Moving on to the Fins game

[justasportsfan]

IMO, we have to depend on our D and ST to win this game. I am not going to depend on our O to do anything. I don't expect anything from them. Tired of getting disappointed.

Either we blitz the hell out of Gus like we did against Vick or we stack the box w/ 8 and make Gus beat us.

I say we blitz Gus into making mistakes. Vick beat us w/ his legs especially on 3rd downs. So did Brooks. Our D kept trying to contain those mobile qb's in the pocket that they kept escaping up the middle at times. This also helped them run the ball when we kept focusing on the qb's.

Gus doesn't have the capability to move but we cannot underestimate Brown . Our running game is our weakness. I expect them to pound our D w/ Bown.

They had their bye week to prepare against us. Blitzing them should put a beating on Gus into submission.

What would you rather our D do?

[justasportsfan]

On O we do the same, run the ball and then exploit their weakness which is their secondary.

[Jan Reimers]

I agree that by all out blitzing Vick (and to some extent Brooks), we overpursued and played right into the strength of two good running QBs. Blitzing Frerotte, who is not nearly as mobile as Vick and Brooks, should work well. Frerotte is more of a pocket passer who might pick us apart if we don't get good pressure on him.

On O, I'd like to see Willis carry the ball 30 times, with JP throwing just enough to keep them honest. (Wasn't that supposed to be our season game plan, anyway?)

[NJFINSFAN1]

On O we do the same, run the ball and then exploit their weakness which is their secondary.
Yes, but that is your weakness also (passing). If you blitz, you will see McMike over the middle and Brown for swing passes. We also use that fast pass to Chambers alot, so your corners will have to be up tight.

It will be a good hard fought game!

[Static]

Yes, but that is your weakness also (passing). If you blitz, you will see McMike over the middle and Brown for swing passes. We also use that fast pass to Chambers alot, so your corners will have to be up tight.

It will be a good hard fought game!

Yeah but Gus has alot of incomplete passes too..so if Buffalo gets pressure on Gus it could make for a long day....our Oline wull need to play well....but at least they wont have Reggie"please give me butter cause i am toast"Howard to pick on but that will leave some inexperience in our secondary........

[NJFINSFAN1]

Yeah but Gus has alot of incomplete passes too..so if Buffalo gets pressure on Gus it could make for a long day....our Oline wull need to play well....but at least they wont have Reggie"please give me butter cause i am toast"Howard to pick on but that will leave some inexperience in our secondary........
Yeah, that's true. I look for McMike over the middle, quick slants to Chambers and swing's or screens to Brown, along with pounding Brown up the middle. It will be a good game.

[mysticsoto]

I think the only way we win this game is to place a spy on McMichael when he goes over the middle and the rest of the LBs play up to stop Ronnie. The secondary will have to be on their own one on one. Given that Gus frequently makes bad throws, it's a chance worth taking. And we will also need to blitz Milloy and sometimes Clements or other CBs to vary. If you stop the run and make it a 1 dimensional game, chances are, the Dolphins will connect with some big plays, but more often that not, may miss. As long as we can also score (a big IF at this point), we would then take the game.

The Oline needs to play HARD and not put out the crap they've been putting out lately!!!

[justasportsfan]

Yes, but that is your weakness also (passing). If you blitz, you will see McMike over the middle and Brown for swing passes. We also use that fast pass to Chambers alot, so your corners will have to be up tight.

It will be a good hard fought game!If we run the ball well, we should be able to open up the pass. The fins' secondary is the weakest one we'll face since the texans. My problem is whether our Ol can handle JT and co. to give JP time to throw. This is why we need to run successfully.

[don137]

The Bills turned the season around last year against the fins. Nothing like a little mahi mahi on the menu on Sunday to give the team some confidence

[NJFINSFAN1]

If we run the ball well, we should be able to open up the pass. The fins' secondary is the weakest one we'll face since the texans. My problem is whether our Ol can handle JT and co. to give JP time to throw. This is why we need to run successfully.
Which has been our strength, stopping the run. Traylor has made a world of difference for us, he is to our team what Pat Williams was to your team, you guys miss him!

[justasportsfan]

Which has been our strength, stopping the run. Traylor has made a world of difference for us, he is to our team what Pat Williams was to your team, you guys miss him!this is whats interesting, although we haven't used it much (thanks to the coaches) our run is our strength supposedly

I will expect the fins to blitz JP as well and keep attempting to confuse Jp w/ different defensive looks.

[Dolphinatic]

I think you're right in having to take some chances on D. It's not that our O is really that good yet, but you probably need to make some things happen in order to help your own O out. Gus hasn't been spectacular, but he's done what's needed and hasn't made many mistakes. And he's had his moments - that highlight one-handed TD catch by Chambers last game was a great catch, but also a pretty impressive throw, 45 yards to a perfect spot while backing away from a rusher. He's only thrown 3 INTs.

The O-line, so miserable last year, has been surprisingly good (new OL coach Hudson Houck does seem to be the miracle worker he was billed as) - two sacks in three games, and they even started to run-block OK in our last game (Ronnie getting 132 vs. Carolina). The new O under Linehan is much more flexible than previous ones, and there will be an array of plays available to burn you if you stack the box, or blitz but can't reach Gus. Unlike previous years, the Fins will take its shots downfield if you dare them to, and Gus has hit a 40-plus-yard TD in each of the two games we won.

Even so, I think you should be aggressive on D, and hope that this is the week our O-line, and/or Gus, have their first really bad days and you get some turnovers.

On offense, you're in a tricky spot. The matchup isn't that great. We practically gave the game to the Jets with key penalties and some dropped passes, but on the drive they won the game with, Chad was throwing absolute ducks that still found receivers wide open in the zones. The next week, Steve Smith had a field day in the Panthers' loss (11 catches, 170 yards). So Miami's been thrown on, and Z.Thomas admitted afterwards that the D has been getting caught out of position trying to make adjustments in the new system (much more complex and variable than in years past).

The problem for you is, nobody's yet "established the run" to open up the pass. None of the three opponents has gained 100 on the ground as a team, let alone have a 100-yard rusher. And all three QBs have been veterans, not a new kid whose confidence you're trying to build. We have 7 sacks - not a spectacular number, but we're getting pressure as well as shutting down the run. And in this D, pass rushers can come from anywhere - again, not an ideal situation for a quasi-rookie.

Still, you need to take your shot at running on us, and have JP throw into our secondary. So long as the game is close, you can try to get him settled in with short passes, but don't expect to move the ball well that way - you really need to take your shots downfield when they're available, hoping your OL holds up and JP has a breakout game.

Jets fans don't like to hear it (understandably) but Miami could easily have won that game to be 3-0 now. Penalties, mistakes and blown coverages made the difference - no big surprise for a team running new systems on both sides of the ball. It was bound to happen. The Bills might need to hope it happens again, and be willing to take some risks to put the pressure on Miami's O-line and defensive secondary.

[justasportsfan]

well said dolphinatic.

[Samphin1]

On O we do the same, run the ball and then exploit their weakness which is their secondary.


If Willis and Shaud try running between the tackles, they won't go anywhere but backwards. Traylor and Thomas have done a great job stopping that, from preseason until now. However, if you bounce it outside and get Willis on our corners ( read: Madison ), you should have some success. Madison cannot tackle and probably won't even bother trying. Willis is strong enough to avoid being pushed out of bounds too.

Travis Daniels, however, does tackle, and looks natural doing it. If I was Willis, I would ask for a few runsoutside to see if you can establish anything.


When you are on D, fele free to blitz. So far this season, Gus has done a good job of avoiding the rush and the O-line has sustaine dlong enough for him to at least get a throw off. One thing I like about Gus is that he isn't really forcing passes. If it is there, he tries to get it there, if it isn't, he checks down or throws it away. He is keeping us in games doing this.

Having said tha, I expect McMichael to have a big day, as could Brown in the passing game. No need to throw into your strength on defense ( seocndary ) when we can run all day and get away with dinking and dunking. We will take a few shots downfield to keep them honest, but for the most part, I expect short, quick, passes.

[ScottLawrence]

Stop blitzing so damn much.

We need to play more gap defense, and shut down the run.

Grays a maniac when its comes to blitzing, and teams just counter it with running the ball that go for big gains, which is why we are last at stopping the run.

If he stops blitzing so much, and plays more gap defense, we wouldn't be as bad against the run as we are now.

1)Don't blitz as much in this game
2) Run the Ball all game, stop forcing Losman to win games for us.

Clements's play calling has been horrible, First rush of the game last week for McGahee was a counter for 25 yards, I didn't see the same play called until the 3rd quarter.

He needs to pull his head out of his pass happy ass, and start running the damn ball more.

Give McGahee 30 to 40 rushes in this game.

As badly as we have played the last 3 weeks, we are still only one game out of first in the AFC East, the next two weeks are very important, and we could salvage the season, winning these two games against Division foes.

[Dolphinatic]

We are still only one game out of first in the AFC East, the next two weeks are very important, and we could salvage the season, winning these two games against Division foes.
One and a half games back, more precisely, unless you assume Miami will lose on your bye week. (Ah, the bye week... who knew they could be so much fun?)

But yes, two wins now would bring you to 3-3 with a 2-0 division record - not that bad, really, with 10 to go. Or, next week's Jets-Bills game could feature two 1-4 teams in the Battle of the Basement, with the burning question: Who wants it less?

[mysticsoto]

Stop blitzing so damn much.

We need to play more gap defense, and shut down the run.

Grays a maniac when its comes to blitzing, and teams just counter it with running the ball that go for big gains, which is why we are last at stopping the run.

If he stops blitzing so much, and plays more gap defense, we wouldn't be as bad against the run as we are now.

1)Don't blitz as much in this game
2) Run the Ball all game, stop forcing Losman to win games for us.

Clements's play calling has been horrible, First rush of the game last week for McGahee was a counter for 25 yards, I didn't see the same play called until the 3rd quarter.

He needs to pull his head out of his pass happy ass, and start running the damn ball more.

Give McGahee 30 to 40 rushes in this game.

As badly as we have played the last 3 weeks, we are still only one game out of first in the AFC East, the next two weeks are very important, and we could salvage the season, winning these two games against Division foes.

Actually, I think we do need to blitz a great deal. With teams like Atlanta and the Saints, they had mobile QBs that got them out of sacks. Miami will not have Gus racing across field. He's not Drew Bledsoe, but he's slow enough that our defenders should be able to get to him and if not sack him, rush him into making mistakes. Miami's offense is tailored to our style of defense - as long as we can stop the run!!! Tim Anderson will probably be in and he looks like he is better at stopping the run than Edwards...

[FReich1393]

Not to sound to negative, but we are in big trouble coming into this week, JP hasn't looked to good since beating the Texans in Week 1 and our run defense has looked sub-par this season allowing three straight 100-yard rushers. Basically, with us on this slide, we could turn it around right here for the season and make a run at the playoffs like 2004. But, last year is last year and Nick Saban is proving his worth down on South Beach and had two weeks to prepare for the Bills. I'll admit I am worried, this isn't the Wanny Era Dolphins. So win this week and we could move on or 2005 could be looking a lot like 2003.....yikes!

[Spiderweb]

If we run the ball well, we should be able to open up the pass. The fins' secondary is the weakest one we'll face since the texans. My problem is whether our Ol can handle JT and co. to give JP time to throw. This is why we need to run successfully.

And Atlanta's was top shelf? Heck, they had 3 guys in the secondary that weren't even on any team when the season started and we did poorly against them...

The Dolfelons secondary is probably better than Atlanta's, or at least the one we saw.

[WCoastFin]

IMO, we have to depend on our D and ST to win this game. I am not going to depend on our O to do anything. I don't expect anything from them. Tired of getting disappointed.

Either we blitz the hell out of Gus like we did against Vick or we stack the box w/ 8 and make Gus beat us.

I say we blitz Gus into making mistakes. Vick beat us w/ his legs especially on 3rd downs. So did Brooks. Our D kept trying to contain those mobile qb's in the pocket that they kept escaping up the middle at times. This also helped them run the ball when we kept focusing on the qb's.

Gus doesn't have the capability to move but we cannot underestimate Brown . Our running game is our weakness. I expect them to pound our D w/ Bown.

They had their bye week to prepare against us. Blitzing them should put a beating on Gus into submission.

What would you rather our D do?

Although I agree with your assesment of depending on your D and ST, I'm not too sure that blitzing Gus will work...I mean the Broncos tried Bliting the heck out of us and it backfailed....this O-Line is better than most think...I just think your doomed for another loss, unless your D has a spectacular day and scores more than your Offense.

[justasportsfan]

Stop blitzing so damn much.

We need to play more gap defense, and shut down the run.

Grays a maniac when its comes to blitzing, and teams just counter it with running the ball that go for big gains, which is why we are last at stopping the run.

If he stops blitzing so much, and plays more gap defense, we wouldn't be as bad against the run as we are now.

1)Don't blitz as much in this game
2) Run the Ball all game, stop forcing Losman to win games for us.

Clements's play calling has been horrible, First rush of the game last week for McGahee was a counter for 25 yards, I didn't see the same play called until the 3rd quarter.

He needs to pull his head out of his pass happy ass, and start running the damn ball more.

Give McGahee 30 to 40 rushes in this game.

As badly as we have played the last 3 weeks, we are still only one game out of first in the AFC East, the next two weeks are very important, and we could salvage the season, winning these two games against Division foes. I disagree. Gray brought everything against the Falcons that sent Vick running for his life. He was too good of a runner for us to stop. If it wasn't for his scrambling ability, we could've won that game even when their rb ran the ball well. It was like they had 2 rb's and one of them could throw.

Gus has to be pressured and hit all day.

[dominizzo]

IMO, we have to depend on our D and ST to win this game. I am not going to depend on our O to do anything. I don't expect anything from them. Tired of getting disappointed.

Either we blitz the hell out of Gus like we did against Vick or we stack the box w/ 8 and make Gus beat us.

I say we blitz Gus into making mistakes. Vick beat us w/ his legs especially on 3rd downs. So did Brooks. Our D kept trying to contain those mobile qb's in the pocket that they kept escaping up the middle at times. This also helped them run the ball when we kept focusing on the qb's.

Gus doesn't have the capability to move but we cannot underestimate Brown . Our running game is our weakness. I expect them to pound our D w/ Bown.

They had their bye week to prepare against us. Blitzing them should put a beating on Gus into submission.

What would you rather our D do?
If your going to depend on the worst defense against the run to beat us your going to be in for a long afternoon. Ronnie is primed for a huge game and will be licking his chops going against your front seven.

But don't be surprised if saban throws you completely off guard and throws the ball downfield to mcmichael or chambers. Your secondary has also shown signs of wearing down due to the abuse they are receiveing trying to defend the run all the time. You can blitz all you like but Gus is a veteran and will make you pay.

[The last buffalo fan]

Games have to be played first, in order to be won. If we go out there and play out our heart and play with desite to way, it will be a win for sure. We have better talent/skills than the fish, man for man. We don't need to make fancy stuff, just play on the old way school, make it simple, stop the run and run at his butt. They are not the Colts on the offense, and neither the Steelers/Ravens on the Defense.

[Dolphinatic]

We have better talent/skills than the fish, man for man.
No, you don't. What gives you that idea? Maybe in some areas, but man for man? Please.

Even our O-line is better than yours right now, and after last year that's really shocking.

[justasportsfan]

Games have to be played first, in order to be won. If we go out there and play out our heart and play with desite to way, it will be a win for sure. We have better talent/skills than the fish, man for man. We don't need to make fancy stuff, just play on the old way school, make it simple, stop the run and run at his butt. They are not the Colts on the offense, and neither the Steelers/Ravens on the Defense.It's easier said than done. Remember the bucs? We couldn't run nor stop the run. The fins D is not the bucs but Saban has prepared whatever talent they had to come out and play on Sundays. Our coaches haven't done that since the opener. Even then, I'm not sure if it was our coaches or our players excited to start the season.

MM seems like a good X and O guy but doesn't seem to be able to motivate his players.

[Brad528]

It's easier said than done. Remember the bucs? We couldn't run nor stop the run. The fins D is not the bucs but Saban has prepared whatever talent they had to come out and play on Sundays. Our coaches haven't done that since the opener. Even then, I'm not sure if it was our coaches or our players excited to start the season.

MM seems like a good X and O guy but doesn't seem to be able to motivate his players.Your right Miami's D isnt the Bucs but it is better in some aspects one of which is the Run D. Last I saw Miami had the #1 run D in the league and considering that is the only thing your Offense has been able to do well this season I would be worried about how your going to get points. Our secondary is suspect and is sure to get at least two stupid penalties which could give you a chance to get some points on the board. Our goal line D has been great all season so if you are gonna get down to the red zone you better hope JP can throw the ball into the endzone similar to what Delhomme did against us if not your gonna be in trouble. We have held some quality running teams to very low numbers on the ground. The Broncos,Jets,Panthers all are better running teams then the Bills and they couldnt get going. With that said I wouldnt be suprised though to see our run D maybe take a slide this game because it is hard to consistently hold teams down running the football.

[NJFINSFAN1]

Your right Miami's D isnt the Bucs but it is better in some aspects one of which is the Run D. Last I saw Miami had the #1 run D in the league and considering that is the only thing your Offense has been able to do well this season I would be worried about how your going to get points. Our secondary is suspect and is sure to get at least two stupid penalties which could give you a chance to get some points on the board. Our goal line D has been great all season so if you are gonna get down to the red zone you better hope JP can throw the ball into the endzone similar to what Delhomme did against us if not your gonna be in trouble. We have held some quality running teams to very low numbers on the ground. The Broncos,Jets,Panthers all are better running teams then the Bills and they couldnt get going. With that said I wouldnt be suprised though to see our run D maybe take a slide this game because it is hard to consistently hold teams down running the football.
Bucc's are rated # 1, we are # 3.

[justasportsfan]

Your right Miami's D isnt the Bucs but it is better in some aspects one of which is the Run D. Last I saw Miami had the #1 run D in the league and considering that is the only thing your Offense has been able to do well this season I would be worried about how your going to get points. Our secondary is suspect and is sure to get at least two stupid penalties which could give you a chance to get some points on the board. Our goal line D has been great all season so if you are gonna get down to the red zone you better hope JP can throw the ball into the endzone similar to what Delhomme did against us if not your gonna be in trouble. We have held some quality running teams to very low numbers on the ground. The Broncos,Jets,Panthers all are better running teams then the Bills and they couldnt get going. With that said I wouldnt be suprised though to see our run D maybe take a slide this game because it is hard to consistently hold teams down running the football.


Bucc's are rated # 1, we are # 3.Ooops. :snicker:

[BILL$ B@$HER]

No, you don't. What gives you that idea? Maybe in some areas, but man for man? Please.

Even our O-line is better than yours right now, and after last year that's really shocking.
actually its really funny:comedy:

[Dolphinatic]

It's kinda both #1 and #3 - just depends on what you're measuring.

#1 in yards/attempt (2.9)

#3 in yards/game (76.3) behind Tampa and Baltimore

In rushing offense, Buffalo is averaging 128/game (9th) and 4.6/attempt (5th). Not bad - until you take a look at the individual games and see how they did in Tampa.

[!Papacrunk!]

34 penalties for 295 yards. Yeesh, that's what the Phins have amassed the 1st 3 games, but luckily coming away w/ a 2-1 record despite that. I'm hoping that the number will go down of course, because there won't always be that last second INT to erase some of those mental mistakes.
Losman is still due that breakout game, but I still feel better that the inexperience QB will play instead of Holcombe at this point, especially w/ the amount of blitzing that Miami has been doing (it's made me scratch my head seeing a Dolphins team blitz, but that's what they did all day against Dellhomme, giving favorable results.) On paper it seems like Miami needs to stop the running game and pressure JP all day, make him scramble and test his accuracy on the run. At least we've had a game against Jake the Snake to have some experience against a mobile QB, JP can sure get trotting though! I am a bit fearful of McG's ability to push the pile--I remember the two games last year, it seemed like he was stopped, then that pile went about 405 yards further. I also hope that the Phins will be able to control field position by stopping the Bills ST, and preventing any ST big plays.
It'd be great for Ronnie to pick up where he left off, but at least we've still been competitive when he was averaging 2.9 or so starting out, hopefully he's got all of the rust off and will get to test himself aginst a D that wants to prove they can stop the run. I hope Takeo heals up, but I'm not going to be missing the guy come Sunday, even though him and McMichael always had some good "encounters." Chambers is slowly getting back to form, but Gus has been doing a great job of spreading the ball to everyone, even lil Wes Welker has been making some plays in the slot, also Ronnie Brown is slowly getting involved in catching some balls too--I've actually been looking forward to see that side of his game equally to seeing him run as well. It seems liek Miami has had success from short quick passes, but taking chances down the field depening on the circumstance.
The funny thing w/ Miami/Buffalo/Buffalo/Miami games is that all angles can be discussed, but come Sunday, the exact opposite happens. Other than the obvious choice of a win, I'm really hoping Miami will cut down the mental mistakes/penalties and play strong on the road.
Please forgive my bad English and my disembodied ranting, but I really can't wait until Sunday, and wish that neither team has any injuries, and give us another classic rivalry game!

[Mike13]

this is whats interesting, although we haven't used it much (thanks to the coaches) our run is our strength supposedly

I will expect the fins to blitz JP as well and keep attempting to confuse Jp w/ different defensive looks.
Yeah thats true, my concern about excessive blitzing is that it can give The QB an opppertuinity to pass, especially on a corner blitz, this will be a good game.