Interior OL Key To A “W”, But Larsen Is Limited All Week

Ted Larsen hasn’t played well for weeks but he’s the best LG Miami has

 An unhealthy Ted Larsen isn't good... and neither are the backups

An unhealthy Ted Larsen isn’t good… and neither are the backups

Add Ted Larsen to the rest of the unhealthy Offensive Linemen. On Friday, Larsen worked with trainers to get his neck ‘right’ all practice. Neck injuries are serious. It’s unlikely that he plays. Ja’Wuan James and Laremy Tunsil are banged up along with him and are inches away from being replaced. With 3 starters on the O-Line ‘iffy’, the Dolphins have turned up the difficulty dial against the Packers way up.

Wayyyy up.

Phins have activated Jake Brendel and he could be a factor. But can you expect him to step in after sitting half the season and not be rusty? 

The Jets ragged-dolled Wesley Johnson often in his limited exposure last week. So the cavalry isn’t arriving with him either.

Larsen is one more check on a long list of injuries for the 2018 Dolphins

What to do what to do?

Phinsnews is a fan of Jesse Davis, but his play has leveled off over the last few weeks. Ditto for Travis Swanson. Both need to prove themselves and help carry this O-Line.

It won’t be an easy task.

The Packers run the 3-4 with a stud of a Nose Tackle in Kenny Clark and two solid players flanking him in DE Mike Daniels and DE Dean Lowery. Clark is as good, if not better, in pass rush as he is in run defense. Davis suffers from swim moves backed by low-centered power. Swanson has shown a diminishing ability to deal with the Bull Rush. Clark is a complete 3 down Nose Tackle and he will push both Phins linemen to the limits… not to mention Larsen’s replacement. This Sunday Davis and Swanson will get a great opportunity to show they belong. Will they? Man, I hope so.

Adding to the difficulties the interior OL will face this week, Inside Linebacker Blake Martinez is ranked #7 at his position by PFF. You can expect Martinez, working with the interior D-line, to be involved in plenty of inside stunts. With Brendel or Johnson filling in for Larsen, chemistry issues could be exposed by talented players performing stunts. This may end up a serious problem.

Good play calling by Gase will go a long way towards helping his banged up O-Line

It will take an effective run game on 1st down as the game progresses to take some of the heat off the inside. But they won’t be able to simply bully there a way to success. Gase will need to use the short passing game to slow the Inside LB’s run blitzes before lanes open up on 1st Down. An excellent way to slow the Inside LB’s is to attack the middle / short of the field at the hashes, especially with Play Action. Mike Gesicki and Danny Amendola could be very valuable in this role.  And again, the Inside O-line will be key because they must hold long enough to make it happen. Gase though hasn’t shown much of this type of attack in his arsenal. He prefers the edges.

However it gets done, Gase must start fast and call an excellent game or it will get ugly. The Packers are 10 point favorites at the moment with the pay per head bookie sites like AcePerHead.com. I’m not knowledgeable in the ways of gambling, but I know enough to know that’s not a good sign.

Going into the Bye Week, 6-4 is a big difference from 5-5

Adam Gase has been under fire by fans for almost 2 years. Phinsnews has joined in on questioning whether Gase is the right guy or not over the last few weeks. Phinsnews was unified in the belief that 9-7 this season was the least acceptable outcome for 2018 to keep the faith. As much as I have wanted Gase to prove me right this season for my support of him, now I’d love for him to prove me wrong in my doubt. But he needs to start proving it.

A loss this week means the Dolphins must go at minimum 4-2… and that’s just to get to 9-7. Given the schedule that will be a very tough task. I’m still holding out faith that Gase and Co. with turn the switch… but these days it’s more about the heart than the brain. Go Phins!!!.

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