fyo
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4866.5 miles from Dolphin Stadium
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« on: September 16, 2008, 03:27:01 pm » |
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Feel free to insert as many "broken" jokes here as you like...
I unexpectedly had a bit of free time, so I decided to break down a little film of the Dolphins O. Painful, yes, but I thought it might at least be a little interesting (and it was). It's just the three possessions we had in the first quarter.
First possession (1Q 15:00)
1-10 MIA40 (Hook to Camarillo)
The Dolphins line up with a TE right outside each tackle against a Cardinals defense with 5 in the box. Ricky at RB. Both run routes, allowing 1 defender to go through untouched. Pennington dumps off to Camarillo on a quick in pattern. The pressure causes him to place the ball behind Camerillo, but he corrects and pulls it in. Nice play all around.
2-5 MIA45 (Stretch play to Ricky)
I formation. Cramer Casey at fullback, Ricky at RB, single TE, 2 wideouts. Satele and Ndukwe double-team Arizona DE Bryan Robinson. Satele has him under control, but Ndukwe doesn't release (or block)... could have gone to the second level and blocked the DE who makes the tackle on the stretch play.
3-2 MIA47 (Sweep to RW)
ARI in 5 man front, 2 LB and a CB (plus a CB on the other side and 2 safeties, of course). Dolphins with 8. Stacked right side. Ricky alone in the backfield. For this play to work, Jake Long has to let the DE go and take the Tackle out instead. He does. That allows Justin Smiley to proceed into the defensive backfield and take on one of the LBs. He takes a bad line, has to give up and finds a (meaningless) safety to block instead. David Martin also charges the defensive backfield, but completely misses his LB, tries to wrap him up from behind, but fails at that too. That linebacker winds up forcing RW to give up on the sweep to the right and run back to the other side of the field. Ndukwe also fails to engage his man, despite being in a double team with Camarillo (who looks really bad, but OK it's a defensive lineman). Ideally, all defenders would be blocked (8-on-8, 1 DE let go, so Dolphins are 1 up). Even with a double-team AND someone getting "stuck", only the CB is allowed free. Ricky in full speed versus a CB... good matchup. Instead, both LBs are unblocked, one lineman is allowed to move across (although he's eventually pushed to the ground AFTER Ricky has to turn back) and the CB is also unblocked. Plenty of blame to go around here.
Second possession (1Q 12:15)
1-10 MIA26 (Delayed hand-off to Ricky)
Pennington in shotgun. ARI showing plain 4-3. Dolphins with a TE and 2 wideouts. Ronnie and Ricky in the backfield. Before the snap, two LBs move up and one moves over to cover the TE. At the snap, Satele takes a step back to allow Justin Smiley to block the defensive tackle to the right and out of the way. It doesn't quite work, though, with Smiley losing a step in getting to the defender. He eventually grabs him from behind, but it forces Ronnie to take a bad line to the linebacker he was clearly supposed to block. Without that block, Ricky is forced to try and cut to the outside, but a safety comes crashing through and makes the tackle along with Ronnie's linebacker. Hagan tries to get to the safety, but his run 5 yards straight up the field first gives him an impossible angle. After stepping back, Satele gets into the defensive backfield and takes out his assigned linebacker. Ricky gains a couple, but if this is the play from the get-go, and it sure looks that way, then Hagan should have gone for the block instead of pretending to run down-field. Smiley's mistake impacted the play from the beginning.
2-8 MIA28 (Stretch hand-off to Ricky)
Pennington under center, RW alone in the backfield. Bess in the slot. Dolphins have a TE lined up with the line, giving them 6 versus Arizona's 4 linemen and 2 linebackers. A third linebacker is covering Bess. Despite the mismatch, a defensive tackle manages to run straight into the backfield and Ricky is brought down (after some scrambling) for a huge loss. Ndukwe is the one who misses the defensive tackle. He comes off the line a bit slowly and gets a bad angle on the defender, only managing to grab the shoulder.
3-17 MIA19 (Dump-off to Ronnie)
Miami goes 3 receivers with R&R in the backfield and Pennington under center. Arizona lines up with 3 defensive linemen. Jake Long completely misses his man who forces Pennington to dump it off to Ronnie immediately. Ronnie makes a sweet move, allowing him to get to the sideline and up the field to within 5 yards of the first down marker. The receivers actually do a decent job of blocking downfield, but there are just too many defenders. Bad mistake by Jake forces the play.
Third possession (1Q 5:40)
1-10 MIA20 (Hand-off to Ronnie)
2 TEs (Fasano and Martin), Camarillo in the slot with a receiver wide right. At the snap, Justin Smiley steps back and rolls right to lead block for an obvious run. Stretch hand-off to Ronnie who looks up the middle and bounces outside, following Smiley. It appears he wants to go all the way outside, but Smiley gets a bad angle on his man and blocks him outside (he was square and in position to block upfield), forcing Ronnie to cut back inside (that knee is looking fine). That's where all the trafic is and David Martin's man wrests a hand free and grabs a piece of Ronnie, slowing him down. Not a single Dolphin makes it to the second level, leaving a linebacker free to shadow Ronnie. That linebacker takes a REALLY bad angle to Ronnie, though, and misses the tackle at the line of scrimmage, but Antrel Rolle (lined up at safety) comes shooting up to stop Ronnie for a short gain. The play would have worked a lot better had Smiley blocked downfield, or even inside (which it looked like he could have). Camerillo got pushed back but engaged his man 5 yards downfield and effectively pacified him. I really don't know if the play was designed for Ronnie to cut back inside Smiley or if he was supposed to go all the way outside, but the latter clearly would have worked better if Smiley had gotten hold of his man.
2-8 MIA22 (Flat out to Ronnie)
TE left, Camerillo in the right slot with a receiver on his outside. Ronnie alone in the backfield. At the snap, Ronnie immediately heads for the flat (right) and gets the quick pass from Pennington. Ronnie catches the ball, stiff-arms the cornerback, runs and bowls over a defensive end for another couple yards. Ends up about a yard short of the first down. 5y penalty on Arizona, which Miami takes (replay down).
2-3 MIA27 (Pitch back to Ricky)
TE right, slot and WR left. I formation with Ronnie at halfback and Ricky at fullback. Arizona with 6 in the box. Pitch back to RW who takes it left. Long blocks inside, letting the defensive end go. He bites at Ronnie, allowing Ricky to speed past him, getting more than enough for a new first down before he's swarmed. Vernon Carey gets beat at right tackle, but it has no effect on the play. Overall, even though it worked, it seems like a risky play. If the DE lined up across from Long doesn't bite on the fake to Ronnie, Ricky gets hit deep in the backfield. Viewing the play a few times, the fake is sold a lot better than I thought at first.
1-10 MIA35 (Stretch to Ronnie)
I-formation with Ronnie deep this time. Casey Cramer in front of him. Arizon with a 5-man front and two linebackers. At the hand-off, everyone is matched up 1-on-1 and locking well with their guy. Ronnie tries to find an open hole. Bounces outside but Fasano is unable to prevent his man from grabbing Ronnie, who manages to break free for another couple of yards before being brought down by a gang tackle. Had the play gone to the left, Ginn's poor blocking would have been an issue.
2-7 MIA38 (Quick pass to Bess)
Bess in the slot left with Hagan on the outside. Camerillo wide right, TE tight right, Brown alone in the backfield. Arizona with just 4 in the box. Pennington takes the snap under center and immediately guns it to Bess who scrambles for a nice gain. The play could have resulted in even more yards if Hagan had been able to adequately block his man. The offensive line does a nice job except for Smiley who was supposed to engage a linebacker but just bounces off him.
1-10 ARI49 (Delayed hand-off to Ricky)
Max protect (R&R) shotgun with 2 wideouts and Bess in the slot. Arizona in their 4-3, with the linebackers playing close to the line. Delayed hand-off to Ricky, running left to right. Camerillo completely whiffs on his block of the outside linebacker who promptly brings down Ricky for a loss. Satele starts out in a double-team with Smiley, but releases to try and get a linebacker. Too late, though. I can't help but wonder if the Phins don't trust Smiley to take care of business by himself.
2-11 MIA50 (Pennington scramble)
2 receivers wide, Bess in the slot left, Ricky and Fasano in the backfield with Pennington. Arizona in their usual 4-3. The offensive line does such a nice job this time that Pennington decides to scramble himself. The CBS crew (who provided zero insights on any of the Phins' plays here) said that Pennington was "flushed out of the pocket". While the pocket certainly deformed, Pennington had zero pressure and not a single defender succeeded in shedding their blocker. Pennington could easily have given the receivers more time to get open, but seeing a huge swath of open space decided to go for it.
3-6 ARI45 (Incomplete Pass)
Ronnie alone in the backfield. Single receiver wide left. Strong right with 2 TEs. Arizona with 5 in the box. Jake Long and Vernon Carey do great jobs, handling two guys each (although one at a time). When Carey releases to save Pennington from a sack, Ndukwe fails to bring down Carey's man, who then trips up Pennington. It's worth noting that the defender about to sack Pennington was Ndukwes' man in the first place. Ronnie was called for the worst OPI ever, but it's declined anyway since Pennington's pass fell incomplete in empty space as he was tripped up.
Conclusions
I can't say I'm too thrilled about the play-calling, but the obvious problem is Ndukwe. He just didn't play very well. Not altogether surprising, since he shouldn't have been out there in the first place (he replaced Donald Thomas at guard).
Considering the speed Arizona's defense brings to the table, I would have liked to see a few attempts at powering it up the middle. Certainly, sweeps are not going to work. I'd love to see some more quick passes to Bess in the slot, both as stays (like the one above, where Bess actually runs towards the sidelines for a few steps before turning around and getting the pass) and slants. Bess is a threat if he gets a bit of open space and Arizona was playing off our slot receivers in all cases above. If the defenders move in closer, a slant to Camerillo might be a better option.
OK, this was just the first quarter, but it was interesting to see that every time a play broke down, Ndukwe or Smiley was the culprit.
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