Monday, November 23, 2009

Tin Bits - Monday 11/23/09

  • RB Kory Sheets has been practicing in the Wildcat formation, probably as the slasher role that Ricky Williams used to play.
  • It's official - Jason Ferguson is done for the season and will be placed on injured reserve making him the second team captain and sixth player overall to be lost for the season.  Paul Soliai, Randy Starks, and Tony McDaniel will rotate at NT.
  • Jake Grove's injury is not VERY serious and he has not been ruled out of playing versus Buffalo.  I wouldn't be surprised if he takes one week off to be healthy for New England.
  • I've never been so disappointed in the Jets losing a game as I was on Sunday.  They never even showed up mentally, and let the Patriots manhandle them, thus allowing them to build a 2 game advantage in the AFC East.  It's particularly upsetting because of the timing of it.  I was expecting the Jets to break out of their slump (which would have little negative effect on the Dolphins since we've already played them twice), and give the Pats a run for their money.  It would've been very nice being one game down with Week 12 matching us up against the Bills and the Pats having to travel to New Orleans which would've brought about the possibility of a tie atop the division heading into the head-to-head rematch on December 6th.  Talk about DRAMA.  The NFL would've loved that, as would ESPN, who are airing the game.  Still, we could still tie them up at some point.  And after all, we all knew already that the Jets stink, and always will.
  • Bills OG Seth McKinney suffered a torn meniscus in his left knee during Sunday's game.  McKinney was starting at left guard in place of Andy LeVitre, who kicked out to left tackle in place of Demetrius Bell (knee). With right guard Eric Wood lost for the season (broken leg), the Bills are scrambling for answers once again. They have just five healthy linemen for next week unless Bell makes it back.
  • Despite being absolute crap at gambling, football pools, and fantasy matchups, I've actually managed to absolutely cream my opponents for most of the NCAA season, and have made it to the Championship which takes place this week.  I lost the first two games of the season then reeled off 9 wins out of the next 10 games.  If I can do it, the Dolphins can do it.  Besides New England and Pittsburgh, the Dolphins should be able to win with mistake free football.  Injuries are racking up for us, but they are for just about every other team as well so it's hard to compare teams at this point.  We'll have to see how it plays out, but let's face it, 4 weeks ago most of us were ready to write off this season and now here we are in the thick of it.

24 comments:

  1. The next two games are key.  The Pats rarely lose two in a row, so that game scares me.  With 10 days to prepare for Buffalo and let the bumps and bruises heal, we MUST come out of there with a victory.

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  2. Unfortunately, besides not YET being an elite team (0-3 v NO, Indy, and NE) I truly feel all of these injuries will catch up with the fins. That said I'll be quite happy with a 9-7 season, especially with Henne getting all of this experience under his belt. BTW, if the fins go 9-7, that would mean Henne, assuming he stays healthy, would be 9-4 as a near rookie starter. Not bad at all, and very very good for the future.

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  3. I wonder who they are going to get to replace Ferguson? Or do they change to a 4-3 for rest of the games?

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  4. <span>
    <p>A hyrid 4-3 is probably the most likely scenario:
    </p><p>Roth, Taylor, Wake, and Porter can all put a hand in the ground next to Merling, Starks (Solai), and Langford.
    </p><p>the LBs stay the same with an OLB (1 of the 4 above or Anderson), Crowder, and Ayodele.
    </p><p>Luckily, I believe the front 7 is the strongest part of this team. JF is a huge loss , but we'll move on. Still say we bring Jason F. back for 1 more year thou!!!!
    </p></span>

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  5. I'm pretty sure I answered that in the article. ;)

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  6. The Knight who says Ni!November 23, 2009 at 3:33 PM

    It's harder to change schemes midway through the season than it is to use different personnel to make up for a loss. Dotson will probably be activated to play DE while the other take snaps at NT.

    Tin, the Eric Woods injury was supposedly so bad they didn't show the replay on TV. he broke two bones in his leg.  >:o

    As for the Jets, at 24-14 the Jets had stolen the momentum from the Pats only to have Sanchez give the game away time and time again. That and a few missed tackles didn't help them. But they're the Jets and they SUCK!

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  7. I only watched the first 30 minutes and was bored to tears. I think the
    jets had 15 yards passing in the first half.

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  8. The Knight who says Ni!November 23, 2009 at 4:04 PM

    Yeah they started bad with Sanchez leading the way and finishing just the same. Right now, he stinks!

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  9. I saw some of the Jets/Patriots game and I thought the Jets were going to come back on them...That's what I get for thinking!

    Is Soliai going to be good to go?  I thought he was banged up too.

    The Steeler's game was the big surprise to me though.  Not just that they lost, but that stat, did I hear that right, 7 or 8 straight games they have allowed a kick off return for a TD?  Ted Ginn should be able to exploit that weakness when we play them!!!  And how many more blows to the head can Rothlisberger take?  I wish we played them next!!!

    Slush, where are you?  I was wondering if you thought it was too early to start decorating for Christmas? ;)

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  10. The Knight who says Ni!November 23, 2009 at 4:39 PM

    Let's represent both genders shall we.  :-D

    Holy airbrush Batman!

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  11. This could get out of hand.....something tells me you've been waiting for this opportunity....that was fast!!  LMAO!

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  12. Tin, you can't find Nt out there. The question may have bid bad. Wod do we sigh to his roster spot?                                           

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  13. Tin, you can't find NT out there. Who do we sign to that rooster sopt?

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  14. Tin, you can't find NT out there. Who do you sign to that roster spot?

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  15. The Knight who says Ni!November 23, 2009 at 5:55 PM

    Hawk, no one this year who's going to be a difference maker. More of a body if we can even find that. I think Dotson gets activated to DE and we start with Soliai (if he's ready to go), Starks and McDaniel at NT, with Merling being a guy who might get a few reps there as well. But if Starks has to man the nose position more often, Merling will have to play more RDE opposite Langford with Dotson spelling them.

    NT Soliai
    DL Starks
    DL McDaniel
    RDE Merling
    LDE Langford
    DE Dotson

    We'll continue to utilize more 4-2-5 and 4-1-6 with JT and Wake at DE in nickel and dime.

    That's one way to go about it without grinding guys down. We'll mix it up. Blitzing a little more might help too.

    I would only play Porter as a 3-4 WOLB 25-30 times per game with maybe a few snaps as a down DE. Use Anderson a handful of times at WOLB to spell Joey because he has excellent speed and has shown he can make impact plays, when he's not taking a stupid penalty.

    There's only so much we can do at this time.

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  16. The Knight who says Ni!November 23, 2009 at 5:56 PM

    It's all in good fun.  8-)

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  17. Herd, You had to go there didn't you???

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  18. Buffalo is not a very good team but then again either are the Buccaneers & look at what happen in that game.  While I believe that we will find a way to beat the Bills & go to 6-5, I don't think we're going to beat NE.  Year in & year out NE is such a frustrating team b/c (other than two years ago) they always look very beatable.  I don't really understand how they continue to win & make deep playoff pushes by losing impact player after impact player.  I remember it started with Lawyer Milloy, then it was Deon Branch to Seattle, then Graham went to Denver, then they lost McGinest to the Browns & then Asante Samuel to the Eagles.  Rodney Harrison retires.  They lose Vrabel, Bruschi, & they trade Seymour & they still go 7-3!!! 

    Although I don't think we'll beat the Patriots &/or make the playoffs this year, I'm optimistic that we will eventually become the kind of team that will contend every year.  This team has come a long way from the team that almost went 0-16 under Cameron but we still have a LOT of work to do.  IMO--We are not one but two drafts away from becoming a viable contender BUT I do believe we FINALLY found a QB.  With the Dolphins off this Sunday I watched the Giants play the Falcons & it just clicked.  Eli Manning did not look as good as Henne when he first started playing in the NFL.  It was only until they started to put weapons around him that Eli looked decent.  My point is that Eli has become a good QB but not a great QB & he still won a SB.  When we start getting Henne some better talent at WR & TE then it will become obvious that we drafted the right QB.  As for people thinking that Matt Ryan is an elite QB & that we should've drafted him, I actually disagree.  While I think Ryan is a good QB & plays better in the 2nd half of games, he's not THAT good.  He is starting to show some warts this season (even with Gonzalez) b/c Ryan's success was based on the success of their running game last year.  If anyone thinks that Ryan is in the class of Peyton or Brees or Brady or Ben or Rivers where he can win games with his arm...well, they're 5-5 too.  LOL!!!

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  19. That avatar is revolting. 

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  20. The Knight who says Ni!November 23, 2009 at 7:26 PM

    WHP, this is the NFL. Any given Sunday. 

    It always comes down to a play or two made or not made.

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  21. WHP:
    What avatar are you talking about?  My little football?  It says Go Dolphins.  What's wrong with that?  ;)

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  22. Now if you want to talk about revolting, check out this T-shirt option that popped up on facebook.....Not sure if I like this, but my initial impression is NO.  At least it isn't Wildpat or Whitecat.... *DONT_KNOW*

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  23. Knight dared me on the last blog....I HAD to do it!

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