Miami Dolphins Vs. N.E. Patriots: Key Match Ups 6 Pack
Finally, the first week of the regular season is set to kick off at 1pm on Sunday for the Miami Dolphins. Their hated AFC East rivals, the New England Patriots come to Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens looking to extend their streak of opening day wins.
The Miami Dolphins, furnished with a new offensive philosophy and a seasoned Defense, they look to make an early statement by knocking off the defending AFC East champs in the opening game of the season.
In order for the Miami Dolphins to get off to a fast start this season, a couple of things are going to have to go Miami’s way on Sunday. Which leads me into this week’s Key Match Ups 6 Pack.
Match Up 1: Samson Satele vs. Vince Wilfork
The Miami Dolphins find themselves in the rare position of starting 5 new players along the Offensive Line. The expected leader of this group, Mike Pouncey is still recovering from off-season surgery and will miss this weekend’s game. Enter Samson Satele, the former Miami Dolphins center who has returned as a stop gap until Pouncey can return to active duty.
In the past, Satele’s struggles within the division with a certain Pro-Bowler named Vince Wilfork, whom he will have the task of blocking this Sunday, got him traded away to the Raiders. Wilfork is coming off a season ending injury last season but has proven over the course of the pre-season that he is healthy and ready to go by all accounts, thus providing New England with a dominating force in the middle of their Defense.
If the Miami Dolphins are to win this weekend, they will need to have the benefits of a consitent running game; neutralizing or containing Wilfork will be of the upmost importance if they hope to have a semblance of one. Satele will have to play one of his best career games, while getting as much help from his Guards and Backs as he can without it becoming detrimental to the team.
Match Up 2: Ja’Wuan James vs. Rob Ninkovich
Miami Dolphins rookie Right Tackle Ja’Wuan James has looked every bit like the player he was advertised to be. He’s come in and stepped onto the starting O Line, not missing a beat all camp. A fluid athlete who could benefit from some strength and seasoning, he will have a tall task in his first regular season pro game. Luckily for both him and the Dolphins, he isn’t starting at Left Tackle, where they have All Pro Branden Albert providing leadership and quality stability.
This test will come in the the form of former Miami Dolphins castaway Rob Ninkovich, who is a crafty veteran that has led the NFL in Forced Fumbles and Fumbles Recovered since 2010. While not overly athletic, Ninkovich will be a handful for the rookie with his motor, aggressiveness, and physicality. James will have to shut him down as a pass rusher to give Tannehill time to throw and he will need to get movement off the line in the run game as Ninovich is an every down player who’s effective in any scenario.
The rookie James better also be ready for some stunts and blitzes, because believe Belichick will game plan to exploit the rookie’s inexperience early and often over the course of the game. James is going to play a huge factor in Tannehill’s protection, and his play will directly affect how effective Tannehill can be, because no matter how athletic he is, he can’t throw the ball from his back.
Match Up 3: Koa Misi vs. Patriots Running Backs
Dolphins Middle Linebacker Koa Misi will be making his regular season debut at this new position and he will play an intricate part in the defensive gameplan. The Dolphins made the position switch of Misi to the middle, so they can become more stout in their run defense. Misi will need to make his bed in the Patriots backfield this Sunday to keep Steven Ridley and Shane Vereen from exploding.
On top of that, the Patriots like to spread the field on early downs, and will look to expose Misi in pass coverage by getting him matched up with the likes of Vereen in space. The Dolphins can help Misi a ton by utilizing him on blitzes, having him do the things he’s best at, which is stuff the run and rush the passer.
Misi will also have to be at the top of his game in chess with Brady when it comes to alignment and assignment, as the QB of the Defense, he has to make sure everyone gets lined up in the right spots while Brady audibles and motions players into positions to exploit mismatches.
Match Up 4: Cameron Wake & Olivier Vernon vs. Nate Solder & Marcus Cannon
After the Logan Mankins trade, the Patriots have shuffled their offensive line around, moving former Right Tackle starter Sebastian Vollmer to Left Guard, promoting back up Marcus Cannon to the starting lineup. While Cannon has experience starting at the Tackle spot in this league, this is a prime match up for the Miami Dolphins, as their pass rush catalyst Cameron Wake must be licking his chops.
With a new configuration along the line, look for Dolphins Defensive Coordinator Kevin Coyle to unleash blitzes and stunts incorporating Wake to keep him from getting double teamed on every down. With all this action happening on Wake’s side, this will in turn leave Vernon with multiple 1 on 1 opportunities to beat Nate Solder, who has had trouble blocking Vernon in the past.
Keeping consistent pressure on Tom Brady is the only way to stifle an Offense he leads, plus this will have to be a collective effort with Fins Defensive Tackles and Linebackers contributing to the cause. In the end though, the Dolphins pass rush starts and ends with their stud book ends.
Match Up 5: Phillip Wheeler vs. Rob Gronkowski
This is the worst match up for the Dolphins on the field on Sunday. Phllip Wheeler’s struggles last year were well documented and those struggles will only be compounded on Sunday, provided he even plays. Wheeler at the moment is nursing a thumb injury that has his hand in a cast. Last year he had serious issues with tackling and playing with one hand this week may not bode well for him.
In last year’s late season match up, Brady targeted Wheeler as a weak link and did the best he could with audibles and hurry up offense to exploit that mismatch. Brady did that without having his All Pro Tight End Rob Gronkowski, so with Gronk likely at Brady’s disposal this week, look for Brady to again pick on Wheeler but this time with the ultimate mismatch.
This match up could become even more dire, if Wheeler is ruled out for the game and the Dolphins have to turn to limited veteran back up Jason Trusnik or the green rookie Chris McCain who stood out in pre-season but proably isn’t ready to take on the challenge of an All Pro.
Match Up 6: Ryan Tannehill vs. Patriots Secondary
This match up mainly concerns Derrelle Revis, Devin McCourty and Belichick’s Coordinator’s schemes. These are the 2 best players in Belichick’s secondary and you know he is going to try to scheme as much as possible to take the Dolphins primary big play threats Mike Wallace and Charles Clay out of the game plan. They could set up a couple of different ways in attempts to do that but it’s going to be on the young Ryan Tannehill to take control of his Offense and get them into the right plays to attack the Defense.
Belichick spared no resource when prepping his secondary for Miami’s Offense, whether it was practicing with the Philadelphia Eagles or signing Don Jones. It’s up to Tannehill to know when he has a WR 1 on 1 opposite of Revis Island, this way he can attack that weaker link corner filling in for Brandon Browner on suspension, when McCourty is the single high safety, he can attack the seams, it’s on him to direct this Offense.
With a full arsenal of weapons at his disposal, Tannehill having a day that includes big plays throughout the game but in the 4th Quarter specifically, will be the main reason the Dolphins come away with a victory. If he struggles in this game, this team will struggle, and that has been particularly noticeable over the last 2 years, making this year no different.
Luckily for Dolphins fans, Tannehill has shown he is capable of making those plays and having those complete games, so there’s no reason to doubt him becoming more consistent and having days like those more often. FINS UP!