DE Tony McDaniel will miss this week’s Monday Night game against the Patriots for violating the NFL’s Personal Conduct Policy.  McDaniel has played in 2 games for the Fins this year and he has 3 tackles and 1 pass defensed.  Lionel Dotson and Ryan Baker will share time at DE in this week’s game.  Dotson has played in 2 games for the Fins so far this year and he has 2 tackles.  He has now played in 4 games in his 2 years in the NFL and he has 3 tackles.  Ryan Baker has played in 2 games for the Fins this year and he also had 2 tackles.  He has played in 7 games in his two years in the NFL and he has 7 tackles and 1/2 a sack.  The Dolphins hope that Baker & Dotson step up because the Dolphins are going to have to put pressure on Tom Brady or it could be a long night on D.

The Dolphins’ D didn’t show up last night and a very good effort by the Fins’ offense was wasted.  Chad Henne looked great last night as he completed 26 of 44 passes for 363 yards with 2 TD passes and 1 INT.  Ronnie Brown (11 car, 54 yards, 4.9 ypc) and Ricky Williams (7 car, 28 yards, 4.0 ypc) gave the Fins some ground support last night.  Brandon Marshall had a huge game for the Dolphins last night with 10 receptions for 166 yards (16.6 avg) with a TD grab.  Davone Bess (6 rec, 86 yards), Brian Hartline (5 rec, 84 yards) and Anthony Fasano (2 rec, 14 yards, TD) each pitched in for the Fins last night in the air attack.  The Dolphins finished up with 84 yards rushing on 23 carries (3.7 ypc) and they also completed 26 of 45 passes for 352 yards.

Safety Yeremiah Bell (9 tackles, 1 pass defensed) and LB Karlos Dansby (8 tackles) led a poor defensive effort by the Dolphins last night.  The Jets finished up with 146 yards rushing on 29 carries (5.0 ypc) and they also completed 15 of 28 passes for 256 yards.  The Dolphins are now 2-1 on the year.

The Dolphins are on a roll this year and they have to feel confident this weekend against a Jets team that they swept by a combined score of 61-52 last year.  Chad Henne had a lot of success throwing the ball against the Jets last year as he completed 32 of 47 passes (68.1%) for 353 yards with 3 TD passes and 0 INTs.  Here is a look at the matchups in this game:

When the Dolphins have the ball:  The Dolphins don’t change their offense for teams like the Jets.  That means Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams are going to come after the front seven of the Jets’ D.  The Jets are only allowing 50.5 yards rushing per game and 1.8 ypc but the Fins are averaging 126.0 yards rushing per game so something has to give here.  The Dolphins will likely keep the passing game short in this game throwing the ball a lot to Brandon Marshall especially with Darrelle Revis out.  It will hurt Dolphins’ fans to see Jason Taylor wearing Jets’ green.

When the Jets have the ball:  As long as Rex Ryan is the head coach of the Jets, I think they will be a run first football team.  LaDainian Tomlinson and Shonn Greene will be getting a lot of work against the front seven of the Fins.  Mark Sanchez played pretty well against the Dolphins last year but he will likely not be using Braylon Edwards much in this game (because he’s stupid).  That means that Jerricho Cotchery and Dustin Keller are going to have a much bigger workload in the passing game this Sunday.

PREDICTION:  DOLPHINS 16, JETS 14

The Dolphins have claimed 23-year old rookie OT Patrick Brown off waivers from the Jets.  Brown has nice size at 6’5″, 310 pounds but he didn’t get in any games for the Jets.  The undrafted rookie out of Central Florida might be able to fill the Dolphins’ coaches in on some tendencies of the Jets’ offense and defense.  The Jets just claimed Patrick Turner from the Dolphins a couple of weeks ago so picking up Brown evens the playing field a bit.

The Dolphins have claimed rookie TE Mickey Shuler off waivers from the Vikings.  He was a 7th round pick last April.  He is 6′4″, 245 pounds and he runs a 4.9 40.  He is not a strong blocker in the running game and he’s too slow to help much in the passing game.  Shuler played in 13 games (4 starts) for Penn State last season and he caught 11 passes for 89 yards (8.1 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  He played in 39 games (13 starts) in his three years with the Nittany Lions and he caught 27 passes for 300 yards (11.1 avg) with 4 TD grabs.  I really doubt that Shuler is going to help the Dolphins much this year.

28-year old OLB Cameron Wake couldn’t make an NFL team in 2005 after getting signed and released by the New York Giants.  He then moved on to the Canadian Football League in 2007 and 2008 playing for the British Columbia Lions.  Wake had 39 sacks in his two years in the Canadian Football League.  The Dolphins then signed him before the 2009 season.  He played in 14 games for the Dolphins last year and he had 23 tackles, 1 pass defensed, 5.5 sacks and a forced fumble.  Last year was just a glimpse of what he could do.  He is starting at OLB for the Dolphins this year and he’s making his mark.  He has 7 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, 2 sacks, 2 passes defensed and 1 forced fumble.  Wake is looking like he is going to be a high impact player for the Dolphins’ D this year.

The Dolphins have released 25-year old punt and kickoff returner Clifton Smith.  Smith played in the first two games for the Dolphins in which he returned 2 punts for 9 yards (4.5 avg) and 3 kickoffs for 52 yards (17.3 avg).  In the end the Dolphins decided that they couldn’t carry a return specialist on the roster unless he was productive which Smith was not.  Davone Bess will take over as the new punt returner and Patrick Cobbs or Nolan Carroll will be the new kickoff returner starting this weekend against the Jets.

The Dolphins made some big plays on D in this game despite giving up a lot of yards to the Vikings and that is why they won this game.  Yeremiah Bell (12 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss), CB Jason Allen (11 tackles, 3 passes defensed and 2 interceptions) and Karlos Dansby (9 tackles, 1 pass defensed) led the way for the Fins on D in this game.  CB Vontae Davis (6 tackles, 2 passes defensed and 1 interception) and rookie linebacker Koa Misi (2 tackles, 2 QB hits and a fumble recovery for a TD) also made huge impact plays for the Dolphins today.  The Vikings finished up with 156 yards rushing on 33 carries (4.7 ypc) and they also completed 22 of 36 passes for 208 yards today against the Fins.

Chad Henne was little more than a game manager this week against the Vikings.  He completed 9 of 15 passes for 114 yards with 1 TD pass and 0 INTs.  Ronnie Brown (13 carries, 80 yards) and Ricky Williams (10 carries, 30 yards) led the way on the ground for the Fins today.  WRs Brandon Marshall (4 rec, 71 yards) and Davone Bess (3 rec, 28 yards, TD) led the way in the air for the Dolphins in this game.  The Dolphins finished up with 120 yards rushing on 29 carries (4.1 ypc) and they also completed 9 of 15 passes for 106 yards as they only had possesion of the ball for 24:12.  The Dolphins are now a surprising 2-0 on the year.

The Dolphins start a very rough stretch in the schedule starting this week in Minnesota.  They are going to have to pick up their overall game big time to beat a Vikings’ team that will be well rested and in a bad mood.  Here is a look at the match-ups in this game:

When the Dolphins have the ball:  The Dolphins will likely have to throw the ball more than they like to in this game.  They will likely keep the passing game short to help protect Chad Henne from DE Jared Allen and OLB Chad Greenway for the Vikings.  That means that Brandon Marshall, Davone Bess and Brian Hartline better be ready for a heavy workload.  That doesn’t mean that the Fins are going to go away from their strength though as they are likely to still attack the Vikings’ interior of the D with Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams.

When the Vikings have the ball:  The Dolphins held the Bills to 50 yards rushing on 17 carries (2.9 ypc) last week but stopping Adrian Peterson is a whole different type of animal.  Brett Favre will also likely attack the Fins’ corners with Percy Harvin and Bernard Berrian who will also be motivated to atone for weak games against the Saints in the season opener.  The Fins need to know where TE Visanthe Shiancoe is on every play as he is Brett Favre’s favorite target for right now.

PREDICTION:  VIKINGS 27, DOLPHINS 13

The Dolphins will be without rookie DE Jared Odrick for a couple of weeks due to a hairline fracture of his right fibula.  Odrick had 1 tackle and 1 tackle for a loss against the Bills in the season opener last Sunday.  25-year old Tony McDaniel will start in Odrick’s spot until he’s ready to return to action.  McDaniel didn’t have any tackles against the Bills but he did defense 1 pass.  He played in 16 games for the Fins last season and he had 16 tackles, 1 pass defensed and 1.5 sacks.  I have a feeling that McDaniel is going to do a decent job while Odrick is out of action.