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Dolphins vs Steelers Preview |  | ||||||||
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GAME TIME: 1:00 PM EST on Sunday, Oct 24th. The game will be
broadcast regionally on CBS TV, on DirecTV channel 707, on Sirius
radio channels 153 and 123 and on XM radio channel 105.
PLACE: SunLife Stadium, Miami Gardens, FL
FORECAST: Sunny, with a high near 85. Breezy, with an east wind between
18 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.
FIELD CONDITIONS: The field should be in good shape and with the
baseball season over, the grass should be solidly in place.
STANDINGS & STATS: The Dolphins are 3-2, in 3rd place in the AFC East.
The Steelers are 4-1, in first place in the AFC North.
DOLPHINS: Out: DE Jared Odrick (leg) Questionable: FB Lousaka Polite (knee) Probable: LB Karlos Dansby (knee) STEELERS: Questionable: DE Brett Keisel (hamstring) Probable: G Trai Essex (ankle) DOLPHINS' STARTERS: Offense: Defense: QB - 7 Chad Henne LE - 70 Kendall Langford RB - 23 Ronnie Brown NT - 96 Paul Soliai FB - 36 Lousaka Polite RE - 94 Randy Starks WR - 19 Brandon Marshall SLB - 55 Koa Misi WR - 82 Brian Hartline ILB - 52 Channing Crowder TE - 80 Anthony Fasano ILB - 58 Karlos Dansby LT - 77 Jake Long WLB - 91 Cameron Wake LG - 68 Richie Incognito LCB - 21 Vontae Davis C - 67 Joe Berger RCB - 32 Jason Allen RG - 79 Pat McQuistan SS - 37 Yeremiah Bell RT - 72 Vernon Carey FS - 30 Chris Clemons K - 5 Dan Carpenter P - 2 Brandon Fields PR - 15 Davone Bess KR - 28 Nolan CarrollNOTES: John Jerry started the season at right guard, but has not returned after an illness sapped his strength. Pat McQuistan has been starting at right guard and no announcement has been made on that spot for this week. Rookie Jared Odrick re-injured his leg and will be out for the season. STEELERS' STARTERS: Offense: Defense: QB - 7 Ben Roethlisberger LDE - 91 Aaron Smith RB - 34 Rashard Mendenhall NT - 98 Casey Hampton TE - 85 David Johnson RDE - 93 Nick Eason WR - 86 Hines Ward OLB - 56 LaMarr Woodley WR - 17 Mike Wallace ILB - 51 James Farrior TE - 83 Heath Miller ILB - 94 Lawrence Timmons LT - 78 Max Starks OLB - 92 James Harrison LG - 68 Chris Kemoeatu CB - 24 Ike Taylor C - 53 Maurkice Pouncey CB - 20 Bryant McFadden RG - 64 Doug Legursky SS - 43 Troy Polamalu RT - 71 Flozell Adams FS - 25 Ryan Clark K - 3 Jeff Reed P - 9 Daniel Sepulveda PR - 82 Antwan Randle El KR - 88 Emmanuel SandersNOTES: James Harrison did miss practice on Wednesday, but that was because he was "upset" at getting fined over his big hit last Sunday against the Browns. He reportedly returned on Thursday.
Chad Henne is playing better this year and has improved in many ways, but is still prone to staring down his receivers. This week, against the top defense in the league, Brandon Marshall, Davone Bess and Anthony Fasano will need to make big plays if the Dolphins' offense is going to produce enough points. On defense, the return of Channing Crowder has improved the run defense, but it was Cameron Wake who made the biggest defensive play last week. And while Vontae Davis is coming on strong, he is still relatively inexperienced and made a big mistake last week. Meanwhile, the most surprising defensive stat so far this year is that Jason Allen leads all players with 3 interceptions. QB Ben Roethlisberger returned for the Steelers last week and delivered an excellent performance against the Browns. The Steelers' RB Rashard Mendenhall is 6th in the NFL in rushing yards with 495 and is averaging 4.3 ypc, while WR Mike Wallace is the Steelers' big play threat, averaging 25 yards per reception. On defense LB James Harrison leads the team in sacks with 5 and has forced 4 fumbles, but was absent from practice on Wednesday after the NFL fined him $75,000 a hit he put on Browns' WR Mohamed Massaquoi in last week's game. Overall, the Steelers probably have the best linebacking corps in the NFL, while Troy Polamalu is a Pro-Bowl safety. On special teams, the Steelers' Antonio Brown has returned one kickoff for a touchdown this season, but kicker Jeff Reed is hitting a relatively low 67% of his field goals this season. The Steelers are arguably the best team in the NFL at this point and the Dolphins will have their work cut out for them when the Steelers come to Miami this week. The Steelers are a very physical team and pride themselves on their hard-hitting style of football. The Steelers have been using a stingy and opportunistic defense and a bruising running game to beat opponents this year. Their only loss was to the Baltimore Ravens, who play the same kind of game that the Steelers do. If Miami wants to beat the Steelers this weekend, they will need to play their best game of the year. When the Dolphins have the ball, they will have a tough time running against the Steelers, who currently rank first in the league in run defense. Nevertheless, the Dolphins must do their best to establish a running game, otherwise their offense will become too one-dimensional. So look for Miami to continue to hand the ball off to Ronnie and Ricky between the tackles, even though their primary focus will be on throwing. With Miami's lack of a speedy deep threat and the strength of the Steelers' safeties, I would expect the Dolphins to focus on short to intermediate range passes, trying to take advantage of the matchups between Marshall, Bess and the Steelers' cornerbacks. The Steelers' linebackers are very good, so I would not expect Miami to try a lot of screens or other short passes to the backs. I expect the Dolphins will attack the Steelers pretty much head-on, because that has been their strength this year, hoping to get enough production out of the running game to make the play-action passes a viable choice. For this approach to work, of course, Chad Henne will need to play his best game and avoid the kind of mistakes that have plagued him off and on since he assumed the starting job. On defense, the Dolphins will need to control the Steelers' running game and force them to throw. With Channing Crowder back in the lineup, the Dolphins should be able to stop the Steelers running up the middle, but will also need to focus on controlling the edges - keeping the Steelers from turning the corners to the outside, like the Jets did. That means that Cameron Wake and Koa Misi will need to control their corners and not get blocked inside. The Steelers prefer to run, but with Roethlisberger back in the lineup, are very capable of big plays to the receivers. Vontae Davis, in particular, must not get so aggressive he allows Mike Wallace to blow past him like he did with Greg Jennings last week. The Dolphins can not afford to give up any big plays like they did against the Packers. In addition to setting the edges against the run, Wake and Misi will need to keep Roethlisberger in the pocket and not let him get free to the outside. Like Aaron Rodgers, Roethlisberger is better when he's improvising and is very hard to bring down. The Dolphins' defensive backs are good enough to cover the Steelers' receivers down the field, but Roethlisberger can't be allowed too much time to throw, because no defensive backs can cover forever. The bottom line is that the Dolphins are a physical team, like the Steelers, and can beat the boys from Pittsburgh on Sunday - providing they can avoid the kind of mistakes that have plagued them this year. Unfortunately, I don't see the Dolphins managing to get through this game without a couple of crucial mistakes. And the Steelers are a good enough team that those mistakes will end up costing the Dolphins the game. To watch the game on TV, you may go to one of the sports bars listed on my "Places To Watch" web page. To listen to the game live over the Internet, you must now pay the NFL for the privelege. They are charging $9.99 (US) per month or $39.99 for the season for something you used to get for free. If you want to sign up for that, go to the following link NFL Field Pass. Also, here is a list of some websites that have live scores and updates. Both the Official Website and NFL.com have almost live applications that run in your browser and give you current stats and play-by-play information.
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