Miami Dolphins In Depth

Dolphins defeat Jaguars, 24-3

Revenge for 62-7? No, not quite.

But the Dolphins needed it. They win for only the second time in seven weeks by defeating the reeling Jacksonville Jaguars, 24-3.

It was so,ething of an offensive outburst for the Miami offense that had multiple touchdowns in a game for only the second time in the last six games.

Ryan Tannehill threw two TD passes -- short throws to Jorvorskie Lane and Anthony Fasano. It was only the second game this year that Tannehill has more than one TD in a game. The last one was Oct. 14 against St. Louis.

Tannehill completed 22 of 28 for 220 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions.

Brian Hartline seemed to drop a TD pass. He nonetheless went over the 1,000-yard mark for the season.

Reggie Bush got 21 carries, the most he's had since Sept. 16 when he carried 25 times against Oakland. Bush finished with 104 yards and that included a 53-yard run in the third quarter.

Former Dolphins quarterback Chad Henne was, well, Chad Henne. He struggled and was inconsistent most of the day. His best drive came in the final couple of minutes when the game was already decided. Henne completed 18 of 34 passes for 221 yards without a TD or INT.

Yeah, it was the correct call to let him go.

Dolphins lead Jags 16-3 going to fourth quarter

This one has gone pretty much as scripted.

The Dolphins are a solid team playing solid. The Jaguars are a terrible team playing ... well, you know.

Miami's had to settle for way too many field goals today -- three to be exact. It would have been four had coaches not decided on calling a whack fake field goal in which punter Brandon Fields tried to pass the ball for a TD.

Anyway, stay with me. You know no lead is safe against Chad Henne.

Go to the comments section now.

Dolphins lead Jags 10-3 going to third quarter

The Dolphins are getting timely penalty-calling against the Jaguars -- and that has helped convert multiple third down situations and nullified a touchdown.

The Dolphins are also getting a good rebound game from Ryan Tannehill, who started slow but has now completed 10 of 14 passes including a 4-yard TD to Jorvorskie Lane.

So Miami leads 10-3 going to the third quarter.

The live blog continues in the comments section. Go there.

Dolphins and Jags tied 3-3 going to second quarter

OK, so maybe it isn't the most exciting game on the schedule.

But the Jaguars scored ... a field goal.

And the Dolphins scored ... a field goal.

Game's tied 3-3.

The live blog continues in the comments section. Who knows, maybe somebody scores a touchdown this quarter.

How exciting!

Inactives, Finley, live blog all here

Another day in the neighborhood and the Dolphins have two of their five tight ends inactives today.

Michael Egnew and Kyle Miller are inactive along with Davone Bess, Dheeston Randall, Koa Misi, and Pat Devlin. Marlon Moore will start for Bess.

And so many of you are asking, 'What about Jermichael Finley?"

As you know the Milwaukee Sentinel reported he will be traded or cut in the offseason. And, of course, because he plays for the Packers, the connection to Joe Philbin is obvious. The Dolphins need to upgrade at tight end is obvious. Also, Finley is fullback Jorvorskie Lane's half brother -- whatever that means.

I have not had the opportunity to do any reporting on this topic so take all this with a grain of salt:

If the Packers are willing to discard him, he obviously has issues.

If the Packers think they'll be better without the guy, there are obviously serious problems with the guy beyond talent.

Having said that, there will probably be a market for him in free agency. I don't know if there will be a market for him in trade.

This is a conversation for another day that I will definitely do some homework on before we dive fully into it.

We will dive into a live blog today. It starts in the comments section. Meet me there.

 

Dolphins win Sunday or something is really wrong

I'm picking the Dolphins to win Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The Jaguars have significant injuries throughout the roster -- including at running back where starter Maurice Jones-Drew is out and backup Rashad Jennings is out. They have the worst record in the league, along with the Kansas City Chiefs, at 2-11.

Honestly, if the Dolphins do not win today then something is seriously wrong and we might need to re-think everything.

But if you look at the breakdown below, you should come to understand that the Dolphins have advantages in practically every phase of the game as it stacks up.

When the Dolphins run the ball: The Dolphins go from playing one of the NFL’s best defenses one week to one of the worst this week and a reason for that is Jacksonville has been terrible stopping the run. The Jaguars are 31^st out of 32 teams against the run. That bodes well for the Dolphins because Reggie Bush is making his push for his second consecutive 1,000-yard season. Miami is in transition, however, as last week Lamar Miller got more carries than Daniel Thomas, who was relegated to third down duty. One assumes that will continue this week otherwise the Dolphins will look like they are merely grasping wildly for answers instead of employing lineup changes for logical reasons. The offensive line remains the same. Look for more of that successful center sweep in which Mike Pouncey leads Bush around the corner. ADVANTAGE: Miami.

When the Dolphins pass the ball: Ryan Tannehill finished poorly last week when he threw four consecutive incompletions on a possession where Miami had a chance to tie the game. He needs to wipe that bitter taste from his mouth and the Jaguars offer the perfect defense to cleanse the palate. Jacksonville is not as terrible against the pass as the run, but bad nonetheless. The Jags are 24^th in the NFL against the pass. Brian Hartline may have to carry the workload on the outside because Davone Bess is slowed by injury and will notplay. The Jaguars are dead last in the NFL in sacks so Tannehill should mostly have time to throw but the addition of sack specialist Jason Babin makes for a tough match up against Miami’s tackles. ADVANTAGE: Miami.

When the Jaguars run the ball: Maurice Jones-Drew has been a premier running back in the NFL for several years. But don’t worry because the Dolphins aren’t going to face him because he’s been out for weeks with a foot injury. And they’re probably not going to see his backup Rashad Jennings because he’s trying to overcome a concussion. So the Dolphins get the third man up that is, well, who knows? The team has been using backup fullback Montell Owens as its primary ball carrier while Keith Toston is listed as the No. 3 running back on the depth chart. Statistically, the Dolphins had a terrible day defending the run last week because they yielded 155 yards and a 5.5-yard per carry average to the 49ers. But 50 of those yards came on a TD by quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who is a great running threat, out of the spread option. The Jaguars are not likely to employ that look. ADVANTAGE: Miami.

When the Jaguars pass the ball: Cameron Bradfield, a second-year player, will be matched against Dolphins sack leader Cameron Wake. It seems like a mismatch and it is. But the Jaguars, believe it or not, have bigger problems. They spent much of last week figuring out who would start at left guard because Mike Brewster is on injured reserve and Eben Britton was bad in replacement duty against the Jets. So the Jaguars plugged in recently acquired Steve Vallos as a possible option. The Jaguars also lost wide receiver Laurent Robinson to injured reserve because of several concussions he suffered and leading receiver Cecil Shorts is also trying come back from a concussion. Oh, and did I mention Chad Henne is Jacksonville’s quarterback? The Dolphins castoff is a good guy and a hard worker. Problem is he has yet to prove he’s a good NFL quarterback. ADVANTAGE: Miami.

Special teams: The Dolphins need to stop the bleeding with this unit because it has allowed or led to opposing touchdown in four consecutive games. Last week, it was a fumbled punt inside the 10-yard line. This unit is hurting the team’s chances of winning the past few weeks. This unit can’t blow it on a big play a fifth week in a row, can it? It seems about as likely as a punter pushing around a linebacker. Oh, wait Brandon Fields did that last week. ADVANTAGE: Even. 

Coaching: Two rookie coaches. Two losing teams. Both out of the playoffs. Both looking for answers and not finding many. ADVANTAGE: Even.