Patriots Daily - First Impressions - The Miami Dolphins

[PatriotsDaily.com]

Sunday at 1PM the Dolphins will march back into Foxborough just a little more than a year after their demolition of the Patriots 38-13 in Gillette in week three. That day, of course was shocking for a number of reasons. It was the first regular season loss for the Patriots in over a full regular season. It was their first loss in Foxborough since mid-2006. And the Dolphins did it while creating a new craze in the NFL; the wildcat.

First Impressions – Patriots vs. Dolphins

 

[sbpatfan]

So I was browsing ESPN and I found this,

NFL Football Scouting - National Football League - ESPN

can someone tell me how the Dolphins have a better secondary than the Patriots? Who the hell even plays in their secondary? Three rookies? How are they better than BM^2, Bodden, Butler, etc?

 

[zor]

clearly the reason why miami is ranked high is because of the plays against new orleans and indianapolis... miami's 2 corners have done decent all year long while playing against some tough WRs. i can't speak for the patriots defense because i haven't watched one game...but i know miami's played against matt ryan, drew brees, phillip rivers, peyton manning and also began sanchez' fall when they played against him. i think the corners played well. i can say the same about miami's safeties... covering a tight end is an impossible mission for the safeties and it really has a lot to do with the first 5 yards off the line of scrimmage where channign crowder NEVER jams, shoves or disrupts the tight ends going out for a pass. couple that with our inner defensive line's inability to generate a consistent pass rush and you end up with an open tight end 3 out 5 times. as far the corners go, even on the deep balls receivers have been able to get, the coverage has been tight. they are not really making mental errors at the corner positions...not enough to look bad. maybe that will change against brady who i consider to easily be the best QB in the league in finding open receivers.


zor

 

[TheComeback]

clearly the reason why miami is ranked high is because of the plays against new orleans and indianapolis... miami's 2 corners have done decent all year long while playing against some tough WRs. i can't speak for the patriots defense because i haven't watched one game...but i know miami's played against matt ryan, drew brees, phillip rivers, peyton manning and also began sanchez' fall when they played against him. i think the corners played well. i can say the same about miami's safeties... covering a tight end is an impossible mission for the safeties and it really has a lot to do with the first 5 yards off the line of scrimmage where channign crowder NEVER jams, shoves or disrupts the tight ends going out for a pass. couple that with our inner defensive line's inability to generate a consistent pass rush and you end up with an open tight end 3 out 5 times. as far the corners go, even on the deep balls receivers have been able to get, the coverage has been tight. they are not really making mental errors at the corner positions...not enough to look bad. maybe that will change against brady who i consider to easily be the best QB in the league in finding open receivers.


zor

It shouldn't even be a contest. You're talking about comparing two rookies with guys like Leigh Bodden and Shawn Springs who are proven veterans. Jonathan Wilhite is another starter for us who doesn't get any credit for his solid play. Our own rookie in Darius Butler hasn't gotten any attention from the national media either and he's played just as well as the Dolphins' guys have.

New England's safeties are on a different level than Miami's, especially Brandon Meriweather, who seems like a Pro Bowl candidate so far. McGowan has been a surprise and he's probably better than Gibril Wilson (same number of tackles, 2 forced fumbles). James Sanders is still a starting quality player and we have him on the bench. Chung has also looked good in limited playing time and he's a 4th stringer.

The Patriots secondary is superior to the Dolphins simply because of depth. If our any of our guys gets injured, we have a starting-quality player ready to step in. You really can't say that about the fish.\

To say Miami's DBs are better than the Pats is quite a stretch.