If you read this before 8:20 p.m., please scroll to the bottom for a Heat roster addition.
News and notes on a Friday:
### A bunch of notable nuggets from Pro Football Focus' analysis of the Dolphins-Bears game:
1) Offensively, PFF gave positive grades to four of the Dolphins' five starting offensive linemen. Billy Turner got the best grade (a 1.0) and Dallas Thomas had a barely positive grade (.2). Mike Pouncey had the only negative grade among the starters (-.1). Turner played 33 snaps, compared with 24 for Jason Fox and Thomas and 17 for Pouncey and Ja'Wuan James.
Among the backup offensive linemen, Jamil Douglas got good marks (1.1) and JD Walton (-4.1) and Donald Hawkins (-3.0) got the worst of any offensive linemen. Walton, who started for the Giants last season, is trailing Sam Brenner for the backup center job.
2) The Dolphins gave fairly equal snaps to all four players competing for the No. 3 tight end job: Gerrell Robinson (21), Jake Stoneburner and Tim Semisch (19 apiece) and Arthur Lynch (18). PFF gave all four negative grades, with Semisch graded the worst.
3) Hawkins played the most snaps offensively (56), followed by Jacques McClendon (46), Kevin Cone and JD Walton (35 apiece), Jeff Linkenbach (34) and Cobi Hamilton (33).
4) Miami's worst grade on offense went to Mike Gillislee (minus 4.3). Besides fumbling, Gillislee allowed two quarterback hurries. PFF gave the Dolphins' best offensive grade to Dion Sims (plus 1.4).
5) Ryan Tannehill was 5 for 5 for 37 yards on balls thrown between 1 and 9 yards and 1 for 1 for 19 yards on his only ball thrown between 11 and 20 yards (to Greg Jennings). His one incompletion was batted down.
6) Defensively, Anthony Johnson --- who had three neutral zone infractions --- had Miami's worst grade (minus 5.3). Miami's three best grades on defense were given to DeAndre Coleman (2.), linebacker Zach Vigil (1.9) and linebacker Mike Hull (1.4).
7) Jordan Kovacs and Cedric Thompson played the most snaps on defense --- 57 and 47, respectively. They're competing for the fifth safety job, and Thompson would presumably be the front-runner if the two players are very close. But Thompson missed chances to make plays on Chicago's final two touchdowns.
8) Chris McCain played the fewest snaps of any Miami defender (just eight) because Miami started only two linebackers and McCain injured his ankle (nothing serious) when he stepped on Derrick Shelby late in the first half.
9) Here's how the cornerbacks did: Tony Lippett (39 snaps, only pass thrown against him completed for 8 yards); Zack Bowman (31 snaps, allowed 4 of 5 passes to be caught for 33 yards); Bobby McCain (31 snaps, allowed 2 of 2 passes to be caught for 15 yards and had two holding penalties); Will Davis (29 snaps, 2 for 4 passes caught for 29 yards); Jamar Taylor (23 snaps, 1 of 2 completed for 6 yards), Brice McCain (16 snaps, not targeted); Brent Grimes (9 snaps, not targeted).
10) Walt Aikens, filling in for Louis Delmas, played the most among the starters on defense (39 snaps) and was solid. PFF gave him a .6 grade.
11) Though Zach Vigil did a lot of good things (including a sack), all four passes thrown against him were caught, for 32 yards.
12) PFF gave negative grades across the board to Miami on special teams. Coverage on punts and kickoffs wasn't good enough.
If you missed it, please see the last post for position-by-position analysis of last night's game.
CHATTER
### Sun Life Financial’s naming rights deal with the Dolphins expires at the end of January, and the Dolphins tell us that Sun Life’s name is coming off the stadium in early February regardless of whether Miami has reached a deal with a new naming rights partner or not. The Dolphins, who are rebranding their facility as a new stadium, expect to have a new stadium name by next August.
### Several wealthy people have been inquiring about buying the Marlins, but one of them said Jeffrey Loria conveyed to him that he has no interest in selling at this time, despite Miami having third-longest playoff drought in baseball.
### How tepid has the Marlins offense been? This is pretty jarring: Among the eight positions (non-pitchers), the Marlins rank 21st or lower in RBIs produced by five (left field, catcher, first base, second base, third base). Their left fielders have the third-fewest, because Christian Yelich has driven in just 29.
Marlins management says it’s puzzled with how bad they’ve been in the clutch (.202 with the bases loaded; .199 with two outs and runners in scoring position). But why has Dan Jennings sometimes batted Casey McGehee cleanup when he’s 4 for 32 hitting fourth? He's hitting fourth again tonight!
### The Heat has 17 sets of back-to-back games (same as last season), but despite their age and history of knee issues, keep in mind that Dwyane Wade scored more on the second night of back-to-backs than in any other scenario last season, and Amar’e Stoudemire numbers were very similar regardless of how many days rest he received. Stoudemire, determined to have a big year, was at AA Arena working on his game today.
### Zoran Dragic, who was OK with the Heat trading him to Boston because he wanted more playing time, signed to play in Russia, reportedly for $1 million.
### According to a team source, the Heat has agreed to terms with 6-11 center Keith Benson, who has appeared in three NBA games and played a total of nine minutes, all for Golden State on a 10-day contract late in the 2011-12 season. Benson, 28, was drafted 48th overall by Atlanta out of Oakland (Mich.) in 2011.
The deal, first reported by Real GM, is a standard training camp, non-guaranteed deal.
He has played in Italy, the Philippines, Belarus, China and this past season in Lithuania and Estonia. He also has played in the NBDL and was a member of Orlando's Summer League team last month.
Benson is the Heat's 16th player under contract and seventh power rotation player. James Ennis' deal is non-guaranteed and Tyler Johnson's partially guaranteed.
Teams can carry 20 through training camp but no more than 15 once the regular season begins.
Twitter: @flasportsbuzz
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