Miami Dolphins take it one game at a time but this week is hard not to overlook

The Carolina Panthers present the perfect trap game for the Miami Dolphins. No, the Dolphins are not going to lose this game and if they do, they have major problems that need to be resolved and it would be a gut punch to their season dreams.

Still, as the saying goes, "Any given Sunday" and because of that, the Dolphins need to spend their time putting points on the board and stats on the stat sheet. Will we see another 70 point game? No, I doubt we see one of those for a few more years. What we should see, however, is a defensive game plan that shuts the Panthers down and an offensive game plan that puts the backups into the game when the quarters change from 3rd to 4th.

What the Dolphins absolutely can not do is look ahead to the Philadelphia Eagles who are undefeated and a week away.

The Eagles will begin one of the tougher stretches on the Dolphins schedule and will give Miami a chance to beat a team that is not, for lack of a better word, bad.

Miami is 4-1 but we need to look at who they have beaten more than how many points they have won by.

• Chargers: 2-2

• Patriots: 1-4

• Broncos: 1-5

• Giants: 1-4

The Dolphins lone loss was to the Bills who are 3-2 and were 3-1 at the time. Miami did not play well on the road in Buffalo and the Eagles are going to be just as challenging if not moreso when they clash a week from today.

Miami will then head home for their second game against the Patriots who almost came back to tie the game in week 2. The Patriots are against a wall right now and face the Raiders this week before playing a home game against the Bills.

New England, could potentially be facing Miami with a 1-6 record and that makes them dangerous.

Miami will then travel to Germany to play the Chiefs before getting a bye week.

For fans, it's easy to look ahead because we can without overlooking the opponent for the weekend in front of us. The Dolphins can't look ahead and the Panthers won't be. Looking to break their losing streak, the Dolphins would be a big win for the Frank Reich led team from Charlotte.