Dolphins must learn how to be road warriors

By Hugo Guzman  |   Thursday, October 13, 2005  |  Comments( 0 )

Miami Dolphins
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I noticed some interesting things when I compared the Miami Dolphins two home games, both wins, with their two road games that ended in defeat.

For starters, I noticed this little tidbit: Gus Frerotte has thrown four touchdowns and only two interceptions in Miami's two home games. He threw just three touchdowns to go along with four interceptions in the Dolphins two road contests. This tells me that Frerotte must learn how to take care of the football when he's in a visiting stadium.

Here is another interesting piece of information that goes along perfectly with the previous point: Gus Frerotte has not been sacked at all in our two home wins. He's been sacked four times in our two road losses. Now make no mistake about it. I'm amazed at how much the Miami Dolphins offensive line has improved compared to last year (they gave up 11 sacks through their first four games last season), but they need to learn how to protect their quarterback on the road the same way they do at home.

Keep in mind that there are certain other facets of the game that the Miami Dolphins have done poorly regardless of whether they were home or away. For example, the Dolphins have committed 10 or more penalties in every game thus far. That's simply unacceptable regardless of where you play. Also, the Dolphins have failed to stop the pass in every game they've played. Their best effort of the season came against the Broncos' Jake Plummer, but even he managed to throw for over 250 yards and a touchdown. This team will be hard pressed to pull off road victories if they continue to let opposing passing offenses shred them to pieces.

This Sunday the Dolphins will travel to Tampa and face off against Cadillac Williams, Brian Griese, and a vaunted Buccaneers defense that is ranked # 1 in total defense and #2 in scoring defense. If they want to come away with a win, they will need to reverse at least some of these trends and learn how to be road warriors instead of road chumps.
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About Hugo Guzman

Trying to bring an objective approach to NFL analysis.
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