An important dress rehearsal

The Atlanta Falcons, travel to Miami to take on the Dolphins tonight at 7:30pm for the 3rd and most important of all the preseason games.  This is the game where the starters will play deep into the third quarter, and pretty much have their last chance to show phins news fans what type of team they can be before the season begins.

There will be a few things to look for in this game.  Obviously the first is to see how rookie Ryan Tannehill plays, and it will be interesting to see if he can open up the game looser then he did last week.  RT’s success tonight will depend on how well the offensive line plays.  Last week the offense line was a sieve.  Two players that will need to step up their game tonight is Jonathan Martin and John Jerry.  Im not asking them to be perfect, all I want to see is improvement.  Also I would like to see the offensive line get a better push off the ball, and develop a running game tonight.  The coaches keep talking about how deep we are at running back, but if the o-line can not create running lanes, then it does not matter how much talent we have in the backfield.

Lastly I would like to see the defense make a stop on the first drive of the game.  Of all the teams the Dolphins face this preseason, the Falcons probably have the best offense of the bunch, so I am glad that we play them the third game, so our defense can get the chance to prove if they are going to fold or stand strong.  So far the defense has allowed 659 yards of offense, 43 total points and 24 points in the 1st quarter of only two preseason games.  The million dollar question, is can they step it up and play with some pride or will they continue to cause phins news fans to curse at their televisions?

For those hard core football gambling fans who are looking to take some action in the game, I would suggest picking the Falcons giving -3 points at -115.  The Dolphins have not played well enough to warrant a reason to expect them to play better against a better team, so I will have to go against the phins here.  Another option for football gambling fans is to take the over in the game at -41 1/2, because the Dolphins defense is going to have their hands full tonight.