Just spent about four hours concentrating watching the All-22 and concentrating on offense. I watched most key plays at least twice and slowed down the film to 25% of normal speed in many cases. I watched a few series on defense most of them at normal speed but this post will concentrate on offense.
Malik Willis. Based upon the 25 attempts he made he has a great arm and is extremely accurate. But he appears to have significant problems seeing the field and appears to be slow making decisions. The first sack and the interception are proofs of the latter.
First sack on second Dolphins possession
Second and 8th at Miami 25-yard line. Raiders playing zone. Douglas and Achane on the left, Bell, Washington and Dulcich on the right. Douglas and Bell go deep accompanied by about three defenders and a deep safety. A really deep throw to Douglas would be extremely dangerous. But both Achane and Dulcich get open. In the case of Dulcich, wide open for about a second. Initially and for about three seconds there is a clean pocket. Malik holds on to the ball and starts to move up in the pocket where he gets sacked past the four second mark.
Interception on third Quarter.
Here the pocket was clean and stayed pretty clean throughout. Prior to the play Malik too time to flip flop Washington and Douglas. Washington ended up on the right and Bell on the left. When Malik let go off the ball Washington was wide open 25 yards from the LOS. Bell was attracting double coverage but could have been targeted on left corner route with around a 50-yard pass. However, Malik chose to throw the ball 41 yards down the field where the only player was the safety. I do not know what he saw. He said in the post-game interview that he did not put enough in the ball. In my view he needed a 25-yard pass, not a 41 yard one.
Wasted opportunity after Wright return.
This one is interesting because is one I put the failure more on play calling than on Willis. It was 3rd and five and the Raiders appeared to be playing man off coverage. Miami sent three of the four receivers deep. Other than Douglas who turned for the ball at the first down marked with a db at his back, there was no one else looking for the ball until the pocket broke down. Malik lost his shoe before getting sacked and seemed reluctant to scramble until the final possession. In this case at the twenty with 3rd and five, the main route should have been a pass to Dulcich or Achane not a throw to the end zone.
Positive side of Willis.
Really high PFF grade on intermediate passes. On several cases he was throwing to tightly covered receivers and putting the ball on spot. Did not give up even when pass protection broke and it looked like he was caught for a safety. My bet is that he comes back stronger for this. But this was not a good game for him.
Offensive Line.
PFF graded them 28/30 in pass blocking and 20/30 in run blocking. The run blocking left a lot to be desired because they could not move the Raiders defensive linemen back. But I was surprised at the quality of the pockets Malik enjoyed until the last possessions. Pocket stayed clean for well over 2.5 seconds. Unfortunately Malik average TTT was 3.47 seconds.
Jackson was the lineman who ranked the lowest. He was pushed around for most of the game. Patrick Paul looked really good. Only three of the five sacks were charged to the line. Average time to sack was over four seconds. Bottom line is that Slovik needs to work with Malik and the receiving corps to ensure that the ball gets out sooner Achane gets to do some running.
Receivers.
Achane was impressive as usual. Catch in the first possession was a beauty. Douglas did well on the intermediate passes that he caught. Bell only pass was a deep route which he caught well. The only receiver who had a tough outing was Washington who was charged with a drop and the final fumble.
Coaching.
The one complaint I have about both offense and defense is that the game plan appears too complicated for the people we have on the team. Rodriguez looks really promising but he has not business as the MIKE. He needs to understand the playbook before calling defensive plays. Johnson was put on an impossible position. On the second touchdown he was lined up five yards deep and had to try to stop Jeanty who was running at close to full speed when he juked him. He guessed wrong and missed a tackle. He showed a tremendous amount of resilience and was ranked best in Run defense. (Worst in coverage).
Malik Willis struggled calling plays on time because he had to get people in position and had two game delayed penalties even thought the Dolphins were breaking huddle with about 15 seconds left. Not sure that this was the problem but it did not help.
Hope that next week I can be more positive.
Gines Lleonart