Why Jerome Baker could be this weeks Dolphins defensive MVP

Miami Dolphins linebacker Jerome Baker will face an interesting Patriot offense on Sunday.

Jerome Baker and the Miami Dolphins defense will face an unknown Patriot offense to open the season but it could be Baker’s best.

The Patriots offense is a complete unknown. They have weak receivers, a banged-up running back group, an offensive line that hasn’t been molded together just yet, and a quarterback that was a one time league MVP. Yet, they have no identity, that we know of yet.

Like the Patriots defense and Miami’s offense, there is no game tape on the Patriots offense. We don’t know how well Cam Newton is doing learning this system. About all we got to see of him was a dance at practice. Teams have been given the luxury of no media reporting this off-season. Meaning no depth charts, no rotation assignments, alignments, nothing.

Now it is game time. Sunday kicks off the season but it could be Jerome Baker who dictates the Dolphins chances of success.

Baker will start at inside linebacker and with the Patriots running backs banged up, it will be interesting to see how much of a ground and pound attack they use. With Baker in the middle, he should see plenty of action as I suspect the Patriots will try to attack the defensive line head-on with their running game. Miami has good outside speed so flat attacks may not work for the Patriots run game.

With the Patriots’ lack of quality players at receiver, Julien Edelman will likely play another important role this year and Baker may be tasked with covering him or the tight end. Cam Newton has a big arm and can run the ball, containment is important and that too is where Baker would come in.

Baker is going to be in a position to stop the run, stop the short underneath passing game, and contain Newton from getting upfield. It all points to him having a big game and I think he will handle it well which is why I think he will be this week’s MVP on defense.