2009 Miami Dolphins Schedule and Thoughts

Week	H/A	Opponent	Date	Time	TV
1	at	Atlanta Falcons	Sep. 13th	1:00 PM	CBS
2		Indianapolis Colts	Sep. 21st	8:30 PM	ESPN
3	at	San Diego Chargers	Sep. 27th	4:15 PM	CBS
4		Buffalo Bills	Oct. 4th	4:05 PM	CBS
5		New York Jets	Oct. 11th	8:30 PM	ESPN
6		Bye Week
7		New Orleans Saints	Oct. 25th	4:15 PM	FOX
8	at	New York Jets	Nov. 1st	1:00 PM	CBS
9	at	New England Patriots	Nov. 8th	1:00 PM	CBS
10		Tampa Bay Buccaneers	Nov. 15th	1:00 PM	FOX
11	at	Carolina Panthers	Nov. 19th	8:20 PM	NFLN
12	at	Buffalo Bills	Nov. 29th	1:00 PM	CBS
13		New England Patriots	Dec. 6th	8:20 PM	NBC
14	at	Jacksonville Jaguars	Dec. 13th	1:00 PM	CBS
15	at	Tennessee Titans	Dec. 20th	1:00 PM	CBS
16		Houston Texans	Dec. 27th	1:00 PM	CBS
17		Pittsburgh Steelers	Jan. 3rd	1:00 PM	CBS

Prime Time Games

Miami was given much more respect than I thought as they are scheduled for four national telecasts this year. There are two early season games on Monday Night Football on ESPN, a tough Thursday nighter at Carolina in November on the NFL Network (Good luck Comcast subscribers!) and probably the most intriguing game on the slate, an early December home affair with the Patriots on NBC's Sunday Night Football.

No Weather Concerns

The first thing a lot of Dolphins fans want to know is the prospects for cold and bad weather games late in the year. Last year Miami had to travel to frigid Kansas City and New York to close the year and remarkably reversed the trend. This year it would seem much easier. The only road games in December are early in the month and in southern cities Jacksonville and Nashville. The late November game in Buffalo is probably the best chance to get a game where weather and conditions will be a factor.

On the flip side, one advantage for the team is playing in the tough heat and humidity early in the year, but that will be absent this year. All of the September and October home games are in the 4:00 PM window or a night contest. I think this is a fair trade for avoiding the cold weather and to be honest, the heat advantage has been dwindling in recent years.

Quick Hits

• Once again, a fast start seems like a must. The first seven weeks has four home games and a bye week.
• I'm not a fan of the midweek games. You really have to prepare for two games in one week but I guess it's still an equal playing field. Plus you could view it as a mini bye week after that game if things go well.
• I know a lot of people are talking about the toughest schedules and how Miami's is statistically the hardest but I'm not worried about it for several reasons. One, the teams in our division have nearly the same schedule with the exception of two games. Two, last year Pittsburgh had the toughest schedule and they sis pretty well. Baltimore had a tough schedule, nobody expected much out of them, and they did well too. No matter what the schedule is, if you are good, then you will prove it. Finally, after the easiness our schedule proved to be last year, it's only fair that things are much more difficult this year.

We Interrupt This Hibernation

What could be so important that I've awakened from a two month slumber to post about?

The NFL Schedule is being released tomorrow!

I'll be sure to post immediately after it's release all of my way too early thoughts that promises to be better than last year's hard-hitting analysis. The only thing that is remotely interesting is whether the Dolphins will return to prime time after last year's absence. My prediction? Yes, but just once.

The NFL Draft is in 12 days!

It just doesn't have the same anticipation when you aren't picking first and need to hit on a lot of picks to instantly improve your team. Also, at this time last year the Dolphins pick was basically narrowed down to between 3-5 players. This year, I swear I have seen at least 10 players going to the Dolphins in mock drafts and it's possible the actual pick could be someone completely unexpected.

Part of the reasons I haven't been writing is because a lot of my time is going to coauthoring a new Marlins blog. Please check it out.

Offseason: Day. . .Something

It is now the offseason for every NFL team as the Super Bowl was played this past weekend. I won't bore you with many thoughts on that because it is now Tuesday and you've surely heard enough about it. I've been pretty quiet on the blog here since the Dolphins season ended. I've actually had more time to write lately so I'll try to bang out some thoughts on free agency and the draft soon. For now, I'll quickly explain the three areas of most concern (in no particular order)

• Playmakers: On offense there are no real home run hitters. The backs are good but their only huge plays were more due to playcalling and scheming rather than playmaking ability. Ted Ginn could be a playmaker in the deep passing game but when Pennington is your QB you pretty much forfeit that option (I'm not compaining, it's just the truth). On defense, the players and scheme are good, but not enough huge game changing plays are made. When interceptions are made, the returns are short. When sacks are made, fumbles are not. We need to turn a good defense into an outstanding one, and the way to do that is by making huge plays and scores.
• Offensive Line: Last year we did a great job of reworking the line with the additions of Jake Long and Justin Smiley. We need more depth though and a possible reshaping of the interior line. Smiley's injury really hurt us down the stretch as the running game production decreased and Pennington faced constan pressure. Samson Satele had a dropoff in his second year. I'm not sure if he should be replaced or moved to guard, but he needs to be in an open competition with other good players to see if he's the best option. The unrestricted free agency of Vernon Carey is also an issue. I'd love to sign him and keep him at right tackle, but not breaking the bank account. We'll have to see what happens there.
• Coaching Staff: This is all about stability, and the wish is that we don't lose any assistant coaches or coordinators to promotions and jobs with other NFL teams. Whenever you have a good or improving team it's just the reality that you will probably have part of your staff raided (ask Dallas). Luckily it looks like we have survived this for now. Pasqualoni was being mentioned for the Chiefs job (which is still open) and Todd Bowles was a Lions candidate before they settled on Jim Schwartz