Re-Cap: Dolphins vs. Bucs, or, I Think I've Contracted Scurvy.....Arrrr!

Well, that was ugly.  If there were any Dolfans in attendance at Raymond James Stadium, they had to endure rain, lightning strikes, a 45 minute delay, and worst of all, the actual game.  With the exception of about ten defensive plays and two or three offensive ones, the Dolphins didn't really have any success, at least not in the way you'd expect for the 3rd game of the pre-season.  I think the worst part for me, was telling a co-worker, who's a casual fan of the Dolphins, that the game was on TV and he should watch it.  He said he hadn't followed since the 2008 season ended and asked how their offseason was and I praised the team and their draft/free-agency period.  So he watched the game, and that is his, as well as many others around the country, first and only glimpse into where the 2009 Dolphins are.

Yesterday I opined that this game would (a) showcase our 1st teams, allowing them much needed playing time and gelling opportunity.  They did play for a long time.  The 1st team O-line played into the fourth quarter.  But there was a moment or two during the second quarter I was thinking that Sparano should pull the 1st team, but I understood we just needed to tough it out.  

I also said that (b) the game would allow Sparano enough game-film to make the call on the starting WR and starting CB competitions.  Well, this one remains tough.  Both Brian Hartline and Sean Smith struggled early on, and both came on strong later in the game.  To be honest, I thought Camarillo looked the best out of the trio vying for the open spot.  One of our glorious beat-writers said that Camarillo looked 'pain-fully slow' on that 50 yard gain of his.  Really?  It looked to me like he caught the ball, broke away from the defender then outran the defense for 50 yards.  On the other side of the ball, Vontae Davis was an enigma. On the one hand, his coverage is so close he's like a second-skin on the receiver.  On the other hand, he makes no plays on the ball, allowing the receiver to catch it and then tackling him for little or no YAC.  He also dropped an easy INT. This one is still up in the air for me, but I would expect after Will Allen looking like a pixie last night, that they will stick with the bigger Sean Smith.

And finally, (c) I said it would be a blow-out.  Boy was I wrong.  The only thing that resembled a blow-out was when the weather completely shut down the game.  The reality is that we got lucky with the win.  Had Byron Leftwich not done his best impression of Pat White during OTAs, the Bucs should have scored a couple of TDs.

I'm not going to list out all the things that went wrong, but I would like to look back at the 5 points I suggested looking for yesterday.

1. Tampa Bay's QBs.  I think they DID try too hard.  From Leftwich missing wide open receivers badly, to McCown trying to run for every down because the rest of his team was failing him, to Freeman thinking 'hey, these other guys suck, I could win the starting job here, let me just take my time...ooops, I got injured for trying to do too much.'  So now the Bucs have the unwelcome problem of trying to trade one of two QBs who underperformed during their trade-audition.
2. Our offensive line for the most part was not dominant, but performed OK.  There were a couple of times that I saw Jake Long make amazing plays, of the kind a true number one pick turned pro-bowl player should.  He was much improved since the Carolina game.  Vernon Carey was awful though.  And so was Andrew Gardner.  In fact, the second team O-line was abysmal, allowing Chad Henne to get sacked time and again.  But some of the sacks during the night were the result of the quarterback not being able to find open receivers, and trying to escape the pocket.  There was not a lot of interior pressure, especially with the 1st team in there.  Carey was the only one I noticed who was bested on several plays.
3. The running backs.  Cadillac Williams was the only Buc to really gain any yards on us.  He looked pretty good despite his misfortunes.  Lex Hilliard finally got a chance with the 1st team line, and was unimpressive after a 9 yard run to the right side.  To be honest, despite my positives I mentioned in point 2, the run-blocking was not there.  Once the 2nd team came in, Hilliard's numbers got worse, and he fumbled the ball, his 3rd(?) fumble of the pre-season.  He did fight hard for a 1st down, losing his helmet in the process.  I think it will take the 4th game to see if we should take a shot with him.
4. The Line-backers.  On a team with the likes of Porter, Taylor, Wake, Crowder, Ayodele, etc., it's a bit surprising that Quentin Moses and William Kershaw are the ones standing out.  Ask anyone and you'll know that I was forever unable to remember Moses' name for about a year since he never ever made a play in 2008 and I thought he shouldn't even be in training camp.  But he has completely changed my mind.  Watching him play now you see a drive and a motor that he never exhibited before.  He leads the team in sacks in the pre-season and has been strong in run support as well.   With Matt Roth out of the loop, Moses seems to have better than good chances here.  Kershaw is more of a longshot, simply because of the numbers game, but if we keep 4 inside LBs, then he will be in the mix.  More than anything he's shown he's probably the fastest ILB on the team, with his ability to run down running backs.  After Reggie Torbor's terrible game, I'd bet the coaching staff is starting to like Kershaw a whole lot more.
5. Kick Returns.  Well this was a dud of an area.  Between Ginn only getting two returns, and looking barely interested on both of them (the 1st one he could've scored on if he ran full-speed, and the 2nd one he looked at the sidelines like it was a hot-tub with Natasha Henstridge in it), and Davone Bess's inability to tell direction, the game of field position went right out the window.  To my knowledge, neither Hartline or Armstrong got to return kicks but between the distractions of family members and my eyes glazing over from the sheer boredom of the game, I may have missed one or two plays.

So, the question now is if the Head Coach should play his 1st teamers again in the 4th game.  It's not usually done by smarter teams (plenty of the dumb ones did it last year and the injury meter went through the roof), but then is it smart to put a team that's not ready in the regular season opener without at least trying to get in one more practice game?  I think in the end, you have to play it safe, and keep them out, and hope they correct whatever issues they have during practices in the bubble.  Any thoughts?