As I've told you throughout the week, center Mike Pouncey and WR Mike Wallace have been listed as questionable for tomorrow's game for an illness (Pouncey), and a hamstring issue (Wallace).
Well, it appears both will be good to go, barring some sort of setback before 4:05 tomorrow afternoon. This is huge for the Fins, especially in an 'all hands on deck' game like this one.
And yes, I'll say this one more time, this game is a virtual playoff game, folks. The loser drops out of the playoff race. The winner is alive and well.
In-fact, a Dolphins win, coupled with a Jets loss, puts Miami in the FINAL PLAYOFF spot. Yes. Read that again. While everybody has all but written off the Fins, if that scenario plays out tomorrow then your Miami Dolphins will be in control going forward.
HOW DO THEY MATCHUP?
Lets look how these two teams matchup, because, after some research, I believe there are a two key areas Miami MUST be weary of they are to win tomorrow.
Dolphins passing (21st) vs. Chargers pass defense (27th): This is where the Miami Dolphins can have success tomorrow, BUT the game plan must be tailored correctly. If I'm Mike Sherman, I'm thinking pass first, run second, because that San Diego secondary is extremely suspect this year. This season, opponents are completing nearly 70% of their passes against the Charger secondary, with 14 TD's and only 4 INT's. The combined passer rating in 9 games? 104.3. Take advantage of this, early, often, and all day long.
One more thing: That San Diego pass rush? Not good. They rank 20th in sacks this season with 22, and they've only recorded TWO in the last two games. This is the matchup Miami MUST take advantage of tomorrow.
Chargers red zone offense (22nd) vs. Dolphins red zone defense (10th): The San Diego offense is among the best in the league, ranking 7th in total offense, and 4th in passing offense. HOWEVER, they do struggle in one specific area: Red zone scoring. They only get into the end zone 51% of the time when they get inside the 20 yard line, which puts them in the bottom half of the league behind teams like St. Louis, Minnesota, and Tennessee. This was especially costly two weeks ago in Washington, where Mike McCoy's unit failed to punch it in for the go ahead TD at the end of the game after having a first and goal from the ONE YARD LINE. They would settle for FG and eventually lose in OT.
Adversely, the Miami defense, while having its fair share of struggles this year, has NOT struggled in the red zone. Opponents are only scoring a TD 51% of the time against the Fins when in the red zone, good for 10th best in the league, and it's kept them in every game (New Orleans excluded) this season. This was especially apparent last week, when Tampa Bay was driving early in the game, already up 7-0. They took it down, inside the Miami 20, looking to take a commanding two TD lead, but the defense, as it has most of the year, stood tall, holding them only to a FG.
After a Miami safety, Tampa took over again up 12-0 and looking to take an even more commanding three TD lead. However, the Miami defense once again held them to a FG, and kept the game within manageable reach. If you remember, the Fins actually rattled off 19 straight points to take the lead after that.
Holding that prolific San Diego offense to FG's, rather than TD's, could very well be the difference in a do or die game tomorrow.
These are two matchups Miami MUST exploit tomorrow.
Picks and predictions coming up later.
One. Day.
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