Regardless of how this season finishes, and what happens to the coaching staff and players after this season, there are still two games left, so the mini-goal needs to be to win out. Finish the season with some pride and win the two remaining home games against the Vikings and Jets.
I am becoming a broken record, but Miami needs to commit to the run in this game. The Vikings run defense is ranked 23rd in the league allowing 123.9 yards per game. Lamar Miller is averaging a healthy 4.7 yards per carrying, however, he is only averaging a paltry 12.7 carries per game. Obviously the Dolphins have a pass-oriented offense, however only letting your starting running back carry the ball 12 to 13 times a game is a terrible way to generate any semblance of a rushing attack. The Vikings know that Miami likes to pass and they also have a decent pass defense, which is ranked 6th best in the league allowing only 216 yards through the air, so why not try something new this game on offense and give the Vikings a steady dose of Lamar Miller and the rest of the Miami rushing attack?
On defense Miami will be facing a rookie QB in Teddy Bridgewater, so they must make him as uncomfortable as possible. The Dolphins’ D-line, which coming into the season, and earlier in the season was one of the Dolphins’ deepest and most productive units on the team. However, over the past 4 games, they have not been able to stop the run or pressure the QB, and it can not even be blamed on injuries, because this unit has surprisingly been the only unit that has not been affected by the injury bug. Whatever the reason is for the decline in performance, Coyle and the D-line must find a way to play better in the trenches.
With Philbin on the hot seat, it will be interesting to see if he can motivate his players to play with some passion, even though the playoffs are not a reality, and this game is practically a meaningless game. Can Philbin get this team to play well in the final two games of the season, and perhaps save his job?
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The best bookie software sites like www.AcePerHead.com have the Dolphins as a -6 ½ point home favorite. That seems a bit generous considering over the last 3 games they have only averaged 14 points on offense and have allowed an average of 27.3 points on Defense. The action has been coming in more on the Dolphins with about 65% in Miami and about 35% in Minnesota. At first glance I would say that Miami has not played well in their last 3 games, so it’s hard to bet on them considering that you would need to spot the other team practically a touchdown. However, usually when it seems that the line is too high for the favored team, then they usually surprise and cover the spread, so we will see if this trend is followed by the Dolphins this upcoming Sunday.
