Dolphins Gameplan: Defense must dominate

Sep. 28 Uncategorized 3 comments ---Bill

Double Larry Fitzgerald

That’s right, double Larry Fitzgerald.  We saw last week that Sean Smith is vulnerable to double moves by wide receivers. You can bet your house that Fitzgerald saw that too.  The Dolphins might be thin at cornerback this weekend, but they cannot allow Fitzgerald to beat them.  Richard Marshall didn’t practice on Thursday because of his back injury and Nolan Carroll was limited because of an Achilles injury.

Arizona ranks #29 in passing offense.  Outside of Fitzgerald, their other weapons won’t scare the Dolphins.  This is why it’s important for the Dolphins to take Fitzgerald out of the game.  If I were Kevin Coyle (I’m not, I have a lot more hair), I’d double team Fitz early and often.  The Dolphins run defense should be able to shut down the Cardinals, who rank 27th in the NFL, averaging just 81 yards per game and 2.8 yards per carry.  I’m confident the big guys up front can handle the rushing attack, so the Dolphins would be wise to load up with whatever defensive backs they can find to shut down the passing game.

Truthfully, the Dolphins defense will need to dominate this game for the Dolphins to have a chance.  The Cardinals offense ranks #31 in the NFL.  However, their defense often gives them favorable field position, which leads to points.  The Dolphins should be able to stop the run, but they’ll need to sure up the secondary and apply pressure to Kevin Kolb if they hope to win.

Win on Special Teams

It’s obvious Dan Carpenter had a forgettable day last week against the Jets.  He missed 2 field goals, 1 of which would have won the game.  Carpenter can start to make up for those misses by making his kicks in Arizona.  The roof will probably be closed, so there are no excuses for misses.  The Dolphins coverage teams must also continue to play well.  Although the Cardinals rank #26 in kick returns and #19 in punt returns, they have Patrick Peterson, who’s as dangerous as they come.

The Dolphins re-signed Jonathan Amaya this week, a special teams favorite of Darren Rizzi (ST Coach).  The Dolphins must avoid giving up the big play on special teams.  The Dolphins returners rank #10 on kickoffs and #4 on punts.  Special teams is often overlooked, but it’s important for the Dolphins who will be looking for any advantage they can get in this game.

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  • GADOLFAN013

    I think their strategy needs to be just the opposite in the coming weeks, we need to do more play action passing on 1st & 2nd downs to open up the run game, more and more I see safties creeping up tho help on the run, we need to stop that in the _ _ _ _.

  • Bill

    GADOLFAN013 – That is a good idea too. The problem with throwing on 1st and 2nd down (which the west coast offense likes to do), is that the Dolphins receivers aren’t that good. Outside of Hartline/Bess, there’s a big dropoff. So if you throw playaction on first down and don’t complete it, it’s 2nd and 10 and you get into obvious passing situations.

  • Longtime Phinfan

    A question or two for the mangagement and coaching staff of the Dolphins: Do Dolpfans have a right to know what is going on with Clay ? If he is injured – tell us !. If he is a head-case -tell us ! If he is one-demensional -tell us ! If Legadu is someones’s nephew, and you’re keeping him w/o telliing us, tell us !
    If you are not using your 4-5-6 WR’s and Fuller for a reason, tell us ! And finally, run JL until he and the
    Cardinal defense is bloody and battered, then sit him out for a play, and run him again !! If we should call
    it yet another lost season and give in to the naysayers, paid -critics ( and you know who you are ), and trolls, tell us ! I can assure you – we’ve been through worse. To you guys at the office – keep the cards and letters coming, we need the information and infrequent hope. Oh, and good luck to all components of the team today – we might need it. To the trolls: Hold off on your habitual criticism of JI and his inabilities – don’t you think we’ve heard that enough by now ? Go Dolphins !!!