May 19, 2013

Magic City Rolling Hard- Week 14

This ain’t no Ralph Wilson Stadium baby.

Joe Robbie to the Legendary Orange Bowl-this here is the “Magic City”. Home of the MIAMI DOLPHINS!


Miami Dolphins (7-6)

Buffalo Bills (3-10)


When the Dolphins played Buffalo in week 1, Miami’s defense coordinator Mike Nolan still had kinks to work out even with a 15-10 win over the Bills. Since then both the Dolphins and the Bills have gone through positional transitions, injuries, and new starters. As a result, week 14 will be a whole new ball game.

{Bills Position Changes}

Week 1 starting quarter back Trent Edwards was waived to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Now the starting quarter back is Ryan Fitzpatrick.

-QB Ryan Fitzpatrick:

Threw a touchdown pass in his 14th straight game against the Browns last Sunday during a 13-6 victory at home. Fitzpatrick is only four shy of matching Hall of Fame QB Jim Kelly’s team record for consecutive games with a TD pass; 2,526 yards at 85% passing rating.

Eric Wood transitioned from right guard to center when Geoff Hangartner suffered a mid game knee injury during week 13.

-Eric Wood will be matching up, out of his normal position against Soliai. The weight difference may be to the Dolphins advantage considering that Wood’s is 40 pounds lighter and is just filling in for now; we’ll see.

Outside linebacker Chad Rinehart and Cordaro Howard will be splitting time at Woods’ position at right guard.

*Side Note – Rinehart has 4 NFL starts at guard coming off his 2 year stint with the Washington Redskins.

Key Players to watch:

Young buck wide receiver Steve Johnson, Buffalo’s 7th round pick in 2008,  was named starting 2nd receiver in 2010. Johnson has flourished in his new role, including an eight reception game for 137 yards and three touchdowns against the Cincinnati Bengals. Although he “did” drop the winning touchdown against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Bills still seem to have faith that he can redeem himself.

Running backs:

-Four time seasoned veteran Fred Jackson and first round pick,  rookie C.J. Spiller will both be a threat to the Dolphins defense.

-Spiller’s sub 4.4 speed allows him to threaten the edges and then, you have to watch him on punt returns!

-Against the Browns, Fred Jackson rushed for 112 yards on 29 carries.



Buffalo Injury Report:

Lee Evans WR Ankle Did Not Participate In Practice Out
Geoff Hangartner C Knee Did Not Participate In Practice Out
Demetrius Bell T Knee Full Participation in Practice Probable
Drayton Florence CB Fibula Full Participation in Practice Probable
Chris Kelsay LB Knee Full Participation in Practice Probable
Andy Levitre G Knee Full Participation in Practice Probable

Miami Dolphins Injury Report:

Joe Berger C Ankle Full Participation in Practice Probable
Nolan Carroll CB Knee Full Participation in Practice Probable
Reshad Jones S Rib Full Participation in Practice Probable
Sean Smith CB Ankle Full Participation in Practice Probable

The Dolphins run on average 3.7 yards per attempt for 106 yards per game. Chad Henne has not been reading his check downs during his progressions, not throwing the ball away when pressured, and still not showing signifigant improvement over all. After praying to the football god’s; “please help that man find his way”, Henne is not much better.

Henne gives me relentless chest pain. Now it seems, he makes on average one to two check downs per game when he see’s a wide open option and instead of getting sacked he plays like a “frightened Ted Ginn” in the pocket; dump, dump, dump. After a sloppy, embarrassing defeat over the Jets, Henne has now learned to just “throw the ball away.” However, now he is dumping the ball too often, where I would like to see him check for options while alluding rushers and stretching the pocket-maybe too much to ask for!

They say having home field advantage helps, but that hasn’t been the case this year for Miami. Week 13 is crunch time and with the Jets loosing two in a row and facing the vaunted Steelers, the Dolphins could, by the skin of their teeth and with a lot of help from division foes, make this years wild card spot.

Fitzpatrick extended his streak of TD passes to 14 straight games, moving into second place on the Bills list. Hall-of-FamerJim Kelly holds the record of 18, set over the 1986-87 seasons. … Fitzpatrick has 21 touchdowns passing this season, the most by a Bills player since Drew Bledsoe had 24 in 2002.

~Referenced stats by STATS LLC and The Associated Press

Dolphins Roster:

Quarterback: Chad Henne, Tyler Thigpen (2nd)

FullBack: Lousaka Polite
Wide Receiver 1: Brandon Marshall, Davone Bess (2nd)
Wide Receiver 2: Brian Hartline, Marlon Moore (2nd)
Tight End: Anthony Fasano (probable), Jeron Mastrud (back up)
Left Offensive Tackle: Jake Long (probable), Lydon Murtha (back up)
Left Offensive Guard: Richie Incognito, Cory Procter (2nd)
Center: Joe Berger
Right Offensive Guard: John Jerry, Pat McQuiton (2nd)
Right Offensive Tackle: Vernon Carey
Left Defensive End: Kendall Langford, Tony McDaniel (2nd)
Nose Tackle: Paul Soliai
Right Defensive End: Randy Starks, Ryan Baker (2nd)
Left Outside Linebacker: Koa Misi, Ikaika Alama-Francis (2nd)
Left Inside Linebacker: Channing Crowder, Tim Dobbins (2nd)
Right Inside Linebacker: Karlos Dansby
Right Outside Linebacker: Cameron Wake
Left Cornerback: Vontae Davis, Benny Sapp (2nd)
Right Cornerback: Sean Smith, Nolan Carroll (2nd)
Strong Safety: Yeremiah Bell, Tyrone Culver (2nd)
Free Safety: Chris Clemons, Rashad Jones (2nd)
Special Teams:
Kicker: Dan Carpenter
Punter: Brandon Fields
Long Snapper: John Denney
Kick Returner: Patrick Cobbs, Nolan Carroll (2nd)
Punt Returner: Davone Bess, Brain Hartline (2nd)
Holder: Brandon Fields

NO SUPERBOWL SHUFFLE IN MY HOUSE

Thigy, Tyler Beckham Thigpen, is not to be mistaken for just another back up third stringer today, and is for sure not as ugly as Tony Romo! With that said, please stop saying he could be another Romo; Dolphins are WINNERS!

Beckham, yes he is handsome but this Beckham is not only handsome too, he is what I like to call a “country bumpkin”;cute, athletic and smart!

This gun slinger has been holding doors for ladies and holding doors for his team mates, but today is the day Thigpen walks through those same doors leading the Dolphins out on the field at a chance to show off what other recent Dolphins quaterbacks haven’t.

Thigpen was drafted in 2007 in round 7, pick 217 and all 6’1, 224 lbs of him has waited for the chance to prove that he was no Matt Cassel when the Chiefs drafted him, but he is going to be Miami Dolphins fans football savior today. He is Tyler “country bumpkin” Thigpen.

Miami Dolphins 5-4                          Chicago Bears 6-3

Both teams have talent on both sides of the ball, making tonight’s grid iron game an entertaining match up. Miami has two quater backs out with injuries, with third string Thigpen starting and a new recruited qb Patrick Ramsey sitting sideline; 2nd string. However, even with Miami being 2 men shy, their defense still has a tsunami; a plethora, of talent that will rock Jay Cutlers rocky on the road play calling ability.

The Bears put on a good show last week on the road against the 3-6 Vikings, but that was last week and the Vikings are at .333.  Even with the Bears at .667 and the Dolphins  standing at .556 we have a couple advantages:

Home field, our team identity crisis is slowly getting under control, our special teams are more in synch and organized, the momentumand drive to win is going to shine through Thigpen like an atom bomb, Cutlers diabetes is going to leave him a little shakey (sorry Jay, my son is type I), the Dolphins running game should be back tonight, and even with Greg Olden trying to take the middle Dansby has him covered. Lastly, Miami’s ranked number 11 for sacks, with Cameron Wake leading the Dolphins with 8.5 sacks. Wake is going to have to shake things tonight since he went without a sack last week; week 10.

Dolphins Watch:

Greg Olsen, Matt Forte, Chester Taylor and Brandon Manumaleuna

3-4 middle line-backers, watch the drop into coverage and be prepared to pick up tight ends.

Johnny Knox, Devin Hester, and Earl Bennett will be running tight routes on the blitz; and I see the blitz being hot tonight. Also, since their week 8 bye week they have been stepping up the pass rush.

I predict multiple turnovers by Cutler, and Wake turning up the turf for 2 sack and 1 FF.

Side Note:

I hate Thursday nights annoucers. Why can’t just have Dieon Sanders, Emmitt Smith and me! Fun!

Go Dolphins!

Miami-Baltimore Match Up

Week 9 Match Up

Miami vs Baltimore


With Cincinnati having a banged up secondary last week, the Dolphins were able to pull off a win and stay undefeated on the road. Although Chad Henne struggled at times, the ground game was solid and effective and was able to put points on the board. Ricky Williams had 9 carries for 41 yards and 1 touchdown as the Dolphins later put the game out of reach for the Bengals and defeated them.

However, A talented Baltimore Ravens squad is welcoming the Miami Dolphins into M&T Bank Stadium who are undefeated on the road being 4-0. At M&T Bank last week, the Ravens over came a pair of 14-point second quarter deficits to take apparent charge but needed over time to thwart winless Buffalo 37-34 in front of 71,220 people. Bill Cundiff’s 38 yard field goal in overtime spelled the difference. Pro Bowl Linebacker Ray Lewis had a total of 15 tackles, and All Pro Safety Ed Reed had 2 interceptions in that win over the Bills. Not to mention the Baltimore offense was clicking on all cylinders on offense the entire game. QB Joe Flacco was 16 of 31 for 250 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Miami’s Offense vs Raven’s Defense: With Miami being able to execute their plays on offense, they’ll need to continue firing on all cylinders as this Ravens defense causes turnovers and has athletes that can fly all around the field making plays. With the Raven’s D having Ray Lewis and Ed Reed on the field, it’s up to Chad Henne to make great decisions in the passing game, and the running game to run hard and get yards if they plan on scoring.

Miami’s D vs Raven’s Offense: The Ravens were always known for having defense but no offense. Not anymore!!. With high caliber players on offense such as Joe Flacco, Ray Rice, and Pro Bowl WR Anquan Boldin, Miami has to make sure they put pressure on Flacco to keep him from being comfortable in the pocket. If the defensive line isn’t able to penetrate and keep Flacco out the pocket, it’ll be a long day for Miami.

Prediction: Miami’s offense and defense has been improving every year and everything’s coming together as one.

Miami : 21       Ravens: 17
Injury Report:

Dolphins
S, Yeremiah Bell
questionable – Limited Participation in Practice (toe)
RB,Patrick Cobbs
questionable – Limited Participation in Practice (hamstring)
LB, Channing Crowder
Probable – Full Participation in Practice (thumb)
Ravens

S Tom Zbikowski,
Out – Did Not Participate in Practice (foot)
TE Dennis Pitta,
Probable – Limited Participation in Practice (head)
WR Donte’ Stallworth,
Probable – Full Participation in Practice (foot)

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