Miami vs. NE positions advantage

[Dolfaniss]

Just my opinion, maybe it will generate some discussion. Here is position by position comparison between the 2008 Pats and the 2008 fins and who has the advantage. Remember I'm a Dolphins fan so go easy. Just curious on some of your opinions on the 2 teams.

QB- Pennington is a wily veteran who doesn't make a lot of mistakes. He's a great leader, efficient and has been pretty clutch as well. Cassel has been much better as of late. He's been really, really good at short to intermeidate passes but really struggles when throwing deep. Cassel has also been a really good runner eating up chunks of yardage when he decides to tuck it and go. At this point I give us the advantage at QB because of Chad's experience and today he is a more accomplished QB than matt Cassel is. ADVANTAGE = Fins

RB- Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams are better than anything the Patriots have to offer. However Sammie Morris runs hard and Kevin Faulk is always a pain in the *** out of the backfield. The Dolphins need to get there backs involved in the passing game as there could be some favorable matchups there they can exploit. Advantage = Fins

Offensive line - Our line is young and dominated the Patriots in our first meeting. They better be ready for battle this time around because I think New England will be primed to show them that was a fluke. The Miami offensive line is still growing together while NE's, when healthy, has been playing together a lot longer. There are times where NE's line looks really good and other times where they've looked shaky in 2008. Light, Koppen and Mankins are pro bowlers, I give the edge to NE. ADVANTAGE = NE

WR's/TE's - I think both teams have similiar philosphies here. The burner, the slot guy and the possession guy. NE's trio is better than ours. TE is interesting, while Watson may be the best player, Miami has more options as Fasano and Martin are threats in the middle. ADVANTAGE = NE

DL- Warren, Wilfork and Seymour are all number one picks. Fergusen, Holiday and Langford have been very good. Our rotation may reach deeper than NE's but there front line players are better. ADVANTAGE = NE

LB's - The rookie Mayo looks really good but Brushci and Vrabel are aging vets. Porters the best in the bunch and Crowder and Adeyole have been preety stout in the middle. Kepp Matt Roth out of coverage in this one. I like our LB's better. ADVANTAGE = Fins

DB's - NE's are dinged up where ours have been better as of late. Lately, everytime we see Goodman he's making a breakup and the Allen boys have been solid (Will is our best corner). The Pats have Hobbs and Patchwork back there, Chad best be able to exploit it. NE will attack our secondary with the short and intermediate stuff all day long. These guys best be ready. I think we are better here but have the taller task. Merriweather looked lost and weak on that 3rd and 15 last Thursday. ADVANTAGE = Fins

ST's - Not much to say here. Kicking has been good for both squads, Hobbs has been really good and our coverage is terrible. It's imperative we don't allow this to be a deciding factor in this game. ADVANTAGE = NE

Coaching - Sparano and his staff took Belechick to school in the first matchup, that too me is the scariest part of the rematch. Belechick will be ready for the Wildcat, that's for certain. Have to give the SB winning coach the advantage. ADVANTAGE = NE

 

[JSn]

Re: Miami vs NE positions advantage

Neat idea for a thread, but I always think it's a lazy version of how these articles should be written to compare units. Really, it should OL vs. DL, etc...

I know it's a lot more complicated to do, not dissing Dolfaniss.

I think we have the edge @ QB partially because of WR. No WR in the league makes that Moss end-zone catch vs. the Jets and I'd be willing to say very few QB's make the throw. Every matchup has to be equation vs. equation, and in that case, other than RB's vs. LB's and TE's vs. D-Backs, I think the advantage is all Pats.

That said, mistakes "seem" to be more common the last little bit, so hopefully we see that eliminated or else we're in big trouble.

Last thought, I might even have to rethink the LB vs RB match-up, because we've sped up that department. If a much improved Mayo and Guyton are working the inside and fairly quick but inexperienced Woods are all on the field, pretty good odds of catching those pesky HB's if they get past the DL. Should be interesting to see how it goes.

 

[Rob0729]

Re: Miami vs NE positions advantage

Just my opinion, maybe it will generate some discussion. Here is position by position comparison between the 2008 Pats and the 2008 fins and who has the advantage. Remember I'm a Dolphins fan so go easy. Just curious on some of your opinions on the 2 teams.

QB- Pennington is a wily veteran who doesn't make a lot of mistakes. He's a great leader, efficient and has been pretty clutch as well. Cassel has been much better as of late. He's been really, really good at short to intermeidate passes but really struggles when throwing deep. Cassel has also been a really good runner eating up chunks of yardage when he decides to tuck it and go. At this point I give us the advantage at QB because of Chad's experience and today he is a more accomplished QB than matt Cassel is. ADVANTAGE = Fins

RB- Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams are better than anything the Patriots have to offer. However Sammie Morris runs hard and Kevin Faulk is always a pain in the *** out of the backfield. The Dolphins need to get there backs involved in the passing game as there could be some favorable matchups there they can exploit. Advantage = Fins

Offensive line - Our line is young and dominated the Patriots in our first meeting. They better be ready for battle this time around because I think New England will be primed to show them that was a fluke. The Miami offensive line is still growing together while NE's, when healthy, has been playing together a lot longer. There are times where NE's line looks really good and other times where they've looked shaky in 2008. Light, Koppen and Mankins are pro bowlers, I give the edge to NE. ADVANTAGE = NE

WR's/TE's - I think both teams have similiar philosphies here. The burner, the slot guy and the possession guy. NE's trio is better than ours. TE is interesting, while Watson may be the best player, Miami has more options as Fasano and Martin are threats in the middle. ADVANTAGE = NE

DL- Warren, Wilfork and Seymour are all number one picks. Fergusen, Holiday and Langford have been very good. Our rotation may reach deeper than NE's but there front line players are better. ADVANTAGE = NE

LB's - The rookie Mayo looks really good but Brushci and Vrabel are aging vets. Porters the best in the bunch and Crowder and Adeyole have been preety stout in the middle. Kepp Matt Roth out of coverage in this one. I like our LB's better. ADVANTAGE = Fins

DB's - NE's are dinged up where ours have been better as of late. Lately, everytime we see Goodman he's making a breakup and the Allen boys have been solid (Will is our best corner). The Pats have Hobbs and Patchwork back there, Chad best be able to exploit it. NE will attack our secondary with the short and intermediate stuff all day long. These guys best be ready. I think we are better here but have the taller task. Merriweather looked lost and weak on that 3rd and 15 last Thursday. ADVANTAGE = Fins

ST's - Not much to say here. Kicking has been good for both squads, Hobbs has been really good and our coverage is terrible. It's imperative we don't allow this to be a deciding factor in this game. ADVANTAGE = NE

Coaching - Sparano and his staff took Belechick to school in the first matchup, that too me is the scariest part of the rematch. Belechick will be ready for the Wildcat, that's for certain. Have to give the SB winning coach the advantage. ADVANTAGE = NE

I think it is a good and pretty fair analysis, but I never liked these type of comparisions. Pennington and Cassel will never be on the field together unless the Dolphins try something really funky on defense this time around.

 

[vandergraafgenerator]

Re: Miami vs NE positions advantage

Dolfinass, cute name.

 

[Fencer]

Re: Miami vs NE positions advantage

While these comparisons are useless for discussion how the game will be played, they are NOT useless for looking at who has the better team based on recent trends.

As for the details -- good job. The one area where you're flat-out misinformed about NE is DL depth. Jarvis Green would be an above-average starter in this league, and Wright produces when he gets reps as well. However, our starters have health question marks.

Dissing Vrabel is controversial. He WAS an All-Pro last season, after all, as well as a Pro Bowler. But you'd find many here who'd agree with you.