Injury Reports for Week 1, Patriots at Miami Dolphins

[JMC00]

Friday's Injury Report for Patriots at Dolphins:

Chris Jones & Michael Buchanan: Out
Brady and Gronk: Questionable

 

[FourierSeries]

Gronk traveled with the team. So he's playing.

It'll be good to see the beast back out on the field.

 

[primetime]

Gronk and Brady feel like gamesmanship, though Gronk - ever the numbskull - sort of ruined it by saying he was ready to play on Monday.

 

[Saint Pat]

Some minor issue with Brady's calf in week one--> listed as questionable for rest of season by Belichick.

 

[MrNathanDrake]

So who starts at DT next to Wilfork?

 

[Hammer of Thor]

Chris Jones & Michael Buchanan: Out
Brady and Gronk: Questionable

With Buchanan out, unfortunately it might mean Chandler Jones and Ninkovich would be on pace for over 90% of the snaps again. Curious to see how the defense plays out in general.

 

[Kontradiction]

So who starts at DT next to Wilfork?

Siliga on run downs, mixture of Jones and Easley on passing downs (if he's even out there in obvious passing situations) is my guess.

 

[Brady6]

With Buchanan out, unfortunately it might mean Chandler Jones and Ninkovich would be on pace for over 90% of the snaps again. Curious to see how the defense plays out in general.

Hightower, Collins, and Fleming can all rush from the DE position.

 

[JMC00]

With Buchanan out, unfortunately it might mean Chandler Jones and Ninkovich would be on pace for over 90% of the snaps again. Curious to see how the defense plays out in general.

No it doesn't.

 

[Kontradiction]

With Buchanan out, unfortunately it might mean Chandler Jones and Ninkovich would be on pace for over 90% of the snaps again. Curious to see how the defense plays out in general.

I'm interested to see if they give Moore any snaps.

 

[Brady6]

Siliga on run downs, mixture of Jones and Easley on passing downs (if he's even out there in obvious passing situations) is my guess.

Base
LOLB- Ninkovich/Hightower
LDE- Easley
NT- Siliga
RDT- Wilfork
ROLB- Jones
LILB- Mayo/Hightower
RILB- Collins/Mayo

Sub
DE- Hightower
DT- Easley
DT- Jones
DE- Ninkovich
LB- Mayo
LB- Collins

 

[Brady6]

I predict that Donta Hightower is going to have a season as Mike Vrabel had in 2007. Like Vrabel over the first 2 seasons Hightower has not played the best position for him or to his strengths. I think that changes this year, I think he spends most of his time on the edge either as a 3-4 OLB, 4-3 SAM, or sub package DE/OLB.

 

[Brady6]

I'm interested to see if they give Moore any snaps.

I could see them giving him some reps as a DT in sub packages.

 

[Hammer of Thor]

No it doesn't.

Well, glad you solved that conundrum with your special inside information on the team's plans.

I said it could. I didn't say it would. They could be more creative as we've all hoped, with the additional personnel options they have on the team now. But the point is that they didn't do it last year, and we haven't really seen anything in camp that would necessarily indicate otherwise so far.

Edit: I know they've played a lot of 3-4 this preseason, but I don't recall seeing Hightower playing on the edge in the few snaps he got this preseason. I certainly could have missed something there, just didn't remember seeing it.

 

[Oswlek]

Interesting that no one has mentioned Vellano. With the heat and it being so early in the season, rotation will be liberal enough that he probably sees 40% of the snaps. Maybe more.

 

[Rob0729]

With Buchanan out, unfortunately it might mean Chandler Jones and Ninkovich would be on pace for over 90% of the snaps again. Curious to see how the defense plays out in general.

I have been been predicting for a while that Hightower will see time at DE on many sub packages. Don't be shocked if Hightower and even Easley sub for these guys quite a bit.

 

[OhExaulted1]

No it doesn't.

Why not? Hammer stated "it might mean". Do you have definitive intel to the contrary?

 

[Urgent]

Continuing with the off-topic discussion on who is playing where, in the injury report thread:

I think many of us, myself included, think back to the classic Patriots 3-4 of the Super Bowl years and picture Mike Vrabel and Willie McGinest as the archetypes of the versatile pass-rushing 3-4 DE's - and see players in the 6-5 265 pound mold. We forget that Belichick also turned to Rosevelt Colvin and Tully Banta Cain in that same role, and those guys were 6-2 250 pound types.

That says it's not impossible for the Patriots to rotate Hightower, Collins, and Fleming into that role.

Rather than debating OLB, MLB, DE, and DT roles, it's more like Edge, Interior DL, and Off-the-Line LB.

In those categories:
Edge: Chandler Jones, Ninkovich, Collins, Hightower, Fleming, Buchanan, Moore (Easley, Jones, Vellano)
Interior DL: Wilfork, Chris Jones, Silinga, Easley, Vellano (Chandler Jones, Moore)
OTL LB: Mayo, (Hightower, Collins, Fleming) White

Many of the players offer versatility to play in two of those three categories.
Like the "Indy Scrum" defense the Patriots threw out to confuse Manning in the AFC Championship game years back, it will be hard for offenses to know what the defense is until the ball is snapped.

 

[mayoclinic]

Interesting that no one has mentioned Vellano. With the heat and it being so early in the season, rotation will be liberal enough that he probably sees 40% of the snaps. Maybe more.

God I hope not. He's the Ryan Wendell of DTs (worse, because at least Wendell is an excellent run blocker).

 

[jmt57]

Here is Miami's final injury report from Friday afternoon:

OUT:
C Mike Pouncey (hip)
LB Jordan Tripp (chest)
DE Terrence Fede (knee)
LB Philip Wheeler (thumb)

DOUBTFUL:
G Billy Turner (foot)

PROBABLE:
S Walt Aikens (hand)
LB Koa Misi (shoulder)
CB Jamar Taylor (hip)
LB Chris McCain (hip)



Pouncey is two months removed from hip surgery. It's no surprise that he won't play; what is a surprise to me is that he didn't start the season on PUP, with Miami using the roster spot for someone else.

Pouncey's replacement at center is Samson Satele. Satele is the trivia answer on who Miami got when they traded Wes Welker to the Patriots seven years ago. Last year he was the weak link on a below-average line in Indianapolis, although to be fair he was dealing with multiple injuries. Still, he's just average at best. An interior line of LG Darryn Colledge, Satele and RG Shelley Smith is ripe for exploitation.

Tripp and Fede are backups, but Wheeler is the Dolphins' starting strong side linebacker. I'm guessing that could mean that Jonathan Freeny gets his first NFL start in Wheeler's place; that's another position to keep our eyes on in Sunday's game.

Not on the injury report, but also worth noting is Miami's situation at the safety position. The starters are former Detroit Lion Louis Delmas, and former backup corner Jimmy Wilson. That's a somewhat underwhelming pair, which again could be worth watching - and an area that the Patriots should be able to take advantage of.