Miami game this week

What are your thoughts on this ?
I know they are playing pretty bad ...I think this is going to be tough game for as with all the issues the dolphins have...miami is always a tough game.
i remember a similar game last yr when we won an emotional game against pitt and came back and stunk against the chargers..thankfully the dolphins arent as good as the chargers..
i expect a low scoring game and hopefully we can string 2 together...
thoughts ?

SVN said:

What are your thoughts on this ?
I know they are playing pretty bad ...I think this is going to be tough game for as with all the issues the dolphins have...miami is always a tough game.
i remember a similar game last yr when we won an emotional game against pitt and came back and stunk against the chargers..thankfully the dolphins arent as good as the chargers..
i expect a low scoring game and hopefully we can string 2 together...
thoughts ?

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Its going to be a typical Pats-Fins game at Foxboro. Close through 3 quarters and teh Pats pulling away in the fourth. Looks like a 20-10 Pats win.

I am not ready to talk about Miami just yet.

Usually mondays are reserved for basking in a great victory or wallowing for another day in defeat.

Tuesday is a "take a break" from constant posting but thinking about next weekends game

Wednesday is a good day for starting to talk about Miami

Thursday, we'll be hearing from PhinFans and the posting will probably get ugly.

Friday its all-out talk about how we are going to crush Miami.

Saturday....College football and some last minute thoughts about Miami.

Sunday.......Oh yeah. Time to party....

We are an emerging team and do need to string good efforts together consistently. I think BB will preach that this week heading into the bye. Miami is a mess and shows no sign of emerging but beating them now really sets us up in the division. It has elements of the classic trap game but given BB's respect for Saban and Brady's history of grappling with the Miami D I think they will have ample talking points to keep the group focused. I also cannot see this team losing back to back games on their home turf.

I wouldn't doubt we see Harrington at some point, because I don't know what else Saban can throw at us that would pose any kind of problem. The talking heads on NFLN who still want to absolve Fumblepepper's talent were beating the pull him now and let him get healthy card last night saying that is the only way to avoid a QB controversy in Miami going forward.

Jacky Roberts said:

Its going to be a typical Pats-Fins game at Foxboro. Close through 3 quarters and teh Pats pulling away in the fourth. Looks like a 20-10 Pats win.

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My God. This is exactly what I was going to type, right down to the score.

This team has already shown me more than the 2005 team. The loss to Denver 17-7 was hard to take but it was a pretty close game until the 83 yarder. And much much better than the beat down they received from the Chargers and Colts last year. A super sweet bounce back game yesterday!

Looking ahead we can expect loses from the rest of the division this week (Bills & Jets):
- Buffalo at Chicago
- Jets at Jacksonville

Huge game for the Pats, a win will should put them 2.5 games up over the Jets & Bills and pretty much end the Dolphins season.

How sweet would that be? The Phins at 1-4 and basically on life support!

I better stop I am getting excited. Huge game on Sunday.

Pats 23 - Phins 17

its going to be tough, no division opponent is going to be easy this year. With that said, we beat the bills, dominating them pretty soundly in the second half, and the bills definitely took it to Miami. I would say taht Daunte will be on his ass for a lot of the game given the way that their o-line has played thus far. With that said, a lot of miami's skill players have lots of... well, skill - chambers might be a tricky match up for our secondary, but I think we'll be able to handle them overall.

Miami is down, but what are you going to do if they switch to Joey.

Huh?

A win this week, could really help put the Pats in the driver's seat for the AFC East. If they beat Miami and both the Jets and Bills lose the very tough road games, they would be 4-1 going into their bye, with a 3-0 record in the division, and an extra week to prepare for Buffalo. Leaving both the Jets and the Bills at 2-3, and Miami 1-4.

This game is going to be tough. The fins have a very good run defense and Brady has never had a great passing game against the fins. I see a tight game - more like 13-9 or 10-3. Something low scoring and tight until the end. Just like the games used to be in 2003!

Can't figure out Miami. Look at their stats and it seems they are stopping
the run. McGahee only averaged 3.6 yds/carry and in that loss and Losman
only got 83 Yds!

Other games played are similar. Miami's is good at stopping run and and
decent at pass defense. Teams aren't scoring much on them, exception
Pittsburg. yet they lose. .. They have shot themselves in the foot to
lose.
Cullpepper had an 86+ rating yesterday and put up 250 yds and no Ints.
Roney Brown has had good and bad games.

Miami could very well be a sleeper. A good defense and an offense that
just needs to start clicking.
Not saying this is the week they put it altogether ... but you never know.
I don't think PATs will run as well so Brady will need to step it up.
The Miami offense will probably still struggle to put points on the board
against a very good PATs D that has just got a boost in confidence.
But if PATs D comes out Flat ..... watch out ... PATs D needs to be
sharp.

JR4 said:

Can't figure out Miami. Look at their stats and it seems they are stopping
the run. McGahee only averaged 3.6 yds/carry and in that loss and Losman
only got 83 Yds!

Other games played are similar. Miami's is good at stopping run and and
decent at pass defense. Teams aren't scoring much on them, exception
Pittsburg. yet they lose. .. They have shot themselves in the foot to
lose.
Cullpepper had an 86+ rating yesterday and put up 250 yds and no Ints.
Roney Brown has had good and bad games.

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What are their stats on 3rd downs on off/defense and lost yardage on ST and sacks and penalties..they can contribute to some of the issues i assume..

Yup, Brady usually struggles against Miami. Good game for him to put that problem behind him. Miami is decent against the run and the pass so our offense will need to improve again this week to succeed. After the Bangles game I'm more confident in the D. They should be able to stop Brown's running game and then torment Fumblepepper. I expect to see Harrington sometime in the 2nd half.

I can't wait until after the Bye once Brady has had some time to focus on his newbie WRs and each learns the others' attributes and tendencies, never mind expanding the playbook for the guys.

mosi said:

This game is going to be tough. The fins have a very good run defense and Brady has never had a great passing game against the fins. I see a tight game - more like 13-9 or 10-3. Something low scoring and tight until the end. Just like the games used to be in 2003!

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Miami's secondary is completely overhauled; not one player is the same as the ones that shut down NE.

In addition to that, Taylor, who always kills NE, is now prlaying as a OLB and doesn't rush the QB every down like before.

Miami's pass D will not be as good as they usually are. I am interested in seeing how NE runs against them, though, because I think Miami has a good run stuffing line.

Trap game. Have to REALLY avoid turnovers. It will be tougher than folks might want to think. The Pats WILL prevail.

Taylor got banged up yesterday, but will probably be fine. The problem with Miami is they can't move the ball. Its hard to imagine the Pats could hold Cincy to 1 TD and allow a lot of points to Miami.

Jacky Roberts said:

Taylor got banged up yesterday, but will probably be fine. The problem with Miami is they can't move the ball. Its hard to imagine the Pats could hold Cincy to 1 TD and allow a lot of points to Miami.

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we gave up 17 on denver also and also to the jets both with poorer offenses on paper compared to cincy and with worser QB's....its week to week ...nothing in the past week matters...

Jacky Roberts said:

Taylor got banged up yesterday, but will probably be fine. The problem with Miami is they can't move the ball. Its hard to imagine the Pats could hold Cincy to 1 TD and allow a lot of points to Miami.

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I don't know how you define "a lot" but Miami came into NE 4 games into the season in 2004 looking like one of the worst offenses in the history of the league. They were surprisingly competetive scoring 10 points and being in the red zone without scoring two other times.

The Patriots should be able to beat Miami Just like they did the Bengals, But history tells us otherwise. Brady will struggle against two teams no matter what their record is The dollphins and the Broncos.

mosi said:

This game is going to be tough. The fins have a very good run defense and Brady has never had a great passing game against the fins. I see a tight game - more like 13-9 or 10-3. Something low scoring and tight until the end. Just like the games used to be in 2003!

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I agree.

When it comes to AFC East games...particularly the Dolphin games...throw out the records. It does not matter. The Dolphins could be 0-15 and us 15-0 beating every team by 4-5 touchdowns all year and I'd STILL be sweating the Dolphins game.

In the Belichick era:

2000 - 0-2, we got killed in Miami then the last game we at least pulled them back out of the locker room for a hail mary with those guys wearing shower towels LOL.

2001 - 1-1, we got killed in Miami and then beat them in the game where Brady caught a pass.

2002 - 1-1, we got killed in Miami and then beat them at the end after being down 11 points with 5 minutes to play (Ricky Williams had like 160 yards that day), yours truly was at that game.

2003 - 2-0, we finally win in Miami in a wild game in OT...then crush them at home in the snow ball game.

2004 - We beat them at home then suffer an impossible fluke loss on MNF near the end of the year!

2005 - We beat them in Miami again...BARELY. Then lose to them in the last game with our second stringers.

Overall: 6-6 in the Belichick era!

By comparison, 9-4 vs. the Jets and 11-2 vs. the Bills in the Belichick era.

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The Dolphin defense is still hard to score on....

We will need to be deeply focused this week and play hard.

We cannot suffer a let down.

The Dolphins on the other hand will be playing loose and playing to win because they at this point have nothing to lose.

We must win this game...it is a MUST win!!!!