Let me begin by saying.... why does anyone have a birthday party for their kid at 10am on a Saturday??? Okay, back to the Phins.

 

While most folks would automatically default to thoughts of the Dolphins trying to manipulate the injury report in order to mask an injury, the truth is they could be manipulating the injury report to mask their displeasure with Allen.

Allen, you see, has very slim chances of playing on defense Sunday, according to a couple of people I have spoken with. But it has nothing to do with injury. It has to do with his ability.

Two team sources have told me that the Dolphins believe Allen isn't very good, despite the common perception that he has done quite well in the time he's had playing the third cornerback spot in nickel and dime packages.

 

Furthermore, believe it or not, the sources tell me the coaching staff thinks Joey Thomas played better last week against the St. Louis Rams than Allen played the week before against New England. And so, despite the fact the team believes Allen can play and the injury isn't an issue, the decision will likely be made to bench him from the nickel and dime package because of his ability.

[Note by bassman, 12/06/08 1:13 PM EST ] Sorry, forgot to add citation. It's from Armando's blog at the herald, which I know we have to take with a grain of salt (or two) http://miamiherald.typepad.com/dolphins_in_depth/2008/12/jason-allen-lat.html

I for one have still been holding out hope that we could turn him into a serviceable player if not a playmaker, and I'm leery when it comes to the "I heard from a team source" routine, but I honestly think that there's some level of truth to that--or maybe it's just the optimist in me.

So if the coaching staff really thinks that Joey Thomas is better, than wow... this might really be the end of the line for Jason Allen in Miami.