Today at 1:00 the Dolphins will battle the Baltimore Ravens in a game of 2-3 teams to see who can stay in the playoff race and in Miami's case, stay in the division race as well. Buffalo leads the division at 4-1 followed by New England at 3-2 and the Jets at 3-2, then Miami at 2-3.
Miami faces a Baltimore team that is struggling, losing 3 in a row after starting the season winning there first 2 ball games of the season, a team that lost there most recent game to Indy 31-0. As usual the Ravens bring the top ranked defense in the NFL into the game and a struggling offense lead by rookie QB Joe Flacco.
This should be a defensive battle with the key to the game being turnovers. Miami has been solid in regards to turnovers and the face a young QB that has struggled with turnovers and if Miami wins the turnover battle again they will have a very good chance of winning this game. Baltimore will attempt to get the running game going with Willis MaGahee to keep the pressure off of Flacco and let there defense win the game, a formula that has worked for them twice this year.
Offensively, Miami needs to be balanced and keep Baltimore off balance, and while I don't believe Miami will score points like they did against Houston, 10-17 points should win this game. Stop Baltimore's run game and make them one dimensional and put pressure on Flacco and things will look good for the Dolphins. Plus, the Dolphins need to create pressure with more than just Joey Porter as his mates on the defensive front need to step up in this game.
Finally, the Ravens do not have that big, fast, physical WR that has given Miami secondary fits all year long. This is a game Miami can and should win.
It is pretty obvious that the Dolphins could use another good cover corner on this team. Will Allen has done a good job, but when the Dolphins face teams with large wide receivers they do not have another corner on the roster able to step up and stop the big fellas. In two of our losses we've seen big receivers having near-career games against us. That is why the Dolphins made a call to Ty Law's agent about getting him into a Dolphins uniform.
Last year Law only had two picks, but many of the analysts say that it is because teams threw away from him. Still, with the Chiefs in the middle of a youth movement, released Law and his salary after last year. He would be a good fit in Miami and he knows the defense well as he was a former Parcells draft pick for the Patriots. There is a problem .... he does not want to play for the Dolphins. He wants to play for a Super Bowl competitor.
Well, even though the Dolphins could use Law to finish off the season and maybe next year, he is not interested in being a band aid for a team with minimal playoff hopes. I think he knows his days in the NFL are coming to a close and he wants to go out on top. I know he can be pretty arrogant, but I cannot blame him. Let's all move forward.
Jason Allen Watch
There is really nothing new to report here. The Dolphins are patiently waiting for him to catch on as a cornerback, so, until he shows it in practice you will not see him lined up in the secondary in a game. Personally I just do not get it. Sparano is the third coach who does not have much faith in Jason Allen and wants to convert him back to cornerback rather than safety. We saw last year that Allen is actually a good hard-hitting safety, but he is a cornerback once again ... not a safety.
Let's just label him a "bust" and move on.
Joey Porter Fined
Will the players learn that you just do not criticize NFL officials to the media. You just do not do it. Porter ran his mouth this week, which can be entertaining, and he was so good that he was asked to donated $20K to an NFL charity. What makes it even worst is that he was wrong. He did not cause a Schaub fumble .... Schaub's arm was moving forward in a passing motion.
I do like Porter and I am happy that my assessment a few weeks ago that he was playing his last year for the Dolphins was wrong. He is having a career year and will most likely be Miami's lone representative at this year's Pro Bowl. He has 6.5 sacks this year and currently ranks a half sack behind the NFL sack leader. Steeler fans loved him at Pittsburgh, but their lone criticism was that he gets his sacks in chunks. Hopefully we will see him get a couple more sacks this weekend against John Harbaugh's Ravens offense.
Harbaugh Disrespects The Dolphins
What every team wants is bulletin board material for the next game. Ravens head coach John (not Captain Comeback) Harbaugh, a former assistant coach at Indiana under Cam Cameron, disrespected about half of the current Dolphins team by saying that Cam Cameron did a great job "with what he had". This irked DT Vonnie Holliday who is one of Miami's veteran leaders on the team. It also put a smile on his face when he said, "I can't wait to see how Joey Porter reacts to it." When Matt Roth heard the quote he got a big grin on his face. I don't know about you but my money is on the Fins this weekend.
As far as Cameron is concerned, if he thinks that Cameron was effective then he didn't observe his coaching decisions. Let Harbaugh repeat what Cameron did and he'll be standing in the soup line. I do not consider 1-15 a great job. I think Saban, Jimmy Johnson, Dave Wannstedt, or Tony Sparano would have coached that team to more than one win.
Forum Images
You have to love the sense of humor of some of the guys on our forum. It gets you through the losses. Here's a few that I quickly came across. Maybe I'll post one each Saturday.
FINesse (poking fun):
fin4life (Johnny Depp):
Alex13
Tell Me The Election Is Over ... Please!
I tell you what, I cannot wait for this election to be over. I am sick and tired of the commercials. I know our candidates are working hard to the last minute and you cannot blame them, but if I see one more commercial I am going to yack.
I think most of you know that I am a conservative and a staunch John McCain supporter, but even I will say that Obama and Biden are very personable people. If you take the politics out of it, they are likeable.
Tonight Sarah Palin will be on SNL and you can expect a funny show, but check out this clip of Joe Biden watching a SNL clip poking fun at him. You cannot help but laugh with him.
Dolphins Interested in Ty Law ... not Visa Versa
