I was expecting to see the Cardinals sites pretty confident in a win this week against the Dolphins, but I was surprised to see that they weren't just assuming that Miami was a bad team that they would dominate. Here's what they had to say.
Here is Raising Zona writer Scott Allen talking about the Dolphins:
"...this team is chalk full of good players. They are 1-2 but much tougher than their record suggests. Their two losses are to the Houston Texans and New York Jets. They lost to the Jets last weekend after kicker Dan Carpenter let them down by missing a couple of field goals that could have won the game, a game they eventually lost 23-20 in overtime. Their lone victory is over the Oakland Raiders two weeks ago, a Raiders team that defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers last week."That surprised me a little bit. Like I said, I really wasn't expecting much love for Miami from these sites.
Also from the same piece on Raising Zona, they talk about Reggie Bush:
"Dolphins Running back Reggie Bush is averaging six yards per carry so far this season. He has 300 yards on 50 carries. Pretty impressive for a guy who has his skeptics and thought to be on the downside of his career. Its been awhile since Bush has been a featured back. Bush, however, got hurt last week in the loss to the Jets. His status for this week is still up in the air. If he does play, the Cards will need to focus on containing him."He's spot on here. Reggie, if healthy, will be the focal point of the Dolphins offense. That much is definitely apparent after these first three weeks. Let's cross our fingers and hope that Reggie is good to go this week, because we could really use his help. Here is an excerpt on the Dolphins run defense so far from Revenge of the Birds, written by Jess Root:
"...three teams that like to run the ball struggled mightily against the Dolphins and have done well otherwise. Arizona, though, has struggled with the run, averaging only 2.8 yards per carry thus far. They have not bailed on it, though. They are 12th in the league in attempts per game. At a glance, you would think that all Arizona needs to do is just throw the ball. After all, Miami has struggled against the pass."It is no secret that Miami has one of the best run defenses in the NFL. In that same article, they put up a cool chart showing how opposing running backs have done against the Dolphins compared to their other games this year. Check it out here. It's pretty cool, and it's fun to see how much Miami's defense has limited these guys.
So there you have it. Raising Zona predicted a 26-14 Cardinals win. Revenge of the Birds predicted a little closer matchup by saying that Miami would cover the spread (+6 in Arizona's favor), but that the Cardinals would ultimately win the close one.
Thanks for stopping by. My email is paul@dolphinshout.com. I'm on twitter @PaulDSmythe.
