Finsmob Unleashed

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!!!!