Dolphins Yet To Address Oline Issue
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins face the Oakland Raiders on Sunday and it will be a long West Coast trip from the sunny beaches of Miami. The Raiders are playing good football. The Miami Dolphins are not…at least consistently. O.k. their not. Well, they did, against Tennessee. Sort of. Does that confuse you? It does me as well, it’s very similar to the entire Dolphins season thus far and indications are that it won’t change when you look at the remaining schedule.
The last time the Dolphins took the field they were without starting QB Chad Henne. Or is it number 2 QB Chad Henne and no number 1 Chad Pennington? They were without their starting center Joe Berger and their starting safety Chris Clemons. When the Thursday night high-school game ended, they were without Cory Proctor their third string center (what happened to their second string center?).
The Dolphins have yet to address the lack of depth along the offensive line. The depth chart shows Vernon Carey and Lydon Murtha at RT, John Jerry and Pat McQuistan at RG, Joe Berger all alone at center, Richie Incognito at RG along with the now injured Cory Proctor, and Jake Long all by himself at LT. The Dolphins current roster also shows Matt Koppa as a tackle but he is not listed yet on the depth chart. Guard Rey Feinga is on the practice squad. Surely he will be called up.
Add to all of that a new rumor that surfaced citing a report from WQAM in Miami that Vernon Carey is unwilling to move to LT if Long is place on IR. Which is probably a good thing since he can’t protect the weak side let alone the blind one.
So what gives here? The team plays Thursday night down to the last man standing on the Oline and they have done nothing to address it in the four days since? Levi Jones and Tony Ugoh who both worked out with the team over the weekend were not good enough to take a roster spot from Matt Koppa or Pat McQuistan? Even though they at least have starting experience?
The Dolphins are heading into game week with questions at QB with Chad Henne’s knee. WR with Brandon Marshall’s hamstring. Jake Long’s shoulder. They have addressed the QB position, they have depth at WR, and yet are doing what with the most needed unit on the field? Even Jake Grove would be an option at center unless Jeff Ireland burned that bridge when they released him at the start of the season. Then again, it’s not like anyone else has signed him either.
The point is that there is impulse buying and comp shopping. In the latter you take a look around, kick the tires a bit, see what fits for you. The former you simply buy because your impressed by the name. But when you have a need for a car you don’t kick the tires on two models and call it a day. You keep looking so come Monday you can get to work.
This is all confusing honestly. The Dolphins are two injuries away on the offensive line from having no one on the roster to back anyone up. Jake Long is 1/2 an inury away. Now, with Monday rolling in, the Dolphins have five days to prep for the Raiders and if they plan on signing a couple of lineman, today might be the last chance to get them integrated as much as possible with your blocking schemes for this weeks game. For some reason, I doubt they do anything.