Wednesday Dolphin Talking Points: If not Jake, then who?

Today figures to be an interesting one in terms of where players are regarding injuries and their status for Sunday. Even more important than the actual injury report — on which coach Tony Sparano could play it safe by listing a number of players as “questionable” — will be the two-hour practice session. Nobody is more important to the success of both the running and passing game than tackle Jake Long, which is where we start our Wednesday talking points: 1. Inexperience on the offensive line leaves few options if Long can’t play Sunday. Sparano addressed this issue in a roundabout way in answering a question about backup tackle Lydon Murtha Monday, His quote: “There’s competition out there right now, even in that spot. Jake Long plays in a game, and then you have who’s the next guy, maybe, and maybe you take one or two, and maybe that guy can do two jobs. There’s still competition right now.” That’s a roundabout way of saying not only Murtha but Pat McQuistan and even newcomers Jermey Pernell or Joe Reitz could figure into that spot. Considering Murtha’s inexperience at the position – he’s play right tackle his whole career prior to this training camp – the best guess is McQuistan. Still, asking a guy who’s been with the team a week to know his assignments and play that all-important left tackle spot is asking a lot. 2. It would certainly help if that running game could get untracked this week. As little or as much stock anyone puts in the preseason, the running game never did amount to much over that span. As a team the Dolphins averaged 3.3 yards per carry; Ronnie Brown

averaged 2.1, and if you take away the 42-yard run Ricky Williams had at Dallas, he averaged 3.2. There’s little doubt that cutting Donald Thomas and Cory Procter was a message to the rest of the line that its performance wasn’t good enough in those four games. Bill Parcells teams have always prided themselves on their success in the running game, and the Dolphins rushed for 250 and 157 yards in their two games against the Bills last year. 3. Questions still surround the inexperienced outside linebacker group. The combination of the vanilla schemes defensive coordinator Mike Nolan has been employing and the liberal substituting that goes on in preseason has left a lot of questions regarding the trio of Cameron Wake, Koa Misi and Ikaima Alana-Francis unanswered. Among them: Does the front office still think it was a good idea to jettison Jason Taylor, much less Joey Porter? C.J. Spiller could provide some of those answers Sunday. All three are converted defensive ends who are still learning the position, and none of them have proven conclusively any competence in the passing game, particularly regarding backs catching passes in their area. Bills coach Chan Gailey is an experienced enough offensive coordinator to know they’ll have to be tested, and if the speedy and elusive Spiller gets any room he can make defenders look silly. Nolan is expected to unleash a variety of blitzes on the young, inexperienced Bills. That’s all well and good, but it also can leave linebackers with one-on-one responsibilities in coverage. How this trio holds up its end could have a lot to say about the outcome.

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Wednesday Dolphin Talking Points: If not Jake, then who?

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