I thought it was odd how much we relied on Thomas throughout today's game. Then halfway through the game it hit me; I think Philbin purposely limited Bush's touches in order to limit his chances of being hurt by the Jets after they "promised to make him pay." That is one of the only real reasons I can think of that explains the carry breakdown. The only other explanation I can think of is that the coaches knew we wouldn't be able to open up running lanes for Bush. Lately, when there aren't running lanes Bush runs backwards and tries to make something special happen which can sometimes lead to significant rushing losses. I wonder if they knew the circumstances and preferred gaining 2-3 yards every play with Thomas compared to gains of 6,12,-6,3,-1 with Bush. My gut is still telling me that they purposely limited Bush's touches to limit the chances of him getting injured to a cheap shot by the Jets. What do you all think?
I agree with that and it's exactly what I was thinking. We still have nine games to go and we are going to need Reggie Bush down the stretch. We had complete control of this game and there was no reason to keep him in there and risk some over emotional frustrated Jet player laying a cheap shot on Bush. The Marcus Lattimore injury really shook me up and I didn't want to see another one today. I admit that I was worried about Bush and then when Tannehill went down I got worried again. Glad everyone is ok.
I was thinking the exact same thing. With all of the talking about Bush going on and the game being a blowout, I thought maybe they didn't want to give the Jets a chance to take their shots knowing the Dolphins were going to run.
Thomas' status long term with the team is in question due to his constant injuries and inconsistent play, he still needs to prove himself.
I think it had more to do with Bush fumble and then the game getting out of hand to where he wasn't needed than "respecting" the Jets and their threats.
