Hello, havn't been over here in awhile just thought I would swing by and talk a little week 4 pre match up with some of you. I havnt seen your Dolphins play a full game, just been watching highlights of your games, but it seems you have been in all of your games this year. I would like to comment more on your games, but without watching the enitre games I would just be blowing smoke up your butts, so I will begin by asking questions. 1. Is your Oline holding up well, or are there weak spots that are a huge concern? 2. How has your QB really looking this year? I've heard the talking heads saying he is playing well, but usually they watch just highlights as well. Is he making poor reads, does he have a quick release, and are his pre snap reads usually correct? 3. Defense, what are your weakness's? What style Defense are you running, are you getting pressure without blitzing, is your secondary able to contain players? I ask these questions to get more familiar with your team, and to ask those who actually watch your games every snap what is really going on. If you have any questions about the Card's I will be glad to give my opinion to you. Heres to a good week 4 match up with an injury free great played game. Good luck guys.
Our Oline is holding up much better than expected. mainly because John Jerry is playing up to expectations and our rookie RT is getting better every week. Our left side of Long-Incognito-Pouncey is playing at a very high level. our defensive weaknesses are simple, need a little more pass rush and better play in the secondary. IMO, the latter suffers from the former.
I'll be there for the game with a 5'9" blonde in a red Fitz shirt wearing a Dolphins cap I'll be sporting my Orange #77 jersey. The Cards are playing some mean D so far congratulations on beating the Pats, that is sweet for both of us. Our secondary is a weakness and one half of our receivers are invisible men. Edit: Our field goal kicker seems to have forgotten he was good.
Reggie is playing lights out from what I have been reading, but with the way the Cards D is playing, I would make the guess that your Defense is going to have to win this game. Our pass rush is looking LEGIT, 12 sacks this season only behind the Bears, and our secondary is looking great. Hopefully we can contain your run game and hold you guys to kicking field goals, which from what I've been reading on here hasn't been going that great with all of comments from this past game. Has your kicker been having a bad season, or is it just this past game that has brought this on? On a side note, how has Dansby been playing this season? I loved Dansby while he was in Arizona.
Yesterday was the only time I remember Carpenter missing a big kick. There might have been another in 2010, but for the most part he's been money and pretty clutch. **** happens, though. Dansby is a bit overpaid, but he's still a really good player. But then again, in free agency you have to overpay sometimes. Congrats on your 3-0 start. Let me ask you some questions... I keep hearing how good the Cards defense has been, any weak link there that we could exploit? How has Kolb been playing? I saw a little bit of him in preseason and he was terrible. Can we have Larry Fitzgerald?
Our kicker is having a crisis in confidence right now, nothing a good Dawson's Creek moment won't fix. Dansby is playing okay... Is Dockett still collapsing lines? How is your defense making it happen?
Fitz is the heart and soul of this team. I can't even begin to imagine the Cards without 11 on the sidelines or on the field. His attitude on and off the field speaks volumes to where this organization is headed. So to answer your question, no I want and need him here LOL If there was a weak point to the defense I would say its the run stop. Its not that bad, but it seems to allow for a big gain every once in awhile. That being said, they are still super tough up front, and have very solid play from our Lb's. Wilson did not play week 3, and it was a huge concern going into the game, but with the way Kerry Rhodes played it was really no concern during the game. Wilson is a huge part of our defense and if he is again out with a groin injury for next week, you could exploit the middle of our secondary with your tight ends. Our CB's look nasty, Peterson is getting better with every play, and just looks like he is becoming a shut down type of guy. There are still PI calls that seem to haunt him though, so attacking his side of the ball his phsyical style of play could haunt this D. Gay and Flemming are HUGE pickups this year, with Gay coming over from the Burg, and Flemming being a HUGE draft surprise. Not only can the cover, but they can lay the wood. Dockett, and Cambell are beasts inside, but Dockett left the game Sunday with a Hamstring injury, hopefully he will play this week, that could be a HUGE blow for our Dline. Kolb has played far and away better than I ever expected. Coming in vs the Seahawks after Skeleton got injured, he led our team down the field for the game winning touchdown. Vs the Pats, he played extremly solid, but did fumble when he was scrambling. Yesterdays perrformance was nearly flawless, no turnovers, and managed the game very well. They took the foot of the pedal in the second half and let the defense and Ryan Williams control the clock to finish out the game. The keys IMO are to blitz him, force him to get out of the pocket and just hit him. In the past, I have seen him get rattled after being hit repeatedly. So far he has played great, but I am still waiting for what I have seen before this season which is not stepping up in the pocket and making very very bad decisions while pressured. He is injuryprone when hit from his time in AZ, so hopefully your pass rush can be handled.
I used to watch the Cardinals playing at Sun Devil Stadium in 105+ degree weather in the early 90's. Every year they had a new QB and new Head Coach, and the stands would be filled with non-Cardinal's fans. Good to see they now play indoors in Glendale. Wish I could attend the game but I wasn't able to get away for next weekend. Good luck to the Cardinals.
They are making it happen by the push from our front. Ray Horton has brought a scheme over and the players have bought into. We have won 10 out of 12 games going back to last season and it is ALL on the defense. The pressure the dline is bringing is crazy. When bringing 4 players we are still getting sacks, but Dockett is a huge reason for that. With him injurying his hammy this week, that could change everything. He demands double teams along with our NT, leaving Campbell or Acho to hit the QB. When we bring the rush, it leaves a LB or safety a free trip to the QB. They have been dominating the opposition with pressure and great secondary coverage causing coverage sacks.
Our line is a patched up mess. Levi Brown our LT is out for the year, and was far and away our best run blocking tackle. Our right tackle also went down, and we are playing a rookie there in Massie. He is playing better than expected, but again our line is very weak. Beenie Wells is injured, left the game with turf toe from what I have heard, I dont know if he will play next week. Ryan Williams looked good the second half vs the eagles though 13 carries for 83 yards, but again if there are no holes being opened for our backs its hard to establish the running game
will be another good test for our running game, so far we have been running on any team we played and really shut down the run on defense
Tough week. The Cardinals have won 11 of their last 14 games...including having won their last 7 straight home games.
We don't stand much of a chance in this one. That environment is going to be hostile as hell for a very young team with an inefficient passing game. Could be a long day. Especially if Reggie doesn't play.
He didn't, and we've therefore won 7 of our last 12, which is really not that impressive. Plus, since we're working on a completely new coaching staff, with a roster gutted of some important play makers, one could easily argue the Dolphins are a different team, whereas the Cardinals look pretty much the same.
You're going to face a team that likes to run, run, run some, run, run again and then do a bootleg pass and a nifty scramble on a broken play for a first down. So basically if you can stop the run you'll be fine.
i agree its upfront where this game will be won imo, if you say your OL is a bit of a ?, thats really bad news because our front 4 is one of the best in the league
I think it'll be a real grudge fest of a game. It'll be similar to Miami-Houston except hopefully without the back breaking turnovers.
So with your pass defense being ranked 29th, and a legit run defense, will your line be up to getting pressure on Kolb? We havnt been able to put together dominate run performances, but we are winning with solid Defense and taking what the Opp defense is giving us. Are you hitting the qb, I notice you only have 3 sacks this season but that does not tell the whole story. Are the Dolphins playing a 4-3 or a 3-4? Where is the pressure coming from on your line? If the cards were able to run, where is the weak spot on your line?
4-3 that's odd in it's construction (heavy RE, light LE) and there really isn't a defensive weak spot in the run game. They can get pressure against Arizona's line. Stopping Miami's run game and forcing Miami to beat you one-on-one on the corners is where you'll do your best. I expect Peterson to cover Hartline, leaving Bess against Gay as Miami's outlet for the passing game.
I will be at the game this Sunday, hoping for a win. I think it will be a close game that will come down to who's offense can get going the quickest. Both defenses are really good so it all depends on the QB and supporting cast on offense. It will be a nail bitter for sure.
Larry Fitzgerald against our secondary and our offense possibly without Bush against a great defense? Could be similar to the Texans game. I'd say 24-13 Arizona is about what i'd expect.
Our entire front 7 defends the run well, we have two safeties and a CB who are solid run defenders as well. If you want to move the ball on us it'll have to be thru the air. We don't have a Pat Peterson type DB and our depth is lacking when teams go 3-4 wide. Offensively, no one has stopped our run game yet. But our pass game is as bad as our run game is good. Basically.
I think the Cards will come in over confident. How could they not be? 3 and 0... just having beaten two preseason super bowl contenders. and then our lowly Dolphins come in. We have a shot at this.
all i know is i cant wait for this game! havent been to a dolphins game in a loooooong time! will be there this sunday!
Figured i'd directly answer each question 1. Is your Oline holding up well, or are there weak spots that are a huge concern? -The oline has played pretty dominant in the run game against some good fronts so far, even in the Houston game we had running lanes and were able to make some plays in the running game, the issue there was we fell behind big due to a crazy 5 minute span and changed our gameplan. Pass protection has been a bit of a concern with lots of pressure in the backfield. 2. How has your QB really looking this year? I've heard the talking heads saying he is playing well, but usually they watch just highlights as well. Is he making poor reads, does he have a quick release, and are his pre snap reads usually correct? -Tannehill (just my opinion) has played pretty well this year eventhough his stats would indicate the opposite. He is very poised for a rookie, doesn't get rattled by pressure and has made the right decisions for the most part. His pre-snap adjustments have also been very veteran-esque, and he's shown some pretty good improvising skills. His pocket awareness has improved from week to week and his knowledge of our offense really has him comfortable. Our lack of weapons at WR though keeps our offense very limited and there isn't much of a big play threat to scare a defense. 3. Defense, what are your weakness's? What style Defense are you running, are you getting pressure without blitzing, is your secondary able to contain players? -We are running a primarily 4-3 that has been having issues in the passing game. We have been getting pressure on the QBs, but can't seem to bring them down. We'll bring a blitz but if we dont get to the QB right away we have issues because our corners can not cover one on one very well. With Fitz i am sure there will be times he'll be singled up and make us pay. My only optimism is that Kolb doesn't have the pocket awareness that some other QBs have and our pressures will rattle him and eventually allow our defenders to bring him down. Our strengths so far this season are our Run defense, Run offense and special teams (until two missed kicks last week). If you guys have trouble stopping the run we'll exploit it, and i dont anticipate you guys running on us very much at all. I see a low scoring affair and if we can stay away from the turnovers I think we have a shot. But if Reggie doesn't play, actually, then I think we have no shot.
Well if our wide receivers can focus on getting better, rather than the perspective of the media/fans, there is plenty of room for improvement. Keep involving the TE's and RB's in the passing game as well. As the Cards showed in week 2, it's all in execution that equals victory.
Was about to say the same thing. This just looks to me like one of those situations where the Cardinals could easily come out and get caught flatfooted by a Dolphin team that might be tougher than they suspect.
I was hoping the Official Game Day Thread would have been started so I could post this, but alas, I'm lazy and don't feel like starting the thread, looking up times, etc... Ok, here's what I'm wanting to say about this game. Want an upset pick? THIS IS IT!!!! I say this purely for no other reason than the head to head history of this match-up The Dolphins are 8-2 lifetime against the Cardinals, and even though the Dolphins have lost the last two meetings against the Cards, 31-10 In September 2008 and 24-23 in November 2004, this Dolphin team is arguably better than the team fielded against the Cardinals in 2008. The Dolphins are 4-1 against the Cardinals on the road. If this isn't enough to get you salivating, the Cardinals haven't started a season 4-0 since 1925!!! Miami is a 6 point underdog, but don't let that discourage you. If I had the ability to drop a grand on this game, I'd bet on Miami!!! GO DOLPHINS!!!!!!!!!!!
Going to be a fist fight thats for sure. Used to live in Phoenix and go to the Cardinal games during the years of Garrison Hearst when they were really really bad. Even then the crowd got behind them. The fans out in Arizona are as classy as i've ever been around and I have always had a soft spot for the Arizona Cardinals and i'm really happy to see them winning and playing so well these recent years. With that said we need this win more than they do. Arizona RB Ryan Williams is good when he holds on to the ball, Beanie Wells is steady, and Larod Stephens-Howling is a very dangerous player in the mold of a Darren Sproles. Not sure why they haven't used him more often in the offense. If he gets space in the open field he's electric. I know we are going up against Fitzgerald and the rookie Floyd looks like he's going to be pretty damn good but I think our secondary matches up well against Arizonas wideouts. Kevin Kolb is still Kevin Kolb but he's managing the games quite well thus far for them. I hope we can get to him and cause him to make some mistakes in this game. Their defense is very good but it looks like they will be without Darnell Dockett on Sunday. That gives us a great opportunity to run on that side of the field and control the tempo early on to try to get things in our favor. I've notice about our team that if we can strike first or early in the game we usually have a fighting chance. Ryan Tannehill needs to quit staring at his receivers, and just let it go. His passes look like he trying to lob them sometimes (same thing Henne used to do) and I cringe when that happens. If he does that crap against Patrick Peterson expect another pick six.
