The Miami Dolphins Should Have Kept Lousaka Polite

Yesterday afternoon the Miami Dolphins made a lot of cuts to get to the mandatory 53-man roster. One of those cuts was releasing fullback Lousaka Polite, who I believe is one of the best fullbacks in the NFL.

I understand that the Dolphins drafted the versatile HB/TE Charles Clay this offseason to replace him, but I still don't like the move. I believe that Miami should have kept both players. Polite was just too good to let go. He has converted on 95.3% of his 3rd or 4th and one yard situations since 2008. He was a first down machine, and now he is going to be that first down generator for another team.

I know that the fullback position is practically a lost art in the NFL, but Polite did it so well that it didn't make sense to get rid of him. He was due $1.35 million this season, but that is a small price to pay for such an automatic player and such a fan favorite.

We will definitely see what Clay can do now, though, because he will be on the field a lot. Don't get me wrong, I like Clay a lot and think he will be special, I just like Polite a lot too and think he should have been kept. It'll be exciting to see Clay lining up behind Chad Henne this year, because defenses will also have to account for him catching the ball, but I doubt that he will be able to do what Lou did on 3rd or 4th and short. Handing it off to Polite on short yardage situations was probably the safest and most effective play that Miami ran. Now it will be more difficult.

Thanks for reading, and let me know what you think. We don't talk about Polite much because of the position he is in and what he does, but I think he deserves discussion, because he has done a lot for the Miami Dolphins.

Who's the Face of the Dolphins Franchise?

Hello Dol-Fans!

With the whirlwind of roster changes in Miami (and every other NFL franchise) this year, my lovely bride asked me, “who will be the ‘Face of the Franchise’ for the Dolphins now?” I have to admit… that’s a great question, and deserves to be addressed, Here goes...

Key veteran departures of RB’s Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams leaves an obvious franchise marketing void, and this wasn’t addressed through electric FA acquisitions, or a sexy First Round Draft pick. So who will be “that guy” now?

Before I proceed… please allow me to go on the record by clarifying that I firmly believe in drafting the “best player available”, and I applaud Miami for selecting OL Mike Pouncey for that very reason. I simply don’t believe he’s worthy of such a high profile honor at this point.

Logic would dictate that an easily recognizable figure like newly acquired RB Reggie Bush, Miami’s prodigal son DE/OLB Jason Taylor (“J.T.”), Pro Bowler OLB Cameron “Earthquake” Wake, high profile WR Brandon Marshall, or even Defensive leader ILB Karlos Dansby could potentially assume the part, but would that be prudent for the Dolphins Organization? Do they want fans to cling to the ghosts of seasons past (“J.T.”), unproven commodities of the present (Bush), or boldly leapfrog into the future(Pouncey)?

Many NFL franchises splatter the image of their sexy First Round Draft selections all over the media, as to boldly announce… this is our future! Stereotypically, these are Heisman Trophy winning QB’s (i.e. Cam Newton) or RB’s (i.e. Mark Ingram) that franchises mortgage their futures against, hoping to boost ticket and merchandise sales. Rarely do you see a franchise market an Offensive or Defensive Lineman as their representing “face” (aside from the Detroit Lions of course). If Miami were to use a Lineman, wouldn’t it make sense to use back-to-back Pro Bowler OT Jake Long? Nah, Jake’s not that kind of player; he’s a blue collar kind of guy – thank God!

So who will hail as face of South Beach football? If it were up to me… I’d pick a motivated, fearless, team-first player like WR Davone Bess, FB Lousaka Polite, or CB Vontae Davis. Thank goodness I’m not the Head of Dolphins Marketing and Sales huh’!

What’s your take?

I Need You: Vote For Your Miami Dolphins To Make The Pro Bowl

The Miami Dolphins players need your help to get into the Pro Bowl.

Pro Bowl voting has been open for a little while, and it is important that you take a couple minutes out of your time to vote for them. Just click on the link below and put your favorite Dolphins in the Pro Bowl:

http://www.nfl.com/probowl/ballot?icampaign=PB_topheader

You can vote as many times as you would like, and you don't have to vote for every position. You can also just vote for Dolphins players by clicking the drop down arrow next to "All Teams" and selecting Miami Dolphins.

I do not know who the leaders are in each position, but we need to make sure players like Vontae Davis and Lousaka Polite make it in even though they aren't household names yet.

Don't even bother leaving a comment, just go to the link above and vote for every Dolphins player at least three times. We will have a bigger impact than you think.

Thanks for reading, now get to it.

Subscribe to DolphinShout

23-20 And The Miami Dolphins Are Back On Track!

Once again the Miami Dolphins failed to let me relax on my Sunday afternoon, but I guess I can forgive them because they pulled out a win.

There are a few things that we learned about this team, and the first is that our offense works well with a balance of both rushing and passing the ball. The Dolphins ran exactly the same number of running plays as passing plays with 39 apiece. The best part is that our passing game worked just as well as it has during any game so far this season without having to completely eliminate the running game.

Not only did Brandon Marshall have another huge game with 10 receptions for 127 yards, but Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams also had a great game with 137 combined yards off 32 carries.

Chad Henne also did well with 231 yards, 2 TDs, and 1 int. He shook off his early pick and was great in leading the team to the victory. Henne's performance is also a testimony of the Dolphins offensive line who didn't allow a single sack and hardly ever allowed the Packers defenders near him.

Another thing we learned is that Cameron Wake is officially here! Wake had three sacks on Aaron Rodgers, and Rodgers constantly felt his presence throughout the game. We have known that Wake was going to be a beast this season, and today was the day he finally broke out. The man is incredible, and I am glad the Dolphins saw what he was capable of when they signed him from the CFL.

The Miami Dolphins special teams didn't really get in the way this week, which was a relief after the Monday night game. There were a couple of close calls with a tipped punt and a holding call during a made field goal, but Dan Carpenter just made the field goal from 10 yards further and the tipped punt didn't result in anything as bad as the New England game.

Our special teams is still a concern because of their weakness on the left side, so I hope that special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi is able to fix that problem before next weeks matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

And, was anyone else surprised that Lousaka Polite didn't get a first down when he ran it on 3rd and 1? He is usually so automatic, but I guess the Packers knew that he would get the ball on such a short run. That play was fine with me, but what really made me mad was Ronnie Brown's run on the next play on 4th down. Brown was almost a yard past the first-down marker and it was obvious that he got the first on the replay, but the refs still didn't overturn their call that Brown was short. I would have been pretty mad about that call if Miami had lost, but I guess I'll let it slide after the victory.

And finally, Brandon Marshall's 10 catches on this game puts him at 37 for the season. That means he needs 63 more catches in the 11 remaining games this season. As long as Marshall can average 6 catches in each game he will be set to reach 100.

That's all for now, and thanks everybody for reading. Now go and celebrate that your team is back above .500!

Subscribe to DolphinShout