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

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

This will be a battle of the running games as the Miami Dolphins (2-4) host the New York Jets (4-3) Sunday.  The Jets rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez has been struggling big-time lately, so the Jets limited him to only 15 passes last week and relied heavily on their running game.  So, the Dolphins defense will really need to focus on stopping the Jets starting running back Thomas Jones.  He isn’t the only one they need to worry about though.  Rookie Shonn Green had a huge game last week, getting 144 yards and two TDs on 19 carries.  If the Dolphins can slow down the running game, it will force Sanchez to throw more often, meaning he will probably make some mistakes.

The Dolphins offense has to do a better job this week, especially quarterback Chad Henne.  Henne threw two interceptions last week and had a QB rating of only 45.0.  He needs to take care of the ball, manage the game, and let the running game do most of the damage.  The Dolphins could use another big game from Ricky Williams, who had a season high 138 total yards in their last game against the Jets.  This should be another close one, but I think the Jets will get even in this one as they have been killing teams on the ground.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTION:  New York Jets 28, Miami Dolphins 24

The Miami Dolphins (2-3) are taking on probably the best team in the NFL right now in the New Orleans Saints (5-0).  The Dolphins and their Wildcat running attack has been nearly unstoppable this year, but it hasn’t done enough for them in the win column.  The Saints running attack is just as good if not better than the Dolphins, as they have Pierre Thomas, Mike Bell, and Reggie Bush sharing the carries with each bringing a different aspect for the Dolphins run-defense to deal with.  When looking at the numbers, both defenses are pretty similar, giving up 301 yards per game and close to 20 points.

Chad Henne has been solid in his two starts, but the Dolphins passing game is nothing to write home about.  The offense is all about the Wildcat. Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams lead the attack in the Wildcat, with the two running backs combining for 759 yards and eight touchdowns on 4.9 yards per carry. The Saints have a well-rounded offensive attack and Drew Brees is one of the best quarterbacks in the league.  Even if the Chargers can’t stop the Wildcat, I don’t think they can win this one due to Drew Brees and their talented offense outscoring the Dolphins and their Wildcat.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTION:  New Orleans Saints 31, Miami Dolphins 20

This game pits to very young QBs against each other on Monday Night Football as Mark Sanchez (Jets) takes on Chad Henne (Dolphins).  The Jets will try to move the ball on the ground with Thomas Jones (229 yards rushing) and Leon Washington (181 yards rushing) but it will be hard to do against a Dolphins’ D that has allowed only 61.0 yards rushing per game and 2.9 yards per carry.  The Dolphins will likely play the run on the way to the QB as they have 11 sacks this season.  The Jets must keep OLBs Jason Taylor, Joey Porter and Cameron Wake out the backfield or Mark Sanchez will look like he did last week.  The Dolphins do give up 238.5 yards passing per game so if Sanchez has time to throw he should have some success hooking up with Braylon Edwards, Jerricho Cotchery and Dustin Keller.

The Dolphins will come out of the locker room running the football as usual with Ronnie Brown (369 yards rushing, 5.1 ypc) and Ricky Williams (248 yards rushing, 5.0 ypc) against a Jets’ D allowing 100.3 yards rushing per game and 4.2 yards per carry.  Henne was sacked six times last week and his receiving corps isn’t exactly top notch so the Dolphins can’t win this game without running the ball effectively.

PREDICTION:  DOLPHINS 16, JETS 13