Dolphins Wait On Injury News To Key Players
By Brian Miller
On Sunday, Reggie Bush rushed for 100 yards bringing his total to 770 on the season and just 230 away from 1,000. He was the bright spot on an otherwise dismal afternoon. The Miami Dolphins may have got their rear ends handed to them up and down the field on Sunday, but on Monday, it’s still not over. The team is awaiting word on several key members of their team who were injured in the Philadelphia route.
Jake Long went down early in the game with a back injury and thus far there is no word on the severity or how long he may may be out. Vernon Carey left the game in the second half with a re-aggravation of his ankle injury, and Matt Moore went down in the second half after a two-sided collision in the pocket. He missed the rest of the game with a head injury that could put JP Losman in line to face his old team the Buffalo Bills next Sunday.
It appears that the “Madden Curse” reared it’s ugly head as well on Sunday. A week ago, John Madden praised the play of the Dolphins offensive line in their game against the Raiders, a week later and they look like they should have been playing college players. The results of Sunday’s game brings more questions to the matrix of this coming off-season which has fans not clamoring for more weekends of the game they love but an end to the suffering of 2011.
It’s obvious that the quality of the line is suspect, especially on the right side where neither Vernon Carey or Marc Columbo have been able to hold consistency all year. In addition, the LG spot manned by Richie Incognito is fine but I-cog tends to rely more on his punishing brutality than athleticism. The only real anchor this year on the line is Mike Pouncey, and he is a rookie. Even the annual Pro-Bowler Jake Long has suffered through a tough season.
The Dolphins have a lot of changes to make in the off-season and some of those changes may or may not serve the team well if Tony Sparano remains the HC. Not to say that four quarters yesterday should immediately sway the masses back to a “Fire Tony” mantra but will the Dolphins find a QB and fix their offensive line under Sparano next season? Is Vernon Carey an answer? Will Sparano retain Marc Columbo? John Jerry? Incognito? Nate Garner? Will Jeff Ireland see the value in Jake Long or deem his injuries of late to be too costly to cost the team the 60 million dollar deal or more that Long will be do after the 2012 season?
On Sunday the Dolphins lost more than just their game. With Moore likely out for next weeks game, if a concussion turns out to be the injury, the team will lose a valuable leader and an energy that lacked with Chad Henne and lacked with JP Losman. Can they win with Losman and if not does that make an excuse for the team? If Long is out for any length of time should the team commit to sitting him the final three weeks rather do more damage? Vernon Carey is up and down with a good ankle, do you trust him with a bad one?
All of that of course means nothing until the doctors give the team and thus the team gives the media and idea of what is going on. It’s speculation and afterthought. What does matter is that this team will not finish at .500 which would make it increasingly harder to keep the current coaching regime. If there is a sign that should be hung over this seasons team it should read, “Questions and No Answers”. There simply are too many of them.
The good news is that while the Miami Dolphins wait out the reports on three players, the Miami Dolphins fans are simply waiting out the last three weeks. Has an off-season ever been this anticipated? O.k. yes, the one following Cam Cameron. I will give you that one.