In preparation of Sunday's game between the Fins and Pats, I got the opportunity to exchange 5 questions with "MaPatsFan" from Pats Pulpit, SBN's Patriots blog.  Below are his responses to my questions.  And you can head over to his site to see my responses to his Dolphin-related questions.

The Phinsider: So I have to ask: Do you feel that Bernard Pollard's hit on Tom Brady was a "dirty play"?  And speaking of the injury, what do you think of Matt Cassel's play thus far and how do you see him performing as the season goes on?

Pats Pulpit: No, I do not think it was a dirty hit.  In fact, most everyone on PatsPulpit agrees with that assessment and most of my friends and co-workers here in Chowdah Land agree as well.  As you can imagine, I've watched that hit dozens of times, but the angle the news media got hold of only focuses on Brady; it doesn't show the events that led up to the hit.  Essentially, Patriots' RB Sammy Morris missed his blocking assignment and ended up falling on Chiefs' SS Bernard Pollard to keep him from getting to Brady.  Brady stepped into the pocket to throw to Moss.  At almost the same time, Pollard was working to get away from Morris, moved forward with Morris on his back, and landed on Brady's knee.  I no way, shape or form was Pollard deliberately trying to go after Brady's knee.

As far as Cassel, I'm pleased with his play so far.  With the help of the coaching staff, he's carefully managing the game, not taking too many risks, and winning games.  It reminds me of when Brady took over for an injured Drew Bledsoe in 2001.  Brady had to be managed as well and didn't have nearly the on-field authority he enjoys now.  That level of game management skill only comes with reps in real games.  2 Things Cassel has going for him that Brady didn't have are 1) a better team and 2) 4 years in the Patriots system.  Only time will tell, but so far, he's doing a good job.  As long as the coaching staff continues to carefully monitor what he's capable of, I think he'll do fine.

PP: I'm concerned with Laurence Maroney and Sammy Morris, 3.7 and 2.9 respectively.  For our "starter" backs, they seem to be starting a little slowly.  Watching the Jets in Week 2, I felt like both of them were tentative at the line, bouncing off the linemen looking for holes.  In contrast, Maroney put up 100 yarders in 4 out of the last 6 2007 outings.  The real wildcard here is LaMont Jordan.  In a heartbeat, I would've given him offensive MVP for the game against the Jets.  Granted, he only had 68 yards, but he had a 5.2 average and the yards were just at the right time.  Oddly enough, all his carries were in the second half and I've heard this is how Jordan was used by his former team, the Jets.  That is, wait until the second half when the opposing defense is tired and hand the ball to a fresh Jordan.  At 5-10 230 lbs, he's a bowling ball with legs and pretty tough stop.  While Maroney and Morris sometimes bounce off the line looking for holes, Jordan creates holes with his size and strength.

PP: Watching the Jets, I was rather perplexed as to why there was no pass rush.  In fact, many PatsPulpit commentors made the same observation during the game thread.  OLB's Adalius Thomas and Mike Vrabel appeared to be hanging back.  And then I realized why - Belichick was shutting down Favre's targets, trying to get him to force a pass.  By keeping OLBs in pass coverage mode, it made Favre's job of finding an eligible receiver more difficult.  We were also using a lot of nickel packages which helped shutdown the passing attack as well.  Then, at the end of the second quarter, we turned on the pass rush to mix it up a bit.  Our OLBs started going after Favre and shooting the gaps.  That strategy seemed to work.

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