Miami is the only NFL team averaging less than 10 yards a completion. Even among the wide receivers (ostensibly the deep threats), the average is barely over the Mendoza line at 10.05. The four wide receivers -- Davone Bess, Greg Camarillo, Ted Ginn and Brian Hartline -- have combined for two touchdown catches at midseason. That's one afternoon's work for many of the league's premier receivers. That's less touchdowns all year than drops in one typical half for this quartet.
You know why Ronnie Brown's rushing yards have declined sharply the past three games? Simple. Opposing defense are crowding up to stop the run because they know that Bess/Camarillo/Ginn/Hartline, individually or as a group, are nothing to be afraid of. Nothing, in a football sense, to respect.
Having said that, Miami's one pulsing weakness doesn't go away.
Underestimating the serious need for a premier wide receiver -- for a big-play element in the passing game -- has for me been the only gross miscalculation of the Bill Parcells/Sparano regime.
They have looked elsewhere at the top of their drafts, shot blanks in free agency (Ernest Wilford, anyone?) and otherwise been too hesitant to spend enough to getter better fast at the position. It is why Braylon Edwards is in a Jets uniform rather than in Miami, as a most recent example. The Dolphins must get significant help at the position through trade, free agency or the draft, and make it a priority.
So many other needs have been met and so much else about the team is coalescing that the one player still missing is increasingly conspicuous by his absence.
http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/football/story/1325129.html
You know why Ronnie Brown's rushing yards have declined sharply the past three games? Simple. Opposing defense are crowding up to stop the run because they know that Bess/Camarillo/Ginn/Hartline, individually or as a group, are nothing to be afraid of. Nothing, in a football sense, to respect.
Having said that, Miami's one pulsing weakness doesn't go away.
Underestimating the serious need for a premier wide receiver -- for a big-play element in the passing game -- has for me been the only gross miscalculation of the Bill Parcells/Sparano regime.
They have looked elsewhere at the top of their drafts, shot blanks in free agency (Ernest Wilford, anyone?) and otherwise been too hesitant to spend enough to getter better fast at the position. It is why Braylon Edwards is in a Jets uniform rather than in Miami, as a most recent example. The Dolphins must get significant help at the position through trade, free agency or the draft, and make it a priority.
So many other needs have been met and so much else about the team is coalescing that the one player still missing is increasingly conspicuous by his absence.
http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/football/story/1325129.html
