For those of you still playing in Fantasy Football, this would be your Super Bowl week. My Super Bowl week is two weeks long... I hate this league. Anyway, there are a lot of key acquisitions to be made this week if you need to bolster your roster.

First, Toby Gerhart. With Adrian Peterson out for Week 17 with multiple knee injuries, the best backup RB in the NFL (with the exception of Ben Tate) is primed for a big week. The Bears play great defense, but now that they are officially out of the playoffs, I see them playing softer. They have nothing to play for. Meanwhile, The Vikings are trying to avoid matching the worst single season record in Vikings history and they will *likely* be playing a lot more with Joe Webb, who has inspired The Vikings offense like no other this year in his limited game time action. More on Webb later.

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One of my favorite weekly posts, Start 'em and Sit 'em, does not appear to be going up this week. If anybody is having trouble deciding whom to start in this very important playoff week, I'll be more than happy to answer your questions. I'll be at work for another 3 hours (by work I mean monitoring The Phinsider) and then I'll check this again in the morning a couple hours before game time to help y'all out.

I'd like to thank Brantner78 (), rintintinsoldier (), and phinsphan85() for taking time out of their weeks to help me do this! In the coming weeks, this will transition into more of a pre-game show with discussions of a few of the bigger games for each respective week. For now, we are just sticking with picks, which can be found after the jump:

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This is something Matty used to do every week that I liked, so I felt I would pick it up since nobody else seems to want to.  Plus, I love this kind of thing!

I will be picking who I think will win out of all the games, plus one to two upsets per week.  I will keep a cumulative tally for the season to see how well I do, but here's the kicker:  I want 3 other Phinsiders to join in on this with me.  I have to be able to rely on them to do this week in and week out, and I would like to choose consistent posters that are not already featured on the front page regularly (sorry Lefty et al) in order to help grow this community.

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One of the most common gripes from regulars around here is whether a post should be made a FanShot or a FanPost.  Many, myself included, believe a short post containing a link to another article, or possibly a simple question to stimulate conversation, should be posted in the FanShot section.  I started wondering why people tend to ignore FanShots (I am guilty of this) and then it hit me.

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With all the talk of both Earl Thomas' visits and a potential swap of first round picks with Dallas, it seems increasingly likely that we will be trading down our 12th pick in the 2010 NFL Draft for The Cowboys 27th pick.  A few days ago, I mentioned someone should make a fanpost about who we would take with the 27th pick for two reasons, which you can see after the jump:

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While reading the comments on Matty's latest article, I noticed that a lot of people feel that the "Pat White Experiment" is over.  The main argument presented is that Pat White has not completed a single pass in the NFL... out of 5 whole attempts.  My question is:  Is it really so hard to believe that a rookie QB might throw 5 incomplete passes in his first 5 attempts in the NFL?  And considering those first 5 passes were staggered over the course of many games, I do not believe it to be indicative of White's future.  How is Pat supposed to gauge how a defense will react to his being under center if he is only allowed a single pass attempt?  I am in no way claiming that Pat White is going to be a superstar, I'm just pointing out that it is too soon to be judging him based on a severe lack of experience/pass attempts.

Just to put things into perspective, I'm going to list some terrible rookie games from some of the league's known commodities, as well as some historical greats (I wish I could see how each QB faired in his first 5 attempts, but NFL.com does not break it down to such a degree):

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200 yards from scrimmage and will score at least 2 TDs.  The only thing that has held Ricky back is sharing the load with Ronnie.  Ronnie is the best Wildcat QB to be sure, but every other aspect of rushing has been dominated by Ricky Williams this season.  The man is simply a beast and has done more than Ronnie with fewer touches.  I called Pat White two weeks ago, I'm calling a return to Pro Bowl form for Ricky Williams today.

This has to be the game for which they have been saving Pat White.  To all of you people who think White is a waste, do you honestly think Sparano gives him one or two snaps and then pulls him off the field if he is serious about using him at that point in the game?  No.  The way White has been used so far has only been used for misdirection when they finally unleash him in a big game... I think that game is today.  Who better to unleash the next level of The Wildcat on than the #1 team in the division who also happens to be the team that received the first taste of Wildcat 2008.  This is the game that matters, and this is where I think we'll see Pat White.

 

I'm excited, how about you?

I read an article about a month ago that questioned whether Roth was injured, or just holding out for more money.  It was shady how it all went down with Sparano not knowing anything about his injury in the press conference.  If Roth's "groin injury" is bad enough to hold him out of OTAs, Training Camp, Exhibitions and 3 weeks of regular season... why has he not had more surgery and been done with it?

I think there's a 3rd option to the list, albeit an unlikely one, but maybe the FO wanted to keep an extra linebacker and concocted a scheme to keep Roth on IR while they decide what to do with Anderson/Wake/Walden/Moses.

 

I say if he's holding out for more money, PAY THE MAN HIS MONEY!!  He put up incredible numbers for a first year convert.  What do you guys think?

Ted Ginn is catching a lot of unwarranted flak for Indy's game.  I just want to put not only his progress from 2008 into perspective, but also his role on the team. 

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our schedule got much worse.  It's sad when we have to look forward to playing Tampa Bay as our only "easy" game in the first half of the season.  At least we have Jacksonville in December!!

I don't know about you, but I'm steeling myself against the inevitable onslaught of "regular season warrior" fans screaming for Sparano/Pennington/Ginn/etc's head when we fall short of the playoffs. 

 

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Peyton now has another deep threat.  I just hope Will Allen can handle him.  Story can be found here.

Indianapolis has signed former Philadelphia receiver Hank Baskett to take Gonzalez's place, and three-time league most valuable player Peyton Manning hopes he can find his way around the offense fast. The team made the announcement following Thursday's practice.

"Hopefully, we can catch him up as soon as possible," Manning said. "It's a lot of offense to learn in a couple of days, but he's a veteran, so he could help us."

I expected your O-Line to be the worst in the league this year, but those rookies surprised me greatly.  Fred Jackson is a beast and Trent Edwards looked like a seasoned pro.  Combine all of that with the way your defense played and you would have steamrolled the vast majority of the teams in the NFL.  Even with the ST fumbles.  

The AFC East is going to be a flat out dog fight this year and I'm glad for it.  See you in Week 4!

I may get some flack here, but The Dolphins are clearly at the bottom of the division after Week 1.  I'm not saying this can't change, but watching The Bills put The Pats up against the ropes for 3.5 quarters made it seem obvious.  This isn't a bad thing as I do think we are going to finish very strong once Grove/Shawn Murphy and Grove/Donald Thomas gel a bit more, but we are going to be chasing The Jets, The Patriots and quite possibly The Bills for the rest of the season. 

I, for one, would rather play in a strong division and have a shot at the playoffs than mop up an easy division and coast into January.  Playing against 3 great teams will help us in the long run, both developmentally and by better results when we do play the great teams in January.

I am excited to watch this season pan out.

One increasingly popular opinion amongst Dolfans, as well as the mainstream sports media, is that The Dolphins receiving corps is an area of weakness that should be addressed in the first day, if not the first round, of the draft.  When mentioned in the same sentence as Miami or one of its receivers, the phrase "True #1" is usually paired up with a negative adverb or adjective such as "no", "not", or "lacking".  This article will help dispel the myths surrounding our excellent talent.

 

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Ben Volin made an interesting point during the PBP live chat this morning, it went as follows:

Ben Volin:  Good morning, thanks for joining us.

The third-down running back situation was another hot topic in my post-game chat on Sunday. (SHAMELESS PLUG: JOIN ME AFTER EVERY GAME FOR A LIVE CHAT!)

No question, Ricky and Ronnie are the top two backs, and have arguably the best hands on the team, among all receivers and tight ends. They were active in the passing game in the fourth quarter, when the Dolphins were throwing on every down. They combined for seven catches.

Patrick Cobbs, though, played 13 snaps on third down. He caught one pass for 9 yards. The other 12 downs? He was a blocker.

Understand, though Cobbs is only 5-foot-8, he is a BEAST. Pound for pound, the strongest guy in the locker room. He can squat three times his body weight.

He was in the game for one reason only -- to thump anyone who got close to Chad Pennington.

Who would you rather be taking those licks -- Ronnie Brown, coming off ACL surgery? Ricky Williams, who is 31 years old?

Tony Sparano knows that his offensive line is a work in progress, and uses Cobbs as a safety valve.

That said, expect to see more Ricky and Ronnie this week on third downs, because the offense needs to move the ball more than it did against the Jets.

I wish it were Sunday already!

The close finish against a possibly playoff bound Jets team has renewed my hope that we are going to do well this year.  Once Sparano stops trying to be so predictably unpredictable, I think we're going to see a lot of Ws in the win column.  Yes, our receivers aren't that great, but really it was the play calling that was our down fall.  If we had thrown some short screen passes early to open the run, and then if we had run hard on them with Ricky and Ronnie (NO PATRICK), it would have opened up the secondary to allow some receivers to get open.  I agree that Ginn was a huge disappointment with his invisibility and his timid attempts at punt returns, but I'm going to chalk that up to game 1 jitters.  I don't think he's used to being in the #1 anticipated game of the week.  Even Pennington looked nervous in his first two or three series, and he's a long time veteran.  I'll reserve my harsh judgements on Ginn until at least next week.

Please say it ain't so!!

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/palmbeach/miamidolphins/entries/2008/08/12/dolphins_of_a_different_color.html

Found an interesting nugget from the fantastic blog Uniwatch, the world’s finest blog devoted to sports uniform minutiae.

The writer, Paul Lukas, got a tip from a reader that the Dolphins are looking to make wholesale changes to their image.

Monday, he wrote:

“Word in Reebok/Adidas world is that the Miami Dolphins contacted them today to totally re-image them. We’re talking new logo, new color scheme, and new uniforms. Why? Because, according to their front office, they want to be “tough,” and unfortunately orange and teal don’t go along with tough.’”

 

From PBP: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/palmbeach/miamidolphins/entries/2008/08/index.html

Here it is (rookies are underlined):

OFFENSE

• WR 1: Ted Ginn, Derek Hagan, David Kircus, Jayson Foster, Anthony Armstrong
• LT: Jake Long, Ikechuku Ndukwe
• LG: Justin Smiley, Shawn Murphy
• C: Samson Satele, Steve McKinney, Matt Spanos
• RG: Trey Darilek, Donald Thomas, Mike Byrne
• RT: Vernon Carey, Daren Heerspink
• TE: Anthony Fasano, David Martin, Sean Ryan, Justin Peelle, Matthew Mulligan
• WR 2: Ernest Wilford, Greg Camarillo, Davone Bess, John Dunlap, Selwyn Lymon.
• QB: Josh McCown, John Beck, Chad Henne
• FB: Regan Mauia, Boomer Grigsby
• RB: Ronnie Brown, Ricky Williams, Patrick Cobbs, Jalen Parmele, Lex Hilliard

DEFENSE

• LE: Matt Roth, Randy Starks, Kendall Langford, Rodrique Wright
• NT: Jason Ferguson, Paul Soliai, Anthony Toribio
• RE: Vonnie Holliday, Phillip Merling, Lionel Dotson
• SLB: Joey Porter, Rob Ninkovich, Junior Glymph, Titus Brown
• ILB 1: Channing Crowder, Kelvin Smith, Kelly Poppinga
• ILB 2: Akin Ayodele, Reggie Torbor, Edmond Miles
• WLB: Charlie Anderson, Quentin Moses, Keith Saunders
• LCB: Will Allen, Joey Thomas, Chris Roberson
• RCB: Andre Goodman, Travis Daniels, Nathan Jones, Will Billingsley
• FS: Jason Allen, Chris Crocker, Renaldo Hill
• SS: Yeremiah Bell, Keith Davis, Courtney Bryan

SPECIALISTS

• P: Brandon Fields
• K: Jay Feely, Dan Carpenter
• KO: Jay Feely, Dan Carpenter

• H: Brandon Fields

• KOR: Ted Ginn, Jayson Foster, Davone Bess

• PR: Ted Ginn, Jayson Foster, Davone Bess
• LS: John Denney

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/palmbeach/miamidolphins/entries/2008/07/index.html

Excerpts:

"Hall of Fame wide receiver Michael Irvin reported today on his radio show in the Dallas-Fort Worth area that Carter will be in Davie on Friday for a workout at the Dolphins’ training facility."

“I see Ricky Williams playing again,” Carter told the Palm Beach Post before he checked into a South Florida rehab facility in December. “I only failed one test. Ricky failed about five or six.”

“I need to work on myself and I also want to get back into the NFL,” Carter said in December. “Ultimately I want to begin a new life and do the right thing.”

this offseason?

Charlie Anderson and Jayson Foster have really piqued my interest; I can't read enough about their performances in training camp.  I'd love to see Foster start out returning kicks and freeing up Ginn to be a full time receiver.  Anderson sounds like a diamond in the rough.  The man is a beast!

August 9th cannot get here soon enough, but at the same time I love reading the PBP blog for each practice.  I'm kind of upset that this afternoon's session is closed though.