LOLphins: Week 5 vs New York Jets

I'm sorry for having been on a bye month rather than bye week. I won't bore you with excuses or reasons why I have been as inactive as Patrick Turner. I've never meant for this blog to perform as poorly as the real Ted Ginn (pre-Monday night) but it has turned out that way and I apologize. Look for more bad humor in the future and for now I'll leave you with animated .gif's of the winning touchdown celebrations. First, Ronnie Brown appears to be mimicking a real Dolphin. The second is of course Tony Sparano being a badass.



roflbot base images via sun-sentinel.com
.gif's via FinHeaven user TX_Dolfan

Colts vs Dolphins: Preview & Keys

This won't exactly be an in-depth preview, but here are some key points

• Miami should feel a sence of urgency, as the Jets and Bills each have looked impressive in the first two weeks. The Patriots look a bit out of sync but you know they will pick it up. This year it won't be as easy to come back if the team falls two or more games back.
• For a team that prides itself on a balanced attack and ball control offense, I didn't see too much commitment to the run in week one. The team was never down by more than two scores, and time was not an issue, yet Ronnie Brown only got ten carries. Ricky Williams had seven. I'd expect to see ome of the traditional wildcat formation with the unbalanced line to help get some big plays from the running game.
• It will be important for the defense to blitz Peyton Manning and get to him. Take a cue from Rex Ryan's Jets and make the quarterback get rid of the ball before he likes. Make him hit the appropriate check downs and stop them for short gains. If we allow him time for routes to develop and receivers to find the open zones, it could be a long night.
• We must find a way to get Ted Ginn involved. Since we can't throw deep routes, we should use him on the end-around that resulted in two touchdown's last year. I'd also like to see him motion ino the slot from time to time, hopefully creating matchup problems.

Falcons 19, Dolphins 7: Recap

Revisiting the Keys

The offense could not get anything going for a long time. I said Miami should take some shots down the field early, to test the secondary and hopefully open up the field. Except for the one Pat White pass (great play call), they did not. I can't blame them too much though because the offensive line was getting beat and giving up sacks even on intermediate pass plays. Ultimately the problem was not being able to run the ball well early in the game. The line is a better run blocking unit than pass blocking, and it will be imperative for us to win on first down and not set up obvious passing situations.

Defensively, we did very well, particularly with Michael Turner. In fact we did better than I could have imagine with him as he was limited to under three yards a carry and did not break any long runs. Tony Gonzalez however, did make a huge impact. We saw the safeties rotate covering him and for the most part it didn't work. Now a couple times he just made outstanding plays that were indefensible, but I thought on obvious passing downs we could have done a better job of jamming him at the line or perhaps double covering him.

Special Teams didn't factor much in the game. For the most part the Dolphins coverage units were good. The discouraging element of the special teams game was not being able to get any decent kickoff return. I credit Atlanta's superb coverage units but also think the elimination of the three-man wedge plays a big role for a below-average Miami special teams unit.


Random Other Thoughts

• Not the best advertisement for Anthony Fasano who is trying to get a contract extension. The first fumble was tough and somehwat unlucky, but you can't cough it up twice. The second was especially inexcusable
• Our rookie corners will be targeted. Even though Sean Smith had an impressive preseason, Atlanta went after him and if not for some poor throws or drops, could have burned him big. I have confidence in Sean though and he will get another tough test against Peyton Manning next week.
• If not for the Immaculate Deflection in Cincinnati, Greg Camarillo would have NFL play of the week honors for that crazy ricochet, bring ball in with back of legs catch in the first half. It's unfortunate the referees did not call that properly in real time because it should have been a touchdown.
• Back to Pat White, nothing really of note happened today, but I like the potential for the WildPat, Whitecat, Spread Pat White offense. The key just like the Ronnie Brown led wildcat is the offensive line must block and give time for plays to develop and give our talented runners at least a small hole to run through. The pass play by White was a great call and hopefully he can be somewhat accurate on those in the future.

Look Ahead

The schedule doesn't let up, as the Indianapolis Colts come in for a Monday Night Football game.