Dear Ted Ginn,

By Ronn Burner • on September 28, 2009

You are dead to me. I’ve never despised a Dolphins player more in my 30 years as a die hard Dolfan than I do you. Admittedly this is a harsh statement but I just can’t help myself. I’m so sorry, I want to love you and admire you and respect your game but you just don’t give me any reason to. Maybe I despise you because I defended you insufferably until we could see you in your 3rd year, which I feel is the least we could do for a wide receiver and especially in your case considering you came into the league as a raw talent and for a 1-15 team going through growing pains of their own. Maybe I loathe you because I believed in you and you broke my heart by letting me down week in and week out after I kept telling people that you were very close to your star emerging. In fact, I would argue that you actually got worse which defies logic. Now I’m almost worried about you because as far as I’m concerned your career is in jeopardy because I think you’ve now become a head case in regards to your own confidence in the ability to make a big play, your confidence in running the correct routes effectively that the defense is giving you in addition to your limited skill set. Let’s face it, Teddy; you’re nothing more than a padded track star. You’re not a football player. I don’t want to hear one more excuse, period. I’m a very knowledgeable football fan, former player, former coach and sports writer and from what I’ve seen and what you have shown I cannot in my right mind call you a football player. Just look at Davone Bess if I’m not making any sense. Bess went undrafted by 32 NFL teams for 8 rounds due to size, speed and skill set yet got invited to camp and just flat out showed that despite his physical limitations the kid is just flat out a football player. Brian Hartline, another under sized guy considered to have a somewhat limited skill set, seems to be coming along nicely as well proving that he too has the opportunity to excel in this league. I’m sorry, Ted, I’m sure you’re a great guy and it isn’t your fault you were drafted prematurely with expectations that were so unrealistic that it makes Michael Jordan’s thoughts of a Major League Baseball career seem feasible but it is your fault that you run poor routes, it is your fault that drop almost every pass that you get both hands on, it is your fault that you short arm passes and in the end zone that’s just uncomprehensible, that you run out of bounds 1 yard shy of a first down, that you constantly slide down to avoid contact and that your effort level, heart and desire to get better is just flat out non-existent. That is unacceptable and not a trait of a football player in general let alone one that you want on your team. I’m sorry, Ted, but you are an embarrassment to the entire Miami Dolphins organization and fan base but that being said, it’s not all bad news. There’s is some good news for you Ted. Are you listening? Pay attention to this because it’s very important and just might save your career. The good news is that you and only you have the power to change this perception.

Sincerely,

Disgruntled Dolfan

Dolphins Looking to Leave San Diego with a W

By Ronn Burner • on September 24, 2009

(0-2) Miami Dolphins at (1-1) San Diego Chargers (-6.5) 1:15 PST

WHEN MIAMI HAS THE BALL:
If the Dolphins even come close to their offensive output Monday night against the Colts they should be fine provided the drives end with 7 instead of settling for 3. This Chargers front 4 will be a lot harder to push around than the Colts were and you can be sure that San Diego will make the necessary Wildcat adjustments the Colts neglected to make thus putting the ball in Fins Offensive Coordinator Dan Henning’s court. The success Ronnie Brown, Ricky Williams and even Patrick Cobbs last week on the ground (61-239) including 12-107 out of the Wildcat formation should really open some passing lanes this week that Chad Pennington and the receiving corps must exploit. That said the Chargers are extremely talented in the Secondary and especially at corner where Ted Ginn and Rich Camarillo will think they’re driving around Quentin Jammer and Antonio Cromartie in the “Ride Along” program. TE Anthony Fasano is set to have a big day as the middle of the field and down the seams is probably where the Chargers are most vulnerable provided Miami is effectively running the ball. It also goes without saying but the Dolphins WR’s and I suppose we can include Ginn in that category have to contribute and at the very least pose enough of a threat to keep keep the secondary on their heels and not jumping routes and helping in run support. It’s key that Miami is successful on the ground to keep Shawn Merriman from pinning back his ears with missile lock on Pennington.

WHEN SAN DIEGO HAS THE BALL:
Unfortunately, San Diego is a horrible matchup for the Dolphins defense. LaDanian Tomlinson will almost certainly be out for this game and surprisingly that scares me more than him playing. The slippery Darren Sproles will be all over the field driving Dolphin defenders crazy and TE Antonio Gates has been relatively silent thus far leading one to believe that he’s due for a monster game. Phillip Rivers has a number of weapons to choose from so if Miami misses tackles and blow assignments like they did Monday they will get blown out of the stadium. In addition to those three another threat that cannot be taken lightly is emerging star WR Vincent Jackson and his 6’5” frame to go along with excellent strength, hands, route running and play making ability. The Chargers offense is no joke and it will take a herculean effort to contain them and the defense will have to force turnovers to keep the Chargers inevitable point total at a minimum.

KEY MATCH-UP:
Darren Sproles Vs. Dolphins Linebackers
The success of the Dolphins defense versus this potent Chargers offense rides squarely on how well they can contain Darren Sproles. He will be all over the field in every formation designed to catch Miami in a bad matchup where Sproles can get the ball in space and in man to man situations where either Channing Crowder, a banged up Akin Ayodele or Quentin Moses find themselves in the impossible task of covering him. It’s key that the Miami stuffs the run and contains Sproles and the constant barrage of screen plays, dumps, check offs and swing passes he will most certainly be receiveing. Bottom line: Miami must force someone else to beat them, not Darren Sproles.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN:
Each team is coming off a loss but the Chargers are in cruise control for the AFC West crown while the Dolphins are essentially playing a play off game considering that no team in NFL history has ever reached the Super Bowl after starting 0-3. Granted, the deck is stacked against the Dolphins having to make the west coast trip on a short week coming off one of the most demoralizing losses since the Dan Marino era but lost all the hoopla surrounding the fashion in which Miami lost is that they did, in fact, play an excellent game. I believe the Dolphins are well aware of the importance of this game and will match last week’s intensity and play an inspired game and get each of the two things they’ve lacked most, turnovers and a big play offensively.

Dolphins 30
Chargers 27

Dolphins Dominate to Move to 0-2. What?

By Ronn Burner • on September 22, 2009

My attitude right now is pure disgust and I would really like nothing more than to recap the Colts vs. Dolphins Monday Night game as simply “Whatever”. End of article. What more do you want me to say? The Dolphins executed their game plan to near perfection yet were embarrassed by the poor man’s Dan Marino, an unfair way I like to refer to Peyton Manning. Bottom line: The Dolphins did NOT make plays and they had numerous opportunities to do so and the Colts did with minimal opportunities hence the 27-23 loss.

In a record setting twelve seconds into their home opener on Monday Night Football the Miami Dolphins made not one but two critical errors and found themselves down to Peyton Manning the Indianapolis Colts 7-0. Kanye West doesn’t stun and silence crowds that fast. On the play, LB Akin Ayodele committed a cardinal sin against Manning and bit on a play action pass freeing up TE Dallas Clark up the seam where S Gibril Wilson contributed with the unforgiveable missed tackle at the Dolphins 40 that resulted in the 80-yard touchdown. Dolphins fans would have been better off flipping the channel to “Project Runway” at that point to avoid the most sickening loss Dolphin fans have had to endure since, ironically a Monday Night Football game back in 2000 versus the Jets. I know! I hate to bring it up but it’s the same exact disgusting feeling! Against the Jets, Miami blew a 30-7 4th quarter lead by allowing them to score 30 points in the final 13:07 to ultimately lose 40-37. Last night hurt. It is a very demoralizing loss for a team heading into a west coast trip, on a short week against a certain playoff team in the San Diego Chargers. Miami will have to go 10-4 the rest of the way just to be in the Wild Card hunt against the toughest schedule in the NFL. Another season that may be 7 days from being lost.

Lets just hope the men inside the locker room don’t share my “end of the world” overreaction and deem the season as pointless as a Courtney Love public service announcement. Thank god they won’t, they better not. After the smoke clears and the film sessions take place there are many positives to take away from this game. After all, it’s only one loss despite the fact that losing in this fashion is so demoralizing that it would be easier to go in the tank and essentially quit than it would to get back up, dust yourself off and stick it to each and every opponent for the remainder of the season. Luckily, Bill Parcells and Tony Sparano won’t tolerate anything less than 100% effort and let’s not lose sight of the fact that Miami absolutely dominated the Colts, which has to stand for something even in defeat.

Listen to these gaudy numbers Miami has to recognize as the recipe for success even though in this rare instance it wasn’t. Miami was 15-21 on 3rd down conversions, which is spectacular. Miami dominated Time of Possession 45:07 to 13:53, a record since they kept records on such things beginning in 1977. The Dolphins gashed the Colts defense by running the ball 61 times for 239 yards including numerous successful run out of the Wildcat formation. All many positives that mean something and if they get these numbers then 10-4 the rest of the way isn’t only possible but very likely, of course, getting those numbers again is the challenge.

The bad news is the Colts had scoring drives that lasted a whopping 12, 32 and 43 seconds. Manning had 13 completions for 303 yards while connecting on plays of 80, 48, 39, 24 and 20 yards while Miami’s biggest play was a 21 yarder to Ted Ginn. The Dolphins 2 minute drill was about as hard to watch as a Cher concert. So horribly frightening that you just couldn’t turn away. On the flip side of the ball there has to be some serious concerns about the Fins pass defense and it cannot be blamed on the rookies as Sean Smith played very well even though he had safety help to protect him. And yet the most disturbing thing that can be taken away from the game is despite Ted Ginn seemingly having one of his best days as a pro all I can take from it is he is not nor will ever be more than a marginal wide receiver and he made this evident, if I’m being kind, on three plays in particular. The play near the end of the first half where he short armed Chad Pennington strike in the back of the end zone like if he touched it he would be electrocuted, the 3rd down pass that he went down to his knees for that went right through his arms and of course the play at the end of the game that he flat out dropped. He’s just not special and I just can’t justify defending him any longer. I’m sorry, I’ve held out for as long as possible on passing judgment on his game but after failing when we needed him most there’s nothing more I can say on his behalf. Although his Head Coach feels differently than I do according to this puff of smoke he blew up Ginn’s but via coach speak, “That was a hard catch,” coach Sparano said. “I think Teddy … made the best effort he could with that football.” Either that puff was an exhale from a Bob Marley blunt or he was just flat out being blunt and quite literally saying that that really was the best effort Ginn is capable of. You can hardly blame Ginn for losing the game but unfortunately we can’t say he won the game either.

There’s always next week.

Burner’s Fearless Predictions - Week 2

By Ronn Burner • on September 21, 2009

Week 2 – Sunday, September 20, 2009

Time to bounce back after a brutal Week 1.

Best Bets denoted by asterisk (*)

*Oakland (0-1) @ Kansas City (0-1) -3.5
Darren McFadden and the surprising talented offense of the Raiders will go into Arrowhead trying to prove their stellar performance against the Chargers wasn’t a fluke. KC doesn’t have the defense to stop them or the offense to keep up with Brodie Croyle at quarterback.
Raiders 20-16

Raiders 13-10

Jamarcus Russell with a huge final drive to win late on the road. Very impressive even if it was against the hapless Chiefs. Hey, refreshing change from telling a story about the hapless Raiders.

*Houston (0-1) @ Tennessee (0-1) -6.5
The Titans look to bounce back at home after a heartbreaking loss to division rival Pittsburgh last week. If the Texans can’t get pumped up at home against a rookie quarterback than what are they going to do here? The Titan defense will be way too much for the Texans who have yet to score offensively this year.
Titans 27-13

Texans 34-31

Texans bounce back from awful home opener where their only points came on a pick 6. Titans blew two 2 touchdown leads behing a stellar performance from Chris Johnson. Matt Schaub played great and Andre Johnson is a beast but this raises serious questions about the Titans defense.

Arizona (0-1) @ Jacksonville (0-1) -3.5
Jacksonville played Indy close last week but the game was not near as close as the score and conversely the Cardinals played better than people think. I think the Cardinals offense comes back to life and get in the win column on the road.
Cardinals 24-23

Cardinals 31-17

Jack Del Rio and the Jags have to be disappointed starting 0-2 and the Cards have to be excited about the big road win after a horrible week 1 performance at home to the 49ers.

New England (1-0) @ nyj (1-0) +5.5
Thanks Kerry Rhodes for ticking off Tom Brady and Bill Belichek.
Patriots 37-20

nyj 16-9

It pains me to say this but the nyj defense looks scary good and they’re still just learning Rex Ryan’s aggressive blitz package. Fans have to be excited “Gang Green”. Converesely, the Patriots and Tom Brady held without a touchdown for the first time in forever have to feel lucky to not be 0-2 after eeking out a victory on Leotis McKelvin’s bonehead decision to return that kickoff he fumbled last week opening the door for Brady.

Minnesota (1-0) @ Detroit (0-1) +9.5
Adrian Pederson may have 200 yards and 4 TD’s here. Home dogs on home openers are scary, especially when they are 9 ½ point dogs but the combination of a rookie qb against this stout Viking defense and AP against the Lions front 4 spells blowout.
Vikings 27-13

Vikings 27-13

Not often can you call a score exactly but it happens. Detroit fought hard but in the end the Vikings running game and defense was just to much to overcome. Detroit will find wins this year while Minnesota and Brett Favre will be a tough victory for anyone.

New Orleans (1-0) @ Philadelphia (1-0) -1.5
Mostly because I hate Philly and want New Orleans to win I’ll take them. I really do think the Eagles without McNabb are in trouble and despite a very solid Eagles defense I just think Drew Brees is on a mission and in the zone.
Saints 31-24

Saints 48-22

Add three more TD’s to Drew Brees’ stats and another 48 to the point total in another convincing offensive show by the Saints. Philly was without Donovan McNabb but I’m not so sure the results would have been much different. Both good teams and almost certainly playoff teams where we just may get to find out.

*St. Louis (0-1) @ Washington (0-1) -9.5
Washington played pretty well against the Giants last week in a hard fought grudge match so they welcome the Rams for their home opener. Washington will dominate both sides of the ball and cruise.
Redskins 31-13

Redskins 9-7

I don’t understand the Redskins. Are they good? Are they bad? Three field goals in your home opener against the Rams after a tough division loss to the Giants is pretty telling. They did get the win but sweating one out against the Rams makes you think they won’t win a game this year that isn’t decided in the final minute.

Carolina (0-1) @ Atlanta (1-0) -6.5
Another case of one team playing over their head and the other team not showing up in their first game. Atlanta looked spectacular against Miami last week but then again, that was Miami. I think Jake Delhomme and Company find more success this week and keep it close.
Falcons 23-17

Falcons 28-20

Atlanta looks great in moving to 2-0 and the score is closer than the game really was with Carolina scoring a touchdown late and even having a chance in the final seconds before the Falcons picked off Jake Delhomme on 4th and goal. Carolina goes to Dallas who is rebounding from a tough loss to the Giants and is staring 0-3 right in the eye. Not good since 0-3 generally spells a season lost.

Cincinnati (0-1) @ Green Bay (1-0) -9.5
Lambeau is a tough place to play and the Bengals aren’t exactly a great road team but I get the feeling Carson Palmer comes out slinging and improves drastically on the abysmal performance last week where they lost on Brandon Stokely’s fluky last second score.
Packers 24-23

Packers 31-24

The Bengals go into Lambeau and light it up after struggling mightily offensively to the Broncos last week. The Packers struggled all day and found themselves playing catchup. Huge bounce back win for Cincinnati if they think they can compete for the division and shocking loss for the Packers to open at home against a team they have to feel they should have beaten handedly.

Tampa Bay (0-1) @ Buffalo (0-1) -4.5
The Bills bounce back after their heartbreaking loss to the Patriots last week. The Bucs just have two many holes and injuries to pose a threat right now.
Bills 24-13

Bills 33-20

The Bills offense shredded the Bucs on the ground with Fred Jackson while T.O. and Trent Edwards took care of the passing game. Buffalo should be 2-0 after blowing that game last week against the Patriots and now with the nyj taking out NE it appears the AFC East is anyone’s ballgame. Tampa Bay will struggle to win 4 games this year.

Seattle (1-0) @ San Francisco (1-0) -1.5
The 49ers have quietly won 6 of their last 8 regular season games dating to last year continuing with an impressive road win in Arizona last week. The Seahawks are a different team away from home and the 49ers start the season 2-0.
49ers 27-23

49ers 23-10

The San Francisco 49ers are 2-0 and look to be one of the bigger early season surprise teams in beating the Seahawks coming off an impressive victory of their own in shutting out the lowly Rams 28-0. Seattle played poorly on the road as usuall and couldn’t muster any offense while Frank Gore broke 2 huge touchdown runs of 79 and 80 yards which proved to be more than enough.

Cleveland (0-1) @ Denver (1-0) -3.5
Denver isn’t very good at all but will likely start 2-0 playing a Cleveland team with no identity on offense and a less than dominant defense. Cleveland doesn’t travel well and the Broncos will be riding high – Mile High – after their miracle win in Cincinnati.
Broncos 24-20

Broncos 27-6

The Broncos are 2-0 and have to be happy about their start but I still think 8-8 is the best they can hope for while the Browns will be lucky to find 4 wins on their schedule.

Pittsburgh (1-0) @ Chicago (0-1) +2.5
Two physical teams facing one another after losing their best defensive players already. Troy Polamalu tweaked his knee and Brian Urlacher dislocated his wrist and is lost for the year. This will be a tight ball control game going down to the wire but I’ll take Pittsburgh simply because Chicago’s offense look horrible and that Steelers defense is nasty.
Steelers 20-17

Bears 17-14

Pretty much the game we all expected basically decided by two 4th quarter missed field goals by Jeff Reed which ultimately cost the Steelers the win they should have had. Give the Bears and Jay Cutler credit though for scoring with 6:21 left to tie the score and the opportunity to take advantage of the Steelers uncharacteristic blunders.

Baltimore (1-0) @ San Diego (1-0) -3.5
Ladanian Tomlinson is out and Darren Sproles takes over against the vicious Ravens defense. If they can contain Sproles they have a great shot at the elusive cross country road win. Joe Flacco and the Ravens offense came to life last week and should be able to score enough to win.
Ravens 27-24

Ravens 31-26

There isn’t a more impressive team in the league right now than the Baltimore Ravens, Saints fans would have a case though. Joe Flacco and the Ravens offense looks unstoppable while the Ravens defense is it’s usual formidable self. The Chargers looked impressive as well behind huge days from Philip Rivers, Darren Sproles and Vincent Jackson. Expect to see these two matchup again in January.

NY Giants (1-0) @ Dallas (1-0) -2.5
Tony Romo looked amazing last week and this game will finally unveil the new Cowboys Stadium and their controversial score board. Everything is me want to pick the Cowboys but the Giants always seem to take care of business so I’ll go with the great defense and ball control offense .
Giants 27-21

Giants 33-31

The division nemesis Giants came to town and ruined Jerry Jones and the Cowboys home opener and unveiling of the revolutionary video monitor scoreboard. Eli Manning looks as calm and cool as any quarterback in the league and the Giants never seem to get rattled. Of course, four Cowboy turnovers aided in that and despite thrashing the Giants defense on the ground the Cowboys still couldn’t get the victory at home.

Monday, September 21
Indianapolis (1-0) @ Miami (0-1) +3.5
Peyton Manning must be licking his chops at the chance to play against 2 rookie corners as Sean Smith and Vontae Davis will platoon but with the loss of Anthony Gonzales the Dolphins may be able to rattle Manning and their high octane offense. If Miami gets their offense rolling they will be fine.
Dolphins 27-23

Colts 27-23

Whatever.

This Week ATS – 10-6
Season to date ATS – 16-16
This Week Best Bets – 1-2
STD Best Bets – 1-5

The Two-Headed Rookie Monster

By Ronn Burner • on September 18, 2009

We have all seen the two-headed monster before in one form or another in football. Mothers-in-law excluded. We’ve seen it work effectively at times and fail at others at quarterback, running back, wide receiver, tight end and even all over the defensive line but at cornerback? The ‘Ole Ball Coach’ Steve Spurrier at one time was known to rotate quarterbacks from series to series in both college and even at the NFL level. It’s become fairly common at both the collegiate and the professional level to use a two back system splitting carries. There was “Thunder and Lightning”, “Earth, Wind and Fire”, “Smash and Dash” and I’m sure many others that escape me at the moment. Heck I remember the days in high school and college when we ran our plays in through rotating wide receivers. All of those scenarios make perfect sense for different reasons. At running back it’s a great thing combining a speed scat back with a bruiser for the goal line and short yardage situations both saving wear and tear on the player and keeping the defense out of rhythm. At wide receiver it’s also probably a good thing because it allows for the opportunity to keep players fresh, to have an individual relay the play call efficiently and effectively and more importantly, it generally means you have talent and depth at the position to do it. Now at quarterback I would argue that it’s probably not a good thing. It’s just me but it’s the position to lead men, and by rotating them it gives the player himself a complex by being unsure and that is no way to lead men. I also think it means you’re probably not very good at the position and you’re trying to see if one guy can emerge as the clear better player. Not good at quarterback as it’s success rate would indicate. So what are we to make of our newly crowned two-headed rookie monster at cornerback with Sean Smith and Vontae Davis?

First of all, we need to think of a sick nickname for the two of them and it generally has to do with their skill set and size. Smith is much taller that Davis, he’s graceful, extremely fast for his size, he’s very athletic and as a former wide receiver he’s been know to make filthy one handed picks and he has a all the confidence in the world to go with his perma-grin. Davis is shorter but much more physical and in your face. His style is pesky and he love contact and the bump and run. He’s athletic and strong as an ox for his size, his cover skills in man to man are nasty and he definitely has no shortage in confidence himself. I’m thinking “Truth and Justice”.

Ok that was fun, but is this a good idea? Is it better to let one separate himself from the other by his play on the field or is better to put one at nickel until the chosen starter proves he is or is not an NFL caliber corner? For many reasons I hate it starting with Peyton Manning. Miami tried this last week with each corner getting over 30 plays rotating every two series to moderate success. In reality neither one got beat deep or made a mental error or drew a penalty or looked lost. They both looked like rookies that played about as well as you could hope for at the cornerback position at the highest level. No offense to 2nd year player Matt Ryan but he is no Peyton Manning. I fear the thought of Manning walking up to the line and licking his chops as he calls a play on 3rd and 9 that he knows is going to tie one of these youthful talents into a know resulting in moving the chains long enough to get them to bit for the inevitable home run that he will hit to Reggie Wayne. It’s just hard to imagine them not getting picked on all night. But that’s the short term and growing pains are inevitable and the only way these kids can get better is being out there and learning from their mistakes or just learning from playing. Selfishly, I want a Dolphins win Monday night but in the big picture what they will learn on Monday night can’t be quantified but could advance their young careers ions. And who says they have to struggle anyway? Maybe a true star will be born as what better opportunity to shine or fail than against one of the games best. Come 10:PM Monday night we may know who our next great corner will be.

Colts @ Dolphins Week 2 Preview

By Ronn Burner • on September 17, 2009

Week 2 – Preview

Indianapolis Colts (1-0) @ Miami Dolphins (0-1)

WHEN INDY HAS THE BALL:
It’s the home opener on Monday Night Football so one would think the fans would be as loud as possible to at least try and rattle Peyton Manning and the Colts high octane offense. Manning is the master of catching defenses in bad matchups with his audibles at the line. With WR Anthony Gonzales out of action you can expect Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark to be the targets of probably 25-30 passes for sure so it’s vital that most of them fall incomplete. Miami was excellent at keeping Michael Turner at bay and should have excellent success stuffing the Colts running game which isn’t thought to be anywhere near that of the Falcons. Phillip Merling and Kendall Langford have each shown great improvement over the past year in both their run stopping and pass rushing abilities and we all know what Jason Taylor and Joey Porter like to do against passing teams. Manning is tough to sack but constant pressure on him has cause him to play poorly, relatively speaking, in the past. Similar to last week rookie Sean Smith and Vontae Davis will platoon ever couple series at Cornerback and you can bank on Manning testing them early and often. It’s imperative we get a pass rush on Manning to help the talented but inexperienced duo.

WHEN MIAMI HAS THE BALL:
First and foremost they need to hold onto it. Putting additional stress on the defense is no way to break into the win column against Peyton Manning. Quite the contrary, Miami needs to protect the football and move the chains keeping Mr. Manning on the sidelines and limiting his opportunities. Great idea in theory but unless the Dolphins offensive line vastly improves on last weeks performance they will have similar results. Jake long needs to slow down Dwight Freeney for starters or we’ll be seeing Chad Henne replace our injured Chad Pennington by halftime. Miami absolutely must establish themselves at the point of attack to run the football. It all starts at the line and getting Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams successfully running the ball. The last thing we need is the Colts pinning their ears back on 3rd and long. If that means unleashing the Wildcat numerous time than so-be it. Play calling was extremely conservative last week and Miami has to find a way to not only get the football into Ted Ginn’s hands but they need to stretch the field just to keep the Colts honest. Miami should have more success running the ball this week with improved play, it’s the home opener and the Colts being undersized which all should play into Miami being more aggressive offensively beginning with play calling and continuing with CP10’s willingness to throw it downfield giving his receives an opportunity to make plays. And oh by the way, Colts star safety Bob Sanders is out. Thank God!

KEY MATCHUPS:
Jake Long vs. Dwight Freeney
After last week Long has a chip on his shoulder to prove that his performance was an aberration and not the norm. He’ll be ready and he better be as Freeney is a whole level better than John Abraham was, which is saying a lot. If Long has success, the Dolphins will have success. If he doesn’t, Miami offense will make last weeks performance look like the ’84 Dolphins offense.

FEARLESS PREDICTION:
The Dolphins offense bounces back and come out throwing catching the Colts off balance resulting in open running lanes for Ronnie and Ricky to run through. The Dolphins defense doubles Reggie Wayne all day and nobody else i.e. newly signed Hank Baskett or Pierre Garcon steps up to fill Anthony Gonzales shoes. Behind the excitement of MNF and the home opener the Fins frustrate Manning and the Colts offense sputters.

Colts 23
Dolphins 27

Dolphins @ Falcons Week 1 Recap

By Ronn Burner • on September 16, 2009

Falcons 19
Dolphins 7

Miami turned the ball over 4 times after tying a league record last year with only 13 for the season. The offensive line was manhandled for 3 hours. The Falcons from four looked quicker, stronger, smarter, hungrier and more athletic. It really was embarrassing and two years in 1st overall selection Jake Long looked worse than he ever has, which is a horrible signing considering Dwight Feeney will be coming to town Monday night. Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams combined for 17 carries for 82 yards. Chad Pennington had pressure in his face all day including being sacked 4 times. Really not much to say other than Miami’s highly paid line was completely dominated. Ted Ginn was a non-factor again but it’s actually hard to blame him, he appeared to be wide open a few times with poorly thrown balls by both CP10 and Pat White on a Wildcat play that should have resulting in a 60 yard touchdown. How do you overthrow the fastest guy in the NFL by 10 yards? Miami never really posed a threat offensively due to the combination of play calling and Pennington’s unwillingness or inability to throw the ball downfield. This was truly one of the worst offensive performances I can remember from the Dolphins ever, and there have been some poor days.

The bright side of things, if there even were any, would be the defense that played fairly well for the majority of the game. Michael Turner only had 65 yards on 22 carries with his longest run being only 12 yards. Tony Gonzales was every bit the matchup problem we expected hauling in 5 grabs for 73 yards and a score. Atlanta really only had 281 yards which considering the minimal help the offense gave them is pretty good and Atlanta only converted on 6 of 15 3rd downs. Once again the defense stiffened in the red zone allowing only 1 touchdown in 4 opportunities. Rookies Sean Smith and Vontae Davis played very well all day not allowing the big play despite being picked on which says a lot moving forward. Miami didn’t force any turnovers though and they will need to in order to move to the next echelon.

At the end of the day it’s only one loss so it’s not time to panic entirely but there are clearly issues that need to be addressed in the film room and practice field and hopefully they will be but how many wrinkles can be ironed out before the Colts bring their high powered offense into town Monday night is the question. We shall see.