We enter week 5 0-4 a bye week for the Dolphins so we don’t have to worry about another gut-wrenching loss. After the week 4 loss to the Chargers a trend stood out to me on certain players snap counts.
Kalen Ballage began the season as the #1 back with Kenyan Drake mixed in. As Ballage struggles continued week after week Drake got more work till fumbles vs Dallas and Chargers. The Fumbles of Drake and the declining play by Ballage prompted the coaching staff to incorporate Mark Walton. Will this continue after the bye vs the Redskins or was this a one game punishment. I would have liked to seen Patrick Laird as the next man up with Ballage stinking the field up.
Taco Charlton claimed off of waivers days before facing his former team in the Cowboys had a decent showing and a sack against his former team. First few games Charles Harris was getting 60+ snaps but after the Cowboys game and the promise of what Taco brings Charles took a 50% reduction of snaps. If Charles Harris struggles continue, I wonder if we will start to see Dewayne Hendrix get his shot to show what he can do.
A player that despite struggling from the get-go has not seen less play time leaving me wondering why is cornerback Eric Rowe on the roster. There isn’t another player on this team that has looked worse except maybe Ballage. I personally would like to see anyone else get a chance at boundary corner opposite Howard.
Curious with how well Isaiah Prince played at RT in his first start that if Jesse Davis can go against the Redskins if the coaches move J’Marcus Webb back to RT. I for one would like to see what Prince can do going forward. Prince and Boehm on the right side gave us fans the first look at a potential run game something we had not seen this year.
The coaches have been accountable for their part after every game. A trend I have noticed in recent Dolphins coaches has been talking about tackling fixing issues and then watching the same issues occur. Wednesday when the team went back to work the practice was in full pads. Accountability can’t be talked about its about what actions we take to make it happen. Full pad practice is something I hope is a trend going forward.
With this bye a few players like Albert Wilson, Jesse Davis and Reshad Jones can maybe shake off injuries that have slowed them down till this point. Jones played against the Chargers but not at his normal level we are used to seeing him play at. Wilson looks to be full speed for the Redskins game hopefully to add a spark that is missing to date for this offense.
Excellent points. I would like to point out that Eric Rowe was the weak link on the Patriots last year and when he was on the field the opposing offenses always went right after him. I have no idea why they signed him and why he is still our starting CB opposite Howard.
Full pads, wow.
Miami is scoreless in the 2nd half. I saw them completely run out of gas in the 2nd half. This is conditioning. They need to run, run and run some more. All the years and this is the first Miami team that has completely not shown up for the 2nd half. Some of the blame goes to the offense for continually going 3 and out. This leaves the defense out on the field for 40 to 50 minutes.