I think the Dolphins will struggle dramatically on offense, especially in the passing game. They do not possess a wide receiver who can stretch the field.
They basically have a “chains” or “sticks” passing game – it doesn’t extend beyond ten yards. They have not demonstrated the capacity to design “double move” routes for any of their wide receivers or tight ends to get deep.
Anthony Fasano has the speed of a tackle, but, unfortunately, he is a tight end; therefore, he really does not threaten any strong safety. He can be covered by a linebacker, freeing up the strong safety to double the wide receivers.
The running game for the Fish is not bad, and Reggie Bush can sting you for a big play if you are not conscious of the cut back and the occasional outside run.
With Pro Bowl LT Jake Long out, it will be a little more difficult for the Dolphins to run to their left and to hold up in pass protection.
QB Ryan Tannnehill is not bad for a rookie but he is not Robert Griffin III, Andrew Luck or even Russell Wilson in Seattle in terms of being a multi-faceted playmaker. Tannehill does have some pocket movement skills and shows some ability to extend the play, but he is not as fast as Griffin or Colin Kaepernick.
Advantage: 49ers
49ers RSS feed
Loading ...
While I concur with nearly everything in your piece, I have to ask, what about Hartline, Grant? He’s nearly a 1,000 yd receiver this year.
Also we’ve been susceptible to the screen game in the past. Does Miami have one with Bush?
Dolphins fan here. Hartline is a deceptive receiver, but if you put a physical corner on him he disappears. If anything would help the offense it would be screen passes, I haven’t seen any done though.
They’d be foolish not to run some screens. Those seem to be the biggest plays allowed by our D this year. And we don’t really have a big physical corner like seattle, so I wouldn’t count him out unless he goes over the middle, in which case he’ll get knocked out!
Dangle
Culliver is our big physical DB – 6’1″ – 210 – 4.35 40 – matches up well against big WRs
Sycofantic you are right about that. Culliver is our big WRs matchup and he usually does well at it. Just for argument’s sake though, espn and the 49ers have him listed at 6’0 and 199lbs, which is pretty much my size, and a little bit smaller than what is becoming the prototypical big CB in the NFL. Culliver makes up for that with a chippy attitude and great fast-twitch.
Don’t sleep on Davon Bess
I don’t think you guys have to worry about Bess or Hartline getting into the endzone though, 2 TDs combined. Tannehill missed Hartline for a TD twice on Sunday though.
Niners D (Rogers) sucks against quick twitch slot guys (Bess).
Off topic but relevant, I think anyway.
Let’s suppose for the sake of argument and play devils advocate with this QB situation. We’ve heard this from Smith supporters and ex-Qb’s and players.
1. Alex Smith did nothing wrong to lose his job.
2. Alex Smith was (3rd, 4th, 5th ) rated QB in the NFL with a 70% completion percentage.
3. He’s the captain of the team.
4. He led the team to a 19-5 record in the past 2 years.
5 . He was having the best year of his career.
6. he was 25-27 in his last 2 games.
7. He organized Camp Alex and ran it by himself.
8. He’s a real favorite here in the Bay Area.
9. Look what he’s been through his entire career..
10. He took us to the NFCCG last year and if not for Kyle Williams fumble…..
11. It’s a well respected position in the NFL that you can’t lose your starting job because of an injury. When you get healthy, you deserve to have your job back.
12. Harbaugh is gonna lose the locker room and the respect of the veterans in said locker room.
Now lets assume that all this information is absolutely true. What that tells me is this. Colin Kaepernick must be leaps and bounds ahead of Alex Smith! If Jim Harbaugh is going to bench Alex Smith like he has, he and his coaching staff must have determined that Colin Kaepernick is unquestionable miles better than Alex Smith. There is no way Harbaugh makes this decision if he doesn’t feel that way.
So with that being said, I feel better about the decision that Jim Harbaugh made. Having to weigh all these factors and to still give Colin Kaepernick the job? He must have a mountain of information that surpasses all those opinions that I just posted. Now lets go win the Super Bowl!
I don’t get it. You tell everyone to stop bringing up Smith or get over it, yet here you are bringing him up again.
JDilla,
That was about Kap. The decision to start Kap.
23J,
I agree with your post! Oh my god, it’s a sign! First the twinkie goes under, and now this! The Mayans were right all along!!
He forgot team captain (voted on by the players) and offensive player of the week.
Otherwise, he has the bullet points right. :P
Woops! I so very rarely read all of Jordy’s posts I missed number three! Hahaha.
Jordan,
Nice thoughtful post, Kaep is the real deal the Smither hater’s don’t want him to succeed and they hate the coach and have to be so critical on everything he does. Screw them. Go Niners !!!
Thanks fellas. I just thought it all made good sense. I know JH has conviction. Crap, I just hope RoboKap can prove worthy of the move. This has been a long week. Gotta get the losing feeling out of my system. Losing sucks!
Smithers are just a made up group of people by people who hate Alex Smith because of past franchise-wide failure. They blame Alex Smith for everything because he doesn’t complain about their stupid and incorrect points of view. I wanted Peyton Manning over Alex Smith, naturally, but right now I want Alex Smith over Kaepernick, easy. Look at Alex Smith’s stats against the Rams before he was injured. Near perfect. Kaep looked like a rookie.
Harbaugh has an ego. He didn’t like getting punked by the Giants especially in the manner in which it happened.
Look back to that game. He inserted CK who got 7 pass attempts in that game.
It was that game that Harbaugh decided to accelerate his time table on CK and get him ready for the playoffs. It was in that game that he lost confidence in AS.
Bay, Crabs,
Off topic, but did you guys read the story about Kaps biological mom? He refuses to have a relationship with her because of her putting him up for adoption. That’s one sad story. It’s in SF Gate today. I hope it doesn’t grow legs and affect his play this week. We can’t afford any let downs against the Fish!
I think she is an attention hound. The timing makes me question her motives. Her attempts escalated when he joined the 49ers hmmmm.
23J – Yes, I read it……Sad situation.
I have no comment on that one bro, such a private matter with Kap.
It must be extremely difficult for him though.
Sad, but Alex Smith’s best friend commit suicide a few years after he was drafted. Sucks. At least Kaep’s mom is still alive and interested in him, even if it’s just for money and attention. From what I read it’s been a life long thing and Kaep is not interested. His choice.
Good post Jordan. Even if you don’t believe anything good about smith, its nice that you at least listened…. lol
Its interesting that the exact opposite argument that you made was frequently used before Smith’s concussion to explain why Kap wasn’t yet starting (ie he must not be better than Smith), which was especially poignant given the monotonous lack of respect that Smith gets from people like you. Its not as if Kap magically transformed overnight, so as it usually turns out, the truth is somewhere in the middle.
Its hard not to be concerned with the offensive slowdown that we’ve seen with CK as QB: production has declined each game so far. Teams usually do 3 weeks worth of game film to prepare for opponents, and that information is now out there about Kaepernick. There is also reason to be concerned about the running game and WR corps. But I remain optimistic in that things will turn around. We’ve got a solid team, great coaches, and The Kapinator has all the tools to succeed including an excellent attitude and work ethic.
23J,
almost sounds like a Muni route that takes you to the concrete jungle.
An hour from Thursday and “RoboKap” still needs to be dumped in the Pacific. Horrible freakin nickname.
Well done man, gutsy coaches make HUGE decisions. A new sun shines for us 49er fans, 8 years finally put to bed.
Sunday gonna be great weather and 2 young QB’s tearing up the fresh Kentucky grass.
I’m all in on……..Kaption
The Kapinator!!! It just rolls off the tongue.
Two words: blood. bath.
Fins will try to establish a run to keep the pass rush honest, it won’t be successful, eventually they’ll be forced into a one dimensional offense, and the bloodletting shall commence.
Crixus says “Kill ‘em all”!
If 49ers don’t win the division this year, it’s going to be very hard for me to believe they will win the Super Bowl. If they don’t win the Super Bowl, I just can’t put so much effort into watching a 49er product that was willfully sabotaged for the sake of some stupid move by Coach. This could easily end up like this: Alex Smith leaves, Kaepernick becomes the starter, Kaep is not nearly as good as thought, we miss out the next couple years, the vets get old and retire/get traded, we enter ANOTHER rebuilding phase, new coach by 2015 or so. You don’t bench a starting QB and not have consequences. If it plays out that way, good riddance Harbaugh.
I haven’t heard such a load of crap since the last Harbaugh presser.
How quickly we forget that this franchise was in the gutter for an entire Decade before Harbaugh showed up to turn things around. And less than 1 year later and all of a sudden “what has he done for us lately?” But c’mon Man!, “so much effort”? 2015? Are you really that busy?
Not saying its right or wrong, but look at the downturn of the NY Jets. 2 straight AFC championship appearances under Ryan to what you have today. Stranger things have happened. 2006 Broncos anyone?
If it aint broke dont fix it. The niners offense wasnt the 2000 raven offense, going something like 8 games w/o a TD?
We shall see.
Grant
What is a MATHCUP?
What you drink your math out of… duh
Please! Don’t make any more predicitions! You are almost always wrong and you put the kyebosh on the team! Thanks! Here’s some more of these!! !!! !!! !!!
Why do you have to make predictions? Why not just engender a discussion of possibilities?