How They Match Up, Pats At Phins!
By author
For the first time, in a long time, I’m feeling pretty good about how the Miami Dolphins match up with the New England Patriots. For the past decade, well, Miami didn’t really match up at all with the Patriots. I know New England is 4-5 in it’s last nine trips to south beach, but for the first time in a while, I feel like Miami has the better team.
Miami is bigger, more physical, more athletic, and in most spots more experienced. I know the Patriots have the big 3 in QB Tom Brady, and WR’s Randy Moss and Wes Welker. But other than those 3, who else are you concerned with on the Patriots? I really can’t think of anyone. And to tell you the truth, if our pass rush shows up tonight, Brady will have a tough time against this more athletic, ball hawking defense. However, if we can’t get to Brady like we didn’t get to Mark Sanchez last weekend, Brady will eat our secondary alive. Look for Mike Nolan to dial up some good pressure on Brady, keep Vontae Davis on Moss, and push Welker around underneath to break his timing.
On the offensive side of the ball, look for Miami to put up some points. New England’s secondary is as bad as Miami’s was last year, and with Brandon Marshall and Chad Henne looking better every week, they could have a field day throwing the football tonight. I hope they go for more balance with the run and pass tonight, when Ronnie and Ricky run for over 100 yards, Miami’s winning percentage jumps over 70%, when they don’t, it falls to 30%. If they can stay more balanced than they did last week, Miami will be in this game until the end.
I really hope we don’t see too much Wildcat tonight, and I think most of us fans feel the same. Once a big part of Miami’s offensive success, the Wildcat needs to become extinct. Now the Wildcat has turned into something that really messes up the flow of the offense. It doesn’t work anymore, am I the only one that can see that? Don’t do it, just don’t! If Miami just sticks to a more conventional attack tonight, they will be just fine!
Look for a high scoring game tonight. Miami scores a lot more points at home than they do on the road, combine that with the Patriot defense and Miami should put up a good number. New England can score a lot as well, but I see them coming up just short in this one. Miami should head into their buy week at 3-1, which is exactly what they need considering they will be playing the toughest part of their schedule over their next 4 games. Road trips to Green Bay, Baltimore, and Cincinnati, with a home game with the Steelers thrown in between there will definitely be tough on Miami. They need to take care of business tonight, have a great buy week, then get ready for a grueling 2nd quarter of their schedule.
Phins Up
BEL