Dolphins vs Patriots: Three Key Matchups
by Matty I on Dec 2, 2009 12:15 AM EST
in Miami Dolphins News
31 comments
Last week's loss in Buffalo still stings - I know. But nothing helps heal wounds like a win the following week. With the Patriots coming to town on Sunday, a win would be even more enjoyable. But it obviously won't be easy. The Patriots rarely ever lose two games in a row and they are going to be angry following their blow out loss to the Saints on national television a couple of nights ago.
But still - we need to keep the faith. With that said, here are three of the most critical matchups for Sunday's game:
Randy Moss/Wes Welker vs Vontae Davis/Sean Smith
It seems like we mention our two rookie corners every single week in this post. But that's because Vontae Davis and Sean Smith have had to go up against some of the NFL's best receivers this season. I'm sure it's been a terrific learning experience for these two kids. But on Sunday, these two need to apply some of the lessons they've learned this year and do their best to contain one of the league's best receiving duo.
Wes Welker and Randy Moss are at the top of all of the key statistical categories. Welker is first in receptions (85) while Moss is sixth (66). Moss, meanwhile, is first in receiving yards (992) while Welker is fifth (886). And the duo has combined to score 12 touchdowns this season. But they can be contained. Look no further than just two nights ago when the Saints held the two to a combined 9 receptions for 99 yards and no touchdowns. And that's with using a rookie corner and two veterans who were both just signed within the last two weeks. How did they do it? The Saints used an excellent mixture of coverages - man and zone - to keep the Patriots guessing. That's probably the game plan the Dolphins should use on Sunday.
What they shouldn't do is try the same game plan that they used back in week nine when these two teams met in New England. The Dolphins used a similar game plan to what the Giants used in the Super Bowl two years ago - trying to apply a lot of pressure while having the corners in man coverage. That didn't work. Davis was thrown at nine times while covering Moss or Welker, allowing six completions for 125 yards and a touchdown. He did have an outstanding interception early in the game, though. Smith, meanwhile, was thrown at three times while defending either of the two dynamic receivers, surrendering 2 completions for 23 yards.
These two young corners need to put together good performances for a full 60 minutes if the Dolphins want to steal this game and get back to .500.
Dan Koppen vs Paul Soliai
Back in week nine, the Dolphins were without starting nose tackle Jason Ferguson. Well it showed. The Patriots ran for 109 yards and averaged 4.5 yards per carry - which is not good considering the Pats are averaging under 4 yards per carry against the rest of the NFL. That day up in Foxborough, Paul Soliai played 29 snaps at either defensive tackle (when the Dolphins were using four down linemen) or nose tackle as he attempted to replace Ferguson. Quite frankly, he was owned.
Patriots center Dan Koppen really dominated Soliai for much of the game. Koppen weights under 300 pounds but was still able to manhandle the 340+ pound Soliai for much of the game. Sure, Soliai admitted that he probably shouldn't have played once he injured his ankle in that game because it was bothering him. But even before he hurt himself, Koppen was blowing Soliai off the ball - not even needing a double team on the much bigger nose tackle.
Last week against Buffalo, Soliai continued his struggles as Bills running back Fred Jackson ran for 73 yards and two touchdowns on just 15 carries. On Sunday, Soliai has got to play better and help make the Pats one-dimensional on offense.
Dolphin receivers vs Patriot corners
While the Pats did a good job containing Miami on the ground back in week nine (Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams combined for just 81 yards on 22 carries), the Dolphin receivers were able to get open against this New England secondary. Greg Camarillo and Davone Bess combined for 11 receptions and 127 yards receiving while rookie Brian Hartline added an 18 yard reception. And we saw just how vulnerable New England's secondary is on Monday night when the Saints just lit them up.
Of course we all know that Drew Brees is a top three quarterback and he has a number of weapons at receiver. But still - the Patriots knew that the Saints would throw, spent the week drawing up a game plan to defend them, and still couldn't even come close to containing that offense.
Personally, I wouldn't even mind seeing Chad Henne come out and throw it around left and right on Sunday early in the game to loosen up that Patriot defense before turning to the usual run-heavy offense. I hope to see the Dolphins use some play-action passes early and take some shots in the 10 to 20 yard range to keep New England honest. But for this to work, Miami's receivers have got to step their game up and create some separation from these average (at best) Patriot cornerbacks.
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The Dolphins and the Patriots are both bummed and frustrated at the losses they received this weekend
The team that wins is the one who bounces back from it.
Bess continues to be our best receiver
Fasano is getting his step back
Camarillo needs to get open more often
and Ginn needs to either get double coveraged or get seperation to make catches(emphasis on MAKE)
All in all I have a good feeling about this game, i doubt we want to get embarrased twice
Do our recievers exist? Ginn crawls out the hole, Bess is stumbling but hope is not lost.
Gibril i like you and imma let you finish the season but, Ed Reed is the best safety of all time, of all time!!
MUST WIN!
With a blow to our division record, it goes without saying that THIS game is a must win. . .we have to take a some what unorthodox approach to this game on defense. . .The Saints are kinda built similar to us as far as LB’s go, except for that fact that their IL’s play in coverage better than Crowder and Ayodele. . .the pressure must be constant and the coverages have to be mixed up as far as playing man and zone. I cannot wait for the day where we can effectively incoporate diff. blitze packages in order to keep these Elite QB’s from picking apart our D a la Brees, Brady, and Manning and force more turnovers. . .We HAVE to give our green CB’s some help, and with that comes the FS/SS not being in positions where they cant make plays. Good tackling is also a must. . .All these YAC we’ve been giving up is unaccetpable. . .Brady must hit the dirt! The Saints got to him early and never let up. . .I’ve never seen The Golden Boy that flustered! Put him on his back! We have to play balls out on D. . .
Give Lex the ball a couple times on offense because he’s been as productive as we can ask him to be. . .Ricky should still be ok as he is not showing signs of slowing down. . .(and please, play calling gods, dont EVER put Ricky in that kind of predicament again. . .you all know what Im talkin about. . .) Punch them in the mouth with the running game and lets keep converting these 3rd and shorts. . .Camarillo has to try harder to get seperation, Bess is playing good ball. . .and Teddy is Teddy. . .I would love to see a big time play like the one on MNF against the jets! Hartline is goin to be a good receiver for us and I hope they keep giving him the opportunity to make plays.
I have a GREAT feeling about this game! We win this one and our destiny will have a large part to do with how well we can finish. . .I know my post was kinda all over the place, but this is my first one and I’m kind of excited! haha. . .I’ve been lurking around the shadows for a while but I like the interaction I see around here and I dont know any other Phans personally. . .anyway sorry for the long post, the next one will be more to the point. . .whats up?
Fins Up! and lets GO GET ’EM!
As much as we might want to see our corners play zone.....
I don’t think they’re ready for it. I honestly can’t remember one time this year that our corners were in a zone. I realize this is done to compensate for their inexperience, especially when you throw in another rookie at safety as well. I also believe we have to keep a safety over the top of Moss all game long. Taking our chances with one-on-one matchups against our rookie corners, is not a good idea.
I really think we need to adjust to a 4-3 D, to compensate for our lack of a dominant NT. 7 games in a row we’ve allowed over 100 yards on the ground at a pace approaching 5 yards per carry. If we keep letting teams gash us on the ground it’s going to continue to force us to bring our safeties up in run support, which then forces us to play one-on-one coverage.
As much as I’d like to see Henne air it out against the Pats weak secondary, the only problem is we don’t have the receiving corp with which to do it. Ginn is the only receiver we have who can stretch the field, and pose a matchup problem with any of the Pats DBs. The rest of our receiving corp? Not so much. The rest all have sub par speed, that any of the Pats DBs can match or better.
The matchup that really matters in this game is our OL against the Pats front seven. Take away Pat White’s 33 yard option scramble, and we averaged barely 3 yards per carry last game. We have to assert our will at the line of scrimmage. We need to play smash mouth football with two big backs that can put their head down and hurt people. Sure it’s bound to result in a few 3 and outs, but wait till the 3rd and 4th qtr rolls around, and the Pats defenders aren’t going to be too keen on taking those punishing hits down after down. But to do this effectively, we must give Lex more than 5 carries!!!!
Which brings me to my last point. Is there a serious trust issue with our coahcing staff? Why do we have all these guys on the team that seem to have some potential, yet are inactive week after week, or hardly play?
Patrick Turner – Yet to play a down
Kory Sheets – Yet to play a down
Tyler Thigpen – Yet to play a down
Pat White – Keeps being used improperly
Kory Sperry – Has good game two weeks ago, don’t even think he was thrown to last game
Cameron Wake – Maybe he has issues with guarding the run or dropping into coverage. We already have issues with those two things, so it’s not like he’s going to hurt us in that sense.
Well...
Patrick Turner i have no idea why he’s not playing, you think he would be good i the redzone but Hartline been play pretty good so that could be the reason we haven’t seen much of him but on ST. The real ? is why the hell haven’t they played Wake more; i know he not that good in coverage but the guy can get after the QB, so we need to have him in there on all long yardage plays that we know the Off. has to throw. Ill take a few over ran plays for a couple of sacks or QB hurries.
Smith and Davis
I have been wondering why Pasqualoni doesn’t rotate our CB’s to blanket the players they are supposed to cover! I mean why in the world would he have Davis on Moss when Smith, who is 6’3, was drafted to combat Moss and Owens! but yet he has Davis on Moss and Smith on Welker! I don’t get it! He has done that all year and it drives me nuts!
Bravenote You make
A VERY STRONG POINT!. This is one of the reasons I was never a PP fan. All good DC worth there salt play match ups and they make adjustments to what the offense is doing. We have yet to see PP make an in game adjustment in any game this season. I will tell you what drives me really nuts. The fact that Sparano does not supercede in those decisions as the head coach. I thought that was his job. That being having the final say cuz afterall it’s Sparano’s butt on the line if the team does not win.
by MANDINGO_WRRR on Dec 2, 2009 9:15 AM EST up reply actions
it's probably because it's not easy to learn both the left and right corner spots at once.
They require different footwork, different hip movements, and things like that. Let them get their current sides down and then we can start rotating them maybe next season.
Matty I played
Corner all the way into college. It is not that difficult. You are a cornerback in the NFL you get paid to cover the WR, no matter where they line up. You have to be able to flip your hips mainly. The trifecta would have had to see all that during pro days and combines. While I never made it to the nfl or Divison 1A for that matter. I don’t understand the footwork issue. IMO. Love all your write ups by the way.
by MANDINGO_WRRR on Dec 2, 2009 4:43 PM EST up reply actions
Nice write-up Matty
Don’t even mention the Patriots secondary though. Brees picked it apart Monday night, throwing at CB Jonathan Wilhite like he wasn’t even there. In fact, it would have been better if he wasn’t because at least then there would have been an excuse.
Should be a slug-fest between two teams that smell blood in the water.
Keep the faith!
I LOVE THIS BLOG I LOVE THIS BLOG I LOVE THIS BLOG
new member here!
i must say that i feel like i know all of you like family.
my favorite posters are (in no particular order)
Matty I (of course)
kdog92
littlenicky21
Rzayo24
Mosul_DolFan
Davis & Smith
Is it me or is Sean Smith a lil too soft to be that big playin corner??? He’s too much of a finese corner for my liking while Vontae sticks his head in there every play. I would love for them to put Smith on Moss for those 9 routes and keep Vontae on Welker cause he’s very good at blowing up those quick screens the pats throw.
by Superzoe92 on Dec 2, 2009 12:55 PM EST via mobile reply actions
that was always the knock on Smith - even at Utah
he’s not a big fan of tackling. But he’s got the potential to be a really good cover corner – and that’s what is most important to me.
Getting back to .500
Easier said then done. Very true Matty, the pats rarely lose two straight games. This will be a tough task; Ricky needs to have another huge game. He has been great the whole season, especially the last few weeks. And the front 7 needs to pressure Brady all game, the more hits they get on him (sack or no sack) the more flustered he gets. His timing gets off and mentally he breaks down. As long as they get pressure on him the phins have a chance to win the game.
Go Phins…
Boston Dolphins Fan
Meant front 5 (DL plus OLBs)
Wake needs to play a big part in this game, as do JT and JP…
Boston Dolphins Fan
This doesnt matter or at least it shouldnt
they are going to be angry following their blow out loss to the Saints on national television a couple of nights ago.
Both teams are gonna be angry in this game.
Current Phinsider Feud Points: 23
T.Lex doesn't want to be fed, he wants to hunt. Can't just suppress sixty five million years of gut instinct.
yea
but the Patriots don’t lose twice in a row often. I think with Brady and Belichick, the Pats have lost 2 games in a row just once or twice – which is pretty ridiculous when u think about it.
I think they are 11-1 coming off a loss.. Yeah pretty ridiculous.
Boston Dolphins Fan
Just checked I was way off.
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick’s record after following a loss to 24-1. Thats sick….
Hope to make that 24-2 following this week..
Boston Dolphins Fan
i disagree about our corners vs. the pats WR
I don’t think the problem was man coverage, per se. I think it is stupid to single cover Moss, no matter what CB you have on him. But more importantly, you can’t let Brady sit back in the pocket and wait for the WRs to get open. We need to hit him hard, hit him early, and hit him often. He gets pissed and frustrated, and most of the times we have beat them we have had JT in his face all day.
I think we have to double cover Moss AND bring pressure at Brady, but we need to do a much better job of bring the pressure from different directions and disguising it. I completely believe that this is our best/only chance to win.
-LCFF
Yeah like LCFF says above...
you can do man coverage but you best get some serious pressure on the QB – which as Matty alluded to was part of the Giants game plan a few years back vs. NE. Problem is we don’t have their personnel and got nowhere near that kind of heat on Brady. The result spoke for itself in the last game.
So either bring the heat and get to Brady or alter the coverage schemes to take away the big play and make them drive in 8-10 yard chunks. None of this is going to work however if the Dolphins let the Pats run, just as it was during the 1st game. Way too many options for that offense if they can run AND get single coverage against their wideouts.
On the flip side, the NE D, especially the secondary looks as vulnerable as I’ve seen them during the BB years. I know there was some hype about Merriweather, ex-UM grad, but he was out of position often last monday. Not to mention Wilhite was getting toasted time & again when he was in during NO’s 3/4 wideout sets. It is really not an impressive D at all. SO while NE may be favored and even win, we should at least be able to put up 20+ points. There’s no excuse for less.
wow that record is sick
24-1 after a loss is freakin incredible…when is that guy gonna retire already!
by Superzoe92 on Dec 2, 2009 2:32 PM EST via mobile reply actions
Miami Receivers
and “separation” don’t belong in the same sentence. Unless it also involves the words “lack of”…
C'mon over to Shady's world, MiamiDolphins.co.uk
I read a stat somewhere
that the Patriots haven’t lost a game coming of a loss since 2005. That is a crazy stat.
I am a new poster here Matty and your site here and your write ups are awesome. I don’t know where you find the time.
I was at the buffalo game Sunday and I am attending my first ever Dolphin game in Florida this Sunday. Extremely excited about that. I have been a die hard Dolphin fan since I was six which is 32 yrs now.
Keep up the great work!
Most people say Vontae should be covering Welker but I disagree
Welker’s specialyl are those slant routes, dump to the flats,.. basically anything that is short yardage and requires YAC.
So I say stick Nate Jones on him. Think about, Welker is one of the greatest slot receivers and Jones is our best Nickle Corner, and might i add that he plays that position like a BEAST!! Great match-up there IMO!
We HAVE to man handle Brady and his O-line. We CANNOT let them get their run game started or have him comfortable.
As for Moss, I agree we do need a safety over top, preferably Wilson since we’ll needs Bell to help out the ILBs
Speaking of which, as much as we criticize our SS/FS, they aren’t as bad as they seem. Most of the blame goes to the LBs for having crappy coverage skills and the safeties have to be everywhere at once wondering which weak link in the LB corps breaks that play
Do our recievers exist? Ginn crawls out the hole, Bess is stumbling but hope is not lost.
Gibril i like you and imma let you finish the season but, Ed Reed is the best safety of all time, of all time!!
No doubt our backers have made most TE's we've played look like pro bowlers...
but there’s no denying that Gibril Wilson has been both way out of position on many plays as well as some really poor tackling. Bell on the other hand, just doesn’t seem like himself this year, he’s slower/less of a force than last year.
Great point
Wilson has had tackling and coverage problems and Bell isn’t what he was last year but, it just cant be stressed enough that we seriously need LBs in the offseason.
I’m not giving up on Bell and Wilson should be alot better next year. We need to bump Ayodele to a Back-up ILB and get someone to complement Crowder.
Crowder is struggling to make plays and needs somone inside with him
Do our recievers exist? Ginn crawls out the hole, Bess is stumbling but hope is not lost.
Gibril i like you and imma let you finish the season but, Ed Reed is the best safety of all time, of all time!!
Double Welker
Double Moss
Rough them up at the line.
Force Maroney to be our man.
Game over.
If you play by stacking your secondary, you’ll make the Pats offense go through Maroney. He’s been getting better, but no one is convinced yet (what will it take?) that he can carry the running game. We can’t stop the run at all, meaning it will be Williams vs Maroney. Guess who every single person (except for Maroney’s momma) would pick in that?
Actually, Maroney's momma lied to make him feel better.
My life has been a trivial pursuit. Trivia: where three roads meet.
The more you know, the more you know that you don't know.
by SlotMachinePlayer on Dec 3, 2009 3:38 PM EST up reply actions
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