May 22, 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

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