Is time ticking away for the Dolphins’ offense

By Jason Kirk  |   Friday, August 26, 2005  |  Comments( 0 )

Miami Dolphins
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The Miami Dolphins' offense is hoping for a good showing this week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, after a rough outing last week versus the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Head coach Nick Saban has decided to once again open the quarterback competition, which Gus Frerotte had seemed to win. After another sub par performance at Pittsburgh, Frerotte's hold on the starting job has weakened, prompting Saban to allow all the quarterbacks a shot. That doesn't just mean AJ Feeley, but Sage Rosenfels and Brock Berlin as well. While neither Frerotte nor Feeley have established themselves as the starter, Rosenfels and Berlin have had a good pre-season thus far. Both have engineered scoring drives during games and both have limited their mental mistakes. They are gaining confidence from their teammates and gained ground on the depth chart. Although Rosenfels and Berlin are considered career back-ups, it doesn't speak highly of Frerotte or Feeley since neither has set themselves above the rest. The Miami Dolphins' quarterback situation is in dire straits yet again, and with the regular season quickly approaching, head coach Nick Saban has his hands full deciding who to go with.

The offensive line, probably the most criticized of all the offense, is in desperate need of a good outing. Once again during this pre-season, Saban and offensive line coach Hudson Huock, are re-shuffling the line to try and find the best combination. Vernon Carey, who has been playing well this pre-season, is switching from left to right tackle. Taking Carey's place at left tackle is last year's starter, Damion McIntosh. Seth McKinney and Rex Hadnot, who have been switching back and forth at center, will start this week against Tampa Bay at center and right guard, respectively. Jeno James, the Dolphins' only lineman that has yet to be switched, will start at left guard. Whether this new re-tooling works or not will be seen this Saturday. If it doesn't, than it's back to the drawing board. When Huock was made the highest paid offensive line coach in the NFL this off-season, Saban wanted results, and so far the results are mixed.

The wide receivers and tight-ends have been the strength of the offense this training camp and pre-season. At this point it doesn't seem that things will change. Chris Chambers and Marty Booker are doing well, establishing themselves as a great 1-2 punch. Wes Welker is proving that he can be more than just a returner and special teams' player, with several clutch catches. Bryan Gilmore is a very good special teams' player getting down the field to make tackles and also serving as another kick/punt returner. The big question is the battle for the #3 spot, between Derrius Thompson and David Boston. Boston, so far, has played well in the little time he's been given to put himself ahead of Thompson. His only question mark is durability. He's missed a few practices because of nagging injuries, but can he stay healthy for the entire season? As long as David Boston stays healthy, he'll probably be the Dolphins' third receiver. Derrius Thompson is dropping slowly but surely because of his lack of consistency. Some of his drops have cost the Miami Dolphins' offense good field position. Combine that with his lack of consistency the past two years and Thompson has pretty much seen his last days in a Dolphins' uniform.

At running back, all eyes will be glued to rookie Ronnie Brown when he makes his pre-season debut this Saturday against the Buccaneers. On a side note, Brown will be going against his fellow Auburn teammate and co-starter, “Cadillac” Williams. Brown is hopeful he'll display the type of ability that made him the Miami Dolphins' first-round draft pick. With two games left in the pre-season and Ricky Williams set to serve a four game suspension once the regular season begins, Ronnie Brown has little room for error and will be hard pressed to justify his $20 million guarantee.

With all these issues going on and with the opening day right around the corner, Dolfans are still in wonder as to whether or not this year's team is better than the 4-12 record from a year ago. Nick Saban didn't expect an easy road in his first year as an NFL head coach, but I'm sure he didn't think it would be this frustrating either.
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