 | | Jaworski on the Dolphins |  |
The Miami Dolphins' offense is beginning to come around and complement their great defense, making them a Super Bowl contender. After looking at their first two games on tape, what has been most impressive to me is the play of Zach Thomas. He has moved ahead of Ray Lewis as the best middle linebacker in the game. Against the Raiders, he covered Jerry Rice and Tim Brown and made hits on Charlie Garner and Tyrone Wheatley.
Offensively, I give a lot of credit to coordinator Chan Gailey, who has played to Jay Fiedler's strengths. Fiedler throws an excellent deep ball and is accurate throwing on the move. Gailey uses a lot of sprints, dashes, play-action and waggles. With Chris Chambers and Oronde Gadsden on the outside, Miami is now attacking down the field. Their offense is conservative by nature, but the Dolphins will look for big plays against the blitz or one-on-one coverage. It's a well-designed offense to go with one of the league's best defenses.
Five keys for the Dolphins:
1. Match up with Marshall. The Dolphins must find a matchup for Marshall Faulk. That's the biggest piece of the puzzle when you play the Rams. Teams have tried linebackers, nickel backs, dime backs, safeties and corners, and no one has solved that mystery. Faulk can do too much. If teams decide to stop him in the passing game, the Rams can pound him in the running game to eat up the clock, as they did against the 49ers. Miami must find a way to slow down Faulk.
2. Mighty in man-to-man. To show their emphasis on man-to-man coverage, the Dolphins drafted Jamar Fletcher in the first round. He's hardly seeing the field because he hasn't beaten anybody out. For now they have Terry Cousin as the third cornerback. But the Dolphins believe in good man-to-man coverage. Against the Rams, they must be at their best. The Rams are the antithesis of what the Raiders did last week, using a lot of short passes. The Rams throw the ball deep down the field. Miami will match Sam Madison and Patrick Surtain against Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt in tight man-to-man press coverage. But can they do that against the Rams?
3. Funnel everything inside. Defensively, the Dolphins like to constrict everything to the inside. They play the 4-3 Stack defense, with the ends out wide, and try to funnel everything back to the linebackers. The key will be if they can do that against the Rams' speed. If they can't funnel to the inside with their defensive ends, they will be in for a long day. The defensive ends and safeties must not let the Rams get to the perimeter. Brock Marion, in particular, must have a big game. The Dolphins' safeties must make plays in the secondary. Marion must have his head on a swivel because the Rams will attack downfield.
4. Maintain balance. The key to the Dolphins' success is to not become one-dimensional. Their offense is effective when they have good run-pass balance, where Fiedler doesn't have to throw the ball 35 times for them to win. They must run the ball effectively, control the clock and keep the Rams' offense on the sidelines as much as possible. But while they are running and controlling the clock, they must score points. If they get in the red zone, they can't settle for field goals. They need touchdowns.
5. Throw to the backs. The area to attack the Rams' defense is with the backs out of the backfield. In Week 1, the Eagles' Duce Staley caught 11 balls against the Rams. To be efficient, the Dolphins must throw the ball to their backs in the passing game.
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 | | Salisbury on the Rams |  |
The St. Louis Rams have already won two road games and are playing just as I expected. They are still feeling their way out defensively, but they are a lot better this year than last. The Rams seem to be more confident in their defense. They no longer believe they have to score 40 points to win every week. San Francisco tested their defense, but they shut down Terrell Owens and did a nice job. They are much more aggressive.
Offensively, they are as explosive and as confident as ever. Although they haven't played their best football yet, the Rams still have the best offensive weapons in the league. They feel like they are a Super Bowl team and expect to be playing for the championship. There are probably two or three NFC teams capable of winning the Super Bowl. But if the Rams' defense is merely decent and their offense plays great like it has been, they can definitely win it all.
Five keys for the Rams:
1. Beat man coverage. The Dolphins play man-to-man coverage 80-90 percent of the time. They shut down Tim Brown and Jerry Rice a week ago. Sam Madison and Patrick Surtain are the best cover corners in the league as a combination. The Rams' receivers will be facing their biggest test of the season and will have to beat press coverage to keep the offense and Kurt Warner in rhythm.
2. Faulk here, Faulk there. The Rams need to deploy Marshall Faulk in a bunch of different formations and create mismatches. Madison and Surtain are a great matchup for Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt on the outside, but the wild card is when the Dolphins have to put a linebacker or a safety on Faulk. They can't cover him. If they decide to bring in a smaller player like a corner, they would lose their strength against the run. The Rams will use Faulk in a lot of ways -- as a wideout, in the slot, in motion, in the backfield. He's the best all-around player in football.
3. Play fast. The game will be played on artificial surface. Miami is a fast team, but St. Louis may be the only team faster. The Rams can run on the perimeter. They can throw crossing routes against man coverage and use pick plays and incuts to try and get some separation. In the run game and the pass game, they don't have to play a north-and-south style. The Rams can play some finesse, perimeter football because they can outrun the Dolphins and use it to their advantage.
4. Lots of scoring. The Rams need to make it a high-scoring game. For the Dolphins to win, they have to keep it low-scoring. If they have to play shootout football, that's tough. They came from behind to beat the Raiders. But they can no longer get into a shootout like they used to in the Dan Marino era. If it's a shootout, I'd be shocked if the Rams lose. Only the Broncos and the Colts could play a shootout with the Rams. Mike Martz would love for it to become a fast-break football game. That's to his advantage.
5. Make them pass. The Rams will try to make Chris Chambers, Oronde Gadsden and the Dolphins' passing game beat them. Lamar Smith may be one of the most underrated backs in the league. Miami wants to play great defense and run the football and then mix in the pass. The Dolphins want to control the run for obvious reasons, to keep the ball out of the Rams' hands. The defense needs to stop Smith, prove it is physical enough to do it and make the Dolphins passing game beat them. If the Rams force the pass, they can get their offense back on the field. |
