Another week, another play being dissected in the Phinzmania laboratory.

The Dolphins faced the Falcons last Friday and there were a lot of ups and downs in the game. The offense struggled quite a bit. They lacked rhythm, timing and it was just a collectively bad game. The defensive line did a pretty good job applying pressure at times whilst the outside linebackers struggled to set the edge. In the secondary, the young cornerbacks made some mistakes but quickly got over them and played a solid game. Vontae Davis showed quality ball skills and anticipation of the ball whilst Sean Smith bounced back after getting burned by Roddy White. In the back line of the defense, Chris Clemons had some of his own struggles, specifically with discipline and assignments. There was a play in which he was suppose to be the safety help but he was not and Roddy White beat Jason Allen for the touchdown. On the other hand, Yeremiah Bell had a very solid game for Miami. One of the positive things he did was make an interception on Matt Ryan on a deep ball. The interception is the play that we will be looking at right now. 

I'd like to take a moment to compare Brandon Marshall to Cris Carter.  Why?  Why not?  If you read along with me and take a look at some of the similarities they're incredible, IMO.

Vitals:

Carter:  6'3'' 208
Marshall:  6'4'' 230

Marshall has 1'' and 22 pounds on Carter.

Cris Carter:  drafted when he was 22.  Round 4.  Brandon Marshall:  drafted when he was 22.  Round 4.

Stats after 4 years.

Cris Carter:  57 games started.  1,863 yards.  22 TDs
Brandon Marshall:  45 games started.  4,019 yards.  25 TDs.

Now, due to a strike in 1987 (Carter's rookie year) the 16 game season was reduced to 15 games.  In 1989 a rule change that stated "If a receiver and a defender eventually establish joint control of a pass, the ball will be awarded to whoever was the first player to establish control of the ball.", which could help or hinder Carter (remember he's 6'3'' and could go up and get the ball).  In 1990 12 teams were allowed into the post season instead of 10.  These are all rule changes and situation changes that could help or hinder Carter with his stats. 

Now let's look at what happened in Marshall's tenure.

For those who do not already know, I will steal some of your quotes and post an article / blog entry a few times this year.  Reactions were positive last year so let's do it again.  I have been collecting some moments during the preseason and spun them into the first 2010 version of North's Notes and Quotes"!  Obviously it is impossible to get every pertinent post involved, but realize that when you post, your entry often prompts a chain reaction or responses, which in turn lead to another post that may be in here.  So in a way, pretty much every poster in our Phinzmania community owns a piece of these quotes.  Kind of cool when you think of it that way.  So read on and enjoy what you helped create.

First thing’s first, we have a new banner, which many of us have noticed.  Seems like everyone likes it too.  I know I’m ready for some football!  People were commenting on the banner and Alen went one step further, complementing Gerry’s work and help in general:

            alen1: "Agreed. Jerry treats us very well here, which I'm thankful for"

He does treat us well.  So many features have been added to the site in the past few months alone.  They are too numerous to mention, but things like the new community, the new look on the main page with those new features, the blogs, the fantasy football. 

PLAY DISSECTED: Chad Henne to Anthony Fasano for a touchdown of 55 yards on 2nd down and 1 yard to go.

As stated in the debut of the Anatomy Of A Play feature, this will be a weekly segment that will focus on a single play in a game that the Dolphins took part in Today’s blog entry will focus on the touchdown pass of 55 yards from Henne to Fasano against the Jaguars defense. To open this feature, I am looking at the offense formation of the Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins are showing two tailbacks, two tight ends, and a single wide receiver. The two tight ends pictured are David Martin and Anthony Fasano. Fasano is the tight end on the backside whilst David Martin is on the passing strength side. The passing strength is where there are the most targets presented in a pre-snap read.

The Jaguars countered this formation with a nine in the box look.



The Jaguars have a under front shown here. An under front is when the standard 4-3 defense is shifted to the weak side of the offense. The weak side of the offense here is in Anthony Fasano’s direction, which is on the left. The weakside linebacker is lined up wide of Fasano, the MIKE (or middle linebacker) is lined up across the B gap, which is the area between the left tackle and the left guard. The strong side linebacker is lined up straight ahead from the center. There is a cornerback (26) across David Martin and then there is a cornerback lined up on Brandon Marshall on the flank. Further, there is a single high safety that is lined up in between the hashes and is backpedaling with his shoulders squared. On this play, Dan Henning called a play action fake. The play action was started off as a Stretch play, in which the line pulled left and Lousaka Polite lead blocked Ronnie Brown. However, since it was a play action, it was a fake handoff and a roll out to the right for Chad Henne.

Tomorrow is the Dolphins second pre-season game but you guys already knew that, so I don't know why I'm bringing it up. It should be an interesting one and one that should be closely monitored. We were unable to see how the Dolphins players have developed because of the downpour that took place last weekend. Hopefully it's different this time around. With that said, here's what I will be watching for. Please feel free to add your own thoughts.

• Will Chris Clemons Lose The FS Job? Sparano seems to have his mind made up on Chris Clemons starting this season at the free safety job or at least that's what the reports say. Sparano noted that Clemons and Yeremiah Bell had four total mental errors in training camp. That's great to hear but what exactly defines a mental error? Is it calling the wrong read out? Calling the wrong coverage and/or adjustment? If we go by that, then it doesn't surprise me that Clemons has few mental errors. The playbook and his reads should be ingrained into his brain. However, does a poorly taken angle qualify as a mental error? How about being late to a deep ball? If those two qualify as mental errors then Clemons had two last Saturday alone. That's something that could become an issue because he doesn't appear to be very instinctive out there. On the flip side, we have a guy by the name of Tyrone Culver. Has Sparano forgotten about him or just ignored him? Reason I ask is because Culver is not the athlete that Clemons is but he's mentally superior.  Culver did a good job in nickel and dime packages last year and I don't see why he doesn't get a fair shot at the starting spot.  In conclusion, Clemons better start doing some things right out there because free safety is a big time position and if you have troubles in the secondary, you're going to be in for a long season. Just ask the 2009 Miami Dolphins, led by the infamous Gibril Wilson. Or the 2009 Seattle Seahawks.

• How Will Randy Starks Do In Week Two? Starks played pretty well last week, in my opinion. He showed that he has the ability to collapse the pocket as a one technique nose tackle. However, Starks was seen on the ground three times in the opening couple of series. That's not something that you want from your nose tackle. The nose tackle position is an integral part of the 3-4 defense and if he struggles, he's bringing down everybody with him. Starks issues last game came as a 0 technique. He was asked to two gap or "scoop". Scooping is when you occupy multiple offensive lineman blocks in order to free up another player on your team to make the play. Starks did not scoop very well, as previously noted. I feel that he played a pretty good offensive line last week but this week it may be a step down. We'll see how Starks mans the nose tackle spot.

• Will Brandon Marshall Remain Anonymous? Yep, that Brandon Marshall. He was goose egg across the board last week against Tampa and that has to change this week. The offense needs to get some kind of rhythm going so when it comes to week one, they are a confident group and can work well together. Marshall dropped a pass last week that was suppose to be an easy catch. He ran a dig route, fifteen yards down the field and then cut inside. If he makes that catch, he's got room to make a play. However, it went right through his hands and he carefully explained that to Chad Henne on the sideline prior to halftime and then laughed it off. This week in practice, he punted a football out of frustration and then later on caught a touchdown. (Editors Note: Vontae Davis was covering Marshall and broke up a pass then punted the football in a joking manner. Hilarious stuff. Love the chemistry.) Last, I do want to give credit to EJ Biggers, Tampa's seventh round pick of a couple years ago. He did a quality job covering Marshall last weekend.

• How Much Has Henne Really Improved? Scary to think about, considering how much of the season hinges on his play but truth is, the guy didn't look so good last week. His ball placement was shaky, his decision making was not very good and the improved touch was, well, not improved. Henne will have to show more this weekend and hopefully not put so much air under the ball when throwing down the seam. He must have missed David Martin by a mile on the crossing pattern against Tampa. I think Henne's issue is that he doesn't know how to use his arm strength to his advantage. He hasn't figured out yet when to throw it hard, when to throw it soft, when to put some touch on it, when to put some velocity on it.  He also did not do a great job of working with the passing lanes against Tampa. He has zero excuse for the dump-off to Lousaka Polite.  

• Will We Cut Down On The Penalties? The box score may only show six but it seemed like they were at the worst times. Ronnie Brown finally had a nice run and then it got called back because Vernon Carey proceeded to plant Tanard Jackson six feet deep into the ground. The offensive line needs to overall do a better job of staying disciplined and creating holes for the tailbacks to run through. We averaged 2.4 yards per rushing last week. That is unacceptable considering how much money and high draft picks there is invested on this line. 

• Are Sean Smith & Vontae Davis Ready? If you go by last weeks performance, you have to be a little hesitant to say yes, don't you? Vontae Davis, who seems to have concentration issues, got burnt by Mike Williams last week and it all started at the line of scrimmage. Vontae has to keep his feet under him and his shoulders squared. On the flip side, Sean Smith looked improved but still shaky. He brought down ball carriers but brought them down by the shoulder pads. I want to see better tackling technique than that. He also was beaten by the deep ball but he got an interception, thanks to the pressure from the defensive line on Josh Johnson. These two young guys are going to be crucial this season because they are going to be on an island again this year. As long as they play well, they will free up more players for Nolan to blitz. In Denver last season, Nolan left his two cornerbacks on an island all day and they were a effective defense because the two cornerbacks allowed Nolan to blitz five, six, and even seven players at times.

• Is It Put Up or Shut Up Time for Jake Grove? Grove appears to have lost his starting job to Joe Berger but will he lose a spot on the team too? He's getting paid a nice sum of money this season and they have to find a role for him because of the investment as well as because of the talent he possesses. However, Grove needs to stop getting knocks so he can be fit and contribute. This is an uncapped season and this is the season where if a team has a bad contract, they can get rid of. When you look at Jake Grove and see that he's a backup, at the money he's making, you consider him a bad contract. He has the next couple weeks to show that he's worthy of starting spot?

• Who Will Start At The Two Guard Spots? John Jerry seems to be penciled in as a RG starter but he's got a knee injury now and who knows how long he will be able to hold up. How serious is it? Can he play through it? Will he miss any time? Important questions that need to be answered. On the other side, Richie Incognito seems to be starting at LG for now and whilst he did look good on Saturday, he can be difficult to deal with on the field because of his temper issues as well as his lack of agility. Will Donald Thomas ever live up to his (fan) hype? Should Berger be our LG instead of our Center? Important questions that...well you know the rest.

That's it for now. Add your own thoughts! I did not focus on the Jaguars this week because I don't think anyone really cares about them, honestly but I could be wrong. If so, let me know!

Cheers.