Miami Dolphins looking to not get reeled in by Texans
By Sean Moon
The Miami Dolphins will take center stage tonight against the Texans in a Thursday night primetime match-up.
The Miami Dolphins and the Houston Texans have played each other a total of 8 times. The Houston Texans have absolutely owned the Miami Dolphins, with the one exception on October 25th of 2015, which is the only date in which the Miami Dolphins have been able to etch a mark in the win column while facing the Houston Texans. The Houston Texans holds a 7-1 record over the Miami Dolphins and comes into this game riding a 4 game win streak.
Both the Texans and the Dolphins bring a record of 4-3, but both teams have achieved this in entirely different ways. The Texans are hot right now and the Dolphins are reeling. These two teams are pretty close statistically, both are dealing with injuries, but the Miami Dolphins significantly edge them in that category.
It looks as though the Miami Dolphins will once again go into battle with their back up quarterback Brock Osweiler at the helm. Ryan Tannehills shoulder is still not healthy and it looks like he will be on the sideline again giving moral support. The injuries on this Miami Dolphins team have piled up so bad, that I’m not sure who Brock Osweiler is going to be throwing to.
Barring any setbacks from an injury, or a non injury (depending who you’re talking too), it looks as though DeVante Parker will be a go for the Dolphins Thursday night and his tall frame and huge catch radius should help against this Houston Texans secondary. Danny Amendola and Jakeem Grant will also be called on a lot more this game and hopefully can use their elusiveness to move the sticks for the offense. The passing game will be limited due to an onslaught of injuries sustained in last weekends game against the Detroit Lions, losing both starting wide receivers Kenny Stills and Albert Wilson.
My guess here is the team and head coach Adam Gase will lean heavily on the running game and use their available tight ends in multiple set formations to help with blocking an aggressive defensive front who like to collapse the pocket and have caused 10 fumbles and have 19 sacks on the season thus far. The Miami Dolphin offensive line will have to be a whole lot better than Sunday if they want to be successful and avoid a repeat of the Lions game, which was not pretty.
The Houston Texans games this season showed me a few things. One is that they struggle to cover the tight ends, who repeatedly get open in the short to mid field range. Now I’m not saying every tight end dominates the game, but if you pay attention there is opportunity there for sure. Look for some quick throws to Gesicki, O’Leary and hopefully Derby over the middle or up the seam.
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The run game is also an area the Miami Dolphins can attack. Kenyan Drakes speed should prove to be an issue. The Texans are stout up front but if the Miami Dolphins can get Kenyan Drake past the line he could do some real damage. His speed on the edge and the short screens can get him YAC plays for sure.
The Houston Texans have their own struggles on offense as well. Deshaun Watson is a very inconsistent quarterback so far this season. The thing he has going for him is a big arm and a world-class wide out in DeAndre Hopkins. DeAndre Hopkins reminds me a lot of a Kenny Stills with just better hands. That’s not a knock on Kenny Stills, it’s just a huge compliment for Hopkins.
The Texans qb has a tendency to just throw it up when he gets pressured and that can lead to interceptions, which this Miami defense feasts on. If some how the defensive front of Miami can “Wake” up and get some pressure, then the panic will set in, and the Dolphins will see some turnovers.
The Texans are going to look to test the Dolphins run defense after what they seen from Kerryon Johnson last Sunday. The good news is Lamar Miller is not Kerryon Johnson, and I don’t foresee Lamar Miller shredding the Dolphins for huge runs the way Kerryon Johnson did, I hope!
The biggest problem in this game (as DeAndre hopkins and Xavien Howard swap insults), is I hope Xavien Howard can back it up. If “the X-Factor” fails to cover DeAndre Hopkins the Dolphins will be looking at another blow out and embarrassment, because if you let Hopkins catch fire, and you show Deshaun Watson a clean pocket, your done! The defense will be tested and especially in the secondary repeatedly throughout this game.
These two teams are very similar and as far as stats and team rankings, it’s a toss-up. I know it’s a cliché, but this game is going to be lost and won in the trenches, and I hope the Dolphins have enough bodies in the game to win that match up.