Rugby-themed attack only hope for Dolphins in London

By Anthony Bialy  |   Friday, October 26, 2007  |  Comments( 5 )

Miami Dolphins
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Everything is backwards in Britain: Fries are chips and chips are crisps, the money features pictures of living queens instead of dead presidents, and cars drive on the left and presumably in reverse. And maybe it's a truly thorough Bizarro World where the Miami Dolphins efficiently deliver the ball using forward passes, stifle opponents using tight secondary coverage and a sturdy bunch of run-stuffers, and never have to suffer because of the astounding blunders made by previous autocratic regimes regarding personnel decisions.

Unfortunately, some things aren't different just because of the country change, and one of those would presumably be the fact that, like the way London Gaps sell the same clothes as our Gaps, Miami is a thoroughly troubled team anywhere on the planet. Is there any hope that the Dolphins' game against the New York Giants will show off not only the exciting combination of strategy, finesse, and brute force that is American football to Europe but also the fact that Miami isn't currently very good at it?

The one hope for this team as it heads to Wembley Stadium for a home game is that New York will defend the rush worse than it usually does. The Giants are allowing 97.4 yards per game by land, good for 10th-best in the league. That's not horrid, but it's the one less-than-stellar area the opponent features that corresponds with what had been the Dolphins' one strength, a single player named Ronnie Brown. Coincidentally and sadly, he's of course now lost for the season. But, with zero to lose, it couldn't hurt to see if Brown's backups can step up.

As for current healthy Dolphin rushers, their strong suit isn't exactly experience. There's Patrick Cobbs, who has 14 yards over his three carries this season, all last game against New England; he's likely to get more opportunities in regular England. We also have Lorenzo Booker, a rookie who hasn't quite yet touched a football in an NFL game.

Then, there's the guy who, because of Brown's injured knee, will have to shoulder most of the load -- Jesse Chatman, who's managed 20 rushes this season for 117 yards, an impressive rate of 5.9 yards a carry for an admittedly small sample size. But he has been productive before in limited time. Specifically, he averaged 6.0 yards a handoff on 65 carries for San Diego in 2004, gaining 392 yards during the only other season in which he saw significant action. He's also caught 11 passes in 2007 for 72 yards, giving a feeble passing attack another potential target as he lines up more frequently in the backfield.

But the limited promise he's shown being handed the ball is Miami's best hope. Until Brown fell, the only functional option the Dolphins had in virtually any phase was to grind on the ground. Of course, maintaining their average of 115.1 yards per game will be challenging without the team's unquestioned top performer, much less running back.

Still, Chatman's emergent talent paired with a promising offensive line that keyed the way to at least some of Brown's success could be a potently dangerous combination. Unless Ted Ginn Jr. can begin reliably returning kickoffs past the 50 every single time, Miami should leave any thoughts of gaining territory by air at Heathrow.

At a time when so much of this team is mired in slop, the only half-genuinely effective plan to topple the Giants would be to deliberately limit pass attempts to the single digits and give the ball to Chatman on most offensive downs. At worst, it would serve as an audition for a player who could try to replace Brown for now and complement him upon his return from injury; at best, it could actually work as an effective tactic against New York.

They could get the quarterback involved, too, though not in the traditional throwing sense. Cleo Lemon only ran three times against the Patriots, but he did gain 16 yards and manage a touchdown; he also ran in two scores the previous week against Cleveland, so having him rush for it could help, too. It's sad for the Dolphins that they've fallen to a place where the hope is that Lemon can actually be effective as part of the run offense, but the franchise is at the point where it can now officially ask one question: Could it make things worse?

As for the air offense, Lemon is currently lagging with a 66.3 rating, throwing for 214.3 yards per game with four picks to two touchdown throws, so this team may as well sportingly behave like the locals, namely by pretending it's playing rugby and considering forward passes to be illegal.

They may want to skip the rucks and mauls, and they should probably stick with wearing helmets for if nothing else than to avoid cauliflower, cut, or torn ears, but otherwise their best hope is to run the ball as often as possible. Sadly, the only other way they may avoid going 0-for-halfway might be the Giants showing up for the game jetlagged, and Miami has to deal with that, too. It's a long shot, but no other game plan would provide better chances, so see what Chatman brings and lean on him until it's last call at The Hung Drawn & Quartered. How come no bars here have names that neat?
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About Anthony Bialy

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