I'd Jag Myself Off But I've Got A Game To Play - or - The Dolphins vs. The Jaguars

"I'll Steal Myself A Car, Ferrari or a Jaguar, I'll Drive it a crazy speed, Straight over a cliff and into the Sea" ~Catherine Wheel, "Car"

In the song, the singer pronounces it JAG YOU ARE, but today we're going to talk about the JA-GWARS.  This Sunday, in a game obviously only locally televised in the State of Florida, the Dolphins will travel a short distance in NFL mileage in order to come face to face with one of the greatest football players of this decade.  For years he has struck fear in the hearts of defensive coordinators, as they try to gameplan against him.  If he had a better supporting cast, there's no doubt this player could be garnering MVP-type praise from the media and building upon a future spot in the NFL Hall of Fame.  He will no doubt be cause for concern for Pasqualoni and Sparano.  Will 2009 Charity Man of the Year, Akin Ayodele, be able to keep up with the scorching speed, and sweaty-brow determination?  The Dolphins, in the past, have never been able to figure it out.  The multiple threat abilities of this player is matched only by his tongue action on a double-stuffed Oreo and his willingness to step on any starving children on his way to get his hands on one...or an entire bag of said sweet treats.  That's right, bitches!  Forget Peyton Manning!  Forget Randy Moss!  We got real problems this week!  We got to face Ernest Wilford!

As has always been a Dolphins-esque routine, we release or trade a player only to have him come back to haunt us.  And while I doubt Wilford will have a big day on Sunday, what if he did?  Wouldn't that just be the most horrifying, embarrassing experience imaginable?

But seriously, there's much more to the Jaguars than Wilford, who is the 2nd TE behind some guy named after - wait for it - a car!  They also have a 3rd tight end.  You wouldn't believe me if I told you what his name was.  Ok, I'll tell you.  It's Zach Miller.  Yes, Zach Miller, the NFL tight end.  How did Zach Miller end up as the 3rd string TE on Jacksonville behind a German car and a Oreo-obsessed born again who was once covered in a game by a stack of yellow pages (I remember it very clearly - Wilford got called for offensive pass interference)?  Because it's a different Zach Miller, of course.  Not the big bruiser for the Raiders who puts up the kinds of numbers we only wish one of our TEs would, but some rookie who has 10 catches on the season.

Oh, but Tinshaker, the Jags can run the ball, what about the running game?  Well, there's a rumour that Maurice Jones-Drew won't be playing, and if he's not playing, there is no running game.  Oh but Tinshaker, what about that Jax WR that absolutely killed us in the pre-season game?  Troy Williamson?  He's on injured reserve.  Their biggest threat now is Mike Sims-Walker (they like double barrels in Jacksonville), and even he is injured and was limited in practice all week.  Oh but Tinshaker, surely they have a game-changer QB who can avoid the pass-rush and make things happen?  David Garrard is his name, avoiding the pass-rush is NOT his game.

Nope, offensively the Jags just don't have much going for them if Jones-Walker-Sims-Drew doesn't play.  And it's been reported that they don't generate much of a pass rush but I wouldn't look into that stat too much.  keep in mind that they play Indianapolis twice a year, and how many times did we get a finger on Manning when we played them in week 2?  The Titans and the Texans have pretty good o-lines as well as mobile QBs with big TEs and WRs to get the ball out to quickly.  Not saying the Jags will rack up the sacks against us, I'm just saying, who you play does have an impact on the stats.  Case in point, we played Buffalo twice and got 12 sacks in those two games alone.

As has been the case for a couple of years, the real strength of Jacksonville is their secondary.  To put it bluntly, when they're healthy, this is possibly one of the top starting secondaries in all of the NFL.  The stats may not back that up, but again, look at their division and you can expect the pass-against yardage to be high. The latest report from the Sun-Sentinel suggested that the Wildcat was over with and that Henne would be running a similar passing attack to the Patriots game.  I disagree with this, at least I should say, it's not what I would do.  I don't believe the Wildcat was used last week simply because the Patriots stopped it the first time around this season.  Also, Ricky Williams got injured, and the Dolphins were not going to even think about it with both Ronnie and Ricky out.  I would expect by this week they will have found a way to re-incorporate it into the offense and a suitable new cast member (to be honest, I'm shocked they haven't activated Kory Sheets yet, as he would be my first choice, and I'm disappointed they haven't been working on using Pat White as well - gotta be better slasher than QB).

Combined with more traditional running attack with the Jaguars D-line banged up, and their 4-3 defense, I see no reason for Henne to throw another 50 passes.  With every game from here on out being a must-win, we can't afford to have Henne's arm get fatigued.

After the debacle in Buffalo, I don't want to call this on an easy win, especially since the Jags are on a roll, but I expect the Dolphins to come out confident and swinging and get out to an early lead.  If Jones-Drew is limited or out, I don't think the Jags would be able to overcome a big deficit.

My prediction:  MIA 24 - JAX 13