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| Chad Henne's Injury May Have Been More Costly Than We Thought |
I was completely wrong about Thigpen. I thought that he would be a spark to the Miami Dolphins offense and help put more points on the board. Instead, he didn't put a single point on the board as the Dolphins were shut out by the Chicago Bears 16-0.
Granted, it was not all Thigpen's fault that the Miami Dolphins lost. The Miami Dolphins were absolutely decimated by injuries. On top of all the other injuries the Dolphins sustained before Thursday night's game, we saw center Cory Procter, who was in for injured starter Joe Berger, go down with an apparent season-ending ACL tear, and we saw Brandon Marshall go down with a hamstring injury in the first half.
Normally, the injury to Brandon Marshall would be considered a killer for the Dolphins, but it was nowhere near as bad of a loss as the injury to Cory Procter.
The Miami Dolphins are able to function without Brandon Marshall because they have other dangerous receivers to throw to.
Losing Cory Procter was a killer because it forced the Dolphins to move left guard Richie Incognito to the center spot, who apparently doesn't play center too much. Many of his snaps were too low, and Tyler Thigpen had to constantly reach for the ball wherever it went, and on top of those bad snaps, Thigpen had terrible protection from the beat-up line. He was sacked 6 times in just 22:09 with the ball.
The Dolphins running game also suffered extreme hardship because of the depleted line. Thigpen was the team's leading rusher with 6 attempts for 27 yards. Ronnie Brown had 3 carries for 10 yards, and Ricky Williams had 3 carries for 1 yard. Those numbers just tell you what kind of game it was for the Dolphins.
The only bright spot in the game was Cameron Wake. Wake was incredibly disruptive throughout the game. He drew countless holding penalties on the man blocking him, a sack, and a bunch of tackles behind the line of scrimmage.
As for Brandon Marshall, he dropped two passes that should have been easy catches before he left the game with his hamstring injury. Hopefully he can start to pick things up. At least the Dolphins have a bunch of talented receivers to step in for him. Now all we need is an offensive line to give our quarterback enough time to find those receivers.
I am not sure if this will be the end of Thigpen or not. He didn't get much help from the running game or offensive line, but he didn't do much himself. We will see in this extended week where the Miami Dolphins quarterback situation ends up.
I just find it weird that our 3rd-string quarterback was taking snaps from our 3rd-string center. That doesn't happen too often.
Thanks for reading, and please feel free to leave a comment.
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