Miami Dolphins coming to town, New England Patriots back to work after bye
by MaPatsFan on Nov 2, 2009 6:11 PM EST
in News
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You may ask, "MPF, why dost thou adorn this Patriots blog with an image of Sir Jason Taylor?" Many reasons. a) He NARROWLY became a Patriot, b) he gives Tom Brady and Matt Light fits, c) he's a class act, and d) he's quite the dancer. Seriously, I wrote during the off-season that I thought Jason Taylor belonged in Miami. That's where his family is from, he's an active member of his community, and he deserves to retire where he spent most of his career. This is what Taylor recently had to say:
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- You all saw Jason Taylor racing down the field for a 48-yard touchdown off a fumble recovery today, a pivotal play in an important AFC East game.
Now imagine Taylor doing that in Patriot colors. It almost happened after Taylor was cut by the Redskins during the offseason.
"We talked with them, with the organization, and with Bill (Belichick)," Taylor told the Globe. "My heart was in Miami, my family was in Miami, so it was important for me to try to stay there. But if it didn’t work out in Miami, then I probably would’ve been there."
Belichick has an interesting way of recruiting free agents. I can picture the guy, with a little notebook, writing down the names of players that give him fits. Jason Taylor is one of them. He's a perennial thorn in Matt Light's backside while the offensive lineman works to protect Tom Brady's blindside. When Taylor left the division for the Washington Redskins, Brady and Light were practically jumping for joy:
FOXBOROUGH, Mass.--Tom Brady said he was ecstatic to see pass-rushing defensive end Jason Taylor traded out of the AFC East, from the Miami Dolphins to the Washington Redskins.
"I think [Patriots left tackle Matt] Light and I popped a cold beer when we saw that transaction," the quarterback said here today. "We were the two happiest guys in the NFL.... We were hugging each other."
Now they're cracking a cold one saying, "Oh boy..." But Taylor isn't all we have to worry about. The Dolphins have become league experts at the Wildcat. Other teams have tried it, including New England, but Miami seems to have the personnel to make it happen. It's not a trick. It's not a play. It's an offensive scheme that forces defenses to prepare for it. Why it's so troublesome could be the fact that so many plays can be run out of it. Or, it's essentially putting a "QB" in the backfield who can run his butt off. At any rate, Belichick had this to say:
The thing is, no matter how effective or ineffective the Wildcat is on Sundays, opposing defenses must devote significant time to prepare for its subtleties. The Patriots will need to decide how much take time out of their normal preparation to account for the Wildcat.
"That’s always a tough decision," Belichick said. The Dolphins’ use of the Wildcat "varies from game to game. It’s not always used in the same percentages. The better it’s going, the more you’re going to see it. There’s other times where they make you spend time defending it and don’t use it all that much. The most important thing is that we’re sound on it and we’re prepared for it, so if we get it, we at least know how to play it and the different thing that come out of it."
Remember when Miami unleashed the Wildcat in Week 3 of the 2008 season? I do. I was there and was promptly banned by Marima and JohnHannahRules from attending another game (must've thought I was bad luck). I have since redeemed myself after attending the 2009 MNF season opener against the Bills. At this point, there's an enormous amount of film on it, but the Patriots still have to spend time preparing for it or risk getting caught flat footed.
There's much more to chat about, but that'll come in due time. We have a division rival to prepare for, one that has kindly dispatched the Jets twice. I was a Phins fan for both those games because I think Rex Ryan is a pompous loudmouth who makes excuses when he loses and rubs peoples noses in it when he wins. The definition of classless. At any rate, we have some football to talk about with our friends at The Phinsider. BOOM BABY!!
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I'm ready for some football.
I get to see this one, and it’s going to be great.
My life has been a trivial pursuit. Trivia: where three roads meet.
The more you know, the more you know that you don't know.
by SlotMachinePlayer on Nov 2, 2009 6:39 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
hey
Hey I can’t wait, hopefully its a close one, I dont like blowouts, Im a dolphins fan btw. I just recently joined SB Nation, and I just wanna say so far I like how you show class unlike the jets. look forward 2 a good matchup sunday and would love it even more if Miami signs Chambers.
Ted Ginn Jr- Next Great Return Threat- Driver of the New TGJ Return Threat Bandwagon- 201 yards and 2TDs vs Jets 11/1/09
by HawkFire89 on Nov 2, 2009 7:29 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
If the Pats had picked up Jason Taylor
would anyone have even noticed how badly Galloway was playing? It’s been a while since someone in a Pats uniform terrorised QBs so regularly…
Token foreign guy - 14,688km from Foxboro. That's 9128 miles, for you heathens.
by Comedic.Sans on Nov 2, 2009 7:50 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
Yes, we all would have noticed
It would have been hard to miss Brady yelling at him on the sideline in the Denver game after he dropped his 20th ball in a row.
by RSNexile on Nov 3, 2009 9:17 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Ugh, I know...
even Taylor wouldn’t have disguised it. And it should be noted, I wanted GLew. Even if he has only caught that one circus-catch all year, it’s still less painful than “one foot in, one foot out” Galloway.
Token foreign guy - 14,688km from Foxboro. That's 9128 miles, for you heathens.
by Comedic.Sans on Nov 3, 2009 5:02 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
This match-up...
…is gonna be a close one. Our strengths match-up against each others’ weaknesses.
Dolphins’ strength? Running the Ball.
Patriots’ weakness? Stopping the Run.
Patriots’ strength? Passing the Ball.
Dolphins’ weakness? Two Rooks in the secondary.
I have to give the advantage to the Patriots, though, because if we can take enough advantage of their secondary, they’ll have to start playing from behind and require Henne to make all the plays. Judging from the Saints and Jets games, if the Pats can get Henne to force plays and be their play maker, the Patriots can win this one. However, if the Pats can’t stop the run, it won’t matter.
I’m banking on the Pats stopping the ’Fins run more than the ’Fins stop the passing attack.
Patriots Pros:
1) Bye Week. Plenty of time and film to study, got to see the Dolphins play TWO games against the Jets, meaning that if they have any tricks up their sleeves, they probably tried to pull them in the Meadowlands.
2) Our Passing game seems to be in-sync. However, those were against terrrrrrrible teams. Brady had entire quarters to throw the ball with no pressure, so if the Fins can get pressure, I won’t expect absurd numbers.
3) We stopped the Wildcat last year. We stopped them last year and won pretty solidly, with Cassel at the helm. I know both the Pats and the Fins have new faces in the secondary, but I feel like the Pats upgraded and the Fins lost experience. Hopefully, we can continue to stop the Wildcat and make it up to Henne.
Patriots Cons:
1) We have trouble stopping the run. Of course we have been doing well, but we haven’t been stopping the run- and now we’re playing the best of the best. Hopefully our unit solidifies and has enough confidence in our young secondary that we can throw an extra player by the trenches who can make tackles.
2) Dolphins always play us well. Enough said, they’re an entirely different team against the Patriots.
3) All 4 of the Dolphins’ losses have come against very solid teams. They’re extremely under-rated and have a pretty soft remaining schedule, apart from 2 vs the Pats, 1 vs the Steelers, 1 vs the Texans and a potential trap against Carolina/Jacksonville. Basically, the Patriots NEED to win this game in order to stay atop the AFC BEast.
by The Hill on Nov 2, 2009 10:55 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
You might want to add in
the Dolphins pass rush. The Pats didn’t cope well with a good pass rush in the Jets, and we all know how that game turned out. The ’Phins still have very capable pass-rushers, and that could be far more dangerous to the Pats passing game than their fairly young secondary.
Token foreign guy - 14,688km from Foxboro. That's 9128 miles, for you heathens.
by Comedic.Sans on Nov 2, 2009 11:38 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Yeah, the pass rush MIGHT be effective, if we don't just abandon it after the 1st half.
A boob like Sanchez had all day to pick us apart. Hell, Jamarcus Russell probably woulda had a decent game with the way our D was playing during the second half.
Head Weatherman/ Injury Specialist of the Phinsider.
Bender: Who wants dolphin? Leela: Dolphin? But dolphins are intelligent. Bender: Not this one. He blew all his money on instant lottery tickets.
by Farorefox on Nov 3, 2009 8:36 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
first of all buddy we dont have any cons against the fucking miami dolphins and stopping the run is 1 of our strong points. BUT EVERYBODY HAS THERE OPINIONS YA KNOW! YOU HAD SOME GOOD FACTS
by andrew29910 on Nov 4, 2009 3:31 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
15th doesn't seem to be a strong-point.
Head Weatherman/ Injury Specialist of the Phinsider.
Bender: Who wants dolphin? Leela: Dolphin? But dolphins are intelligent. Bender: Not this one. He blew all his money on instant lottery tickets.
by Farorefox on Nov 4, 2009 4:42 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
AT LEAST ITS NOT 32ND ITS KINDVE GOOD
by andrew29910 on Nov 4, 2009 4:58 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
CAPS lock is a bad idea.
Head Weatherman/ Injury Specialist of the Phinsider.
Bender: Who wants dolphin? Leela: Dolphin? But dolphins are intelligent. Bender: Not this one. He blew all his money on instant lottery tickets.
by Farorefox on Nov 4, 2009 5:01 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Being middle of the field is 'kind've good'?
It’s average. Then again, you might delirious with happiness when you receive an average mark for something. I know I’m not.
Token foreign guy - 14,688km from Foxboro. That's 9128 miles, for you heathens.
by Comedic.Sans on Nov 4, 2009 5:15 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
ALL-CAPS MAKES YOU LOOK HIGHLY INTELLIGENT AND INSIGHTFUL
Those Dolphins stomped a hole in the Pats run defence last year, and last time I checked it was a split-series over the whole season. Don’t have cons against them? Brilliant assertion.
The Pats have stopped the run? At times. But they also surrendered 200 yards on the ground to the Titans, and the Titans are just awful. They also got carved up by the Bills’ run and “long-handoff” pass game. And in other games they’ve given up long runs when it could have potentially hurt them badly – the Falcons come to mind – and haven’t adjusted well to backs who can both run and catch. Add in the fact that the ‘Phins are multi-dimensional and the have a few offensive wrinkles they can use – they can run it with Ronnie Brown, Pat White, and Ricky Williams, and can find ways to put all of them on the field at once – it’s pretty ignorant to just proclaim the ‘Phins toothless while at the same time declaring that the Pats run-stopping is a strength, when there’s plenty of evidence to the contrary on both points.
Token foreign guy - 14,688km from Foxboro. That's 9128 miles, for you heathens.
by Comedic.Sans on Nov 4, 2009 5:14 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
TOSS UP!
This will be a nail biter,IMO this game comes down to Run VS. Pass, and with that said, it’s all about who finishes plays.I really don’t have a feel for this game though bc. when the Dolphins play the Patriots it’s a win by a large margin.It allways happens when they play.By that I mean (‘Phins or Pats’) splits the series with large margins of victory.
by Tuna4Prez on Nov 3, 2009 12:37 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
Agreed
This is very hard to call.
Blogger at SBNation's Patriots blog, Pats Pulpit
by MaPatsFan on Nov 3, 2009 7:58 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
How's Matt Light's health? He healed yet?
Head Weatherman/ Injury Specialist of the Phinsider.
Bender: Who wants dolphin? Leela: Dolphin? But dolphins are intelligent. Bender: Not this one. He blew all his money on instant lottery tickets.
by Farorefox on Nov 3, 2009 8:37 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
Don't think so, but the German has been filling in well.
My life has been a trivial pursuit. Trivia: where three roads meet.
The more you know, the more you know that you don't know.
by SlotMachinePlayer on Nov 3, 2009 12:18 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
One of the things
Going for the Patriots is the fact this game come after the bye week … and BB record is almost perfect after a bye. so having that extra time to prepare and watching the Finless live against the NY losers should be enough to get us a win but not it doesn’t guarantee it … it’s been a while since the confidence that we felt from 2007, then we couldn’t care about any opponents, we knew the Pats will win, we just didn’t know how by how many points!, however the Pats lately gave us a better confidence indicator. simply for the fact that when you play a weak team you suppose to win, but the Pats didn’t only win they destroyed them, which is the way is suppose to happen when a strong team play a weak one.
So this game is going to be tough, but at the end we should win and I would say by at least 10 points and will be decided on the last quarter. GO PATS
by DeepThreat2u on Nov 3, 2009 8:52 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
My Enemies Enemy is my Friend :)
hey guys, im a football fan first and a dolphin fan second. I dont hate the Pats and every fan has to give props to the system Belly installed and to Tom Brady.
That being said the Spygate affair was really bad – i dont wanna bring up old stuff but i think you guys take a lot of heat because the league really messed it up. losing 1 draft pick for several years cheating?
whatsoever – thats the past.
I have to admit – i think you guys did a tremendous job fixing that old aging defense and add youth and speed.
the reason why miami wated to the NE game with the Wild Cat? i guess they saw the Patriots defense and saw the perfect victim. you guys got old and slow and the wild cat displayed that.
I have to say after sweaping the hated big mouth J-E-S-T’’s i will congratulate you guys for winning the division :)
Miami got a good team, and the blue print is a winning formula but we cant close games because
a) we lack elite talent / playmakers
b) coaching
c) youth & inexperience
to the wild cat
the saints game was pricey for us – we lost 3rd RB Pat Cobbs for the season. he is an unsung hero, special teams gunner + key piece in the wild cat. he lined up as WR and blocked what the last 2 games was the formula to stop the wild cat.
i can tell you guys, if Henne stays on the field and lines up as a WR – blitz the hell out of it and you’ll be able to stop it
if miami can replace Cobbs, takes Henne off the field and uses Wild Cat 2.0 you are in trouble.
key to that all is our improved oline – the FA aquisition of Center Jake Groves was key, LG Smiley is back healthy and RG Thomas (went down game 1 in 2008) is a monster run blocker.
feel free if you wanna know anything.
by Crowder 911 on Nov 3, 2009 10:11 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
Tell the truth... you DID want to bring up old stuff
If you didn’t want to, you wouldn’t have.
Introducing the Wildcat against that Patriots team, at that moment was brilliant. Unveiling an unexpected offensive plan against a defense that did not respond well (i.e. ran around like chickens with their heads cut off), coupled with an inexperienced still-working-out-the-kinks QB and Miami got itself an easy win. Of course, it did make the 48-28 rematch in Miami that much sweeter.
Agreed about this year’s defense. Love the new guys and how they and the veterans are all working together. This year we have legitimate cornerbacks and playmakers on defense too, which has been cause for a bit of confidence.
Keep the faith!
by Marima on Nov 3, 2009 10:55 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
since you did bring it up
Please read:
before you comment further on it.
by mmmmm on Nov 3, 2009 4:06 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Hey thanks for the link
I’ll add it to my collection.
Keep the faith!
by Marima on Nov 3, 2009 4:18 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Dont understimate Smith and Davis
Sean Smith nearly had a pick 6 last week and Vontae techically had a pick on an attempted 2 pt conversion.
Rarely have teams picked on Sean Smith, instead they threw to Will Allen’s side of the field more. now what does that tell you?
Current Phinsider Feud Points: 23
Sparano: Joey Porter, What is best in life?
Porter: To crush The Jets, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of Mark Sanchez
by Patssuck456 on Nov 3, 2009 11:57 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
It tells me that Smith is due for a pick-six this week.
Head Weatherman/ Injury Specialist of the Phinsider.
Bender: Who wants dolphin? Leela: Dolphin? But dolphins are intelligent. Bender: Not this one. He blew all his money on instant lottery tickets.
by Farorefox on Nov 3, 2009 12:53 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
It tells me...
…that the Patriots have way too many offensive weapons for the Miami defense to cover. Defenses don’t win with 1 standout (or even two in the secondary), especially against Offenses with Moss (who needs to be double teamed), Welker, Watson and whichever other players BB wants to play. If the Patriots need to avoid Smith, and even Vontae, there are still plenty of options.
by The Hill on Nov 3, 2009 1:23 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
You guys arent the Saints
After Moss and Welker you guys have no true 3rd option at WR, you have no standout RB, although Faulk is an excellent jack of all trades
Current Phinsider Feud Points: 23
Sparano: Joey Porter, What is best in life?
Porter: To crush The Jets, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of Mark Sanchez
by Patssuck456 on Nov 3, 2009 2:38 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
They have a particularly good pair of TEs
and from what I’ve seen, the ‘Phins linebackers haven’t been covering TEs/ slot receivers very well. That’s a fairly big gap to exploit, and Watson’s pretty adept in TE post routes, as the Bills found out to their detriment.
Token foreign guy - 14,688km from Foxboro. That's 9128 miles, for you heathens.
by Comedic.Sans on Nov 3, 2009 4:57 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
True
TEs are our achilles heel, and Watson is decent.
Current Phinsider Feud Points: 23
Sparano: Joey Porter, What is best in life?
Porter: To crush The Jets, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of Mark Sanchez
by Patssuck456 on Nov 3, 2009 8:02 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
In truth...
I consider myself to be the biggest Dolphins fan on the face of the planet Earth, so naturally I do harbor some sense of ill-will towards the Pats. But I did not come to the NE blog just to talk junk. If the Pats were in another division, I doubt I would have a problem with them at all. You guys are a world-class team, and have proven it more than a couple of times. That being said—— I think Sunday’s matchup should be pretty memorable either way. As a Phinatic, I do dread NE games, because it’s always such a toss-up as to who the victor will be. But I think most Pats fans feel the same… Divisional games are rarely decided based on who has ‘the better team’, and more often as a result of who wants it more that day. I would like to wish the Patriots and their fans good luck on Sunday, because classless rivalries don’t serve either side. (Just ask Rex Ryan) May the most passionate and desirous team win! For either side- there is no shame in losing to the other….Both are SOLID clubs that simply ooze talent, and will certainly take 1st and 2nd in the ACE this year, and probably for years to come. GOOD LUCK PATTIES!
by theDolphinsRuleAll on Nov 3, 2009 1:53 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
is matt light gonna play??
i think he is the only scum bag on your team and deserves to get punichied for his actions…
JETS i see the Jests as a hate game, cause they are cocky, classless, overhyped by the ny media and have a big mouth
BILLS i dont hate the Bills and they are to weak to fear me – that being said playing them in the cold isnt easy for the Fins
PATRIOTS to me is just a high class sports rivalry cause we are division rivals, we used to be the power house and you guys are dominating now for quiet a bit
by Crowder 911 on Nov 4, 2009 3:57 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
You really have talent.
Seriously. However do you get to “punichied”? That’s a gift.
Token foreign guy - 14,688km from Foxboro. That's 9128 miles, for you heathens.
by Comedic.Sans on Nov 4, 2009 5:07 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Matt Light is listed as "questionable"
I’m guessing that he will not play.
Keep the faith!
by Marima on Nov 4, 2009 7:08 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
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