The wait for the beginning of the "Chad Henne" era in Miami is almost over - but not quite.  Damn do I hate these late kickoffs.  Anyways, use this thread to discuss anything from the early games today or anything else you'd like to discuss.

Our thread for today's game will go up around 3:30.

The Dolphins will be without Joey Porter today.  He's listed as inactive.  The other inactives for the Dolphins are OT Andrew Gardner, QB Tyler Thigpen (3rd), WR Patrick Turner, TE John Nalbone, OG Shawn Murphy, S Chris Clemons, and DL Lionel Dotson.

It's time for our Saturday ritual - predictions.  Below are some "expert" picks for Sunday's game between the Dolphins and Bills, followed by my quick thoughts and my "weekly locks" - which have been anything but thus far.

The "experts" seem split relatively evenly around the internet.  But, of course, they are all wrong.

I know I'm only 1-2 picking these Dolphin games this year, but I have a strong feeling about this one on Sunday.  Many of you know I'm far from a "Chad Henne blind follower."  I have been and will be very critical of him.  But I just have a feeling that the Dolphins are going to open up the offense on Sunday against a depleted Buffalo secondary and let Henne air it out far more than some might think.  The Dolphins will obviously have to protect Henne - but I think the offensive line is coming along well enough to do so.

Defensively, the Dolphins have to be more aggressive and generate a more consistent pass rush.  If the Dolphins let Trent Edwards stand back in the pocket all day, he will beat you.  He has weapons on the outside and we know the Dolphins have a tendency of giving up big plays.  As pass rush will take some pressure off of the secondary.  Oh - and my bold prediction - Sean Smith gets his first career interception on Sunday.

Dolphins win 20-16.

Meanwhile, Brian Galliford from Buffalo Rumblings also checks in with his prediction below.

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Injuries will have an impact on Sunday for sure, as both teams have been bitten by the injury bug.

MIAMI DOLPHINS

Out
QB Chad Pennington (shoulder - IR)

Questionable
LB Joey Porter (hamstring)

Notes
-Porter says that it will take a lot for him to miss the game, "If there’s any way I can be on the field, I’m going to be on the field … all the time."
-If Porter can't go, look for Jason Taylor to slide over to the weak side with Charlie Anderson starting on the strong side (with Cameron Wake getting more reps, as well).

BUFFALO BILLS

Out
OT Demetrius Bell (groin)
DT John McCargo (calf)
LB Paul Posluszny (forearm)
CB Leodis McKelvin (fibula - IR)
S Bryan Scott (ankle)
S Donte Whitner (thumb)

Probable
TE Shawn Nelson (shoulder)
DE Kyle Williams (groin)

More photos » by Chris Carlson - AP

Chad Henne - it's your time now. Let's see what ya got!

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Every Friday I break out my "keys to victory" for the Dolphins.  Last week, the Dolphins hit on only one of those keys - and I think it hurt them.  Either way, though, I still think they would have lost simply because something that I didn't think would happen - San Diego's receivers abusing Miami's corners, especially Will Allen - occurred time and time again.

So let's get to my week four keys:

Protect and support Chad Henne
The big story of the game for the Dolphins - win or lose - will be how Chad Henne performs in his first career start in the NFL.  One interesting note that somebody on the board pointed out this week - Dan Marino's first career start was also at home against the Bills.  I'm just sayin'...

Since this is Henne's first career start, the Dolphins must do their best to protect him.  The offensive line has got to prevent Henne from taking a beating back there.  I'm sure the Bills will bring some different blitz packages into this game in hopes of confusing and flustering the young quarterback.  It'll be up to the $150 million offensive line to keep Henne upright and protected.

At the same time, though, the Dolphins need to support Henne.  Dan Henning has to call plays that are to Henne's strengths - not to Chad Pennington's strengths.  He's not out there anymore - so don't rely on short passes in which hot reads and very accurate throws are necessary.  Open it up a bit - let it fly.  Let Chad Henne do what he does best and don't try to force him onto being a CP10 clone because that's the offense that has been run for over a year.

Of course, the receivers, running backs, and (especially) tight ends have also got to help Henne out.  Ted Ginn can't go around dropping pass after pass like he did last week once Henne came into the game.  Davone Bess, the team's top possession receiver, will be a key.  He needs to continue his "quarterback friendly" ways underneath out of the slot.  The running backs must make the right blitz pickup reads when necessary as well as give Henne a place to dump it off if nobody is open down field.  And the tight ends - which are a young quarterback's best friend - have got to actually show up and make some plays on Sunday.

All of these thingsare very important - not just for this one game but for Henne's confidence moving forward.  We all want to see him succeed.  And he needs to get off on the right foot.

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I wrote earlier this week about how Comcast has become an official sponsor of The Phinsider and many other SBN football blogs.  Like Comcast, Sprint - the NFL's official telecommunications sponsor - is also now a proud sponsor of SB Nation.

What's in it for you?  As part of SBN's deal with Sprint, many of our posts are now being fed to Sprint's NFL Mobile Live program that is available on most Sprint phones.  To access our content, just go to the Miami Dolphins section of the program - where you will see "SB Nation" labeled as one of the headings.  Pretty cool, if you ask me.

On a personal note, I did want to say that I've been a Sprint subscriber for a few years now and I do think that their NFL Mobile Live program is an amazingly useful thing for NFL fans.  It gives you access on your phone to basically what amounts to a mobile, live-updating version of NFL.com's live scoreboard and gamecenters on gameday.  They update live with no refreshing - depending on the phone you have.  I have a Palm Pre (and I love it, by the way - and am trying to convince Dolphins CB Sean Smith to stick with the Pre as his phone of choice).  The program also provides you with the latest news and original NFL.com content wherever you are.

NFL Mobile Live also gives you free access to the radio broadcasts of every single regular season game right on your phone.  In fact, you even get a choice of listening to either the home team or road team broadcasts.  So for those of you not in the Miami area, you can hear Jimmy Cefalo, Jim Mandich, and Joe Rose call the Dolphins games live right from your cell phone.  But again, this is only available through Sprint and their NFL Mobile Live program.

Sprint has also partnered up with the NFL to give out 17 trips to this year's Super Bowl - which will come from Land Shark Stadium, of course - via their new Sprint Can't Miss Plays of the Week.  You simply just click here and vote each week on what was the play of the week.  Every time you vote, you are entered for a chance to win one of those 17 Super Bowl trips.

Again, don't worry.  You will not be hammered with Sprint marketing messages from me.  Only this one time - just to point out the beenfit of being a Sprint subscriber and having access to what is really a "must have" for NFL fans everywhere - Sprint's NFL Mobile Live.

More photos » by Steven Senne - AP

Brian Galliford writes that Trent Edwards has been struggling with his accuracy. Can the Dolphins actually take advantage of that and make some plays in the secondary - i.e. actually picking off a pass?

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With Sunday's game against the Buffalo Bills inching closer, I'd like to welcome in Brian Galliford from the best Bills blog on the internet - Buffalo Rumblings.  In preparation of this week's matchup between the Dolphins and Bills, Brian and I have exchanged five questions.  You can head over to his blog to check out our discussion about the Dolphins. 

Brian's responses to my questions are below.

Coming into the season, you said yourself that his was a big year for Trent Edwards. So far after three games, what is your take on Edwards and his development?

There has been improvement. But he took a step backwards in the loss to New Orleans; now that a team has provided a blueprint on how to stop Edwards - because he had been borderline excellent through two weeks - it'll be interesting to see how he responds. He's got a good command of the offense, but he's struggled with accuracy, has seemed tentative at times (though not constantly, as your average fan would have you believe), and has gotten inconsistent protection from his extremely young offensive line. It's coming along, but very slowly - and the biggest factor working against him is the fact that he needs a bit more patience when there's less than zero to be had from our fickle fan base and local media.

The Bills have been using their version of the no-huddle offense now for three weeks. What are your thoughts on it? Like it? Hate it? Do you think it actually provides the Bills with any advantage when they are running it?

It's a new offense, and any time there's a new offense, you're going to have mixed emotions - and that's exactly where I'm at. I like it because it puts more responsibility on Edwards' shoulders and forces him to be more assertive. I really like the theory behind it. But the act of not huddling has had very little effect on the team's offensive output.

It's important to remember that they're only three games in - they've had two productive days and one extremely unproductive, brutal-to-watch day using it (in games that count, that is). They've got young players in key areas (QB, OL). They'll need a bit more time to get their feet wet. Once they get a full grasp of what they'd like to accomplish - and the jury's out on how soon, if ever, that happens - they'll really be able to control the ebbs and flows of a football game. That's incredibly important in a league which features 32 teams with remarkably similar talent level.

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I wanted to announce that The Phinsider now has a sponsor for the season. We were approached by Comcast - who is looking to get the word out about Comcast Redzone and knew the best way to reach hardcore NFL fans was through SB Nation blogs. We’re proud to have them as a sponsor and it shows just how much this blog has grown and the kind of community we have here (shout outs to all of you who make this place what it is today).

Now don't worry - I won’t be bombarding you with marketing messages.  What I will do is remind you every once in a while about some of the great sports features available from Comcast, like NFL Redzone. For a little cash a month, you get the Redzone Channel - a pretty cool channel that shows all the redzone action on NFL Sunday as its happening.  It also focuses on all of the close games as they progress through the fourth quarter, with a ton of live look-ins even when teams aren't in the redzone.

On Sunday, Oct. 4th, Comcast will provide Redzone for free from 1 to 4 pm eastern.  Sponsorship aside, I recommend checking out the channel while you wait for the Dolphins/Bills game to kick off at 4:05.  You'll be happy you did.

So I just wanted to say thanks to Comcast for sponsoring The Phinsider!

More photos » by Chris Carlson - AP

Miami Dolphins cornerback Will Allen, right, brakes up a pass play in the end zone against San Diego Chargers wide receiver Chris Chambers.

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The Dolphins return home to Miami Sunday with an 0-3 record and a new starting quarterback.  But this is also the first game of the season in which the Dolphins are not playing against a team that reached the playoffs last season.  It's always fun when it's time to play against divisional rivals and this week's game begins a run of four divisional opponents in five games.

With that said, here are my three keys matchups for week four:

Lee Evans/Terrell Owens vs Will Allen/Sean Smith
Last game was really the first game that saw the Dolphins give up big plays to the opposing team's receivers.  Vincent Jackson really hurt the Dolphins last week, catching 5 passes for 120 yards - mostly against veteran Will Allen.  And let's be honest, Allen hasn't played very well this year.  We all expected more from our supposed number one corner this year.

Malcom Floyd even made a big play last week as well, catching a 47 yard pass despite solid coverage from rookie corner Sean Smith.  But Smith has been very good this year.  He helped limit Reggie Wayne to just three receptions for 37 yards back in week two.  And last week, he help shut out Chris Chambers from making any receptions against his former team.  So far in 2009, it actually seems like teams are trying to stay away from throwing in Smith's direction, instead targeting Will Allen more often.

But heading to Miami on Sunday will be the best receiving duo that the Dolphins have faced so far in 2009.  Terrell Owens and Lee Evans are a very dangerous tandem on the outside for Buffalo's offense - even if this season's stats don't show it.  The two have only been targeted on 30 of Trent Edwards' 91 pass attempts and neither player even has over 100 yards receiving on the year.  But that doesn't make the duo any less dangerous.

Terrell Owens leads the NFL in touchdown receptions since 2000 with 110 and Lee Evans has 693 career receiving yards against the Dolphins - his most against any team.  And it's only a matter of time until those two get going this season.  The Dolphins have got to make sure that this week isn't the week where Owens and Evans perform up to their abilities.

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More photos » by Ed Zurga - AP

Pat White - meet your new competition: Tyler Thigpen.

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In the wake of today's news that the Dolphins have traded for quarterback Tyler Thigpen, many Dolphin fans are wondering what this move means to the Dolphins.  In particular, what can we take out of this move in terms of the team's feelings towards the two current quarterbacks on the roster?

It's an interesting question, for sure.  And anyone who attempts to answer it really must preface their response with the fact that it is pure speculation.  For now, we really have no way to know for sure what, if anything, this move means to either Chad Henne or Pat White.

With that said, I have a theory.

As far as Henne goes, I don't think it means a thing.  If Chad goes out there and plays relatively well, he's the starting quarterback of the Miami Dolphins for the remainder of this year and - hopefully - for many years to come.

But for White, I think Thigpen's acquisition means something a bit more.  I think this shows that the Dolphins are far from sold on Pat White as either a potential long-term quarterback possibility as well as a spread offense triggerman.  Thigpen, meanwhile, comes to the Dolphins from Kansas City - where the Chiefs basically installed a spread offense tailored to Tyler's strength's last season.  He's a terrific athlete who can run, throw, and catch.

It's no secret that the Dolphins clearly have some type of spread option offensive package installed for White.  But Thigpen could potentially be a better fit.  And if the Dolphins were sold that White might eventually progress into a solid spread offense triggerman and potential backup quarterback, I don't think they would have brought in a young quarterback like Thigpen instead of an experienced veteran to simply be Henne's backup incase of injury.

While I'm not ready to say that Thigpen's arrival in Miami is the end of the Pat White experiment, I do think it's an indictment on how little White has progressed thus far.  And now, sooner rather than later, I expect to see Thigpen as the second quarterback on gameday with White relegated to emergency third string duties.  After all, Thigpen is more experienced at this level, is the better backup quarterback to Henne incase Henne goes down, and is probably better suited to handle Miami's spread option package than White is.

So now the question becomes how long until Thigpen gets involved in Miami's spread option offensive package on gameday?

More photos » by Reed Hoffmann - AP

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The Miami Dolphins have acquired quarterback Tyler Thigpen from the Kansas City Chiefs in exchange for an undisclosed draft pick.  With the injury to Chad Pennington, it was assumed that the Dolphins would go out and try to get a quarterback on their roster that has at least some starting experience.  Thigpen will join Chad Henne and Pat White as the three quarterbacks in Miami.

Thigpen is in his third season out of Coastal Carolina.  In 2008, Thigpen saw extended action in Kansas City, appearing in 14 games.  He threw for 2,608 yards and 18 touchdowns last year, with a career high 320 yard effort against the Dolphins in week 16.  Thigpen can also move, rushing for over 300 yards and 3 touchdowns in 2008.

It should come as no surprise that Bill Parcells and the Dolphins turned to the Chiefs for some help with their quarterback depth.  Kansas City GM Scott Pioli is Bill Parcells' son-in-law and this marks the second time he's done business with Pioli this year.  The Chiefs had also been looking to trade Thigpen for a little while now bringing in Matt Cassel and Matt Gutierrez.

While we shouldn't read too much into this seeing as how we all knew the Dolphins would be bringing in some quarterback with starting experience to compliment Henne and White, it's worth noting that Thigpen is only 25 years old and has far more starting experience than both of Miami's two quarterbacks combined.  Even still, I suspect Thigpen will be nothing more than the #3 quarterback on gameday for the foreseeable future.

To make room for Thigpen on the roster, the Dolphins have indeed placed Chad Pennington on Injured Reserve.

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