The Good, The Bad and The Ulgly - Atlanta Falcons

I ain't saying it should or will happen, but if the Phins play two more games like today's then it is time for Chad Henne to go under center.

First let me say that I feel like an idiot. Not one of my keys was to protect Chad Pennington from the Falcons pass rush. Well, teams that win find ways to do so and ones that lose also do the same. Oy vey, Phinisher, it is only the first week!

The Good

The Miami Defense overall looked good. They did a very solid job shutting down Michael Turner and turning him into a nonfactor. Hat tip to Philip Merling who basically made Turner his bitch today. Good, hard tackling from Phil today.

Ricky Williams looks pretty good this year. Clearly the most professional guy on the team, Williams showed up and displayed what has made him one of the most respected ball carriers in the last decade. He averaged a very consistent 5.6 ypc while Brown's 4.3 was often inconsistently achieved.

Sean Smith and Vontae Davis looked solid in their first NFL start. Will Allen did not look as solid. Davis and Smith will be very good in this league. That I'm sure.

The Bad

Yes, that was all the good there was.

Jake Long is a fucking sissy. Yeah, Jake, you played like a sissy. Not sure how you let that happen but you were overpowered like a journeyman second string lineman. You looked and played like Ike Ndukwe.

The rest of the line was inconsistent but at least did spread their legs as fast as JL did.

The secondary has problems with positioning. All day long the Dolphins secondary was running with the Falcons receivers and yet... Yet they were always on the wrong side of the pass allowing for easy possession receptions to be completed all day long.

Ronnie Brown apparently likes to dance. The man spends way too much time juking and jiving in the hole. Ronnie, you weigh 230 lbs. You have decent wheels. Take a page from Ricky and get north and south. Let your pads do the talking.

Pat White is perhaps the most interesting waste of time that took the field today. Other than over throwing Ted Ginn by ten plus yards (something that is hard to do) he killed two drives. Worse still he blocked the entry of Chad Henne into the game. Henne, listed as the emergency quarterback, should have entered the game to gain experience. Pat White looks like a tiny tike against the Falcons...

Actually, this pisses me off more than anything. When are the Dolphins going to figure out what they have in Chad Henne? Put him in. These are the times you need to put young QBs in the game. Henne should have run the last two drives. Plain and simple.

Did I mention that Jake Long looked like a virgin with a popular date at the prom? Okay.

Lastly, Chad Pennington showed us again his limitations. I love the guy. But he is not a world-beater.

Play calling. A Dolphins classic. Dan Henning is a favorite of mine but today he pitched like Jamie Moyer without his Centrum Silver. Pennington completing three in a row and looking crisp? Put Pat White in to run a goofy play. Ricky Williams consistently getting chunks of yards on the ground? Make sure Ronnie gets the ball more.

This was a game where reverses and fleaflickers should have replaced Wild Cat plays. Pro Set, Pennington to Bess. Pennington hands to Williams. Pennington hands to Williams. Screen pass to Ted Ginn. Go for a chunk with Camarillo.

That kind of shit.

In sum total: The offensive line lost the game.

The Ugly

Next week the Dolphins will have to somehow play better coverage against the best quarterback in the NFL.

Jake Long will face another great pass rusher in Dwight Freeney. The Colts secondary is also a solid one and there is no reason to believe that Pennington will have any more success.

It comes down to this, Dolphins fans. The Phins showed again an inability to maintain the running game (whether physically or via play calling). Because of this they relied on trick plays to purchase every medium sized play.

For the Dolphins to win a game everything must go right. Chad Pennington is not good enough to overcome mistakes. He must have a perfectly tuned defense keeping the other guy down and clever receivers running perfect routes. He must not be expected to get the ball down field unless the play is broken. This is a problem. Is he the best QB the Phins have right now? Yes. Is it worth looking to see if Chad Henne (fuck you Pat White fans - he is not the answer at QB) has the spit-gumption to overcome? Yes. In three games if the Phins look like they did today for each.

One bright spot to think about is the fact that the Phins did lose their first two last year. Also Ronnie Brown is a very, very, very slow starter. His biggest games come in the midweeks before he gets hurt or the line gets tired. Cynical?

Yes, and drunk. Colts is must-win territory. At least the Panthers and Bucs looked like shit pie today. There's that.