Figures, I chose to listen to Sirius NFL radio instead this morning. I can guess the discussion: the little Mike said he's not looking forward to the potential upgrade of the Dolphins offense as a Jets fan; the big Mike said it has potential, but wants to see how it plays out on the field because it takes time to gel as a team. both probably predicted 8-8 or 9-7.

 

Hahahaha sounds about right. They just hate to give the Fins any type of hype or credit.

 

well, I'm assuming they give us credit for our offseason acquisitions, but they won't give us much hype until we prove otherwise. outside of 2008, we've been a bad team for a really long time, so not sure why anyone should be hyping us.

 

We haven't been a bad team for a long time, we've been an average team for a long time. The one year we cobbled together solid QB play (by combining Penny and the wildcat to compensate for Penny's lack of big play ability) we had 11 wins. If we had similar results from the QB anytime after that, we'd have been a 10 or 11 win team.

 

I like Mike & Mike most of the time, but one of the things that always rubs me wrong is how they always underrate the Fins. If we're going to me a playoff contender, they say 6-10. If we're going to me medicore, they say 3-13. Every year.

 

well, I think we're splitting hairs here. I'd categorize us as bad recently (losing record 7 out of last 9 years). In the previous 20 years before that, we had double digit wins 9 times with a lot of 8-8's. I think that second stretch I'd categorize us as slightly above average at best.

 

They both like the direction were going, they both really like Ryan Tannehill, and they both picked 9 and 7..

End thread..lol

 

Golic predicted 10 wins

 

Pretty fair analysis.

9-7 seems to be a reasonable ceiling for us given the challenges of the schedule. Might not be enough to make the playoffs, but would be a good season

 

It was the fill in co-host who predicted 10-6.

Both Mikes said 9-7

 

lol

Depends how we arrive at that 9-7.

 

Re: Dolphins on Mike & Mike two a days this morning at 6am

By scoring more than the other team 9 out of 16 times.

:shifty:

 

thanks Magic Johnson.

 

They seem to always pick about 3 or 4 wins lower then what we actually end up with, so 9-7 could turn out to be 12-4 or 13-3. Here's hoping it happens again this year. I think last year they picked us to win 4.

 

Well, little mike has his head so far up Sexy Rexy's azz it's not even funny...he's a long time jests fan and as such, he's gonna be somewhat baised against us. Big mike, I think, still harbors a little negative fins feelings from being not asked back here when it was pretty clear his time as an athlete was up...

I'm not worried about that aspect of their assessments tho...They didn't make any different points than most of the talking heads are making or for that matter, what many fans are talking about right now. We have improved on paper, but it has to translate to the field...we'll see. We watch and listen to camp reports and see some positive things. These positive things still have to play out on the field. At this point, anything they said was likely legit regarding where we are/might be come September...

 

The Browns game in Week 1 presents an interesting opportunity to find out a lot about the team right away.

Not saying the Dolphins should lose the game but there is a strength vs. weakness, weakness vs. strength and strength vs. strength profile that could help fill in some gaps in terms of seeing how the team will perform.

On defense the big questions I have are mainly around linebacker coverage and Norv Turner loves to exploit that more than most. He'll be throwing to the backs out of the backfield at least 11 or 12 times in the game and Phil Wheeler had better be ready for it because he's the most vulnerable. Turner also loves to exploit the deep middle with big tight end targets and he's got two very tall guys that run like the wind in Jordan Cameron (6'5" and runs in the 4.5's) and Kellen Davis (6'7" and runs in the 4.5's). Davis' main problem in exploiting the deep middle he he drops the ball nearly as often as he catches (about 1 out of 3 catchables). But that can be a luck thing because if he happens to catch both catchable balls up the deep middle in the game without dropping one, those can be significant plays. Ellerbe had better be ready for this because IMO this was a particular weakness of his in Baltimore.

How much the linebackers are forced to focus their attention on potentially covering the backs out of the backfield could make a difference in the first strength-on-strength of that side of the ball. The Browns will present a strength-on-strength with their ground attack against Miami's ground defense in base. Turner's not the type to bring you into a nickel package and then run on you that way. He'll try and run Trent Richardson into the teeth of our run defense featuring Soliai, Starks, Vernon, Wheeler, Ellerbe and Misi, with Reshad Jones coming up in run fills. They have a really good offensive line and a really good back, but it's tough for me to see even those things hurting Miami's run defense. Still, the outcome of that strength-on-strength should be telling.

How that goes could make all the difference in the outcome of the next strength-on-strength. The Dolphins will also present a strength-on-strength against Cleveland's offense with their nickel pass rush against Cleveland's offensive line which is pretty good. Joe Adams and Mitchell Schwartz are good bookends. John Greco and Alex Mack are good in the middle. Seeing who wins that tug of war could tell us something about the season.

But will it matter? You protect Brandon Weeden during passing downs, and what happens? This is where the Browns will really miss Josh Gordon. That and going play-action over top of the Dolphins in base. Brent Grimes will shut down whoever he faces, and in fact if Weeden tries to be too aggressive there he's probably going to be picked. Either Richard Marshall or Dimitri Patterson will give Davone Bess a really good battle in the slot. There's going to be more safety help on Jordan Cameron in the nickel and if the other corner opposite Grimes on the perimeter holds up then it may not matter how much time Weeden has. But it will help if he doesn't have any.

On the other side it's a similar story. It's going to be difficult to run into their base defense and I wonder if Miami is willing to even try. You're going to start by trying to draw them into nickel, testing Barkevious Mingo and Paul Kruger, with D'Qwell Jackson and James-Michael Johnson backing them up against the run. If they manage it, you're going to get good matchups with Brian Hartline against Buster Skrine or Chris Owens, possibly some space over the middle with Dustin Keller working against James-Michael Johnson. Wouldn't be surprised if Miami stayed in half-personnel the whole game like Philbin's back up in Green Bay. Where they could stumble though is if the run blocking still remains formless to the extent they can't run on the Browns this way. The Browns could also stick Billy Winn or Jabaal Sheard in there in place of Mingo in order to help prevent the Dolphins running on them. That gives sort of weak-vs-weak that could go either way and dictate how the rest of the battles go. If the run fails, you're going to start finding out how well this protection-oriented line is going to protect against the likes of Paul Kruger, Desmond Bryant and Barkevious Mingo on obvious passing downs, and the Dolphins won't necessarily get great linebacker coverage matchups because the Browns have good coverage linebackers. The Dolphins' ability to run after the catch will be tested.

All in all, a game Miami should win. But how they win, and if they win, could give us a lot of information about how the season is going to go.

 

Training camp reports mention a lot of completions over the middle, day after day, so I've been questioning how well Ellerbe covers the seam. This is likley to be an achilles heel, it seems. Hopefully not near the goalline though. Rashad Jones and Chris Clemons may have to shade in to stop the bleeding.

Like you, I don;t feel cncerned about this for some reason. For a Dolphins fan to say that indicates just how talented our D-line is, and that we know it. But, if the Phins offense can't stay on the field we may see the run D wilt by the 4th quarter, like in that final Pats game last year.

.
Early to predict, but if Odrick keeps performing inside (and the coaches let him stay there), then I think we see decent pass rush here. At this point in camp Patterson seems more reliable than Marshall, but I prefer Patterson inside. Marshall seems to be beaten constantly when I read camp reports. If the Browns are seeing passing success in the middle of the field, you'd want to help Ellerbe with a safety a bit, but that leaves Marshall (or the outside CB) vulnerable and I don't like that either. That tug of war, with neither Ellereb notr Marshall/Patterson able to cover deep could be a major no-win situation for the safety behind them. Jamar Taylor's injury is costing us... I think the hope was that Jamar could compete for that outside spot, but if his health is nagging him AND he is missing reps as a rookie I see less and less chance of him getting that #2 role by opening day. I don't think Patterson or Marshall are good outside CBs, personally. I'd almost..... wait for it... rather see Nolan Carroll out there opposite Grimes.

Hard to know that we have a weaknesses there until we see the coaches settle on a final five guys and give them two or three games together. Right now it's certainly an unsettled and unproven area. In fact, the Oline has as many ?'s around it as the Dline has !'s. I want to see how Tannehill handles the pressure. Also, could the solution be letting Tannehill present himself more often as a running threat in this game? Seems tempting if our ground game is stymied. If so, we may also see a nice deep completion on a crossing route off of a Tannehill 'run' where a player slips behind the oncoming LBs.


Can't wait for this game.