Brown42000
Perennial All-Pro
Patriots at Dolphins: Remember Stratego? The Crimean War-era strategy game in which you moved army men around a square battlefield, searching for that elusive flag? Bombs, miners, generals, circular lakes in the middle of the board ... work with me here.
In Stratego, the field marshall was the highest-ranking piece. He strolled the board with the No. 1 on his uniform and a feather in his cap, making him look like a flamboyant Eastern European kicker. He was impervious to harm, unless he landed on a bomb or was attacked by the spy, a sneaky dude in a cape with a Rollie Fingers moustache who was the wimp of the battlefield until he got a chance to sucker punch the field marshall.
What on earth does this have to do with Patriots and Dolphins? It's simple. The Patriots are the field marshall. The Dolphins are spies lurking in South Florida, preparing an ambush for the defending (but fading) champs.
Remember last year's 29-28 upset in Miami? Tom Brady threw four interceptions in that game. The Patriots needed overtime to win in Miami in 2003. The Dolphins beat the not-so-good Patriots in Miami 26-13 in '02. They beat up the Patriots 30-10 in '01.
How did the Dolphins do it? In the Dave Wannstedt era, they kept it simple on defense: they rushed the front four, rarely blitzed and covered receivers man-to-man. Players like Jason Taylor, Patrick Surtain and Sam Madison allowed them to combat the Patriots' fudge ripple offense with a vanilla scheme, and it worked wonders. On offense, Miami's run-oriented offense neutralized Bill Belichick's crafty coverages.
Taylor, Madison and Zach Thomas are still around, and while Nick Saban is more blitz-happy than Wannstedt, he has the defensive personnel to stack up with the Patriots. Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams can grind out the yards and keep Tom Brady off the field, but offensive coordinator Scott Linehan can't get cute the way he did against the Falcons: no trick plays and no passes that Gus Frerotte cannot execute. Most prognosticators expect the Patriots to bounce back hard from their Monday night loss. You heard it here first: Dolphins by a field goal.
In Stratego, the field marshall was the highest-ranking piece. He strolled the board with the No. 1 on his uniform and a feather in his cap, making him look like a flamboyant Eastern European kicker. He was impervious to harm, unless he landed on a bomb or was attacked by the spy, a sneaky dude in a cape with a Rollie Fingers moustache who was the wimp of the battlefield until he got a chance to sucker punch the field marshall.
What on earth does this have to do with Patriots and Dolphins? It's simple. The Patriots are the field marshall. The Dolphins are spies lurking in South Florida, preparing an ambush for the defending (but fading) champs.
Remember last year's 29-28 upset in Miami? Tom Brady threw four interceptions in that game. The Patriots needed overtime to win in Miami in 2003. The Dolphins beat the not-so-good Patriots in Miami 26-13 in '02. They beat up the Patriots 30-10 in '01.
How did the Dolphins do it? In the Dave Wannstedt era, they kept it simple on defense: they rushed the front four, rarely blitzed and covered receivers man-to-man. Players like Jason Taylor, Patrick Surtain and Sam Madison allowed them to combat the Patriots' fudge ripple offense with a vanilla scheme, and it worked wonders. On offense, Miami's run-oriented offense neutralized Bill Belichick's crafty coverages.
Taylor, Madison and Zach Thomas are still around, and while Nick Saban is more blitz-happy than Wannstedt, he has the defensive personnel to stack up with the Patriots. Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams can grind out the yards and keep Tom Brady off the field, but offensive coordinator Scott Linehan can't get cute the way he did against the Falcons: no trick plays and no passes that Gus Frerotte cannot execute. Most prognosticators expect the Patriots to bounce back hard from their Monday night loss. You heard it here first: Dolphins by a field goal.
