The Good

Cameron Wake had a monster game with 3 sacks, 1 forced fumble and 6 total tackles. He now has 14 sacks on the season. We need more players like him.

The Bad

Jonathan Martin had a terrible debut at left tackle. He was bullrushed several times by Aldon Smith and clearly could not hold up. He just didn't seem to have the upper body strength to handle Smith, who is significantly lighter than Martin. To be fair to Martin, he did have a touch opening act against the NFL's leading rusher, but when you play at left tackle, you're usually facing the other team's best pass rusher. Not a good sign for the "replace Long with Martin" crowd.

The Dolphins run defense had a solid start but started bending as the game went on. The 49ers finished the day with 155 yards rushing and 5.5 ypc, but 50 of that did come on a Colin Kaepernick TD run. That being said, Frank Gore had 63 yards on 5.3 ypc and a touchdown.

Marcus Thigpen's dropped catch on a punt was a critical turning point and the type of mistake a team like the Dolphins cannot make. It gave the 49ers the ball in excellent field position and they scored the first TD of the game a couple of minutes later.

The Ugly

It is clear that this offense is simply not effective enough to compliment the defense. Whether it is protection issues, of which their were many in this game, a lack of homerun hitters on offense, playcalling or decision-making at quarterback, this offense is a perfect storm of ineptitude. From Jonathan Martin's struggles to receivers not getting open downfield, to the questionable decisions to go deep to Bess and then Matthews at the end of the game when the Dolphins were close to getting into red zone, the offensive performance left a lot to be desired. There definitely needs to be an upgrade of talent on offense to help be more effective on that side of the ball.

Overall

The Dolphins played hard and kept it close, but mistakes and a lack of offensive effectiveness led to a double-digit loss. Same story all season. We know where the problems are, we know what positions need to be addressed. The Dolphins have the ammunition to address many of those needs. The question is, can they do it effectively?

- Ben Volin

Cameron Wake had a monster game with 3 sacks, 1 forced fumble and 6 total tackles. He now has 14 sacks on the season. We need more players like him.


I believe Swerve said earlier in the season that Wake is overrated or he sucks, something like that. Right Swerve?

Yeah. I agree. The guy only gets like a dozen sacks a year without much pressure coming from anywhere else.
Anyone could do that.

wrong as usual. I just said he needs to start getting to the quarterback, It was week 4 and he had zero sacks, so it was justified. Get your facts straight if you're gonna talk trash.

he had 8 last year, but i agree heck of a player.

Sacks are misleading. When you run a lot of three step drops, and we run A LOT of them, the other team isn't going to sack your QB much.

But when you run 3 step drops all day, it is easy to defend the passing game.

Anyone with half an eye could see that Jonathan Martin couldn't block Aldon Smith.

Does Cameron Wake just look strong but really isnt? He had tiny Kevin Kolb all wrapped up and couldnt take him down. truly pathetic. Every other good defnse has pass rushers that rip the quarterback to the ground.
Author Swerve.

you're such a Monday Morning quarterback Mak. Wake didnt do anything for 3 games and 1 quarter until I pointed out that he isn't finishing and wrapping up the QB. That first attempt today at a sack was truly pathetic as Kolb just threw him off. So it looked like the Jets game all over again. Sanchez...
Author Swerve

Sorry about the Swerve, I inferred on the issue. If you say he's a "heck of player" now, cool, you flip flopped. Like I said in the posts earlier in the season, it's not always about sacks, Wake is a beast and he is finally getting credit for it. Again, sorry for misreading your earlier posts.

Has anyone really kept Smith in check?...this was a pretty big assignment for the rookie and I actually thought this was gonna be more of a train wreck than it was..

I'm gonna pass judgement till I see Martin play LT against some more mortal competition.

I expected him to get beat by speed or inside moves. I did not expect him to get pushed back so many times by a guy that is 60 lbs lighter.

Martin does not have the upper body strength right now to compete in the NFL.

I just don't understand how anyone drafts a guy with his strength issues as high as we did.

Oh well....Jake Long was not playing any better this year....

yup..I agree and that was the knock on him coming out of college, only 20 reps on the bench press if I remember correctly?..

hopefully the strength issue improves with time because he seems to be athetic and a pretty bright kid..

Yeah I agree. I thought the protection was poor all game.

Tannehill was forced out of the pocket early WAY too often and very rarely had a clean pocket.

I've always liked Wake. But his slow start to the season had me frustrated. That was going back to last year as well (sacks were down). If you can call out a rookie QB for underperforming then i can call out a pro bowl Defensive end if he's not doing what he should.

Nicely done, Rich.



After Long's injury last week, I was hopeful that Martin would play a decent game. He did ok as a "reserve", but if we are going to count on Martin for 16 games (and then some) we will be in trouble. I've never need anyone fold up as he did on that bull rush. If Aldon Smith were a Dolphin making that play I'd still be talking about that play.




I rarely get depressed after a Dolphins loss, but giving up that long run to Kaepernick really put me in a down mood. It was a sorry way to lose a game.

Gore was phenomenal. He didn't look fast or that shifty, but I'd like to see the stats on number of missed tackles in this game. He had something that our backs don't seem to have and that's tackle-breaking ability. Daniel Thomas should take notes. Heck, even Paul Soliai missed tackling him twice on the same play.




It looks like Fields finally has competition for team MVP, eh? I do get a good laugh in the chat room during games when someone always comments miserably that Fields is our team MVP.

Sorry, but as down a year as Long has had, he has not been owned as many times in a game as Martin was owned by Aldon Smith and on some ocassions Justin Smith.

Martin had all of Long's bad plays this season in one game.

Said it before and will say it again. Sacks can be misleading stats.

I've always liked Wake. But his slow start to the season had me frustrated. That was going back to last year as well (sacks were down). If you can call out a rookie QB for underperforming then i can call out a pro bowl Defensive end if he's not doing what he should.

Fair enough.

Pro Football Focus had him ranked as the top defensive end in the NFL even during the early weeks of the season even though he didn't have many sacks then.

Probably because he was still getting hits and pressures.

Sacks are great, but pressures are pretty good too. They can often force the QB to be inaccurate or even throw one up to the defense.

good write up. I remember in the early to mid 2000s there was the replace ZT crowd...until he missed a few games down one stretch and 50yds a game was added by opposing offenses on the ground. Ditto for Jake Long.. I've often said that a players worth is often how badly he is missed.

not always. The first Jet game had me frustrated, Wake almost had Sanchez 2 or 3 times. They were QB hurries but they also turned into big plays for the Jets and led to our eventual loss.

I seem to recall missed fields leading to our loss... and where was the coverage on those pressures?

Kind of a reach blaming the loss on Wake...