Dolphins vs Jaguars: Five things to watch for

so expect the unexpected sometimes.

If Spitler and Folsom want to make the team, they better make some plays and tackles, because Johnson was great last week…except for the stupid penalty which was unneccesary.

Most of us have a "big" concern about rain in Florida….. I think we’ve allowed our selves to be overly caught up in the "Oh NO’s". We will see a better showing from our troops. I admittedly paid no mind to Ness and Moore before last week….. Now I will keeping an eye out for them… we all love our Dolphin sleepers.

Look its time for this TEAM to perform up to standards… Give us something. Last week was pretty bad all around except for a few bright spots. In case you havent noticed – the PATRIOTS are already in “season form” Brady looks great, their running game was really clicking – and that’s without PRO BOWL guard Mankins ! the Jets look better than us too… even without Pro bowl CB Revis…
COME ON Miami Lets see a crisp offense with some decent passes (not these 5 yard dump off’s) downfield… Lets see an OLINE featuring the best young LT in the league DOMINATE an average Jags team… Lets see Dansby, Crowder, Dobbins, Misi, Wake, Starks and Langford – DOMINATE the line of scrimmage… Lets see Paulie repeat his performance at NT/DT…. and PLEASE COACHES – open it up a little… lets actually PRACTICE some of our difficult plays to get ready … because we need more than just the 3rd game to have this team ready… AFC East is going to be tough !

Penalties, dropped passes, and fumbled snaps all point to a lack of concentration. As a coach you expect your players to be mentally ready to play when they step on the field. I don’t think they were against the Bucs and that has to change. Whether preseason, regular season or post season, that basic function has to be there.

As far as the defense is concerned, I agree with Matty:

Improved play out of Miami’s young secondary is crucial

The DB’s didn’t play well against the Buc’s. Freeman shouldn’t be able to ever go 4-4 with a TD against a solid cover scheme. But Davis, Smith, and Clemons were not very good #1’s vs #1’s. I want the CB’s to play the pass better and tighten up their coverage. I want Clemons to tackle and support the run better. Those are guys I want to see make some positive plays.

I will also be watching Odrick. I don’t think he played well against the Bucs (I guess I am in the minority here). He wasn’t involved in a tackle, either solo or assist, and he didn’t get off of single blocking well. I want to see improvement from him.

And i fully expect that its coming.

I liked what I saw from Ronnie Brown last week – i think the passing game picks up considerably this week.

Starks is the guy i am really hoping to see step up on the Defensive side of the ball. Solia seems more effective if he is not the main man in the rotation. I mean the more playing time last year the less effective he seemed to be.

for an underdog I will pull for Micah Johnson to step up and possibly earn a roster spot.

this is one guy i haven’t really seen many people talking about but one that i’m pretty excited about. he seemed to be all over the field in the second half vs the bucs and i remember watching him at kentucky where he was a beast

Anyone else see him booming balls in the rain? Reminded me of the Matt Tirk days. A strong punter is sometimes regarded as the defensive 12th man. Sometimes an excellent leg will not only get you out of trouble but get you into scoring range as well. How many muffed punts have we seen get recovered in scoring range? Lots.

No mention of DC$ either kicking on a mud pit all night. If we’re talking consistency I think it would be good to see it on special teams as well. They looked good to me in our first game if not excellent. It is easy to forget that special teams are on the field 1/3 of the time. I hope they keep it together.

After our defense successfully puts the opposing offense at 3rd and 15 or 20, it’d be nice if you could feel assured that some “miracle catch” won’t occur and they convert the first down. That Braylon Edwards catch still drives me nuts…

Nothing drives me nuts more than when a team is at 3rd and long and they convert the first down. It should really be almost impossible to get that first down because if it isn’t, then the team feels like they can do anything if they can convert that kind of yardage…

This is why you guys are fans and not in the FO or Coaching a pro team. It was the freaking 1st game of the PRE- SEASON for crying out loud. ALL TEAMS RUN BASE OFFENSE AND DEFENSIVE PLAYS. they are not gonna show the goods just to win meaningless games guys. YES our WR’s need to catch the balls thats thrown to em and YES our YOUNG secondary need to play better but this is why PRE-SEASON is here. to get rid of rust. im not worried about my boys cuz we are gonna be dominant this year. EVERYBODY is sleeping on us. we gonna show em all.
GO FINS!!!!!!!!!!!

But aren’t you guys playing us this next Friday?

I understand that it’s preseason and it was the First pregame on a not so desirable feild counditions to play in. As a just said there should be no reason for the 1st team players to be doing what they did out there.

Sorry still a little shocked at the way the 1st team played, but that was end the pass and now is the present.

What I like to see more of from players would be Moore see if he has was it takes to make it has the 5th reciever, Wake see if he can consitantly be a domiant player through out each game, Soliali will he last through out the year with the kind of up side that I saw against the Bucks, and will Thingy show more consitancy on the feild than prior years.