Miami Dolphins set to host the Tennessee Titans for the opener
By Sean Moon
Finally it’s game day, and there is nothing better than opening up the season at home in front of the home field crowd. Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Florida, the Miami Dolphins will host the Tennessee Titans for the opening game of the 2018 NFL season.
The Miami Dolphins come in looking to erase the foul taste of the horrible 2017 season, going just 6-10 and finishing third in the AFC East. Injuries plagued the team and now their starting QB Ryan Tannehill has returned to right the ship. They will unveil new players on both sides of the ball, with high expectations and aspirations to get back into the playoff picture. Adam Gase has cleaned house and brought in the players he feels he needs to run the offense that he has envisioned since he was hired here.
The Tennessee Titans have some new faces themselves, starting with their rookie head coach Mike Vrabel. Miami Dolphin fans should be familiar with his resume due to his status among the New England Patriot greats. His vision for the Tennessee Titans is to use a lot of play action, screens and of course let Marcus Mariota run.
These two franchises have played each other 13 times (as the Tennessee Titans) and the Miami Dolphins have walked away victorious 8 of those meetings, including the most recent victory last season, when the Dolphins threw a late touchdown to beat the Titans 16 – 10.
The revamped wide receiver group for the Miami Dolphins featuring Kenny stills, Jakeem Grant and new additions Danny Amendola and Albert Wilson, look to create space with their speed and quickness. They will need to bring their A game, because the Tennessee Titans have upgraded their secondary by pairing former New England Patriot DB’s Malcom Butler and Logan Ryan and using 2017 first round pick Adoree’ Jackson in the slot. Their deep and talented in the secondary backfield. Unfortunately for the Dolphins, wide receiver Devante Parker is looking like he will miss week one with a hand injury sustained earlier in the preseason, which is a big target and big loss for Ryan Tannehill.
The tight ends also look to turn some heads with new comer Mike Gesicki looking to open the middle of the field up with his pass catching ability and his athleticism and hopefully will be utilized as a true red-zone threat that the team envisioned him to be. With the Starter Marqueis Gray out for the season after tearing in Achilles, Mike Gesicki will surely be seeing a lot more playing time along with A.J. Derby. The Dolphins powerful tandem of speedster Kenyan Drake and bruiser Frank Gore, will provide a much needed one-two punch that provides as much talent, if not more than just about any other team in the NFL.
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The Defensive side of the ball will feature a fierce pass rush from a different looking defense than we saw a year ago. The future Hall of Famer, Cameron Wake and new acquisition Robert Quinn look to wreak havoc on the Tennessee Titan QB Marcus Mariotta. A young and aggressive new Linebacker group featuring Raekwon McMillan, Jerome Baker and hold over Kiko Alonso must prove they can help contain a mobile quarterback, which in the past has created a lot of issues for the defense. The Miami defense will also be tasked in keeping Tennessee’s feature back Derrik Henry and newly acquired scat back Dion Lewis in check and can hopefully start the process of removing the teams Achilles heel with stopping the run.
The Miami Dolphins secondary, which surrendered the fifth-most receiving yards and fourth-most yards per catch to wideouts last year should be up for the task. The team has upgraded that area as well by drafting a multi-faceted DB in one Mikah Fitzpatrick. Along with the NFL’s best safety (In my opinion) Reshad Jones which should prove to be a strength moving forward.
This should be a great game and if history has anything to say about it, it should be a close one. One thing for sure is the Miami Dolphin fans and Hard Rock Stadium will be loud, as the home crowd will look to set the tone for the home field advantage.