Last Sunday our Dolphins to a big step back against Arizona, as once again Miami had a very difficult time getting an type of running game going and as a whole the offense was stuck in nuetral the whole game.  The same disturbing trend of the WR being a non factor was evident again and teams are focusing on the TE and they were a non factor last week as well.  To make matters worse, losing Donald Thomas stunts the growth of the OL and now you are trying to find a suitable replacement for Thomas.

Defensively, Miami did a good job agains the run as Arizona had less than 80 yards rushing for the game.  The bad part of this equation, and it was very bad is that the secondary got absolutely torched by the tandem of Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald, as the tandem combined for over 300 yards and 3 touchdowns passes.  The pass rush also struggled to generate pass rush in this game as well and that has to improve.

Next up is New England, a team that is a shell of the team it was last year with NFL MVP Tom Brady out for the year, but still a very good and proud football team.  Judging from the game plan against the Jets, the Patriots are going to be a team that counts on the run game with conservative passing from Matt Cassel to keep the chains moving and rely on there veteran defense to win games and that proved successful last week agains the Jets.  Against Miami, you can expect the Patriots to deviate from that game plan somewhat and test a secondary that has shown a tendacy to give up the big play with one Randy Moss, as he presents the same problems for the Miami secondary that Boldin and Fitzgerald presented last week.  A big WR with great speed that has a big advantage on any type of jump ball situation.

What will we see from Miami this Sunday, that remains to be seen.  This is a team without and identity, an unknown commodity for the most part with a new staff that are learning on the job and a young team that is still learning how to play the game.  I hope we see a team that has learned a little more about themselves and show the signs of improvment that we all want to see.  Will this add up to a win today against the Patriots, I don't think it will, but I certainly want to see a team that can show me something that will give me reason for hope in the future.