The halfway point of the season, the Miami Dolphins 3-3 host the 5-2 LA Rams. It’s going to be very different for the 3-3 Dolphins because their veteran fun loving QB is no longer at the helm as he is replaced by rookie Tua Tagovailoa. There aren’t many parallels to find in the history of the NFL but I do recall Eli Manning replacing Kurt Warner in NY for the Giants in 2004. The NY Giants were 5-4 and after replacing Kurt Warner who had thrown for 2054 yards with 6 TD’s and 4 INT’s ended up finishing the season 1-6 with Eli Manning at QB. Ryan Fitzpatrick after 6 games has 1535 yards with 10 TD’s and 7 INT’s. There are similarities, but to me the biggest disparity is that the Dolphins at 3-3 are only a game and half behind the Bills (5-2) while in 2004, the Giants at 5-4 were pretty far behind the division leading Philadelphia Eagles who were 8-1 and comfortably in first place as they cruised to a 13-3 record. After watching the play of the Bills against the NY Jets last week, those Bills are fortunate to have won that game.
So even though it’s technically game #8 for us and not the start of the second half of the season, this season will be forever divided from this point on. Did the Dolphins make the right move inserting their rookie QB with a chance to win the division? We’ll find out, and this Sunday’s matchup against the LA Rams will give us an idea. The Rams boast a +52 point differential after 7 games, the Dolphins +47. The Dolphins are 12th in the league in scoring (26.7PPG) while the Rams are 18th (25.1PPG). Defensively, the Rams are 2rd in the NFL allowing 17.7PPG and the Dolphins are right behind them at 3rd allowing 18.8PPG. The teams are pretty even but definitely take a different approach getting there. On offense the Rams truly have had a RB by committee approach with Darrell Henderson leading the team with 87 carries for 411 yards followed closely by Malcolm Brown with 65 carries for 274 yards. Cam Akers was drafted early (RD 2 pick #52) by the Rams but minor injuries have stifled his season. In contrast, the Dolphins have relied almost singularly on RB Myles Gaskin with 82 carries and 340 yards and then Matt Brieda has had a few carries sprinkled in some games for 33 carries and 115 yards. The disparity is even wider in the passing game where Gaskin has 27 receptions to Breida’s 7. For the Rams, they seldom throw to the backs, Goff loves the WR combo of Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp who have 30 and 37 receptions respectively. The Rams offense relies much more heavily on its run game than do the Dolphins, the Dolphins have about half the rushing yards.
On defense I think we match up well against the Rams passing game. The pass rush which has come alive can make things difficult for Goff. The Dolphins secondary, now at full strength with Byron Jones healthy opposite Xavien Howard. Nik Needham has been handling the slot and safeties Bobby McCain and Eric Rowe, along with Brandon Jones, Kavon Frazier and Noah Igbinoghene will probably once again leave the Rams to focus on the run game. At the time of this writing, I don’t believe the Dolphins have made a roster move to replace Davon Godchaux at DT. Raekwon Davis will start there but until they bring someone for the PS or acquire a DT DE’s Zach Sieler and Jason Strowbridge will likely fill in. This is important, because I think the Rams are going to try and control the game with their run game so our depth and strength on the front 7 will be imperative to success at stopping the run. The Dolphins are midpack allowing 745 yards rushing (124 YPG)) while the Rams are #12 with 702 yards allowed (100 YPG).
On offense, all I can do is guess as to how we attack the Rams. LOgic would dictate that we’re not going to be doing a lot of prototypical NFL dropbacks with Tua, that we will have him moving around to keep him away from Aaron Donald who as 8 sacks in 7 games, along with 15 QB hits. The good news is that no one else on this Rams defense is close to that, so the task will be neutralize Donald and take your chances with everyone else. My hope is that we get TE Mike Gesicki more involved in the offense. Only twice has Gesicki been targeted more than 5 times and in 2 games he’s had only 1 reception. I want that to change. He’s a big time weapon and should be better utilized. The Rams won’t be easy to run against but they have very little to go on with Tua except 3 plays in the Jets and his college film, so Tua is the “X” factor. In some ways I’d be surprised if they lean heavily on Tua in this game but sometimes great players make it so, and if that happens, I’m willing to let Tua be Tua.
GO DOLPHINS!!!
Finsmob Unleashed 
It’s go time! Go Phins!!!!
T minus Tua minutes…
They are going to defer on us……watch.. LOL
http://crackstreams.com/nfl-streams/2/
Cav, you the man!
LOL
Cam praying prior to snap lol
We need to contain Darrell Henderson on the edges and the WR end around.
Steelers pick six on first pass
Van Noy very active and vocal with the D so far today
Nice start by the D
Ogbah is really good
I wish he didn’t wear #91 ,but he is doing it service
NICE
I love when the other team punts LOL
Nice decision by Grant
HERE WE GO
Tua time
Where is Wilkins?
Incomplete
Or not Damn
Not a great start
Well he got hit and got back up!
yup. Gotta take that first hit. Clears the head and let’s you not worry about it.
Well, that sucked
First pass attempt a fumble.. Sigh…
Womp womp
But he’s got a decade or more to bounce back
BBM and Krishna … thinking of you both today. We were together to see Tannehill’s debut. lol
Brett Favre first pass was to himself
I expected nothing less. LMAO
Alright Reset
Man, discouraging very discouraging
He took too long to get the ball out of there.
I was going to post “if turnover before td the internet will melt” but I didn’t want to be negative. oops. And there it is.
Didn’t think they’d let him stay in the pocket on his first pass attempt.
I wanted us to draft Henderson
Great return
Rhino, I remember very well my friend! Though that game didn’t turn out so well lol
Get the ball out quick nice
OOOOOOOOH Ramsey ill!!!!
Looked like Williams gave up on that route
I live that deep pass early even though it was off
That screen was off
🙁
Wilkins is playing
Yeah, didn’t see him in the first series
Tua looks a little amped up right now. He needs to let the game slow down a little
Haack is Money
I bet you he could have completed that pass. LOL
Our special teams is good. I like that.
DEFENSE
Haack for MVP
PUNTER MVP? NO THANK YOU
Who is number 24!? FUCKING TACKLE
TBH, one of my worries with this game was the switch would stall our offenses progress.
Defense looks like shot so far
We had two weeks to prepare those opening two drives
Yelch!
Lets go Grant
Van Ginkle hands are still asleep
Coming X
C’mon
This is what the blog resorts to when Cox is inactive
If this defense keeps playing like shot we might have a shit piggy.
I think our d is playing pretty well.
They have been getting a hand on Goff’s passes a lot this game. They must have seen something on tape and drilled it this week.
That was a hell of a throw by Tua… just good defense.
Give credit to the DB
But that was a perfect pass
GREAT punt!! to nullify Rams potential field position win.
Haak is a probowler…..
That was almost a great play by Gesicki
watch for more batted passes
Van Noy with a big missed tackle
WILKINS INT
I guess Wilkins is playing
There’s Wilkins. Boo yah.
Or should I say TUAyah
There’s that bust Wilkins….lol
Some high energy going the other way now. woo hoo. Let’s get on the board!
uuuuuuhhhhhhhggg the left hand throws me off. It looks awkward
Also made that hand off look really ugly.
1st down on 2nd and Tua !!!
DRINK
Kindley pushing Gaskin forward. lol. That would make me super nervous as a small RB.
Grant man given a lot of room due to his shiftyness
Look at that… GRANT is a WR. 🙂
He is not a great WR, but his speed scares. Makes the turnaround for the catch so much easier.
3rd and goal… time for TE
This playcalling has been crap.
Nice!!!!!
NICE DART.
And when you say Miami
🎶🎶🎶
TD TUA
Great throw great catch
GREAT concentration by Parker! Got clotheslined in the mouth while trying to catch that one.
New ball game. 3 QTRs to go.
We outplayed them on the last two possessions for both teams.
He’s looked awesome
Maybe I’m just overly excited
But some of these throws – wow
Little things like the screen have been off
But wow, some of his passes…
Tua looked nervous to start , but can’t blame him for that one bit. First time in court my hands were shaking. Had to put them in my pockets.
Tua throws a laser TD.
Parker makes an all pro catch.
In case you want to see it again
Nice. I did not catch that ..
Date 11/1, 1st TD 11 from 1
beer!
Many more to share I hope
It’s like the whole team is trying to help Tua out. Great special teams and D.
1 to 11 on 11/1 for the 1st TD!
I wish it was for 11 yards
Did we forget how to tackle in 2 weeks?
I just thought I would mention, I am doing laundry
Howard ran that rout perfectly
Howard! C-mon Man!
Defense stopped them again.
This defense has guys getting their hands on balls all over the place.
Fuck
That sucks
Roberts POW
Fucking Awesome
Wow
HA!!
That no longer sucks