Your (1-0) Miami Dolphins hit the road for the second consecutive week to open the 2010 NFL season looking to upset the Brett Favre led (0-1) Minnesota Vikings. As far as circumstances are concerned this one is pretty heavily weighted in the Vikings favor.
Granted, Miami is coming off a road victory within the division but still, it was the anemic Buffalo Bills and we still eeked out a win. At least that’s what the 15-10 score would lead you to believe. Just like the 14-9 Saints-Vikings score would indicate that Minnesota nearly defeated the Super Bowl Champs in their house. Well, I got news for you. Score “indications” are about as reliable as Teddy Ginn on a 3rd and 10. Oh stop it, I’m going to bash him until I scrape every last particle of #9 overall bust out of him like a crack head scrapes out resin.
The point I was trying to make until Ginn screwed that up too was those scores are about as much of a reflection on those games as Rex Ryan is on P90X. The true story is it took the Dolphins four, yes, four incredibly boneheaded plays to keep that Buffalo score from being a 34-3 final There are no “ifs” in sports and obviously you can dissect the crap out of every game but still the point being that Miami dominated the trenches and though they weren’t lighting up the scoreboard offensively they controlled the ball and, therefore, the game. Minnesota was also a couple plays away from being dump trucked 27-9. Again, New Orleans dominated the entire game despite the close score.
The deck is absolutely stacked against Miami when you consider that in addition to “barely” beating the lowly Bill and the Vikings “barely” losing to the Super Bowl Champions on their home field the Dolphins have to travel another 1,500 miles, on top of the 3,000 round trip to Buffalo, to face an angry Vikings team desperately in need of a win, in their home opener on turf with 10 days rest. Mel Gibson has a better chance of winning Husband of the Year than Miami does of winning this game.
What a disaster, right? Wrong. It’s the perfect situation you want to be in. Okay, maybe not the circumstances but as far as the public opinion is concerned it’s ideal. A team that nobody gives a shot to win is a dangerous team. I also refer to Las Vegas because I do study gambling and since I’m still doing this charity work writing these articles it should be crystal clear — scratch that I know who my readers are — that I’m not raking it in. But the one game on the board right now that is getting pounced on like Paris Hilton on… well, any night… is Minnesota -5.5. It’s a colossal landslide in favor of Minnesota. It’s damn year the Stone Cold Lead Pipe Lock of the Century that the Vikings beat the Dolphins on Sunday. I may not win a lot of money gambling and I’m not saying the Dolphins pull off the upset but I can tell you that anytime a game sets up like this one does the underdog always and I mean always makes the favorite sweat like their blind date was just interrupted by Chris Hansen walking into their kitchen.
WHEN MIAMI HAS THE BALL: These are not the Purple People Eaters but they are going to be a purple wall lead by All-Pro Jared Allen. Luckily we got a pretty good one of our own in Jake Long that will have the unenviable task of lining up across from good ole #69. Running lanes will be at a premium for Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams so they have to take advantage of the creases when they are there. Kevin Williams is a run stopping plug in the middle alongside Allen though Miami will have to be balanced and committed to the run I suspect that Chad Henne will be unleashed.
Dan Henning stated he wanted to go deep twice last week but Henne was sacked, which isn’t a ringing endorsement to attempt that again this week but I do think the Dolphins attack the Vikings suspect secondary through the air with 3 step drops. Antoine Winfield is their only established player in their secondary but expect him to be avoided so Brandon Marshall can feast on rookie corner Chris Cook and the pedestrian Cedric Griffin. Marshall could have a monster game here demanding double coverage opening the seam for the revived Anthony Fasano and the underneath stuff for the reliable Davone Bess. Brian Hartline should also get plenty of chances to redeem himself for his lackluster play thus far in camp and last week.
WHEN MINNESOTA HAS THE BALL: Obviously stopping Adrian Petersen is of paramount importance and to do that it will take solid gang tackling from all eleven guys. Without that, nothing else will matter aside from him fumbling 5 times and/or the Dolphins offense putting 45 on the board. Neither of those are going to happen. Number two on the defensive agenda will be to get to #4 as often as possible. Stop the run and rush the passer, it’s not rocket science I know but it is the key to success. Cameron Wake and Koa Misi putting pressure on Favre from the outside and Randy Starks and Kendall Langford inside not only disrupts their offense tremendously but with his gunslinger mentality it greatly increases the chance of a defensive score or at least a turnover that puts the offense in a favorable position. I also expect Mike Nolan to put Karlos Dansby into situations allowing him to make plays all over the field.
Chris Clemons, Vontae Davis and Jared Allen all played great football last week but will have to be better this week. There is no place in the Metrodome that Favre can’t put a football and if he manages to buy himself time it will put a ton of pressure on the secondary to stay with their guys longer. Percy Harvin will be a game time decision leaving Bernard Berrian and our old friend Greg Camarillo as his primary receivers. Not exactly lethal but certainly capable of hurting Miami.
KEY MATCH-UP: Jake Long Vs. Jared Allen – Rarely do you get a match-up of this magnitude. Long has reached the Pro Bowl in both his seasons in the league and Jared Allen is widely considered the best defensive lineman in the game. They have actually banged heads previously but it was in Hawaii so it will be interesting to see what, if any, tricks they have up their sleeves for one another. I can’t even venture a guess as to who will win this match-up, I suspect Allen will find a way to make plays like superstars in this league do but I do think Long will step up and against the best defender he’s ever faced and show why he is easily a top three left tackle in football.
FEARLESS PREDICTION:
MIAMI 20-16
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