The regular season is upon us, as our Miami Dolphins host the Jacksonville Jaguars at Hard Rock Stadium at 1PM, Sunday September 8th. As we enter this game, there are many questions that will be answered shortly. Will Jalen Ramsey play? Will Aaron Brewer play? Jaelan Phillips will play, but how much? Will there actually be a heavy rotation on the defensive line? Which OLB’s will get the most snaps early in this 2024 season? Will the offensive line play well enough to protect our $212M QB? Will the Dolphins actually use the TE as a weapon and not an afterthought in our new offense? Which RB will get the most action, between RB Raheem Mostert, RB De’Von Achane and RB Jaylen Wright? I’ll have some answers, really just MY answers coming up!
It looks a little more likely that CB Jalen Ramsey may play, he’s supposed to be practicing today, and if he can do so successfully, he will surely be in the starting lineup. If not, he’ll have to wait until next Thursday against our division rival Buffalo Bills. It also appears that C Aaron Brewer, who has not practiced in a few weeks but logged two limited practices will be starting at C. That means Liam Eichenberg will start at RG. The O-line will be as follows – LT Terron Armstead – LG Robert Jones – C Aaron Brewer – RG Liam Eichenberg – RT Austin Jackson. On the D-line, it looks like LE Zach Siler, NT Benito Jones, and RE Calais Campbell. Behind them is Brandon Pili and Da’Shawn Hand, but I believe that DE/OLB Emmanuel Ogbah will be in the mix there as well, although he will surely log snaps at OLB as well, splitting time with Jaelan Phillips, Chop Robinson, Mo Kamara and Quinton Bell.
We were told early on there would be a heavy rotation on the D-line, which will keep players fresher, and allow better performance from all players. Last year, DE Christian Wilkins played 81% of the snaps at DE. That type of workload is supposedly out the window, and when your RDE is 38, you can believe it. The bigger question is not whether or not will have a heavy rotation, but rather will it be effective? That’s the fuzzy part, but Sunday, both in part will be revealed. We had quite a few D-linemen on our roster, and expected to carry more than 5, 6 if you count Ogbah. I could guess that quality won over quantity, but we’ll see if the so called “second wave” or “tsunami” is anywhere close to getting the job done. This will be a must watch.
I have been feeling since we acquired TE Jonnu Smith, who by the way will be listed as a FB, will be a big part of the offense. Not always the first target, but if #1 and #2 are covered, and Jonnu is open, and he should have plenty of opportunity to do just that with all the attention Hill and Waddle will be getting. Last season, TE Durham Smythe caught 35 passes. Also last season, with Atlanta, Jonnu Smith caught 50 passes, and keep in mind he was TE2 there with promising TE Kyle Pitts as the #1. One possibility that I’m well aware of is at least last season, Tua doesn’t hold onto the ball much, but just looking at the 35 receptions by Smythe, I can tell you he wasn’t the first target on the majority of those catches. Tua gets the ball out quick, many times out of necessity to avoid getting hit, but sometimes he extends plays, and I believe this season, that will increase as he has new contract, and I’m not saying he will be reckless, but I do think he’s going to try and keep plays going whereas last year he was trying to get through an entire season.
Trevor Lawrence had an uneven season, much like our own QB Tua Tagovailoa. Tua’s slide was more at the end of the season, Lawrence had a few good ones, a bad one, then a couple of good ones, but for the last games in the regular season, against the Ravens, Bucs and Titans, he was pretty awful, and I believe playing injured as well. This year, however, the Jaguars definitely improved the skill positions. The Jags drafted WR Brian Thomas from LSU. They also picked up WR Gabe Davis formerly of the Buffalo Bills. Christian Kirk is healthy now, after missing the last 5 regular season games and their playoff game. Kirk is a big part of their offense, and with Gabe Davis, and Brian Thomas, they’re more formidable. RB Travis Etienne is a solid back who rushed for over 1000 yards and had 11 rushing TD’s. The Jags also picked up former Bills OC Mitch Morse to solidify the O-line.
On defense, it starts with DE Josh Hines-Allen, who set a Jacksonville Jaguars record with 17.5 sacks last season, eclipsing the former record held by none other than our RDE Calais Campbell (14.5). The Jags picked up veteran DL Arik Armstead in FA from the 49ers. He’s a very disruptive lineman in his own right. MLB Foyesade Oluokun had 173 tackles and 111 of them were solo. In the secondary, the Jags added veteran CB Ronald Darby and he will start at LCB oppositeTyson Campbell. Darby started only 7 games for the Ravens last season while Campbell started 11. Antonio Johnson and Andre Cisco are the safeties. The secondary is the weakest part of the Jags defense, but their defense is great at getting pressure, so we’ll see how that affects our run:pass ratio.
We tend to start out the season pretty strong under MM, last year it was an impressive comeback victory in LA over the Chargers, 36-34. We’re home, and we tend to play better here, but the Jaguars, also a Florida team, won’t succumb to the heat like some other teams might. There are also a lot of questions about personnel, due to the myriad of injuries we have. If you told me before the season that C Aaron Brewer who started every game the last 2 seasons might not play Week 1, but OLB Jaelan Phillips will be playing, I’d call you crazy! As it turns out, they’ll both probably play, but you get my point. We need to start strong again, our schedule, at least at the moment is more favorable early on, home for the Jaguars, home for the Bills, at Seattle, home again for the Titans with whom we have a score to settle. Then we travel to Foxborough to take on the Pats, then our BYE week. We then go to Indy to face the Colts and back home for The Fest game against the Arizona Cardinals. We stay on left coast to face the LA Rams, and then back home for two, to face the LV Raiders and then the Patriots again. Here’s where the screw turns, at Green Bay Thanksgiving eve in what should be a frigid night. At home to face the NY Jets for the first time of the season.Then off to Texas to play the Houston Texans. We then host the 49ers, and the final two games on the road at Cleveland, and then the season finale in New Jersey to face the Jets.
As Rock points out, every game counts, and that’s 100% correct. The problem is, we seem to fall off of a cliff at the end of the season after climbing said cliff during the beginning and middle. The objective is to stay on the damn mountain! We can’t have half the team injured and we need our best players, especially the ones now receiving massive contracts to play well in ALL games, even if they occur at the end of the season as the schedule dictates! LOL! Anyway, that’s why I feel we need to start strong, but any combination of 11 or 12 wins for us will be totally acceptable to me, I’m easy!
GO DOLPHINS!!!!
Finsmob Unleashed 
quite the turnaround on those two plays
HE’S GOT HILL!!!
good protection on that pass too
that footwork is something to behold
WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
We’re back in it!!!
Reek resisting arrest for 2nd time today
lol
And excessive speed
what a turnaround of events
Riley needs to work out more if he’s getting that taken away from a WR
that’s the worst looking attempt to draw a team offsides I’ve ever seen
Wow that was dumb
Great pursuit by the D
drop with all the behind the LOS designed plays
Unreal 😱
Anther damn pass 5 yards behind the LOS
fuck you sanders
Fucking Sanders
WWWWWWWWWTF
I knew that was going to happen.
Our OL is a mess
big time. We talked about it all offseason. If they don’t get it fixed we are going nowhere.
that play has nothing to do with the OL
we keep throwing it over and over again on screens
it’s junk
We do that we don’t trust the OL to pass pro
That’s not why we are doing it
it’s just MM being too cutesy
we are making a 3rd and 3 play a 3rd and 5 play
A lot of them were check downs due to pressure
I really can’t stand the way they have spent so much time with designs plays meant for receivers to catch the ball behind the line of scrimmage
I knew we should have replaced Sanders in the offseason
every play is to a receiver behind the LOS expect for the long passes to waddle and hill
Bills up 31-20 now mid way through 4th
Cardinals KR for TD
Down by 3
Offense and Sanders fucking up that drive took the wind out of the D
what a ridiculous penalty by Julian hill
all day today – out of sync
^
Van Ginkel picking up in Minny where he left off in Miami
ingooooooooooooold
That was a bs screen
Another screen for a loss
Patriots in victory set
DEFENCE 😎👍👍
D finally showed up
Pats are leading the division
Steelers going to win over Falcons
How we have the game within our grasp at the 2mw I do not know. This won’t be a bullet dodged if we win, it’ll be an icbm
Bills win as well
No fucking he makes this
Have faith my big green friend
It’s the power of negative thinking
🙌🤜🏻🤛🏻
woooohooooooo and oink
WTF was y’all worried about!!
easy peasy, had this game all the way🤣
didn’t doubt it for a second
1 – 0 with A LOT TO WORK ON
Well feck me. The Miami Houdinis
that Holland strip was huge
Totally changed the game from 24-7 to 17-14 after Hill’s TD
Ok a win is a win, let’s move on. Because I could freak out right about now.
LOL, see my post just below!
Phins win! FUGLY as a muthafucka, but a WIN is a WIN!!!
LOL
It’s a W.
Go Dolphins!
✌🏻❤️🐬
AVG with a sack and pick 6 today
We didn’t seem to have the $$$ to re-sign him, though… hmmm
yeah… lol
What Rock said!
That last defensive stand with 2 sacks reminded me so much of last year’s Chargers game.
And make no mistake, we won’t beat the Bills playing shite for 3 Qs and well for 1. Hopefully we’ll be up more emotionally for that game with it being so much more important
1-0, and that’s the best outcome… and we didn’t seem to sustain (knock on wood) any prolonged injuries… although Mostert and Waddle certainly were banged up today.
and no injuries that I caught. BEST Outcome we could ask for.
Yessir!
a lot of that first half looked like what we’d see in preseason … that the starters never really played other than a possession in PS game 2.
AFTER next week ends (MNF game), we can sign FAs without guarantees. I think Eich needs to wake up, just sayin’…
And Robert Jones had better cut down on his penalties as well, or HE will be on notice.
Someone is not happy about the Hill story!
I believe we’re missing Connor Williams, Robert Hunt, and Isaiah Wynn right now… so much for our formidable running game, right?
Man! Thursday’s game all the sudden becomes SOOOOO important. Thank god no injuries, again. Depending on what happens tomorrow night the AFCE could be 4-0!
TAKING the East means beating Buff at home in Primetime.
We may have found something in those Ingold short runs
not sure if you guys saw the Hill TD celebration but Waddle handcuffed Hill in the endzone
😂😂😂
Damn, missed that. Wonder if he will get fined. lol
Good shut out by the D in the second half, mainly after the Holland FF
Holland really showed up today.
That’s F’d up!
Gina Muscato
MIAMI WINS WEEK 1!!! LETS GET ARRESTED!!!!
Dolphins, Bills and Pats 1-0 just to put a little more pressure on the Jets in San Francisco
Good win. Any win is good. IMO you can really see the affects of limited pre-season snaps in these first games.
No major injuries.
Achane really showing in the pass game today. Tough runs and touch catches. He is a star and man, I am excited he is on our team!
Watching the Bills celebration in the locker room makes me want to see their locker room Thursday when they are all hung dog crying boohoo after the huge loss to the Dolpihns…..
I agree with Piggy…so man behind the line plays and to the flat…every one snuffed out…but kept doing it…wtf?
many
Not sure if it’s because I know it’s him , but Brady has an annoying voice on commentary
I still feel like we didn’t win, it’s a weird feeling. Maybe it goes away after Thursday.
only if we win that one too!
Pornstache looking good for the Raiders so far.
Although, he looks more like a younger Sonny Bono these days
thank God we won that game. Yes lack of preseason snaps may be affecting the offensive continuity, but didn’t we put up 36 on the Chargers last year in the opener? We looked much better last year game 1.
my fear is the reason our running game was missing today- lack of true starting caliber NFL guards.
The Jax defense is really good. We shut them out in the second half. There’s obviously going to be some rust be our guys persevered and made the plays they needed to make.
I think we held stuff back that’s in for Buffalo, that was a good win with no injuries and wide open for what we can unleash in Buff.
🐬💪💥
you guys before the last page turn when we were down by 14 are funny to read.
oh ye of little faith
IDK what you’re talking about, it’s not like I stopped watching after the Jags got the ball on the 3 and promptly moved to 50 in 2 plays, after we Fd up the possession with Waddle’s 63 yard catch🤔
Win check
No major injuries check
AFC win check
Potential for MUCH better play? Checkarooo, but man, that’s cool too.
It’s really nice to get a conference win when you sucked. LOL
Tua was misfiring today or it could have been the blow out I anticipated
ONE 80 yard TD to Reek pads his stats A LOT! But it also gets us the win, so yeah, shut up Rockphin….
I am still not pleased………
Jeff Wilson showing why I should just shut up and watch this week too. LOL GO Jeff!
lol he did spark us late thank goodness
I have been his biggest critic lol
I need to shut up also
So ………… how’s this going to work? Herd took one for the team by saving her washing til gameday each week.
Are we going to draw straws to see who will inform MikeE of the blog mandate that he must attend a baseball fixture on gameday each week? 😉
Mike needs to move to Shea Stadium for the rest of the season. Citi or whatever it’s called now
Good to see Ramsey in the game late. I thought he had tweaked the hammy when Duck came in
The Bears are the first team since 2020 and 20th this century to win a game without gaining 150 yards of offense. The last to do it was the Dolphins, who beat the Rams 28-17 on 11-1-2020 with a fumble-return TD and a punt-return TD
Must have been Grant, who returned the punt
h
Dolphins’ Calais Campbell Says He Was Handcuffed During Tyreek Hill Detainment
“For him to put handcuffs on me, I felt some type of way. But that just goes to show how resilient we are. We didn’t let that stop us.”
Now that’s F’d up
really fucked up
whoa they cuffed Campbell too, that’s breaking news
someone is getting fired
@schadjoe
Both big passing plays by Tua came on second read progressions they’ve worked on, Mike McDaniel explains
———–
The only 2 times he did it, lol
That would have been our ball even if Kohou didn’t cover it. Great play ⛄️
True
@OmarKelly
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said Tyreek Hill, Jonnu Smith and Calais Campbell were “pretty rattled” because of the incident with police that led to two of them being placed in handcuffs before the game.
@TomPelissero
The NFL has been in contact with the #Dolphins about Tyreek Hill and Calais Campbell being handcuffed by Miami-Dade Police before today’s game. The league has no further comment at this time.
@CameronWolfe
Tyreek Hill on police detainment: “What if I wasn’t Tyreek Hill?”
Tyreek said officer told him he was speeding, reckless driving.”
Tyreek said he didn’t disrespect or cuss.
When told Miami PD put 1 officer on administrative leave, Hill said “that tells you all you need to know.”
The earlier video that was shown , thanks to who posted it, if you listen there sounds like some officer sort of disrespect. It’s a ridiculous situation and poor situational awareness by the cops.
(assholes you arrest the visiting teams guys smh)
Probably a transplanted Jets fan
right
now he can go back
Garfinkle will be the guy who gets the pound of flesh on this one. Two to three guys get fired as early as tomorrow over this “unfortunate situation “.
20-17
1-0
That’s all – “Fins for the Win” 🐧
Reminds me of last year’s Cowboy game.
It does
Most of you keep your job until you cuff Campbell, you signed your own pink slip
For what it’s worth I bet Wilkins would have been cuffed too but he wouldn’t have gotten that sack lol
lol
I guess, in the end, my biggest concern is running game and run defense.
Achane averaged 2.4 on 10 carries
Mostert averaged 1.5 on 6 carries
Bigsby averaged 6.1 on 12 carries
That’s a good defense, I’m not ready to draw conclusions
we are going to be facing a lot of good defenses this year. I’m concerned .
No major injuries but I fear Mostert is banged up.
Jonu and Reek looked shaken to start the game thanks to some idiot cops.
Was that a Lamborghini? Sweet car, probably had fans wanting him to show off a little bit. Having some fun.
why would you put Tyreek on the ground face down? That’s fucked up until there is body cam showing a reason…
Only way to stop him from running
How is that Deshaun Watson trade working out for Cleveland?
Perfect, lol
It was an exciting game, but I’m not sure it was inspiring one.
There’s time for that
Scottie Scheffler won the championship the year he got arrested on the way to work and that’s all I have to say about that