The Dolphins have lost running back Ronnie Brown for a while with a injured right ankle.  Brown has played in 9 games this season for the Fins and he has carried the ball 147 times for 648 yards (4.4 ypc) with 8 TD runs.  He has also caught 14 passes for 98 yards (7.0 avg) so far this season for the Fins.  This means that Ricky Williams will have to be an every down back until Brown is ready to return to action.  Williams has played in all 9 games for the Dolphins so far this season and he has carried the ball 105 times for 558 yards (5.3 ypc) with 6 TD runs.  He has also caught 18 passes for 193 yards (10.7 avg) with 1 TD grab.  I fully expect that Williams is still able to carry the load as the main ball carrier for the Dolphins.  Backup QB Pat White will likely run the Wildcat Formation with Brown out of action.  Williams has also been the QB in the Wildcat but the Dolphins will likely want him to focus on playing RB until Brown is ready to return.

UPDATE:  Ronnie Brown has been placed on I.R. ending his season with a LisFranc injury to his foot.  This is a big blow to the Dolphins’ offense as they better hope that Ricky Williams can stay healthy and handle a full workload.

The Dolphins were behind 23-22 with 1:14 left in this game and that was when they got serious pulling a victory away from the Jaws of Defeat.  Chad Henne was solid in completing 17 of 31 passes for 175 yards with 1 TD pass and 1 INT today.  Ricky Williams was a beast in this game with 102 yards rushing on 20 carries (5.1 ypc) and he also caught 2 passes for 5 yards.  Ronnie Brown rushed for 82 yards on 12 carries (6.8 ypc) with 1 TD run and he also caught 2 passes for 16 yards before leaving the game with a injury.  Davone Bess led the way in the passing game for the Fins today with 4 catches for 72 yards (18.0 avg).  WR Kory Sperry had a solid game for the Fins with 3 catches for 31 yards (10.3 avg) with a TD grab.  The Dolphins finished up with 374 total yards on offense (199 rushing, 175 passing) in the game today.

Linebacker Channing Crowder (9 tackles) and safety Gibril Wilson (7 tackles, 2 passes defensed) led the way for the Fins on D in the game today.  OLB Jason Taylor also was busy for the Dolphins in this game with 2 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, 2 passes defensed and 1 interception.  Linebacker Akin Ayodele was also a big time playmaker for the Dolphins in this game with 4 tackles and 2 fumble recoveries.  The Bucs finished up with 302 total yards in this game (122 rushing, 180 passing).  The Dolphins are now 4-5 on the year.

The Buccaneers travel to Miami to deal with the Dolphins on Sunday and this should be a interesting football game.  A lot will fall onto the shoulders of rookie QB Josh Freeman in this game as Cadillac Williams could have a hard time finding running room against a Fins’ D that is only allowing 94.5 yards rushing and 3.7 yards per carry so far this season.  The Bucs will still try to run the ball early in this game to keep the Dolphins’ D honest.  If they can’t then the Dolphins will be bringing the blitz early and often against the Bucs.  If that does happen then Freeman should look to get the ball into the hands of Kellen Winslow on the short stuff.  Young WRs Maurice Stovall and Sammie Stroughter seem to be on the same wave length with Freeman so they should get a lot of work in this game against the rookie corners (Sean Smith and Vontae Davis) of the Fins.

The Dolphins’ offense has been licking their chops looking at gamefilm of the Bucs’ front seven as the Bucs are allowing 163.4 yards rushing per game and 4.8 yards per carry.  Ronnie Brown, Ricky Williams and the Wildcat Formation will likely be used quite a bit in this game and for good reason as the Fins’ are averaging 150.9 yards rushing per game and 4.5 yards per carry this season.  Chad Henne will likely just be managing this game as the passing will be kept to the shorter stuff.

PREDICTION:  DOLPHINS 30, BUCCANEERS 13

Chad Henne has been pretty solid since becoming the starting QB of the Dolphins.  He has completed 93 of 158 passes (58.9%) for 990 yards with 4 TD passes and 3 INTs (77.8 QB Rating).  The running game of the Dolphins has helped take a lot of pressure off Henne this season so far as he only has to manage the game most of the time.  When you consider the receiving corps that Henne is using you have to take up his grade on his play so far this year because it’s not very talented. 

The Dolphins put up a good fight today but in the end they were overmatched.  Chad Henne completed 19 of 34 passes for 219 yards with 0 TDs and 0 INTs.  Pat White had his best game of the season carrying the ball 6 times for 45 yards (7.5 ypc) and he threw 1 incomplete pass.  Ronnie Brown carried the ball 15 times for 48 yards (3.2 ypc) in this game.  He also completed 1 of 2 passes for 1 yard and it went for a TD to TE Joey Haynos.  Ricky Williams also had a solid game with 7 carries for 33 yards (4.7 ypc) with a TD run.  WRs Greg Camarillo (5 rec, 71 yards) and Davone Bess (6 rec, 56 yards) led the way in the passing game for the Fins today in Foxboro.  TE Joey Haynos had the best game of his NFL career catching 3 passes for 29 yards (9.7 avg) with a TD.  The Dolphins finished up with 334 total yards in this game (133 rushing, 201 passing).

The Dolphins had big time issues in dealing with Tom Brady in this game.  CB Nate Jones (11 tackles) and S Yeremiah Bell (9 tackles) led the way for the Fins on defense in this game.  The Patriots finished up with 432 total yards on offense (109 rushing, 323 passing) in this game.  The Dolphins are now 3-5 on the season.

The Miami Dolphins wanted to get players to help out on both sides of the football in last April’s NFL Draft but the early returns to not look too promising.  CB Vontae Davis (1st round, #25 overall) has been the best rookie so far for the Dolphins this season as he has 17 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, 4 passes defensed and 1 interception that he returned 23 yards for a TD.  He’s in the starting lineup so maybe he can be a impact player down the road for the Fins.  QB Pat White (2nd round, #44 overall) was brought in to run the Wildcat Formation for the Fins but he has flopped in that role.  He has thrown 1 incomplete pass this season and he has carried the ball 4 times for 2 yards (0.5 ypc).  CB Sean Smith (2nd round, #61 overall) has now been thrust into the starting lineup due to injuries so we will see how he responds.  He has 17 tackles and he has defensed 8 passes so far this season as a backup.  WR Brian Hartline (4th round, #108 overall) has helped out the offense a tad this season as he has caught 10 passes for 157 yards (15.7 avg) with a TD and he has carried the ball 1 time for a loss of 1 yard.  FS Chris Clemons (5th round, #165 overall) has made 5 tackles this season.  WR Patrick Turner (3rd round, #87), TE Jonathan Nalbone (5th round, #161), OT Andrew Gardner (6th round, #181) and LB J.D. Folsom (7th round, #214) have not got onto the field this season.  This draft does not look too good for the Dolphins as they didn’t get a lot of players with much of a upside.

This is a big game for both of these teams in the AFC East.  The Dolphins need this game to get back into the division race as they are 3-4 on the year while the Patriots sit atop the division with a 5-2 record.  The Fins will keep the ball on the ground in this game with Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams against a Patriots’ D that is allowing 109.4 yards rushing per game and 4.5 yards per carry.  They will likely use a lot of the Wildcat Formation against the Patriots on Sunday.  The Fins will likely keep passing to the play action variety as Chad Henne has been so-so since taking over as the starting QB.

The Patriots will likely try to jump on the Fins with the passing game.  If Tom Brady has time to throw the ball (which is likely) then he will attack the corners of the Dolphins who are both rookies with Randy Moss, Wes Welker and rookie Brandon Tate.  Ben Watson might also be a factor for the Patriots in this game as he has a huge size advantage over the guys that will be covering him.  Laurence Maroney will probably carry the load in the running game against the Fins but expect the Patriots to concentrate on using their Air Raid on Sunday.

PREDICTION:  PATRIOTS 34, DOLPHINS 27

Dan Carpenter has been outstanding for the Fins this season.  He has made 10 of 11 field goal attempts and he is 20 for 20 on extra points.  The Dolphins brought in competition for Carpenter in training camp but he has been more than up to the challenge this season.  The Fins are quite proud of Carpenter and they hope that he keeps up the good work.

The Miami Dolphins (3-4) were outplayed by the New York Jets (4-4) in almost every aspect of this game, but not special teams.  Ten Ginn Jr. had two kickoff returns for touchdowns, with both coming in the 3rd quarter.  The 3rd quarter had a ton of action.  Ginn’s first return was a 100-yard touchdown return early in the quarter.  In the next series, the Jets fumbled the ball and Jason Taylor scooped it up and ran 48 yards for the touchdown.  The Jets finally answered back with a touchdown, but Ted Ginn Jr. took his second kickoff for a 101 yard touchdown return.  Mark Sanchez and the Jets answered again with another touchdown late in the quarter.  It was an exciting 3rd quarter to say the least.

Ginn, who did not start at receiver, wanted to make sure he still made an impact and wow what an impact he made.  The Dolphins would not have won this game without Ginn’s TD returns.  Chad Henne was mediocre, but he at least did not throw any interceptions.  He finished 12/21 for 112 yards and a touchdown.  Even the Dolphins great running game struggled, getting only 52 rushing yards as a team.  The Dolphins defense did not play very well either, besides the big fumble recovery and return by Jason Taylor.  They let the rookie Mark Sanchez go 20/35 for 265 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.   They also let Thomas Jones rush for 102 yards on 27 carries.  Ginn’s TD returns were huge for the Dolphins, but they cannot expect anything like that to happen again so there are a lot of things they need to improve on.