Time to move on from that game thankfully. Before that, this site has my thoughts exactly: http://thebottlenose.wordpress.com/2010/09/27/smashmouth-dolphins-forget-to-smash-mouths/ Also, the wildcat was fun for a while but it destroyed drives last night, and didn't work against the BILLS or Vikings either. Retire the damn thing. That and the end-around. Now, onto the Patriots. Channing Crowder: Get well soon! You can't deny that he is great against the run. Adrian Peterson and Tomlinson proved that. Against the Patriots, Crowder wouldn't be as useful as he would have been against the Jets last night, but it would still be nice if he could return. They may just hold him off since we have the bye after, and we should be able to stop the Pats run game anyway. I expect they'll want to throw on our secondary. Throw the ball again.[But not when it's 1st and goal, at least try to run it twice]. I assume we will throw like crazy again, but hopefully the run game can do some more damage. To be fair though, they didn't get the ball too often last night, and the wildcat was used too much which didn't help. If we use the wildcat I will probably claw my eyes out. This game has become even bigger and more important. Losing to the Patriots at home after losing to the Jets at home would cancel out everything from the first 2 weeks. A win however, will make everything better. Even the Bills have a good shot of beating the Jets at home if their offense can continue what they did. They have a better secondary than us and the patriots, anything can happen. Add thoughts for next week.
Defensive gameplan takes precedent this week. Pats have 2 TE's that are excellent. They've got 4 excellent WR's as well (Moss, Welker, Edelman and Tate). Nolan's gameplan will be the key to a win or loss. How are we gonna pressure Brady? 'cause in my opinion that's the game in a nutshell.
This. If they provide a defensive effort similar to the one we saw last night, we're going to lose. Badly. Regardless of what we do offensively. Unlike Sanchez, the pass rushers need to be in the vicinity of Brady.
That right there Panda: pressure and stopping the underneath routes. I have confidence in stopping the long ball for a change. I have a feeling that we will pass quite a bit because of their secondary...but I would like for them to get the running game going and tire out Wilfork and company up front. Their pass rush does not scare me much now. Reason I say to get the running game going is to keep their O off the field. We shall see...Nolan has his work cut out for him...but we get an extra day
We failed miserably trying to cover Keller when we knew that was his only target. I hope we get that fixed before the next game. Tommy will take advantage of that if we don't.
For me as the Fins go into this game they have two big keys to the game which are getting pressure on Brady and taking advantage of a New England defense that has been gashed so far this year. As far as getting pressure on Brady the good news for us over what we experienced with the Jets is that the Jets have one of the top O-Line's in the NFL. While the Patriots also have a good O-Line I think our pass rush can have better results. Also with the Patriots they don't have quite as dangerous of a running game as the Jets do so if our coaching staff looks at that they should be able to dial up the pressure even more. We really don't have to worry about an LT swinging out for a pass in the Pats game. I'm not saying the Pats have a terrible running game but it is easier for us to exploit. Plain and simple, we know we can rattle Brady by pressuring him and we know we have to take pressure off of our secondary. If we can't get pressure Brady will have a Sanchez like game against us. As far as the the Pats defense, if Henne can put up 363 against the Jets he should be able to the same against the Pats. He still has his flaws with holding on to the ball and being inaccurate but Ryan Fitzpatrick did well enough against the Pats defense to get Trent Edwards cut so Henne has every reason to succeed. Also our running game should be able to get going and if our play calling is even decent we have a real shot to put up 30 in this game. To me it's simple, pressure Brady into some mistakes and make plays on offense and we win. Get no pressure and be a mess on offense and we lose. I like our chances to win this one a bit better than I did against the Jets but anytime you face Belichick and Brady you know it will be a tossup. Nothing would make me forget about a rough Jets game better than going into the bye week at 3-1 (2-1 division). I mean who could be too disappointed with that with what is a tough first 4 games.
The offense needs to keep it going. They should almost be running and passing at will vs. NE. Honestly they should be able to do about whatever they want outside of running right at Vince Wilfork. The defense should be taking last night's loss personally. They need to work, practice, and then play out of their minds. Especially Jason Allen. We lost b/c of him when it comes down to it. There were other plays but if he doesn't completely blow it against that waste of space Braylon Edwards then we probably never lose that lead. Another goat to a much lesser extent was Langford for dropping that gift from Sanchez. A child can catch a ball like that. It was in his hands. Only Dansby played well in the end. If he wants to become a great NFL defender it's time for him to elevate the rest of the D. The way a guy like Ray Lewis does. That's a tall order but that has to be his goal. Nobody throws at Vontae Davis anymore. I wonder how often Brady will try.
Odds I'm shocked the Patriots are 1 point favorites, since it is a early season game in Miami. I guess it's no secret that the Pats can't stop the pass or run. Hahaha! It'll be a race to 30 points for both, and then see what team can hang on.
