Week one is always important but looking at our schedule, this time its even more important then ever. If we can beat the Dolphins, that guarantees us at minimum of 1-2 with the Cards at our place. That would mean 2-2 at the bye with 3 very winnable games after that. Of course a win at the Dolphins would just continue the excitement we have for this season and really pump everyone up for the big game and home opener vs. the Pats. With Chad playing and Favre's limited knowledge it makes the game a little harder so its up to the Defense week # 1. What will the place be like at 04:00 when they come out of the tunnel if we can smoke Dolphins in week # 1.
The good news is Chad has to learn a new offense too. The playing field should be fairly level for Miami. Opening day against New England is going to be INSANE!
They have already taken our starting QB. I just hope they don't fill out the rest of their roster with our cuts from Saturday. Tannenbaum seems worried about that.
Yeah, I know but we already have Hobson playing for the Patriots and Pennington for the Dolphins. There is a reason you never trade in your division. I just hope they don't pick up any more and have that come back to haunt us.
I'm not too worried about Chad in the Fins game as long as the defense stops the run . Miami lacks playmakers in the passing game (unless Ted Ginn suddenly develops) and we know Chad struggles in 2nd and 3rd and long. We just cannot allow Ricky and Ronnie brown to click off consistent runs of 5 yards or more. If Chad has managable down and distance, then there could be problems. Favre just needs to make a couple of plays and it should be a 21-10 Jets win.
I think that, on paper, they are still a far less talented team than we are. Their biggest offseason move was picking up Pennington. On the other hand, they lost their defensive star, Taylor. We got a far better QB in the offseason and made many other offseason moves to upgrade our personnel, as well. Hope that "on paper" translates to on the field.
Well, I'm not sure I agree with what you think of the Dolphins. The One, or should I say two biggest areas of improvement this off season for the Dolphins was Offensive and Defeinsive lines. Sure we lost Zach and Jason and sure that's a lot of experience and talent gone. But we are running a 3-4 and Zach was just too small and too slow, to play LB in the 3-4. He's a teriffic 4-3LB even this late into his career, but we aren't running the 4-3. Jason simply wanted to play somewhere else, and to be honest I don't think the Redskins will be much better then they were last year, but time will tell. Miami completely rebuilt both lines, adding Jake Long and Justin Smiley to the left side and moving Vernon Carey to the Right with a real surprise at RG in Donald Thomas a 6th round pick who's been nothing short of terrific this off season. We are much bigger, much younger and more talented along the Oline then we were last year. We have Ricky Williams in the best shape of his life and Ronnie played last night against the Saints and he was running very hard and very fast, Ronnie will be ready to go 100% against the Jets week 1. Our WR are a question mark, but hardly lacking in talent. Ted Ginn has really shown signs of improvement over last year, sorta what you'd expect out of a 2nd year WR selected in the first round. Dereck Hagan our third year WO has had the best camp of his three year career. He's catching everything. Early on Ernest Wilford struggled in camp but lately has really strated to pick it up and has been playing very well. Davone Bess was an undrafted RFA out of Hawaii and the coaching staff loves this kid, comparing him to Wes Welker, small quick and sure handed. He also seems to be doing rather well on K returns. Basically making sure he has a roster spot by playing more then one position, important for an undrafted rookie trying to earn a spot. I think Miami is a much more talented group on offense they have more to work with, considering Ronnie, Ricky, Chris Chambers, Trent Green were all not even playing beyond week 6 last year due to trade or injury and our Oline was just pathetic. Maimi has completely transformed in just one off season. But whoi would know better about what BP can do for a team in just one offseason then Jet fans. Oh and lets not forget, Chad may not be Brett Favre, but Chad knows the Jets much better then Brett and we now know everything Chad knows about the Jets....quite an advantage. The Jets may know Chad, but he's one player running a different system. Miami now has the inside track to everything Managini likes to do and when. As for the D, we've gotten bigger younger and faster here too. We lost Jason and Zach and I'm not going to pretend those loses don't hurt, but as I mentiuoned we're running a true 3-4, not a 4-3/3-4 hybrid. Our LB's are bigger, stronger and faster as a whole then they were last year. We moved Matt Roth from DE to LB, he's not the fastest guy, but he will be doing less covering and more rushing from this position pretty much running over RB's in the backfiled. Charlie Anderson, Channing Crowder, Reggie Torbor are all prototypical 3-4 lb's. As for the Dline, we went out and got a young Randy Starks, big and strong he's made his presence felt already this off season. Phillip Merling and Knedall Langford our 2nd and 3rd round picks have had a great preseason and camp, just adding great push wherever they lineup. And Jason Feguson has beena monster in the middle so far, add 4th round pick Paul Soliai from last years draft and we have youth and size in the depth at NT. Our DB's are young and fast. Will Allen being the senior of the group but he's also great in coverage and in run support. We have goodman at the other CB position and the coaches seem to be happy with the combination and the rotaiton we've used thus far. Our Safties are probably the deepest position we have in the secondary and Jason Allen our 2006 1st round pick hasn't disappointed so far he's been all over the field making plays, Yeremiah Bell "If he can stay healthy" is the fastest and most physical DB we have and was badly missed last year, but he returns to full health this year. I think Maimi's biggest addition were to the FO and coaching staff. Getting Jeff Ireland, Tony Sparano and BP has given this team a new attitude. Hard working physically fit and a passion we simply didn't show the last couple of years. Miami will be a tougher team to beat, we won't make as many mental mistakes as we did in the past and we have talented players returing from b eing injured last year. Add an experienced QB like Pennington and Miami looks nothing like the team that took the field the last couple of seasons.
Our Defense better know a little bit about how to play Chad by now or something is very wrong. The D should expect very few passes on first down and when it is time to pass, loading the box has always seemed to work for other teams so why not us.
But your D doesn't know how to play Chad in the offense he's now running. This is a new Offense for us, obviously it's not an offense the Jets have seen the Dolphins run for years. Granted the Jets know Chads tendencies
Chad's arm makes any offense into a morphed version of the west coast offense. Spin it anyway you like, but I do not think there would be anyone on this board who would disagree with me. The Dolphins will be improved this year, but 6 or 7 wins is probably realistic.
F**k the Dolphins. Jets by 14 or more. Curious? Do you really think Kris is not going to clog the middle ala Gilbert Brown. What am I missing here about this team, little history please and thanks.
Hobson may not make the team. It seems he is having serious problems picking up the defense that the Pats run...fancy that?!
Didn't Burger King name a Whopper or something after Gilbert Brown for a while? We're hoping Jenkins plays that role.
The Miami Dolphins are not the team we saw last year. There are maybe 70% new faces. It's not the same coaches at any position. Ronnie Brown is healthy and will probably start, spelled quickly and often by a man with a lot to prove, Ricky W. Don't sell the Dolphins short. They are hell bent on making a game of it with us. If you guys don't think there is a lot of nose tweaking going on by Parcells this week and next, you are asleep. Having said this, I look forward to the game, too.
I don't know about a whopper but his nickname was gravedigger. Pack replaced him with Grady Jackson and ten cans of drano wouldn't of removed him. Cullen's big bros. is as good or even better than these two. 3rd and short is not a probable 1st down anymore. Am I missing something?
Oh, I definitely look forward to the game. And I will agree you are probably full of new faces. Parcells did exactly the same thing to the Jets when he was faced with finding life in a 1-15 Kotite disaster. I definitely would be shocked if the Dolphins are not improved over last year; all I will say is hoping for a pre-season berth at this point is realistically too lofty. That doesn't mean it can't happen, but nobody is going to lay money down on it in Vegas. Will we have a good game? Sure. For a first game of the year, you couldn't ask for more whether you are a Jets fan or a Phins fan; there are just so many angles to follow. It's actually is pretty cool when you think about it.
The thing that scares me most is the heat and humdity. Extended forecast calls for high 80's, but with the humidty factored in it will feel like mid 90's. I realize both teams have to deal with it, but Miami has been working out in it all summer, while it has been relatively cool, dry summer in the northeast. With our starters having only played a half or so up to now, I really worry about how they will hold up in the fourth quarter. I absolutely HATE the idea of playing in Miami early in the season!
