Yes, I know.

It's a shameless way to put up a picture of Dolphin Cheerleaders, but damn it,  I couldn't help myself.   The season is just a couple of weeks away from kicking off, and Thursday is our last preseason game before they actually count.  I'm excited! \

So let's get busy.

Quick review of the past week

A few roster moves dominated the headlines.  Nate Garner was placed on IR, and Joey Haynos was waived (expected to be placed on IR once he clears waivers).  Garner is a loss, as he was the versatile backup we had on the line, and Haynos just wasn't coming around like everyone had hoped, so the injury probably made him a little money, instead of him just being outright released.

Hey Fr8, what about the game?

Oh yeah, our last preseason game of the 2010 season kicks off Thursday night at 8pm against the Dallas Cowboys.  Now, normally you don't expect a lot of quality play in the 4th preseason game, as that happens in the third preseason game.   But....wait, can you smell that? Yeah, that's the stink of the 3rd preseason game still marinating on my mind.  There is no way to put it, other than we stunk it up.  Anyone that watched the game, and even Coach Sparano as vocalized how bad we played in that game.  So, to remedy/punish the players, Sparano as decided to play the starters in game 4..... which is not normal.

"I have no idea how much the starters will play. That’s not up to me – that’s up to them. We’re going to go out there and play until either I’m satisfied with what I’ve seen, or I feel like we’ve gotten the amount of work that I have scheduled for them right now in my head." - Coach Sparano

I like to see this kind of passion.  He's not happy with the play, so don't reward the players with the game off....get in there and make sure its right before the real games come.

What about Dallas?

Well, Dallas has announced they won't be playing any of their starters.....so our guys had better damn will shine, and shine so bright I can see them all the way up here in Columbus.  That's the only way they are going to get off the field early in the game on Thursday.  Now, if the first string goes out and just rolls over the Dallas easily and scores a TD on the first drive like it was no problem....maybe they get out after a series, but I'm inclined to believe they play almost the full first quarter.

Things to watch for:

1. The offensive line is possibly, hopefully, finally set?  We still aren't sure about the center position (Berger or Grove), but whoever looks the best on Thursday is likely the guy come Week 1, so they better all dominate.
2. I'm giving our Secondary a pass for the preseason, as there has been no blitz, no schemes, and I assume that Nolan has just been throwing out packages to see how the players look.  Even though it looks like Smith/Vontae have been beat a few times, it could just be the scheme, and someone else missed their man, even if the player was closest to one of them.....so lets just wait until Game 1, until we lay into them.
3. Turner, Wallace, and Moore.  2 of them will likely stay, one of them is gone.  My money is on Wallace getting stashed (hopefully) on the practice squad, but I wouldn't be surprised to see the coaches go with the speed over Turner... but most likely its Turner and Moore that make the 53.
4. Nate Ness - this is your last chance......show up big, or go home.  That is all
5. Benny Sapp...he's still acclimatizing himself to the team, so hopefully he gets a lot of playing time, and shows some promise, as Camarillo is looking real good in a Vikings uniform right now.... it would be nice to see we got quality back in exchange.
6. Penalties, Penalties, Penalties.  I don't want to see anymore.  I'm not fan, nor should you be, of giving free yards to the opponents.  Lets calm down and get some discipline folks.

Thats about it.  Enjoy the game.  I'll try to get up a recap of the game shortly after it finishes, and then I'll try to get up some more player profiles this weekend.  I meant to have them up by today, but in what could be the worst instance of bad luck ever, both my father, my mother-in-law, and my sister-in-law are all having brain surgery this week.  No joke.  All three of them have aneurysms that need clipping or coiling...so needless to say, I'll be blogging from my laptop somewhere near a couple different Hospitals for the next week.   I have to admit, I am amazed that doctors do what they do...apparently this kind of brain surgery is a 2 day at most stay in the Hospital.  That just seems odd to me, but trust the guys who do this 24/7/365 I say.

Everyone knows, including the Miami Dolphins coaching staff, that the Miami Dolphins as a team did not perform well the last time they took the field during the pre-season.

So that could be the chief reason why the starting unit on both sides of the ball will be playing at least one or two drives on Thursday night against the Dallas Cowboys.

With the backups being set up to play the majority of the game tomorrow night, here are the three things I will be looking for come gametime.

3. Less Drops All Around!

So far this pre-season, the Dolphins receivers have faced some high expectations. And so far, they have showed that they are not necessarily ready to face those expectations. Besides the exception of newly added Brandon Marshall, the Dolphins receivers have disappointed me. They have dropped a little over a fourth of the passes coming their way it seems, and that cannot happen during the regular season. I was expecting drops to be the one thing that I would not have to worry about this year, and once again it appears that I jinxed my Fins. I'm looking for a little bit of stability from the starting group, and for them to go into Opening Day on a high note.

2. Offensive Line Chemistry:

One of the other pokes in the rear that has bothered the team this off-season is the play from the offensive line as a whole. The team seemingly has NO depth behind their starters, and with the injury to Nate Garner, this concerns me. But an even bigger problem is the fact that the starters are playing with NO chemistry whatsoever. The coaching staff has been shuffling lineups all training camp long, which is likely a cause of this lack of chemistry. Also, while head coach Tony Sparano has said that he has made a decision as to who the starting center is, the race still looks pretty even to me. I will be looking not only for consistency from the whole unit, but for one of the two center candidates, Jake Grove, and Joe Berger to seperate themself from the other.

1. Run Game Woes:

Another enormous strength of the Fins from last year was the rushing attack. This is another strength that has failed to impress this pre-season. In fact, they have been miserable. The offensive line has been getting pushed around, and not giving the backs much room to do their thing. The run game needs to get back in shape for Week 1. The Dolphins will not be successful if they cannot get the ground game going, and with them boasting two of the top 12 running backs in the league, they are also facing high expectations. I would like to see them run all over the place during the game.

All in all, I'm looking for a solid improvement from the team, but as can be expected, and is a theme during the pre-season for the team, while they can fix one disappointment from the previous game, another problem arises. This game to me is all about fine tuning the fundamentals of their gameplan and skills to get prepped for Opening Day against division rival, the Buffalo Bills.

The Miami Dolphins and veteran backup tight end Joey Haynos have come to an agreement today on an injury settlement that allows the 6'8 imposing tight end to be waived by the team.

Haynos was on the roster bubble anyway, with the addition of fellow athletic tight end David Martin this off-season.

The Dolphins now are at their max of 75 players, and do not have to make any roster cuts tomorrow to get down to the limit. But this does not mean that it will not happen.

The Dolphins will likely now only keep two tight ends on the active roster, and try and sneak second year man John Nalbone onto the practice squad again.

Today Miami Dolphins head coach Tony Sparano divulged to the media that starting inside linebacker Channing Crowder would be seeking a second opinion on an undisclosed injury that he suffered at some point this pre-season.

Sparano would not reveal the injury, but he did express that he is not concerned quite yet about the extent of the injury.

"Every day that a guy like Channing isn't out here, I'm concerned," Sparano said when asked how concerned he was about possibly not having Crowder at Buffalo. "But I'm not that concerned right at this second."

With Crowder absent from the starting lineup, backup Tim Dobbins, who was acquired from the San Diego Chargers on draft day, will be replacing him in the starting lineup.

I apologize for getting this up a little late, but I wanted to make sure I re-watched the game, and not have any knee jerk reactions.

 

Yes, we Lost.

Yes, we looked bad in places.

Yes, a rookie WR on a reverse was our leading rusher.

Yes, Chad Pennington was our 2nd leading rusher. No, the end is not near. The preseason end is near.

News Flash!

It's still preseason folks.  These games still don't mean anything.  Lets settle down, and stop with all the Jekyll & Hyde fandamonium uprising.  I think fans get so caught up in the fact that Henne, Marshall, and Ronnie are on their big screen TV's actually playing football that they forget that these first 4 games mean absolutely nothing.  The players know it, the coaches know it, the fan's somehow.....didn't get the message.

I don't know if you are aware of this, but the Colts lost 59-24 in their third preseason game on Thursday, and they lost 34-21 TO THE BILLS in week 2.  In week one the Colts lost 37-17 to the Niners.... As a matter of fact, the Colts have only won 6 TOTAL preseason games since 2004.   That is a preseason record of 6-27.  

Yet, every single one of those years, they won over 12 games in the regular season.  What does it mean? It means step off the ledge, take some anxiety medication, and relax a little.  Last week everyone was raving about how well the Dolphins played, this week the sky is falling (again).  Get control of your bipolar fandom.... it's going to be okay.

First Downs

Welcome back Brian Hartline, we've missed you.  Hartline managed to finally come up with a few catches, totaling 3 catches for 32 yards, and he flashed his Yards after catch potential yet again.  This kid is going to shine when the REAL lights come on in Week 1.

Vontae Davis must have been tired of hearing me talk about how often he gets burned, as he played lights out last night.  Davis had 7 tackles, a forced fumble and maintained great coverage throughout the game.  He really didn't falter, and it was nice to see he didn't give up a big play.

Misi played pretty well last night as well.  He had great sideline to sideline agility, he flashed at times, but he also didn't set the edge as well as you'd like.  He's a rookie, so that will develop.

Brandon Marshall once again came up big.  He had 2 completions from Henne for over 20+ yards in the closing minute of the first half, and of course he added a drop or 2 in there.  Don't get me wrong, Marshall isn't Ginn, and he isn't even Terrell Owens....but he's going to have some drops so get used to it.

Let me take a moment once again to reiterate just how lucky we are to have Chad Pennington on the roster as a back up.  Chad is efficient, and controls the flow of the game so well every single time he steps on the field.  There is no quarterback controversy, and Pennington should and will remain the back up, but just knowing he's there in case of emergency is something that can't be forgotten.  I bet teams like Arizona and Buffalo would love to have Pennington as their starter.... and we have him as a back up.  Think about it.

Dan Carpenter, 2 for 2, long of 53 yards and it would've been good from Cuba.  He's money.

Fumbles

Can I just put the entire offensive line here?  They played well in the passing game, but I'm not sure they could have created a running lane against the Ravenscroft Beauty School for Girls.  

There has been a whole lot of adjustments to the offensive line this offseason, and whether it's a case of them just not "gelling" yet, or what....I'm not sure.  Jake Grove practiced with the one's all week-long, and come game time, I have to say they took a step backward.  This whole Berger/Grove thing has to get figured out, and get figured out soon.

Ronnie Brown - 8 rushes for 9 yards

Ricky Williams - 4 rushes for 5 yards

Lousaka Polite - 1 rush for 0 yards (have you ever seen the Monster NOT convert a 3rd & 1 or 4th & 1?)

The running game that was ranked fourth in the league last year has absolutely GOT to step up.  The running game feeds our offense, when its working, everything is working. If anyone sees Sean Smith this week, will you please pass the following note to him:

 

Hi Sean, in the NFL wide receivers have double and even triple moves.  That means you don't have to go all in on their first move.  I  understand this is only your second year in the league, and you and Vontae are both still developing... but please, for the love of God, stop biting on the first move.  Thank you.

 

This piece of equipment to the left is a Football Jugs machine. Please place all of our wide receivers in front of it for a very long time over the next couple weeks..... Drops by Brian Hartline, Davone Bess, Brandon Marshall, Anthony Fasano in total 5 or more drops in the game against Atlanta...  That has to stop.

Needing Further Review

I'm putting the Team as a whole here, the offense isn't running with any type of game plan, and Mike Nolan hasn't shown us anything at all of his exotic defense during the preseason.  He's keeping his cards close to his chest, and I for one am very happy for it.  

I started this article off by saying that we need to relax when it comes to these preseason games, and I meant it. Preseason games are great because it means real football is being played once again, but there isn't a whole lot of your real team that you are going to see out there.  It's easy to cheer when a big play is made, and talk up the player... but you also have to keep in mind that the teams you are facing aren't playing their normal defense either.  

Its kinda like watching teams play with one hand tied behind their back.... take the bad and the good with a grain of salt.  Just enjoy watching the games.

Other notes from the game:

• Nolan Carroll had a couple of nice returns once again, but he also got torched on a couple of passing plays.  He's a rookie and that's to be expected
• Marlon Moore, welcome to the team.  He ran with the one's on a few plays.  He'll benefit most from Camarillo being gone it seems.
• Jake Grove gets banged up again.  The team was struggling today with him at Center... maybe Berger solidifies the position?  They better figure it out soon though.
• Chad Henne forced that throw that resulted in a pick in the end zone. Gotta learn to look off especially when the Beast has one-on-one coverage on the outside... Despite the fact he forced it, it was tipped at the line, before being intercepted.
• Joey Haynos gets carted off the field with a foot injury.... I've seen some people say it could be an Achilles tear.  David Martin's chances of remaining on the team get better and better....
• Chad Henne is going to have his ups and his downs.  He's still developing.  People are too quick to forget that this is his first full season as the starter.  Let him make his mistakes in preseason, and learn from them.  He'll be inconsistent at times this year, just hope it's not too often.
• Pat White completed 4 for 4 for 27 yards, and a 100% completion rate.  Come again? lol
• Interesting to note, Sparano said that his 4th quarterback would NOT play this week.....and Thigpen sat.  I'm confused to say the least.