NEW ORLEANS -- The gumbo is good here but the folks are concerned about Hurricane Gustav that could be threatening this city over the weekend. The Dolphins will be done with business by then.
That business is tonight's preseason finale at the Superdome between the Dolphins and Saints. It should be an interesting exhibition at least for one quarter because both teams plan to use their starters at least that long.
Chad Pennington will start for the Dolphins and Chad Henne is expected relieve him. I assume Josh McCown and John Beck could get a call in the second half.
Ricky Williams will start for the Dolphins but coach Tony Sparano said he would also like to get Ronnie Brown some work despite the fact the running back is still recovering from a sprained finger. Brown missed last week's game against Kansas City and got only a couple of carries the week before against Jacksonville before the finger injury happened.
The competition between Chris Crocker and Jason Allen to see which wins the starting free safety job goes to its final stages tonight so watch those two.
Tonight will also be a test for Matt Roth, who apparently has won the starting strong side linebacker job. He will be tested for the second week in a row by an outstanding tight end. Last week it was Tony Gonzalez. Tonight, Jeremy Shockey is scheduled to start for the Saints. This is a matchup that concerns me going into the season because I don't think teams are game-planning against Roth in the preseason, but you can bet they will do that once the games count.
Joey Porter (back) will not play tonight. Charlie Anderson starts at weakside outside linebacker.
I will be here with you LIVE starting at kickoff, which is scheduled for 8 p.m. (east coast time). I will be updating this post before the game should any news or lineup changes occur. So join me in the comments section for the live blog.
Week 7. I can see it now. Joey Porter is finally healthy and 'reintroduces' himself to Mr. Beck. Ouccchhhhh
Posted by: ParcellsCampFollower | August 28, 2008 at 10:45 PM
Beck still had those damn happy feet. Maybe they can put laser pointers on his shoes so he can blind pass rushers with the strobelight like effect of his feet rapidly pumping up and down for no reason.
Posted by: Bootris | August 28, 2008 at 10:51 PM
Who was a more disappointing Phins QB:
Ray Lucas or John Beck ?
Posted by: Finman | August 28, 2008 at 10:51 PM
J-E-T-S!!! Come get some a dis.....FINS ROCK!
Save Beck for the J-E-T-S after we stuff Favre back into his sorry, old, deer in the headlights, I better retire, look he had after the NFC Championship last year.
Posted by: D.Strock | August 28, 2008 at 11:03 PM
Who was a more disappointing Phins QB:
The Bert Emmanuel experiment (remember that doozy, fellas?) or John Beck
Posted by: Al Knowing | August 28, 2008 at 11:07 PM
Beck was a perfect 2 of 2 passes for 17 yards. Yes, he did have a bad exchange from center in the first snap but recovered it. Your boy Henne was 2 fumbles one lost and 1 for 2 interceptions.
Posted by: Roger | August 28, 2008 at 11:13 PM
give me a break guys, I just got off the plane from my mission to Morocco 5 hours ago.
Posted by: John Beck | August 28, 2008 at 11:14 PM
Wow! I made the mistake of coming here to see if there were some intelligent comments about the game. My bad. The "discussion" appears to be dominated by "Bruno MartinK and their fellow stooges". Several points:
1. This is the preseason. It is an evaluation period with precious little bearing on the actual season outcome. Cut some of the sugar out of your koolaid.
2. Okay, Beck has struggled. That's a duh. So, why do you feel the need to attack him personally, and belittle his faith? I'm sure he is far more disappointed with his performance than you will ever be, and will be handled by the coaching staff as they see fit. Your personal attacks are shameful and cowardly.
I don't blame Mando for ditching this blog. When the idiots run the asylum, it is best abandoned by the sane.
Posted by: JJJ | August 28, 2008 at 11:34 PM
I understand a decent preseason is not a season make and yes I’m a lifelong Dolphin fan and always optimistic. I also understand that a 1 – 15 season does not mean years of futility. I hope the fans and more importantly the team knows that the Fins were competitive and in more games last year than they were not. Average margin of losses 11.7 points, 6 losses by 3 points, 3 more by 13 points or less. A few key plays, players, coaching, effort and 1 – 15 could have easily been a 10 – 6 season. Worse to first happens each year in the sporting world. The team needs to understand and have the confidence in what this season can be by knowing what last season could have been.
Posted by: Art | August 28, 2008 at 11:41 PM
Art,
Number one rule of this blog, thal shall not speak of the putrid stink that was last year in positive terms. It is gone; I have forgotten it and go to my happy place in my mind whenever it is mentioned. BTW the football gods were smiling when Camarillo caught that TD to save the Phish from 0-17. Thank the ghost of Flipper for that, if we did not win that game; we could win the Superbowl this year and one of my d-bag friends would say, you remember when you went 0-17. But that did not happen and the Tuna Corp will make the Superbowl again in 2011 or 2012. Tuna may quit by then but his legacy will live on. No one rebuilds Rome in a night, but damn we are 3-1 against pretty good teams. Sporano is the ultimate coach for young players; the vets probably don’t dig his mouth. But there is balance on this team, it almost seems like Sporano coaches the young players and Parcells handles the vets, both groups need to be managed seperately. Anyway good job fin players and coaches, the Cam era has failed forward fast and the rebuilding has been started in earnest. We even have a new billionaire owner to break the Wayne curse, things are looking up Dolphinland.
Posted by: Bootris | August 29, 2008 at 02:20 AM