Are all of the same bozos from Dolphins� past who pop the cork on champagne to celebrate the only undefeated season of the Super Bowl era getting worried on two fronts this year? New England remains undefeated, marching on in juggernaut fashion, while the 2007 Dolphins have made it through ten games without changing the zero in the win column. In Philadelphia, the Dolphins started 26 year old rookie QB John Beck against the Eagles, only to be outdone by former Dolphin A.J. Feely in a 17-7 snore-a-thon.
Dolphins� Offense
Miami�s offense has made headlines this year by:
- Losing starting RB Ronnie Brown to a torn ACL.
- Allowing starting QB Trent Green to block and have his head subsequently steamrolled for the second year in a row.
- Trading away top receiver Chris Chambers.
- Hinting that Cheech Williams could return from psycho, and herbal, therapy to play Monday night. Apparently, he will play based on the latest report on ESPN.com.
Without much to live for, Miami coach Cam Cameron decided to expedite the rebuilding process by penciling BYU standout John Beck into the starting line-up against the Eagles. Other than 4 completions to first round pick Ted Ginn Jr., the offense under Beck rewarded Cameron�s faith with a lot of reasons to question it.
- A horrible 2 for 11 (18% on 3rd down). Throw in failing on 4th and 1, too. This performance deviated from their respectable ranking of 17th on third down for the season, and a league leading 90% on 4th downs entering the game.
- Five drives consisting of only 3 plays.
- Seven total punts.
- Five rushes for negative yardage by starting RB Jesses Chatman (-24 yards on those runs), including a blunderful -13 yards on the fourth down noted.
- Beck completed only 41% of his passes at a woeful 5 yards per attempt.
- 1 trip inside Philadelphia�s 20 yard line.
- Only 47 offensive plays.
- And most importantly, 0 points by the unit. Kicker Jay Feely came up short on a 47 yard FG try and the �Fins were stopped on 4 downs starting at the 1 yard line, capped off by Chatman trying his best to record a dash for a 99 yard safety. Jesse is obviously a fan of Jim Marshall of the old Purple People Eaters.
Outside the tuna net the Dolphins performed well in very few areas:
- WR Ted Ginn Jr. started and resembled at least a marginal NFL player, catching a career best 4 passes.
- Chatman totaled 96 yards on his other 17 carries. Beck also targeted him 5 times in the pump and dump passing game but he only hauled in one of the throws. If nothing else, Cameron likes to include him in the offense. Coming into the season there was some debate that Chatman and Ronnie Brown would split carries, though that never materialized when Brown put up solid numbers until his injury occurred.
- Beck did not turn the ball over (though he fumbled once out of bounds) and the pass protection didn�t allow any sacks to the Eagles, who are tied for 7th in that area with the Steelers. Two tight ends and a FB saw significant time in pass situations to counter the Eagles� propensity to blitz.
- After the game, Chatman also provided one of the better quotes I�ve heard when he summed up his play by stating, �The largest room in the world is self-improvement.� Way to philosophize the higher path to 10 straight losses.
Other game trends and notes:
- Miami ran Chatman on the first play of 8 of their 11 possessions, and two of those drives that began with passes started with the Dolphins down by 10 points, trying to get back into the game. Philadelphia is 12th in the league against the run, which isn�t bad, but it seemed based on the play calls that their game plan on offense was to limit Beck�s overall influence on the outcome because�
- He really stared at his primary targets and looked to dump the ball off quickly. It appeared that if his first read was covered, he had been ordered to look for the outlet immediately, ignoring any other downfield opportunities.
- Beck ran 6 plays from the shotgun formation, completing only 1 pass.
- Of Beck�s 22 attempts, 17 were within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage. Look for the number of longer throws to increase against the Steelers as he did complete three of his five passes over 15 yards and his motion looked more comfortable when throwing the ball deeper.
- On running plays to the left and in the middle, Chatman carried 17 times for 52 yards. His more explosive carries cam around the right end where he ran a mere 5 times for 25 yards, and that total was significantly better before his huge loss on 4th and goal.
- Chatman is small and powerful (sort of like Maurice Jones-Drew) and showed some decent cutback skills, exactly how Thomas Jones hurt the Steelers when they weren�t waving at him like he was headed off to WWII. The five games at Heinz Pasture prior to Monday night may neutralize some of Chatman�s natural abilities. Of course, in the words of the great Dan Rooney, �There is nothing wrong with our field.� The nation can�t wait to see the new sod, Dan.
Dolphins� Defense
Brian Westbrook carried for 148 yards in route to the Eagles amassing 202 total rushing yards. Bruce Arians is probably overjoyed, thinking of ways he can implement another reverse psychology game plan. Once more he can totally ignore any advantage the Steelers might have and put the franchise at risk behind the Steelers� worst pass blocking offensive line since film was invented.
- Here we go again. I�m afraid to mention this but the Dolphins rank 30th against the run. Their lack of speed hurts on the outside as Westbrook gained large chunks on runs around left end.
- In the middle, the Eagles had little success running against Traylor, Holliday, and MLB Channing Crowder who has been filling in for Zach Thomas. Crowder recorded 12 solo tackles in the game and was able to avoid engagement.
- The Dolphins� defensive front 7 just doesn�t have much in the impact player department. They had approximately 5 pressures. Their only sack (almost) was recorded by CB Will Allen, resulting in a fumble recovery. Allen was in the neutral zone on the play, nullifying the sack and strip.
- Another similarity the Dolphins have with recent pass rush terrors like the Browns and Jets � they rank 28th in the league with only 12 sacks. Stats like this matter little when defenses face the feeble five.
- And now on to everyone�s hero, Joey Porter. The member of the 75th Anniversary team who somehow beat out LB�s like Kevin Greene and Levon Kirkland. The record holder for the highest trash talk to performance ratio in league history. Pound for pound, the biggest asshole to put on the black and gold in my lifetime.
- If you�re going Monday night, please take your Thanksgiving leftovers in the event that Peezy gets to Ben�and then pelt him mercilessly with cranberry sauce and green bean casserole when he does his kick celebration thing, just like he pelted our ears with his never ending BS.
- Porter actually looked interested in this game. He finished with 7 solo tackles, his high for the season, and the most I can recall next to his name in the stat sheet since 2002. He even pursued a few plays more than five yards from where he lined up.
- Of course, three tackles were of the �out-of-bounds is Joey�s best friend� variety. He was also turned inside and swallowed whole on one of Westbrook�s long runs.
- Most of all, it�s extremely satisfying to see Porter�s replacement, the Silverback, playing at a Pro Bowl level and earning a trip to Hawaii, not talking his way onto the plane. I always felt that James Harrison was better and given the chance, he has proven me right. I like that.
- The Dolphins picked McNabb twice and Feeley once. The +3 in turnovers for the game moved Miami up to -5 for �07. All 3 interceptions occurred within Miami�s 5 yard line so they turned out to be more like coffin-corner punts. As you can tell by the scoring, Miami�s offense couldn�t convert any of these into points.
- McNabb�s problems looked to be his own, not the result of any Miami defensive machinations. The unit as a whole played a vanilla scheme that resembled something you would see in pre-season. 4-3, with King Joey on the strong side for the most part.
- Miami allowed scores on all 3 Eagle trips inside their 20 � two TD�s and a FG. In 2007 Miami is next to last in the league in red zone defense which is exactly what the Steelers need after a lackluster red zone performance by their offense.
Dolphins� Special Teams
- The Dolphins� Ted Ginn Jr. did nothing to allay the special teams concerns of the Steeler nation. Ginn Jr. took a punt at his 13, juked the first defender, used two nice seal blocks to split two more Eagles, and then turned on the jets to get outside the numbers on the opposite side of the field, scoring the only TD of the game for Miami.
- Another slanted statistic to consider is punt return average. Thanks to the 87 yard score, the Dolphins moved up to 4th in the league. That ranking is based on a mere 15 punt returns, a result of their defense giving up field position when they do cause a stop. Fair catches aren�t the issue, as the Dolphins have only 6 this year.
- On kickoff returns the Dolphins averaged only 17.5 yards against the Eagles, with Ginn and Patrick Cobbs returning. The Steelers can probably bump up the Fins� 27th ranked kickoff unit, unless they continue with their pooch kick strategy.
- Every coverage unit in the league appears to be impenetrable when compared to the 11-man sideshow the Steelers dump onto the field when a ball is kicked.
Intangibles/Other Thoughts
- The Jets game disturbed me as much as the first AFC championship loss to the Patriots. While not nearly as important, it left the same thought, �What just happened to this team?�
- Did the loss to the Jets have any considerable effect on the Steelers� confidence? In one sense, I hope it did suppress what appears to be over-confidence that controls this team, and staff, whenever they win 2 games in a row. On the contrary, is their confidence shattered?
- Unless I�ve totally repressed some of the dark times in the 80�s, this has to be the saddest excuse for an offensive line to wear black and gold since Chuck Noll had yet to become Emperor. I tried to consider that Ben was failing at his new task of making the line calls, but I�ve had enough people remind me that the line couldn�t pass block last year, either. They look pathetic and disorganized from Smith to Colon.
- Considering the state of the NFL, this Steeler squad is barely above average in a league where the majority of teams are below-average. If you disagree with this assessment, consider how bad the offensive line and special teams units are. Think about, regardless of their ranking, how the defense has allowed Denver and New York to drive down the field to win and tie games, respectively, at the end of regulation. Ask yourself how many players are playing at a Pro Bowl level. Two or three? Right now the only person separating this team from the huge mass of mediocrity is Ben, and we�re lucky to have one of the four or five QB�s that actually belong in the NFL.
- At least they�re playing at home.
Score
Using the home field logic, the Steelers will win 28-17. But nothing would surprise me.