Miami Dolphins: Week five preview against the Titans
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins announced a short while ago that the team will indeed play it’s week five game against the Tennessee Titans in Miami at 1:00 p.m. The decision was made after assessing the area following Hurricane Matthew.
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Reports out of Miami say that the field is in good condition and has no standing water. This should bode well for any additional run off prior to the game on Sunday. What might be lacking is a prominent attendance.
As we pointed our earlier, the Miami area avoided much of Matthews wrath but northern cities and counties did not.
Regardless, it’s not mandatory that a team fills it’s stadium to host a game and the Dolphins will still have to beat the Titans.
Both teams enter the contest at 1-3 and both teams lost in week four. The Dolphins are bringing up the basement in the AFC East, two games back of division leading New England. The Titans are in a similar situation in the AFC South where they are two games behind the division leading Houston Texans.
Unlike the Dolphins however, the Titans are tied for 2nd in their division as both the Jaguars and Colts are also 1-3.
The Titans enter this week ranked higher than the Dolphins on offense at 18 compared to 26th for Miami. The Dolphins however are ranked 15th in passing offense while Tennessee is ranked 27th. The big difference however comes in the run game where we begin our look at this weeks game.
The Titans are ranked 4th in the NFL in rushing offense. The Dolphins defense is ranked 29th against the run. The Titans have a very soft passing game so the Dolphins are going to try to force the Titans to beat them through the air. Doing so will be a challenge.
DeMarco Murray looks more like his Dallas days than his Philly year in 2015. He is running strong and powerful. The Dolphins will need to stop Murray and thus put the pressure on quarterback Marcus Mariota.
Offensively the Dolphins will face a 20th ranked defense against the run and it’s a game that Miami should be able to control the trenches. The Dolphins want to establish a better running game and earlier in the week Adam Gase said he wants to find two runners to handle the majority of the carries for the entire game.
Miami may have a better time running the ball. The Titans are ranked 13th against the pass and that is the Dolphins best offensive production. The Dolphins must commit to running the football in order to take the pressure off the defense. Controlling the clock and keeping Ryan Tannehill in 3rd and short yardage situations will be important but nothing will be as important as offensive consistency.
Despite the fact Miami is playing a team that they should, on paper beat, the Dolphins inconsistent play this year is mind-blowing. Miami tends to start very slow and not wake up until the 3rd quarter. Even against the Titans this is not going to win a football game.
The Titans have the tools to win on Sunday but the Dolphins are starting to realize that they need to play far more consistent and as a team. The game could be a fast run oriented game that yields little points and the fact that both teams struggle offensively, I expect that to be the case.
Prediction: Dolphins 17 – Titans 13