Dolphins at Patriots Injury Report

If so, we might be alright (see R. Bush).

Now we can get a good look at Clay.

Me too

They have been unable to stop the run all season, their secondary is absolutely devastated by injuries, they have given up the big play all year long and they have been exploited heavily at Linebacker from backs and Tight Ends. As you talked about I have no doubt that Bill Belichick this week has had major concerns about how he is going to match up against Brandon Marshall, Davone Bess and Brian Hartline. In week one we saw a relentless mixture of man coverage and zone to try to disrupt and confuse the offense as much as possible and this is essentially what they do every week to try to mask their problems.

Considering the problems the Patriots have on their team (and not only on defense their offensive line has been rushuffled almost week to week and has led to struggles on the ground and more Quarterback pressures this season than the Patriots have seen in years) its astounding that their club is 11-3. Like the Bills their defense has saved itself again this season with turnovers and their offense despite serious Line problems and injuries are one of the most explosive units in the league.

As for Nate Solder he did help in that matchup but I dont think you are giving him the respect that he deserves for what he did in the matchup in week one. Take the first half for example. The Patriots had five offensive possessions in the first half. In those possessions Cam Wake lined up on his side about three quarters of all the Pats snaps and Sodler did get a considerable number of one on ones. In those five possessions he got help maybe 8 or 9 times (a considerable amount) but he only gave up 1 sack and a holding penalty on a QB pressure. There were plenty of snaps where Solder beat Cam Wake to the edge on his speed rush and used his weight to ride him to the ground. He also did a great job maintaining balance and giving Wake problems in the bull rush and when Wake tried to swim him to the inside. So yes he got help in the game, but he also had plenty on one on ones which he fared pretty well with in the game.

As for pressure there is no doubt it is key. Teams that have been able to exploit the Patriots protection problems consistantly have been able to give the Pats serious problems offense (the Cowboys, Steelers and Giants did the best) and teams that could only generate pressure in spurts (including us) as a whole had problems. Again with our first game. We had other problems on defense than simply pressure but in the first half with those same five possessions pressure played a huge role in our success on defense in those possessions. As soon as we began to generate pressure the Pats offense began to slow down some resulting in 0 points i nthe last three. Generating pressure with base rushes is critcal today.