DOLPHINS ARE LOOKING THIN AT CORNERBACK

At the beginning of the season it looked as if the Dolphins were very talented and deep at the CB position. We had starting caliber corners Vontae Davis, Sean Smith, Richard Marshall and a bunch of young role players. Well, our potential All Pro Vontae Davis wore out his welcome with Ireland and Philben, so, the Dolphins shipped him up to Indianapolis for what we hope is a very high 2nd round pick. Most of us crapped a brick when we heard the trade, but we also knew that Vontae was a bit of a head case and lacked maturity.

This week, Richard Marshall will be out with a back injury which has hampered his performance the past two weeks. Let's not get into the "what if" thing with Vontae Davis. The Dolphins pretty much went with Marshall over Vontae Davis. I wasn't in favor of the trade, but Davis isn't showing why it was a horrible move. He's stinking things up himself. There's a lot of "red" in these stats and it doesn't mean he's on fire.

The Dolphins are going to have to get in Bengals QB Blaine Gabbart's face and put a lot of pressure on him if we are going to beat the Bengals this weekend. 

THERE IS STARTING TALENT AT THE WR POSITIONS

Davone Bess and Brian Hartline are showing the NFL that the Dolphins do have starting talent at the WR position. In fact, guess who leads the entire NFL in yards receiving? You got it ... Brian Hartline ... aided by the 253 yards he had this weekend. 

Hartline has battled through gangrene when he had his appendix taken out this summer. He ended up losing 25 pounds and is only now getting his feet under him. 

Oh, and guess who has opened preliminary contract discussions with Hartline? The Dolphins have, and they have to as Hartline becomes an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. I was telling the guys in our Game Chat that the only Dolphin that I've seen with hands like his in the last 15 years was Orande Gadsden. 

MIKE POUNCEY THE #1 RATED CENTER IN THE NFL

An attaboy goes to Ireland for his 2011 first round pick. The center anchors the line and it's good to finally see a GM who has the smarts of Shula when it comes to trying to rebuild the line via high draft picks. A supposed "safe" pick has turned out to be an outstanding pick. You have to love his mean streak and aggressiveness in a game. He has become the leader of that offensive line.

TANNEHILL BROKE A DAN MARINO DOLPHINS PASSING RECORD

Last week's game was probably the best passing performance that we have seen at the quarterback position (post Dan Marino) since Jay Fiedler lit up the Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day years ago. He picked up the blitzes, threw nice crisp passes, threw accurately on all the throws, and even tried to go through the progressions. But, alas, Ryan Tannehill broke a Dan Marino Miami Dolphins record for most yards passing in a game as a rookie and came 1 yard shy of tying the NFL record set by Cam Newton last year. Below is a highlight of every pass that Tannehill threw.

JAKE LONG AND RICHIE INCOGNITO ARE STRUGGLING

The knee, back, shoulder and bicep injuries that Jake Long has endured the past couple of years are starting to take a toll on him. In fact, he used to always be ranked as the best LT in the NFL but has fallen to #46 this week. It could also be the change in scheme from the power blocking to the pass blocking, but I'm thinking it is injuries. Anyways, at the end of this season the Dolphins may go in a different direction at LT if they do not want to pay what other teams will probably still want to pay for Long.

Were you surprised that the Dolphins went to the right side with Lane on 4th down at the goalline? It is because the Dolphins averaged 5 yards per carry on the right side and only 1 yard per on Jake Long and Richie Incognito's side. No kidding.

DOLPHINS AT BENGALS OFFICIAL MEDIA RELEASE

To me, the following team release is must-read material.  The Dolphins put this together for the media to help them prepare for the weekend's game. Great information in it in pdf format.

DOWNLOAD PDF 867KB

DOLPHINS AT BENGALS DISTRIBUTION MAP

Once again it will be slim pickings around the country to see this game unless you have the NFL Ticket.

PHINFEVER GAME CHAT

We hope that you will join us 1 pm Sunday (come sooner if you would like) for the Dolphins/Bengals game.

The Phinfever Sports Bar (chat room) is embedded in our forum, so, you will have to be logged into our forum before you can access the chat room. From what I understand, Firefox works best with our Flash software. I use Google Chrome for the chat. Internet Explorer 8 users have connection problems.

If you are looking for a streaming link to watch the game or a radio station, we can definitely tell you where you can go to get it. The best thing is getting together with other Dolphins fans around the country and sharing your observations on each play.

So, come on by ... and bring extra wings and refreshments for the rest of us. I prefer Dos Equis and I like my wings medium hot;)

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