Dolphins’ faithful coping with a case of the bye-week blues

By Hugo Guzman  |   Monday, September 29, 2008  |  Comments( 4 )

Miami Dolphins
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The last thing an upstart Miami Dolphins franchise needed was a bye week. They’re coming of a 38-13 pasting of New England Patriots. They swept the weekly NFL awards, boasting the best offensive player (Ronnie Brown), the best defensive player (Joey Porter) and the best coach (Tony Sparano). And perhaps most importantly, the core of this young team, its offensive and defensive lines, finally put together a solid outing from start to finish in Week 3.

Still, there are reasons to embrace such an early bye week.

For one, there are plenty of starters who are coming off major injuries and likely used the week off to heal their bodies and get further in sync with their respective units. Of particular interest are guys like Michael Lehan and Ronnie Brown. Lehan is paramount because he is capable of shoring up the cornerback slot opposite Will Allen when healthy. Brown's important because, well, he could very likely hold the keys to Miami’s offensive resurgence.

But extended healing isn’t the only hidden positive that the Dolphins cashed in on during their time off. An extra week of practice and study will only help to further enhance quarterback Chad Pennington’s command of this offense. Then again, it’s hard to believe that Pennington could get any better after coming off a surgically accurate performance in which the nine-year veteran completed 17 of 20 pass attempts for 226 yards.

Through three games, Pennington has delivered exactly what was expected of him, completing 63.9 percent of his passes and avoiding the costly turnovers that have plagued every quarterback who has suited up for the Dolphins in the last 10 years. And, yes, that includes an interception-prone Dan Marino in the twilight of his career.

Pennington’s lone turnover of the season came on a desperation pass, under heavy pressure, in the waning moments of a Week 1 loss to the New York Jets.

Hopefully for Miami, an extra week of practice and preparation will ensure continued consistency and perhaps help Pennington figure out a way to connect with No. 1 receiver Ted Ginn Jr. on the type of home run plays that the fan base envisioned when the former Ohio State Buckeye was begrudgingly ushered into the fold as a 2007 first-round pick.

There are various other subtle upsides to this early bye week, but the obvious truth is that a team coming off a shocking blowout victory would have likely benefited from carrying over its Week 3 triumph into a Week 4 matchup. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t in the cards.

Then again, fans can take solace in the fact that they’ve already gotten that pesky bye week out of the way and can now look forward to Dolphins football for at least 13 consecutive weekends. Coming off their bye, the Dolphins take on San Diego, which improved to 2-2 over the weekend by beating the Raiders, this Sunday.
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About Hugo Guzman

Trying to bring an objective approach to NFL analysis.
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