More photos » by Jeffrey M. Boan - AP

The Dolphins have reportedly lost patience with "Teddy Bobbles."

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One of the hot topics following the Dolphins' collapse on Sunday against the Saints has been centered on receiver Ted Ginn.  We all know that he's been a huge disappointment this season and it has all finally come to a head after another poor display by Ginn on Sunday - which featured a couple more dropped balls, one of which was plucked out of the air by a defender and returned for a touchdown.

Since then, I've noticed a new website, TedGinnSucks.com, and a petition by Dolphin fans to have Ginn cut from the team - which, as of this posting currently has close to 100 signees already.

But the "real news" comes courtesy of Chris Mortensen, who said on ESPN during their pre-game show on Monday night that Ginn will begin to see less action on gamedays:

Per ESPN's Chris Mortensen (who likely still has a pipeline to his former ESPN colleague, Bill Parcells), Ginn will see reduced playing time going forward.

Mort also said that, if the trade deadline were tomorrow instead of last Tuesday, the Dolphins would be dialing up the Ravens and offering Ginn to the team whose offensive coordinator, Cam Cameron, drafted Ginn in 2007 with the ninth overall pick.

First off, it's probably true that Mortensen is more "dialed into" the Dolphins front office than most other reporters because of his relationship with Bill Parcells.  And I'm not surprised at all that Ginn will start to see less playing time.  That's what he deserves.  But I get the feeling that the idea Miami would be "dialing up the Ravens and offering Ginn" is pure speculation by Mortensen.  I doubt this front office would ever let that information out to anyone, let alone a reporter who will just turn around and announce it to the world.  What would the Dolphins even get by trading Ginn?  Does he really have any value at all at this point?

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More photos » by Jeffrey M. Boan - AP

I think this photo says it all. Darren Sharper would catch this ball off of Ted Ginn's hands and return it for a touchdown.

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With less than two minutes to go in the first half, it seemed like the Miami Dolphins were on their way to one of their best wins in years, holding a 24-3 lead over the undefeated New Orleans Saints.  Unfortunately, football games require a full 60 minutes.  The Dolphins put together an outstanding 28 minutes - followed by about 32 minutes of complete disaster - which is what makes this game so hard to swallow.

Defensive breakdowns in second half
Even after that disappointing end to the first half - which we'll get to in a little - the Dolphins still held a 14 point lead at halftime.  But Miami's defense collapsed in the second half, allowing the Saints to just march up and down the field on seemingly every possession.

There are a number of places you can lay some blame for this loss.  But the defense certainly has to get a lot of blame.  They played so well in the first half only to allow 23 points and 317 yards on just 38 plays.  Worse yet, the Dolphins surrendered 285 yards of offense and 9.83 yards per play over the final 20 minutes of the game.  So while a lot of you will point the finger at others - who do deserve some blame as well - don't let an outstanding defensive first half taint your view of how this defense performed.  The final quarter and a half was just disgusting.

What exactly was the problem?  Some of it was probably execution and players not being where they were supposed to.  That could explain why Saint receivers were running wide open down the field for much of the second half.  Missed tackles were also a problem - such as Gibril Wilson's whiff on Reggie Bush on a key 3rd down.  There was a lack of pressure on Drew Brees in the fourth quarter as well, which is not good.  We saw in the first half how much consistent pressure on Brees makes him uncomfortable.

But the biggest issue might be what we don't know and likely will never know: did the Dolphins coaching staff go into halftime anticipating the adjustment New Orleans would make in the second half?  During our live game thread, somebody said at halftime how it would be important to see how the Dolphins react to the halftime adjustments the Saints make on offense.  That's hitting the nail right on the head.  We won't ever know for sure - especially without being able to see the film.  But there were clearly issues in the second half.  We didn't see nearly the amount of receivers running wide open - especially over the middle - in the first half as we saw in the second.

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More photos » by Jeffrey M. Boan - AP

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It would have been easier to lose this game in a blowout loss.  But blowing a 24-3 lead at home is tough to swallow.

There are a lot of reasons we can come up with for the loss.  We'll get into those later tonight/tomorrow.

Keep this thread clean.  Recap post to follow later.  And please note, instead of posting a fanpost that is short and is nothing more than venting, post them as comments here.  I don't need a million fanposts about the same things.

Unreal.  I didn't realize it was so easy to blow a 24-3 lead.

Use this thread now for all game discussion.

GO DOLPHINS!!!

The Dolphins did what they had to do early - getting out in front and putting pressure on the Saints.  But they let the Saints back into it right before halftime.

Halftime in Miami, Dolphins lead 24-10.

Use this thread now for all game discussion.

GO DOLPHINS!!!

The Dolphins and Saints kick off at 4:15 ET today.  Our official game thread will be posted about a half hour prior to kick off.

So you can use this thread to discuss anything you'd like to talk about during today's early games.

Dolphins inactives are RB Kory Sheets, QB Tyler Thigpen, OT Andrew Gardner, DE Lionel Dotson, WR Pat Turner, TE John Nalbone, LB Quentin Moses, and OT Lydon Murtha.

Look for Ted Ginn to be the kickoff return man with Sheets inactive.

Following Miami's impressive win over the Jets two weeks ago, it seems like more and more people are at least giving the Dolphins more respect.  But does that translate into more "experts" picking the Dolphins to upset the Saints?  Below are some picks:

Alright - clearly, the Dolphins, despite their new found respect from the mainstream media, are still not liked by many to pull off the upset.  But you know what?  Nobody picked the 1-6 Dolphins to beat the 7-0 Bears in Chicago a few years back.  How did that turn out?

With that said, I'm still not "eating the cheese."  The Dolphins are better than their 2-3 record implies.  But they aren't good enough to keep up with the Saints.  If things don't come together in the secondary quickly, the Dolphins won't win this game.

We saw that even owning the ball for 3/4ths of the game isn't good enough if your defense just gives up touchdown after touchdown.  But if the Dolphins can just keep this game close into the fourth quarter, they could steal this game away from New Orleans.  But they must play mistake free.  A little help from mother nature wouldn't hurt, either.  Wind and rain, anyone?

My Week 7 Locks
Falcons +3.5 over Cowboys - This Atlanta team is for real, folks.  They can beat you multiple ways and they will indeed walk into Big D and win this game out-right.  But getting 3.5 points makes this pick even safer.
Colts -12.5 over Rams - The Colts will dominate against one of the league's two worst teams.  And they even welcome back Bob Sanders to help on defense.  This one could get ugly.
Packers -6.5 over Browns - Assuming the Packers can keep Aaron Rodgers upright (which has been an issue at times this year), Green Bay should waltz into Cleveland and win by double digits against a team that has serious issues scoring any points at all.
Chargers - 4.5 over Chiefs - The Chargers, like the Dolphins, aren't your typical 2-3 team.  They'll find a way to win this game by a touchdown or so.

Last Week: 2-2
Season: 7-9

More photos » by Hans Deryk - AP

I hope to see a large dose of Ronnie on Sunday!

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Sunday's big game between the Dolphins and Saints is now just days away.  All Dolphin fans know that this game certainly will not be easy.  But it's definitely not an "unwinnable" game.  The Dolphins certainly can win this game.  But they'll have to play a near-perfect game.  And these three keys below will be very important:

Keep it close
This one almost goes without saying.  Even with the stronger armed Chad Henne under center, the Dolphins are not a team that can come back from big early deficits.  They do not have the firepower and that's just not their way.  Meanwhile, the Saints have the kind of explosive offense that allows them to score quickly and score often.  The Dolphins obviously can't allow this to happen.

In three of their five games, the Saints have had halftime leads of 18, 14, and 17.  And the Saints have scored on their first possession in all five of their games - putting up four touchdowns and a field goal.  They've also never trailed in a game all season.  And excluding when the game was 0-0, the Saints have only been tied for 19:22 of game time - meaning the Saints, after scoring on their first possession, have only been in a tie for 19 minutes and 22 seconds combined in all five games.  That's insane.

But that also presents an opportunity.  The Dolphins have been in tight games in the second half in all but one of their games.  So this team is familiar, and comfortable, playing in tight, pressure-packed situations.  The Saints might not be.  Who is to say how New Orleans will react as the game progresses into the late 3rd and early 4th quarter of a tight, one-score game?

Linebacker Akin Ayodele, whose brother is a starting defensive tackle on the Saints, agrees:

"We've really faced adversity early in this season. I think it has put us in a better situation when certain things come about that we're prepared. Mentally we're prepared. We know how to deal with it."

"That's what we're shooting for: the fact that maybe nobody has pushed them. We're not the team that's going to just sit back and let them come on our home turf and push us around."

Frankly, I'm actually borderline over-confident that the Dolphins can pull off the win if they can keep this game close in the fourth quarter.  And I say this only because I don't know how the Saints will react if/when the Dolphins refuse to go away.  Like Akin said, nobody has pushed them yet in 2009.  The question, if the Dolphins can indeed push them, is if the Saints have the right mentality to push back - especially when their on the road with the stadium rocking.

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More photos » by Mike Groll - AP

Among running backs with at least 45 carries, guess who is 5th in the NFL in yards per carry. That's right - it's the Saints' Pierre Thomas, averaging 5.9 ypc. He's New Orleans' best kept secret.

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With Sunday's big game between the Dolphins and Saints nearing, it's time to get to know our opponent better.  To do that, let's welcome in "Saintsational" from Canal Street Chronicles.  You can also head over to his blog sometime today to check out what he asked me about the Dolphins.

I could go on and on about Drew Brees - as I'm sure you could. But I've been more impressed with your offensive line. They've only allowed five sacks this season after allowing just 13 last year. But it seems like that unit gets overlooked despite a year and a half of outstanding play. Why is this?

It's easy to get overlooked as an offensive line when your splendid play means Drew Brees has plenty of time to rack up ridiculous stats and garner lots of attention. But you're absolutely right, those guys have been very impressive as a unit. Interestingly enough, the offensive linemen were all applauded by coaches and fans alike this week after they shut down the touted pass rush of the Giants number one defense this past Sunday. Even better, we're finding out that backup left tackle Jermon Bushrod may be just as good, if not better, than the Saints starting Pro-Bowl tackle Jammal Brown.

Last season, the Saints were just 28th in the NFL in rushing. But they've seemed more committed to a balanced offense in 2009, leading to an average of 10 more rushing attempts per game this year ranking 4th in the league in rushing. What do you attribute this sudden rushing attack to and how will New Orleans continue to use their three talented backs?

You've done your homework, young grasshopper. The revival of the Saints ground attack post-Deuce McAllister can mainly be attributed to a renewed effort by head coach Sean Payton to dedicate his team to running the football. A balanced offensive attack was something he seemed to pick up on only late last season. Prior to that, it seemed he felt only Drew Brees could win games. That was also the time the Saints picked up Mike Bell, who had a great training camp this season and filled in remarkably for Pierre Thomas during the first two games of this year. It also doesn't hurt that the Saints have had a lead all season and don't need to pass the ball a ton in an effort to come from behind.

As far as what the future holds, I think what we saw this Sunday against the Giants is what we can expect for the rest of the season now that both backs are healthy: Pierre Thomas as the main rusher with Mike Bell coming in for short-yardage and goaline work.

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This post is sponsored by Comcast and their NFL RedZone channel.  Want to see every touchdown from every NFL game as it happens as well as live look-ins to all of Sunday's games in key situations?  Then you need Comcast's NFL RedZone.  And with the Dolphins game kicking off at 4:15 on Sunday, the RedZone channel is a great way to stay on top of all of the early games.

With the Dolphins coming off of their bye week, there isn't any red zone offense to discuss here this week.  So I thought we could take a trip back through the first five weeks of the season and talk quickly about how the Dolphins are performing on defense inside the red zone.

So when I started breaking down the red zone performance by Miami's defense game by game, I noticed that they haven't played half bad.  They were one of the better red zone defenses last year and some of that has carried over.  The Dolphins are allowing touchdowns on 50% of their opponent's red zone trips - not a particularly bad number at all.  In fact, over their last three games, the Dolphins are allowing touchdowns on just 41% of opponent's red zone trips.  Again - that's rather impressive.

But then I looked a little deeper and noticed a disturbing statistic.  The Dolphins are only giving up 301 yards per game to opposing offenses - which is 10th in the NFL.  But that figure is rather high considering the time of possession differential the Dolphins have been able to achieve during their first five games.  In fact, their 5.6 yards allowed per play is 24th in the league.  Even more disturbing, the Dolphins have let opposing offenses reach the red zone on 18 of their opponent's 50 total possessions.  That means that more than one-third of the oppositions total drives penetrate inside of Miami's 20 yard line.

Does that worry anybody else?

Upon doing more research, I found that the Dolphins rank 23rd in the NFL in yards allowed per drive - surrendering 31.12 yards per possession.  That might not seem like a terrible amount, but it is - especially considering how the Dolphins are not exactly very good on special teams, meaning offenses generally have good starting field position against Miami.

The bottom line here is that while it's great that the Dolphins can keep opponents out of the endzone on half of their trips inside the 20, this defense has to do a better job of getting off the field and preventing teams from penetrating that far down the field.  Eventually, the numbers are going to catch up with them and the Dolphins will start allowing more and more touchdowns.