Game Planning For Green Bay – Plans To Win and Injuries

Miami Dolphins

Sun, 10/17 at 12:00 PM CDT

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• We now know, that the huge TE's for the Packers are confirmed out. Both Donald Lee, and Jermichael Finley, are suffering from knee issues and will be out for a couple of weeks. Also, the Pack is banged up, with even more injuries to Linebackers Brandon Chillar and Nick Barnett, rookie safety Morgan Burnett, Left Tackle Chad Clifton has had problems - Maybe Cameron Wake will be going up against him, Starting Right Tackle Mark Tauscer has a shoulder sprain. I think we will try to exploit these injuries, and hopefully come away with a win.
• On the Dolphins side, Jake Long has missed Three consecutive pratices (Hat Tip to dolphinfan4lyfe), John Jerry has been banged up, Ronnie Brown is fighting a hamstring problem. We really need Big Jake back to stop the very good pass rush of the Packers.
This is coming down to pretty much a “must-win” for both teams. Also, with Matt Flynn likely starting next weekend, we need to take advantage. Our own Miami Dolphins are coming off a bye-week after two crucial losses to division rivals, in which there should be changes made after the firing of the ST coach. The Green Bay Packers are coming off a loss to the Washington Redskins, with several questions coming up this week against The Dolphins. Now, why is this a “must-win” situation?, you may ask. The Packers have had two ugly losses, one to a division rival where they had 18 penalties, and barely beat the Detroit Lions 28-26. If Minnesota wins Monday – And with The Chicago Bears winning again this weekend, The Packers need to make up some ground. The Dolphins have lost their last two and have something to prove on their own, after the ST break-up that cost them their last game versus New England. Can The Dolphins go up to Green Bay and pull off a win? I think so, and my reasons why, analysis, and what both teams need to do after the jump. Feel free to add your own input of what we need to do.

We have had time to re-coup, if you will, following our two straight losses – And have players coming back hopefully, that will be critical for us to win. Green Bay had a few injuries in this past game against The Washington Redskins. It has been released that Aaron Rodgers suffered a concussion during the game. Will he start against the Dolphins is a major question, as in recent weeks, most QB's that have suffered a concussion in the previous week, has not started the following week - And because of the league's sensitivity towards concussions, we can expect a likely start from Matt Flynn, keeping Aaron Rodgers and the high-powered passing attack side-lined. Also, their huge Tight-End, Jermichael Finley, has a banged-up knee problem, And with Clay Matthews suffering with a hamstring issue.

What we need to do to come away with a win, And bring us to 3-2, while beating two of the strongest teams in the NFC North. We can gain some extra ground with the win, and since we have beat Minnesota, losses by the Jets and Patriots, can help us with a tie-breaker if needed.

We will find out if the injury that has been hurting Ronnie Brown has had time to heal because we need to run and control the clock.

Keys To The Game - Simple, because I kind of figure that DH might not try to take advantage of the injuries, and we will see where we stand, covering two back-up tight-ends. The Packers D has not given up a 100 yard rusher in a long time. Can we exploit these injuries and win against a pretty much depleated Packer Team? It is always hard to travel up to Lambeau and win, and we can see how we are as a team, playing against a really banged up, but real good Packer team.

1. Pound The Rock - Hit them hard, Punch them in the mouth, And often if we can. With the extra week behind us, hopefully John Jerry is back to full strength, the O-Line has some extra time to “gel”, and The R & R Express come back to full effect. This will open up the Play Action, and we need to score early, And not rely on our defense to win it for us.

2. Stretch The Field – If we can establish the run, we will be able to do this. Even with Aaron Rodgers not expected to play, we can not give them the chance to “hang around”.

3. Pressure Matt Flynn – Early and often, if we really want this win, we need to be successful in setting the edge and getting hands in the face of Flynn, sacks, show the “exotic” packages to trick him and force bad throws for a high percentage chance of turn-overs.

4. Special Teams – We need to have fixed the errors and mistakes that have been committed for the last several years, and we will be fine. I am not expecting us to need kick-off or punt return touch-downs to win, but keeping at the minimum, decent field position for us – And no big returns by The Packers, or blocks, will make this a key factor with their back-up QB starting.

5. Stop The Run – This might look easy on paper, considering the start of Matt Flynn and the injury to Ryan Grant, but we have seen to many “not so great named” running-backs eat us up this year. Ryan Grant is out, they have Brandon Jackson, coming off of a good week with a career high performance of 115 yards on only 10 carries, one of which was a 71 yard run – And John Kuhn, who may not be the best, but remember Woodhead in our last game? Now, Kuhn is a Full-Back, but could hurt us.

6. Cover The Tight-Ends – Hopefully the injuries that we have suffered have had time to heal on defense. If Channing Crowder comes back this week, maybe Karlos Dansby will have more help and time to cover their TE's, considering they are nursing some injuries in that department.

7. Feed The Beast – With the assumption that Ronnie Brown will be back healthy, the R & R Express can open up the passing game for us. Establish it early, open up play-action, and feed the beast! Expect Brandon Marshall to have a huge game, especially out of the Miami humidity.

8. Close The Game – We can't simply leave them hanging-around throughout the game if we can. They have Mason Crosby, whom has missed a few, but still an excellent long-range kicker.

Now, we need our injured players back to go up to Lambeau Field and pull off the upset, even with Aaron Rodgers possibly side-lined. I am pretty sure Flynn will start because I do not see the Packers taking a chance with their franchise quarterback. With the addition of John Jerry, Channing Crowder, Jared Odrick, and the small injury to Ronnie Brown, which he has been nursing. We need to take this chance to defeat, pretty much everyone's pick for the Super Bowl.

Thanks for reading,

Emmett Dove