Week 2: Dallas Cowboys @ Miami Football Dolphins

Why the Dolphins will lose:
-Who’s going to cover T.O.?

-If the defense is as gassed as early as they were last week and doesn’t find a way to get to Romo, it could be a very long day.

- Marion Barber the THIRD and Julius Jones are a solid one-two punch and we saw what Ladell Betts and Portis did last week.

-If Newman plays and is effective the whole game, that’s a huge boost to a sub-par secondary.

-Despite the Dallas injuries, the defense still has some guys that can get after the QB, and the Dolphins offensive line is not exactly a strength - to put it kindly.

-Losing Yeremiah Bell for the year means Lamont Thompson/Donovan Darius/ or (cringe) Traveres Tillman will see significant time this week at safety. Thompson and Darius were just signed this week, and Tillman… well, Tillman is a nice special teams player.

-Seriously, who’s going to cover T.O?

Why the Dolphins will win:
-I’m not ready to believe the talented Miami front 7 is as bad as they showed last week.

-Roy Williams couldn’t cover me at this point. Even Cowboy fans are finally fed up. I wonder when the rest of the NFL community will come around. At least he can still tackle.

- Jacque Reeves. He was so outclassed last week that the Cowboys are going to do everything they can to get Newman back on the field (even if he’s less than 100%) in hopes of being able to keep Frenchy on the bench a bit more. Don’t be fooled by articles out of Dallas praising his Sunday night performance and saying it was “his best game.” That’s not exactly saying much – in his prior 44 games as a backup he’s had 0 interceptions and 7 passes defensed. If he’s on the field, Cameron has to get Chambers/Ginn opposite him and go to town.

-Ken Hamlin is the opposite of Roy Williams. He’s ok in coverage, but he couldn’t tackle anything last week.

-Injuries to Ellis, Ferguson, and Newman are devastating for this defense.

-There will be mismatches for Cameron to exploit as he did last week. If Newman can’t go, there will be Reeves to take advantage of. If they commit safety help to Reeves they’ll be weakening a run D that just lost their starting defensive tackle for the season.

-Also, Cameron knows Wade Phillips defense inside and out from their time with the Chargers. If you think that doesn’t matter, just ask the Patriots how much it helps to know what plays are coming.

-The Dolphin defense completely shut down Cooley last week so we know they are capable of handling Witten. Crayton and Hurd don’t really scare anyone, despite deficiencies in our defensive backfield.

- Is this a bad sign for the Cowboys?

-Ted Ginn is due for a return to the house. Ok, I’m grasping at straws now, time to wrap this up.

-Durden LOVES when I toss in meaningless stats, so here’s a few final reasons you should take the ‘Phins to win…

**The Dolphins are 10-3 in their last 13 home openers.
**2-0 in their last two games against the Cowboys.
**And finally, they’ve NEVER…EVER lost a regular season home game under Cam Cameron…

Enjoy the games, believe in the Dolphins, and always believe in football…

'Phins @ Skins Week 1

Disclaimer: Those of you not interested in Miami/Washington may as well skip down to the previous NFL posts which are far more interesting/entertaining.

Now that the NFL got that last preseason game out of the way on Thursday, it’s time for my Miami Football Dolphins to kickoff. Let’s take a look at the week 1 matchup.

Dolphins @ Redskins: 1:00 pm EST
The ‘Skins bandwagon seems to be gaining more and more steam around the league as each day passes, and looking at their depth chart you can see why. While they have a few question marks, they don’t have a lot of gaping holes in the lineup on either side of the ball (several pro bowl caliber players at key positions).

There are some obvious concerns along the D-line, but London Fletcher and Rocky McIntosh help to sure up the LB’s (depth is still a concern), and the secondary is absolutely STACKED (and will be for a looooooong time – assuming Sean Taylor stays out of jail). I’m sure there’s a little concern as to how long it will take Pete Kendall to gel with his new line mates, but the biggest question mark of all is, of course, Jason Campbell.

Ultimately, the Redskins success this season will be determined by the performance of Campbell. Campbell’s shown flashes of being a more than capable NFL QB. Looking at the talent around him then (proven pro bowl caliber WR, TE, RB’s, and multiple lineman), you’d figure there’s only three reasons that Jason Campbell could fail this season.
1. Injuries to him/the offense
2. Play Calling/Coaching Staff not putting him in positions to be successful
3. He’s not that good.
Time will tell.

To beat the Dolphins, Washington needs to stop the run – make the Dolphins one dimensional and play to the 'Skins strengths in the defensive backfield. On offense, their RB's are too talented to abandon the run, but I think they should temper their expectations a bit. Draws, Screens, misdirections, etc… should be most effective against Porter, Taylor, and an active Dolphin defense that’s been known to over pursue on occasion. They should move the chains by feeding Chris Cooley early/often (one of the most underrated weapons in the league) and then open it up later in the game- look for a game breaker and exploit the Dolphin secondary with their speed at receiver.

That said, the Dolphins do get the Redskins at the perfect time. Campbell is a little banged up, Marcus Washington will likely not be 100%, Kendall hasn’t had a chance to play any real games with his new teammates and the kinks aren’t worked out of the offense yet.

According to the experts, for an unprecedented 20^th consecutive year the Dolphins defensive front seven will be “old” heading into the season. For the 20th consecutive season, I think opponents are going to be sorely disappointed that the age of the defense won't keep them from being one of the best against the run and at putting pressure on the QB. As usual, that part of the defense is absolutely legit. Despite not having a single reliable person in the secondary, the unit should be solid, if not spectacular at times.

The question is, can a team that brought in an offensive minded rookie head coach (Cam Cameron), a proven but declining veteran QB (Trent Green), and drafted 3 offensive players in the first round of three of the past four drafts (Ted Ginn #9 in ’07, Ronnie Brown #2 in ’05, Vernon Carey #19 in ’04) finally put it together and score some points?

To do so in week one, there’s going to have to be a heavy dose of Ronnie Brown. The Redskins run defense was atrocious last year, and as mentioned earlier, the D-line is still shaky. Miami needs to test it early and often, as the only way I see them having any success against that secondary is if they eat up some yards on the ground to open up the pass. I expect a tightly contested battle with field position playing a big role. Cameron said we were going to be thrilled watching The Ginn Family return punts, hopefully that holds true this week. A blow out would shock me, as would a high scoring game. Somewhere around 17-13 feels right.

Regardless, hopefully it starts with Joey Porter and Jason Taylor holding a meeting at Jason Campbell’s chest.
“Campbell is down… and the ball is loose!”

Alllllllllllllllriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight Miaaaaaaaamiiii!

Believe in football.