Good News: Channing Crowder Returns!

Time to celebrate.  Whoo hoo!

I know many of you are skeptical and have personal feelings (shall we say) about Channing Crowder.

But, Channing Crowder (ILB, #52, One of my personal favorite Dolphins) is back from injury and this will have major ramifications for the team.   In a good way.

He is a bright spark and is fresh and rested despite coming back from a groin injury which had him miss 4 games.  Like him or hate him, it is because of him that we now have ILB Bobby Carpenter, who comes up as the common denominator in several of the Special Teams goofs and I’m willing to bet, some Defensive ones as well.  Bringing back Crowder will add a body to the mix, add a fresh skilled linebacker at that and allows the team to utilize Tim Dobbins on Special Teams where he happens to excel.  And a rotation of Dobbins and Crowder will be possible during defense also.

These Dolphins should have also traded and picked-up Vincent Jackson when they had the chance from San Diego and added him to the arsenal.  How much more potent would the Dolphins be with him as a complement to Brandon Marshall, et. al. ?

And firing John Bonamego is totally warranted and should have been done before the season began or perhaps even earlier (hindsight…).

Jared Odrick is practicing again and so is Jake Long and John Jerry.  Basically the team is coming back after going2-2 and a bye week pretty much healed and ready to go; and they have the key flaws exposed and the fixes are in-progress.  Can’t really argue much with that situation as it happens to be the best we’ve seen in several years now as a matter of fact.

The Green Bay Packers, conversely, just lost Aaron Rodgers and Jermichael Finley (a rising star as an NFL TE).  At this point the word coming out of Cheesehead Central is that the fans are very, very worried about this Miami game and their future, which let’s face it, looked pretty bright about 2-3 weeks ago before they lost their running game, their tight end and their quarterback.  And, Vontae Davis just went on record, calling-out the Packers and finally showing real confidence and frankly, some bravado (story courtesy Miami Herald).

The Dolphins have the opportunity to band together as a team and overcome their strife and internal problems.  They can win this game.  And they can reestablish themselves as a serious playoff contender (yes, they were being considered as such after going2-0 with a swarming, dominating defense).

The Future is Now for these Miami Dolphins and what a perfect time for them to go forward with corrections in place and a healthier team.

A word on another topic also: one of my fellow writers posted a superb analysis of the Dolphins Defense the other day, referring to the Ninja scheme being used.  If you have not read this article, I urge you to do so.  Here is an excerpt from it:

"Basically when the offense was calling their pre-snap reads, no DLmen was in their regular 4 point stand.  Everyone looked like they were about to blitz, or fake the blitz.This is called the Ninja defense.  It is a disguise.  It is an attacking assassin coming from nowhere."

The article was written by Dale-Paul Jordan, aka “Bahamas”.  Read it!

[Update:  On researching the GB Packers further, their own defensive scheme which they call, “Psycho” is approximately the same as the Dolphins, “Ninja” and has allowed them several sacks and interceptions.  So Miami will face a version of their own defense and vice-verse for the Packers.  Should make for an interesting game….]

My prediction:  Miami 24-16 over the Packers.

Go Dolphins!