ATTN Joe Philbin: Let Tannehill turn it loose!

Sometimes the turning point in a game can transpire in the game's first minute. Such was the case in the Miami Dolphins' past two defeats. It wasn't Reggie Bush's fumble in the first quarter during the Dolphins Week 10 loss to Tennessee Titans or the first quarter punt return by Leodis McKelvin in the first quarter of a road loss in Orchard Park to the Buffalo Bills in Week 11 that would prove to be turning points and swing momentum in favour of their opponents. Momentum was already in the tight grip of these opponents before those respective plays ever occurred.

It was the Dolphins offense, led by rookie signal-caller Ryan Tannehill, that has started the last two games. In both of those games, the first drive resulted in alarmingly conservative play-calling. Against Tennessee, after one first down, the Dolphins would then run the ball three times, with a final uninspiring fullback carry from Javorski Lane on third and one leading to an opening drive punt. It was much of the same against Buffalo, save the one first down. After a predictable, minimal gain run on first down, Tannehill then completed a screen pass to Hartline for five yards. The Dolphins faced another third and short on the opening drive and again went conservative attempting a five yard out to Anthony Fasano, resulting in a punt (which would be the punt McKelvin would return for the TD). Of the nine plays from those opening drives, Tannehill did not attempt a pass that was in the air 5 yards past the line of scrimmage. It doesn't get much more conservative than that. 

Those early punts were the true turning points in the game.

While I will concede that you're always better off in third and short situations than third and long attempts, you simply cannot play to achieve third and short situations with each set of downs you have on a drive. Eventually, you have to push the ball up the field. I live by one credo in football:

THE MORE PLAYS YOU ATTEMPT, THE MORE LIKELY YOU'LL MAKE A MISTAKE

I understand yards and points are tough to come by in the NFL and even more so for the Miami Dolphins. Truly, running the Dolphins offense these days is no easy task for Philbin and Offensive Coordinator Mike Sherman. They are dealing with a rookie Quarterback, a shaky offensive line and a set of extremely ordinary pass catchers. That said, it's time to see what we truly have in Tannehill. To this point, Tannehill has provided highly promising performances. I don't think his numbers (6 Touchdowns to 11 Interceptions) are indicative to how good he's been this season, especially for a converted receiver who had only 19 starts previous to his entry into the NFL. Tannehill has been poised, collected and methodical in his approach. For Philbin, it's time to take Tannehill out of the crib and let him sleep in the big boy's bed aka let him loose!

Lately, Joe Philbin has no answers for the Dolphins offence 

The schedule won't lighten for Tannehill over the next few weeks, a top-ranked Seattle Seahawks defense travels to South Beach this Sunday to battle the Fish. However, it's imperative that Philbin has Tannehill push the ball up field because, as been the case the last two weeks, they continue to be on the short end of third and short.

My Adventure with Dirty South Food Truck - My Feeble Attempt at Food Blogging

There are two significant perks to being unemployed. The obvious first is that, for now, I no longer have to wear dress pants and shirts or any business attire for that matter. In fact, I've pretty much reduced my wardrobe to sweat pants, hooded sweaters and t-shirts. I've never been comfier.

I've been hooked to Eat St. for several months now and I smile a mile wide when a new truck pops up in the GTA/Golden Horseshoe. With that in mind, the second perk is the availability to dabble in the food truck world during the lunch hour. Well I'm aware that many food trucks cater to the dinner crowd, the optimal time to dine at a food truck vendor is at lunch. If all food truck experiences are similar to the experience I had this week with Dirty South, then I will have found a new lunchtime hobby!

For any local food bloggers to the GTA/Golden Horseshoe area, do not fret, I'm not treading on your territory; for the fact remains, while this may be food blogging, I'm nowhere near being a food blogger, a good one at least. The thought of becoming a food blogger has crossed my mind because, I suppose like all food bloggers, I love food! However, I'd assume most (if not all) food bloggers have culinary backgrounds. I'm just a dude that likes to cook and eat, pretty simple.

My wife and I have also discussed how good a food blogger I'd be. It's highly debatable how much weight my thoughts would carry for the fact that I love all food. Rarely do I find myself critiquing food to a point of labelling whatever I'm eating as something I dislike. I like it all! So I'd ask any readers to proceed with caution as I detail my experience with Dirty South.

Traditional southern cooking cuts to the core of the man I am. A man hasn't yet lived without having dined on fried chicken or fried chicken steak for breakfast. When thinking of southern cooking, my mind floats into euphoria with thoughts of fried chicken, chicken gravy, biscuits, waffles and fried apples. There would be no better place to try food blogging then at Dirty South.

Dirty South's location was at Eccels Auto in Dundas. I appreciated from the onset that their venue had ample parking which is necessary for those travelling to the location by automobile. Their menu was awesome. Deciding what to try first was tougher than last week's decision on who should run the free world. While Pulled Pork Tacos were RIGHT up my alley, I instead went with Dirty Southern Love. Let me tell you...
This triple-decker creation includes crispy fried-chicken with maple syrup drizzled candied bacon smothered in buttermilk ranch and Louisiana butter sauces. The bookends holding this beautiful concoction together? Homemade buttermilk waffles! There was an additional waffle in the middle as well, hence "triple decker". They had me hooked at "buttermilk"...

The sandwich cost $8.50 and was worth every penny. The sweetness of the waffles and maple syrup tied nicely with the finely battered chicken and delectable bacon. The most important criteria when judging food from a truck vendor, and I've seen enough Eat St. to figure this out, is that the creation has to meet a mess quota. It's simple math, the messier it is, the better it is! Dirty Southern Love exceeded my messiness quota!

That said, I'll try my best to be critical and say that near the end of the sandwich, the waffles became a bit dry. I think extra Louisiana butter sauce would have cured that dryness ailment, so it's something you may want to consider if you're giving it a shot.

Overall, it was an awesome experience and an awesome lunch; but did you expect me to say otherwise?

Hope Still Remains for a Dolphins Playoff Push

Sunday's loss to the Tennessee Titans was as upsetting a loss to the organization and its fans as anyone could imagine. They were dominated in all aspects of the game, from a far less superior team, as soon as Reggie Bush put the ball on the ground, during the Dolphins second drive of the afternoon. While they were punished and beaten down during a Week 1 road loss to the Houston Texans, that one is forgivable, as the Dolphins were still a team trying to gel and it was rookie Quarterback, Ryan Tannehill's first professional game. This loss to the Titans, on home soil, was much more upsetting.

Ryan Tannehill MUST rally the troops and escape Buffalo with a W

However, the Dolphins can't let that loss be debilitating or deflating as they head down the home stretch of their 2012 season. While more dim, there remains a flicker of light for the team's playoff aspirations. It all starts in Buffalo, tonight. 

Tannehill and the Dolphins have to put Sunday's loss to the Titans behind them and focus on finishing the season 5-2, as nine wins should get you into the AFC playoff picture this season. Here's how they can do it. 

The Fish have five winnable games left on their schedule, some may argue all seven are winnable. Beating the Bills twice and the Jaguars at home are absolute must wins. They will face more formidable foes when they host the upstart Seattle Seahawks a week from this Sunday. That said, if we know anything about this year's Seahawks, or any Seahawks team of the last decase for that matter, they are unbeatable at Qwest Field but often hapless when travelling outside of Washington State. 

If the Dolphins are able to win those four games, then a trip to Candlestick Park to play the 49ers and a home and home series against the rival Patriots are the games that remain. From a look at the math, they would need to win only one of those games to be primed for a playoff spot, which they are capable of doing. 

Tonight we'll get a great indication if the 2012 Miami Dolphins are a young team learning to win consistently under the helm of a rookie signal-caller in Ryan Tannehill or an ascending team ready to capitalize on a weaker schedule, similar to the schedule they had during their 2008 playoff push. Time will tell. 

Thoughts Around the League:

-Bill Belichek is the greatest Head Coach of my generation, perhaps the greatest coach of all-time. That said, can we remove the "genius" tag given to him? As a defensive coach, he's had four years to fix a defense that has sit near the cellar of the league, especially in the back-end. While he's acquired some great defenders in the past few seasons with guys like: Chandler Jones, Brandon Spikes, Jerod Mayo, etc, the pass defense remains one of the worst in the league. 

-Michael Vick's days in a Philadelphia Eagles jersey seem to be numbered. If the Eagles cut bait in the offseason, one of the more intriguing storylines is where Vick will land next. I still think Vick has good football left in him. Don't the New York Jets make the most sense?

-If the NFL trade deadline still laid ahead of us, do you think the Pittsburgh Steelers would be on the phone with Miami Dolphins General Manager Jeff Ireland about the possibility of a trade involving Dolphins backup Quarterback, Matt Moore?

-Why do the New York Giants consistently go into hibernation in the month of November under the tutelage of Head Coach Tom Coughlin? 

-Are we really jumping off this Atlanta Falcons bandwagon already? One loss, to a divisional opponent, on the road, and we're abandoning ship like the Titanic. Despite only having a slightly above average defense, the Falcons are still the most formidable team in the league and should still be favourites to hoist the Lombardi Trophy in February. Oh and, Matt Ryan is still the league's MVP and is knocking on the door of the "elite" class of Quarterbacks.

-We only may get to witness it two or three times, but how much fun will this Andrew Luck v. Tom Brady showdown be on Sunday? Luck is everything as advertised and more but Brady is still the King of the Jungle, something has got to give on Sunday. 

The 2012 Miami Dolphins: Where Have We Seen This Before?

Why does this 2012 Miami Dolphins story sound so familiar? For whatever reason, it feels like Dolphins fans have been down this path before.

Think back to the 2008 Miami Dolphins season. If you can't recall or you forced yourself to "misremember", let me remind you. This is the story of a rebuilding team starting from scratch, merely looking to improve upon on a highly forgettable and historically awful 1-15 2007 season. 2008 brought a new Head Coach and new Quarterback into the fold. A new culture was being created in Miami.

Is this starting to sound more familiar?

Fast-forward to 2012 - how does the 2012 team compare to the 2008 team? Let's go down the checklist:

• New game-managing Quarterback? Check
• New Head Coach? Check
• New culture? Check
• 4-4 start through 8 games? Check
• Played NFC West Division? Check
• Zero to few wins against teams with winning records? Check

These resemblances, these eerily resemblances are remarkable. That Miami Dolphins squad would end up winning 11 games on the back of discarded signal-caller Chad Pennington and the "revolutionary" Wildcat offence, earning their first playoff birth in 7 seasons. Despite, an early exit in the postseason  this new Dolphins regime led by Vice-President of Football Operations, Bill Parcells provided a small glimmer of hope of what would be a return to glory for the once-proud franchise. However, that small glimmer of hope would quickly darken with each fist-pumping Field Goal after fist-pumping Field Goal from Head Coach Tony Sparano. The 2008 season was the start of a giant step backward, rather than forward.

Field Goal Fist Pump!

Flash forward 3 seasons, Chad Pennington along with "future franchise QB" Chad Henne and said Head Coach Tony Sparano are all gone with only much-maligned General Manager Jeff Ireland remaining to direct personnel decisions.

I know history indicates that this optimistic Dolphins season is more of a mirage than the start of a successful run in South Beach, but wait Dolfans! Before you start to hit the panic button, or reserve that optimism you've built up for a surprising 4-4 start to the 2012 campaign, I'm hear to tell you, despite these similarities, the 2012 Dolphins, unlike the 2008 Dolphins, aren't a flash in the pan and will continue to build upon this success. Feel free to continue building that optimism. Here is where these two teams differ:

• Head Coach Joe Philbin is much more equipped to handle the responsibilities of being the main boss than Tony Sparano ever was. He already calls a better game than Sparano ever did.
• While it's preached for rookie QB Ryan Tannehill to limit his mistakes and manage the game, his skill-set is MUCH more diverse than what Chad Pennington could offer as signal caller. Both manage a game exceedingly well but unlike Pennington at the time, Tannehill's best years are ahead of him and he is able to sling the ball when needed.
• Ryan Tannehill is the first-round, franchise Quarterback of the future - Chad Pennington was a New York Jets cast-off.
• The NFC West provides much more competition to AFC East teams than it did 4 seasons ago, ergo the victories over these teams are more impressive than they were in 2008.
• The 2012 Dolphins are winning games through executing fundamentals like running the ball and stopping the run; they are not relying on gimmicks like the Wild Cat to spark an otherwise pedestrian offence.

I hope I talked you off that ledge. While scary similarities remain between the 2008 and 2012 Miami Dolphins, the 2012 team is ready to step ahead.