software sites like AcePerHead.com… he’ll settle down and the protection should improve.

So in this regard, it’s not the end of the world.

What is a bit troubling:

• TE Dwayne Allen has been injured and could be just rusty…. but so far, he’s has been a flop.
• TE Smythe has been hit or miss… with more miss.
• 3rd Round Pick Left Guard Deiter had a great game last week… Games #1 & #3… terrible. Still, he played next to a turnstile
• LT Smith did better than Sterup and Prince isn’t a mess, but still… cavalry is needed.

Sometimes, someone just nails it on Twitter:

So far a lot of what we have witnessed is showcasing, tryouts, and grooming players. The Week 1 product hasn’t been unveiled. I’ll add to Kelly’s tweet, Miami will be buyers of cheap upgrades like nobody’s business come the cuts to make the 53 man roster...

So, stay positive… for now.

The defense and Special Team are looking pretty sharp and the “O” is still being shaped up. But, don’t get too high on ‘hopium’ or too down ‘yesteryear blues’. This team is showing a ton of improvement in its totality, but it needs a bit more to go. Six wins on the season and the Week 6 game are two watermarks I’m locked on…

… I’ll hold off adding another six on my list for obvious reasons.

Go Phins!!!

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