The Miami Dolphins Face the Kansas City Chiefs

The Miami Dolphins face the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday in practically a must win game for the Chiefs. Only 12 teams in NFL history have survived an 0-3 start to make the playoffs. The Dolphins are favored by 5 points in this game and that could spell trouble as Miami is 6-23 the last 10 years when favored by more than 3 points at home. The spread is sure to plummet once that stat hits the wires…
 
Miami is difficult for handicappers to predict because of the inconsistent play at QB. The startling stat sticking out in Bill Lazor’s throbbing head is Ryan Tannehill’s 0.6 passer rating on throws of 20 yards or more. The Miami QB is 1 of 7 for 22 yards, 0 TDs and 1 INT. Last week the Bills disregarded Tannehill throwing deep and brought the house on every down. Surely watching the film has Eric Berry licking his chops.

The Chiefs find themselves 0-2 mainly due to stud RB Jamal Charles nursing a high ankle sprain. Explosive draft pick De'Anthony Thomas has yet to play a regular season down with a pulled hamstring. Both of these two players are expected back, relieving some of the burden on Alex Smith who has been ineffective in the passing game after signing a franchise contract.

De'Anthony Thomas presents a serious challenge for a Miami special teams unit that played about as poorly as possible against the Bills. Thomas returned a punt for a TD in the pre-season and is looking forward to duplicating the feat against Miami. The Dolphins will need to plug the leaks quick before facing Thomas.

The story will look much the same this week for the Dolphins, though fortunately the KC front 4 is not as formidable as Buffalo. The Miami OL held up fairly well against a relentless Buffalo defense. They will be presented with a similar 8-man front sprinkled with a few new wrinkles as KC aims to force Tannehill to win the game. Buffalo showed Miami’s vulnerability in the deep passing game and teams will use the same formula until it's fixed, one way or the other...

The hope for a big Miami offensive showing lies once again on completing a few early long passes. If Tannehill can break the drought and hit his receivers for big plays, the defense will back off and the running game will come alive. If the same ineptitude prevails, the game could very well turn into a low scoring nail-biter with the outcome decided by a single play somewhere along the way.

The Dolphins should return a couple linebackers this week bringing depth to a lackluster group. Jason Trusnik's massive snap total may have played a part in the total special teams collapse at Buffalo. The usually sure handed Jarvis Landry made some rookie mistakes fielding punts, but there's no returning to Marcus Thigpen who was wisely snapped up by Bill Belichick. This unit needs Trusnik at full strength and completely in on special teams.

Cameron Wake has probably heard enough about being handled by a 7th round rookie in Buffalo. The Miami front 4 is one of the better units in the league when they decide to show up for a game. It’s hard to fathom how the Bills took both Wake and Vernon out of the game last week, and equally hard to fathom that both will underperform for a second straight week.

The thought here is, this will be a closely contested defensive struggle. The team making a big play in any facet should come out on top at the end. Should Tannehill get untracked in the deep passing game KC could be in for trouble, but he has not shown that ability in 34 starts and it is doubtful to suddenly blossom. The absence of Knowshon Moreno was clearly evident in Buffalo and he won’t be playing any time soon.

Everything points to Miami needing a flawless defensive and special teams performance to come out on top. While the NFL has shown a dependency on great QB play to consistently win, the Dolphins have no such luxury and must depend on a total team effort.

Bill Lazor has his hands full on an offense that seems a mismatch of talents. The big play speed receivers do not particularly block well in the run game and the QB cannot complete long passes. If things go sour early the boo-birds will surface in Miami, Tannehill's honeymoon is over. The calls for Matt Moore have not surfaced yet, but the call is waiting on the back of tongues all over Dolphin land.

Tannehill has lit-it-up approximately one out of every three games and there’s a high probability this could be his week. The Miami faithful have been blowing up the blogs in a virtual showdown between believers and non-believers. Tannehill needs this game badly to right ship and regain the confidence of teammates, coaching staff and Miami fandom as a whole.

Miami wins a close contest. The offense pulls in and works on its strengths in the running game. Expect to see less Wallace and more of Jarvis Landry and plenty of tight ends. When a QB is struggling with a facet of his game, it makes little sense to force him into those situations. Joe Philbin showed this train of thought when deciding to sit on the running game at the end of the first half last week.

Lamar Miller may take a backseat to Damien Williams in this game and Daniel Thomas is looking for redemption. Miami will pull back and go with a power running game and sure up special teams in an effort to win a close contest. Tannehill will get a couple of shots, but the Dolphin coaching staff is well aware of the .06 passer rating on deep throws and the demoralizing affect those missed opportunities have on a football team.

Miami wins a close one with a defensive touchdown!

Miami Must Sign Smith or Watch the Exodus

Matt Flynn is now a Seahawk, Peyton Manning looks to be deciding on any team except the Dolphins, Kyle Orton couldn’t agree to a deal, even Chad Henne ran out the door as fast as his feet could carry him. Jim Harbaugh and Jeff fisher never took the Dolphins seriously and used Miami to leverage the teams they had already selected. It’s become obvious, Stephen Ross is more worried about his purse strings than fielding a winning team.

What could Ireland have said the Flynn, “you aren’t worth a NFL starter’s salary, because we don’t think you’re better than Matt Moore.” Something does not add up with the Dolphins losing Flynn to the Seahawks. Flynn will have to compete with Tarvaris Jackson and no team will ever tell a player he does not have to compete for a position. This all comes down to money and Ross is not willing to pay.

Ross talked a good game about beating any offer for Peyton Manning, but actions speak louder than words. Ross has a leash on Ireland and it’s probably in the form of, “make one more high-dollar mistake and you’re out of here.” Ireland has become afraid to pull the trigger because he is afraid to lose his job.

Even if the Dolphins try to sell Ryan Tannehill or Brandon Weeden as the plan, it does not make sense. A rookie is not going to come in and start, it rarely happens and with the rookie cap there is no need to worry about spending money to develop a player. The strategy of developing players through the draft means there has to be a starter here while the player develops.

Miami is going to tell us Flynn was not the guy and Joe Philbin should know that better than anyone else should. Why bring Flynn to Miami if Philbin already knew he was not the guy? No, this purely about the dollars, unless Ross can bring in a celebrity QB like Manning, he is not willing to pay the price to make his team better.

Alex Smith will not come any cheaper than Flynn and they cannot seriously be thinking David Garrard, who incidentally turned them down last year, is the answer. Garrard couldn’t make it in Jacksonville. They will look very foolish when their low-balling tactics leave them without a QB as it did last year.

It comes down to one simple fact, Stephen Ross is more concerned about making money from the Dolphins than field a winning product. Every QB and agent knows Miami will not pay the value of the position and the trips to Dolphin camp are maneuvers designed to raise the price another franchise is willing to pay. Flynn had already been to Seattle, they made an offer and he came to Miami to force them to sweeten the deal. Flynn did not want to play for the Dolphins.

Telling Peyton Manning, 36 years old, coming off injury to name his price sends out the signal Miami is desperate. No player wants to work for a desperate team, they want to know a team has a plan. Miami clearly has no plan. The only two players Miami could possibly have planned for are Manning and Flynn, they could not have foreseen Alex Smith coming on the market and certainly, David Garrard is not a plan.

The QB is the value position in the NFL. Belichick understands this and continually has multiple first round picks because he develops players and then trades them at a high value. Ryan Mallett may never step on the field in New England, but Belichick will get more than he paid for Mallett. The frugality forces the Dolphins into desperation offers that turn players away.

The only thing Miami can do now is backpedal and tell the fans they had intended to draft a QB all along or pay Alex Smith and say he is a better option than Flynn. Smith may well be a better option and for once, the Dolphins could get lucky, but more likely, San Francisco is going to raise the offer and Miami will have been used yet again. At number eight in the draft, who could the Dolphins have planned for, Ryan Tannehill?

Flynn came on the market because a team that knows how to build through the draft, couldn’t pay two starting salaries. Green Bay already had Aaron Rodgers when they not only drafted Flynn in the seventh round but also drafted Brian Brohm in the second. The Dolphins will say they are looking at the draft, but the only candidate that might be viable at number eight is Ryan Tannehill.

Tannehill could very likely never make it to number eight in the draft. Tannehill has started 19 games at Texas A&M, the Ireland (Parcells) formula dictates a QB have at least 30 starts in college. How does Tannehill fit into that plan? He doesn’t, because Miami does not have a plan. The Dolphins are a rudderless ship with a cheap, desperate owner who is in the league to make money.

Are Miami fans going to be told Matt Moore is the plan? If Matt Moore was ever the plan, then everything the Dolphins have done this off-season must be having an enormous negative effect on his confidence. No, Moore is not the plan, Moore is a fall back option. The plan was to sign Peyton Manning and that was because Ross thought Manning could fill the seats and hence Ross’ pockets.

Ross can hide behind the curtain like the Wizard of Oz, pulling the strings of his puppets but the truth is becoming obvious, Ross is all about the money. There is only one hope for redemption and that is to sign Alex Smith, whether that was thought of two weeks ago is doubtful, but not signing Smith will have massive repercussions among Miami fans.

The voice will be heard loud and clear when the tally of season ticket holders dwindles to nothing. Miami fans have suffered long enough with poor ownership and a front office that has not drafted a first round QB in 28 years and not brought in a viable free agent since Dan Marino retired.

The jury is out Mr. Ross, fail to sign Smith and watch the exodus of fans from Joe Robbie Stadium. The ball is in your court, fumble again and pay the price.