Miami Dolphins vs New England Patriots: Matchups and keys to victory

Although, it is always nice to pull out a win against NE, I won’t lie.

&& did anybody see Locker last night? Missed the game…

that Matty states the Dolphins have to “go up against Gronkowski and Hernandez.” It’s not that I’m upset with Matty – it’s just that other teams pick excellent in the draft and they end up accounting for large chuncks of yardage and TD’s and what do we have? TWO ROOKIES that we have to worry about. Damn Patriots. Every single year they pick over and over again and they develop these players. They don’t play like rookies. Who do we draft? White, Turner. Alright, we did well with Hartline, but you guys know what I mean.

hope he’s practicing that shot gun snapping…he needs it.

speaking of pressuring the QB… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4xa4BP0Z84

and just end the season already. What a huge disappointment. Getting kinda used to it being a Miami Dolphins fan though.

our ability to deal with Alge Crumpler, Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez.

And our play on the outsides against the matchups there gonna try and create.

1. Our O-line. Im really happy to see Richie incognito play again at Center. Nolthing against Joe berger. hes shown some good things this season. As ive said in previous posts. But he just both physically and fundamentally from my point of view isnt good enough at the point of attack. People have done a very good job against him this season from what i see of maintaining good levarage and not giving up ground. I also feel as though players became very good at sheding him in space which became very detrimental to our running game. Richie Incognito showed some “ring rust” as Tony Sparano put it at playing the position, most notably the botched shotgun snap at the 30 which bumped us out of field goal range. But the physicality was an immense upgrade in my mind. And a large piece to our resurgunce in the running game last week with Ricky carrying 14 times for 71 yards and Ronnie 12 times for 37 yards coming against a front anchored by Suh. But as maty pointed out Vince wilfork aint too shabby himself, and headed to the pro bowl. The huge concern is with Lydon Murtha. Yet again its been no participation in practice. If Lydon is isnt set to go we will have to shift the line up like we had too in the 4th quarter last week which probably means moving Joe Berger back to center and having Richie play Gaurd. The problem as we saw was how badly the right side of the line folded in the final minutes with McQistan moving to tackle and having John Jerry at gaurd. Whatever the line though we NEED to run the ball. Control the clock and give Chad some help

2. Chad Henne
I know it was a long time ago but lets look back for a sec on the first matchup in week 4. Chad was efficient. 28 of 38 for 305 yards and 2 touchdowns. But then there was the three picks. Bill Belichick runs a very sophisticated, complex defense in New England, one that puts its emphasis on turnovers. Heres a stat. In the Pats last 10 wins, so excluding the Browns game, the past have 26 takeaways and and 2 turnovers. Yes 2 turnovers thats plus 24. Thats frightening. I have faith Chad will make plays, that he will make good throws, but we really need to make sure we take care of the ball.

3. Our receivers against their corners.
Devin McCourtey is headed to his first pro bowl, as a rookie, congrats to him on that, but now hes gotta cover Brandon Marshall. As matty pointed out Brandon is only 9 receptions from the franchise record. Theyll give him help through out the game which brings us to the other matchups. Davone Bess. In week 4 Davone caught 8 balls
for 96 yards. his second highest total in both receptions and yardage in a single game this year. In week 4 he was mostly covered by Kyle Arrington and Davone gave him fits. If the Pats roll coverage toward B. Marsh Davone has to have another big day against any man on mans they give us. Hpefully an ability to run the ball will alleviate some coverage and give us some oppurtunities in that catagory.

Against the Pats i feel as though defensively to be succesful prussure isnt the most vital aspect this week to our defensive prformance but rather the play in our secondary. Last week Brady had some problems in the air against Buffalo. I felt as though the disipline in the secondary and the ruluctance to bring to many blitzes actually worked fairly well. The Bills lost and let in points, but the pats yardage was mostly on the ground. The last thing i want us to do is isolate our corners in too many man on man matchups. I think we will be better off bringing less men on the rush and shifting up coverages all day. I feel as though to be in position late in this game we need to go get consistant pressure with 4 and 5 man rushes. The Bills have a great secondary but so do we. In our first matchup we did very well as a general rule against the pass, id like to duplicate that success.

the last two things is the TE situation of the pats. Brandon pettigrew ate us up last week and with Dansby doubtful Mike Nolans got a job im not envious of. We need to drop as many in coverage as we possibly can and let our front rush and stop the run to the best of their ability, in my eyes. Not an easy task this week. And the last thing is the weather. It looks like it might rain. Id love it. Slippery ball and bad conditions couldnt hurt the D.

Incognito- The move to center is a perfect match for him. He’s big, athletic, and he’s a weight room junkie. He seem’s smart enough when ever he is interviewed and as a general fact O-Linemen are the smartest players on most teams other than QBs. His natural position is right guard, but, size and strength are a perfect match for center.

If we can continue to develope Murtha at RT tackle he may be pushing J. Jerry for the position during the spring. Murtha is athletic plain and simple. His natural position is RT. J. Jerry needs to develop quicker in my opinion if he is going to be our answer at RT. This is starting to worry me because I believe he was drafted to replace V. Carey. J. Jerry is the main reason everyone is playing out of position.IMO. If we can settle the center position and have a good idea at what we’ve got at RT we will be light years ahead next spring.

Here’s an idea. Maybe we should start playing Bell at Linebacker. I believe on passing downs he’s gotten some time there. Everytime I see Bell on the field I say to myself if he adds 10-15 lbs. he would be an ideal Linebacker. I don’t now just an idea. Bell may not be here next year. I’d rather Trade Crowder than Bell though.

An last but not least I like to Thig or Brandstater should get some playing time. I think this front office is going to keep Brandstater next year. Thig will be allowed to walk in FA. By the way I hope they throw to Marshall every chance they get.

- This game means nothing to the Pats, except for maybe a little division pride.

I say we throw everything including the kitchen sink at them. Run it, pass it…turn it over but for God’s sake, go out there and show some damn life and go out on the highest note possible.

Overused and generic, yes, but that’s what I’ve been seeing with the Pats this year. All that aside, I think you’ll see BenJarvus Green-Ellis run… A LOT. He’s got 928 yards and Darth Hoodius likes him; I believe Belichick will want to give Benny a 1,000 yard season. A great story for a kid who was on the practice squad a few years ago.

Incognito is playing Guard and Berger is playing Center. Pat Mcquistan is playing RT for the concussed Lydon Murtha