Some random thoughts.

1. The Dolphins signed 33 year old LB Derek Smith. Is that an indication that Crowder will not be available on Sunday? If so, how much can we expect from Smith? I'm assuming Torbor will still get the start, but he wasn't exactly a world beater last week.

2. Who will we play next year? If (when?) we beat the Jets on Sunday, these will be our 2009 opponents - according to the Sun Sentinel. All I can say is holy crap. That is an absolutely brutal schedule.
Home
Patriots (10-5)
Jets (9-6)
Bills (7-8)
Texans (7-8)
Colts (11-4)
Bucs (9-6)
Saints (8-7)
Steelers (11-4)

Away
Patriots (10-5)
Jets (9-6)
Bills (7-8)
Titans (13-2)
Jaguars (5-10)
Falcons (10-5)
Panthers (11-4)
Broncos (8-7)

3. Keys to winning Sunday:
(1) Contain the Jets RBs. Jones is going to the Pro Bowl, but Leon Washington is also very dangerous. Washington was a huge part of their win over the Titans. We need to get some stops early and force them to pass the ball.
(2) Win the turnover battle. Brett will most likely put one or two up for grabs. Winning the turnover battle will be huge.

4. Despite not winning the division, I don't expect the Jets to roll over and play dead in this game. We'll need our "A" game in order to win. No turnovers, no drops and no stupid penalties.

Yeah thats a hard squedule. But we will be even better next year with both free agency and the draft. I know that can be said for just about any team, but its the coaching to puts us over the top compared to other teams. We have very good coaching.

These guys really know what they are doing. They have the players ready on game day thats for sure.

I agree. I think we will have another good draft. We'll also find it much easier to lure quality free agents our way in the coming offseason. Good players want to play for good teams.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/23/2008 06:29PM by Northeast Fin Fan.

Yes we will attract quite a few good players this next season. Agreed.

Turn-overs are the key...may the jets repeat last week's performance!

samsam3738 Wrote:
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> Yeah thats a hard squedule. But we will be even
> better next year with both free agency and the
> draft. I know that can be said for just about any
> team, but its the coaching to puts us over the top
> compared to other teams. We have very good
> coaching.
>
> These guys really know what they are doing. They
> have the players ready on game day thats for sure.

One thing we know if you look at history, you can't necessarily use this season to predict how a team will do next season. The Texans and Jags MAY be better than this year, but at the same time, the Titans and Panthers may not be that good next year. Overall, this looks like a brutal schedule to us NOW, but it might be a lot easier next year.

The key to winning Sunday will be our TE's. The Jets have the number 7 ranked rush defense and the 29th ranked pass defense. I think we need to control the clock via the short passing game. Chad is the 2nd ranked QB in passer rating in the NFL.

The other obvious keys will be containing the running game of the JEts and getting pressure on Favre to force turnovers. BF has thrown 6 int's and only 1 TD in the last 4 games and are 1-3 during that span. The Dolphins are 4-0. These are two teams headed in opposite directions. Over the last 4 games, NY is giving up an average of almost 28 points per game.

NY is trying to stumble into the playoffs and Miami is heading in with a full head of steam.

Their last 3 losses have come to teams that Miami has already beaten.

Pennington has posted QB rating over 100 in the last 3 games with 104.2, 124 & 111.8 respectively! Opposite to Favre, CP has thrown 6 TD's to 1 ints!

The gods must be smiling on the Dolphins as the forecast for Sunday is a high of 51 degrees with showers. We play at 4:20pm so that temp will from around 42 degrees to the mid thirties by the end of the game.

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“I'm here" You're welcome!" - Kenny Powers

We need to also be willing to chuck the ball long once in a while. The Jets will expect Pennington to only throw short. Noodle arm or not, we need to commit to the threat of a bomb.

Passes to our TE's are a staple of our offense - so they will be important. But honestly, I think our offense will be fine. The question I have is more about our defense. If the defense plays well this should be a win. That said, containing Jones and Washington are critical.

Any updates on Crowder's status coming out of Miami?

What's deceiving about the schedule is that it's still tough whether or not we finish in 1st place or 3rd place in the division. Next year, the AFC East plays the AFC South and NFC South (this year, it was the West from each conference). So, regardless of what our record is or where we finish in the division, we'd still be playing Indy, Tenn, Jags, Texans, Falcons, Panthers, Saints, and Bucs. The only games that could change depending on the final standings are the Steelers and the Broncos.

Defense is the key as always. We MUST rise to the occasion or the Jets will score to many points for us to overcome. Stop the freaking Jets cold!!!!!!!!!!

an addendum to my previous post about the Jet vs the Rush...from the Herald.

since Nov. 30 the Jets have allowed 129 yards to Denver's Peyton Hillis, 127 to Buffalo's Marshawn Lynch and on Sunday, 116 to Seattle's Maurice Morris. And Seattle started five offensive linemen who were backups or on the practice squad in September.

NICE!

.....................................................................................
“I'm here" You're welcome!" - Kenny Powers

montequi Wrote:
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>
> One thing we know if you look at history, you
> can't necessarily use this season to predict how a
> team will do next season. The Texans and Jags MAY
> be better than this year, but at the same time,
> the Titans and Panthers may not be that good next
> year. Overall, this looks like a brutal schedule
> to us NOW, but it might be a lot easier next year.

Yup. Just like teams who had us in their squedule this year didn't know we were going to be competitive coming off a 1-15 season. You just never know.