Oh Captain My Captain

The Dolphins named their captains for this year’s 2011 season today.

Offensive captains:

Jake Long (probably best player on the team) was nominated as a captain. Long is the leader of the offensive line and should obviously be a staple and leader on this team for this year and many years to come. Long is already arguably the best left tackle in the game.

Chad Henne: For the first time in Chad’s career, in college or in the pro’s, he has been named a team captain. Chad has taken on more of a leadership role this offseason and his nomination as captain is well deserved.

Two Michigan men as captains

Defensive captains:

Karlos Dansby: The heart of the defense, ILB Karlos Dansby has already made an impression here in Miami and is a wise choice for defensive captain.

Yeremiah Bell: The Pro Bowl safety is ready to roll this year.

Special-teams captains will be named week to week according to Coach Sparano.

It’s pivotal for the Dolphins to get off to a good start this season, but that is easier said than done. They aint playing no “slouches” in the words of Darrelle Revis. On Monday the Dolphins have the honor of playing the best team in the AFC- the rival Patriots.

In order to beat Tom Brady and Bill Belicheck you have to bring your A game.

Can the Dolphins beat the Patriots? Yes! They have in the past and they can do it again. That being said, it won’t be an easy task and they will need their best from a couple of key contributors.

Here are the 5 players that I think will need to have a huge impact Monday night in order for the Dolphins to come away with the W.

Chad Henne

This one is kind of obvious; it goes without saying that Miami will need a decent game from Chad to win. While I don’t think they need a 300 yard performance from Henne, I think it is more important that Chad doesn't commit any turnovers.  If Henne can walk away from Monday night’s game without any INT’s or fumbles it would be a huge step in the right direction.

Last night we finally got back to football. The Packers and Saints put on a show in a game that could eventually go down as one of the most exciting of the year.

But around here, we won’t officially get back to football until the Dolphins take the field for some meaningful action. And few games this season will be as meaningful as next Monday night’s showdown with the New England Patriots.

While a loss wouldn’t necessarily spell doom for the Dolphins, as the Patriots project to be one of the top teams in the league again this season, a win would instantly return nation-wide respectability back to this franchise and catapult this team into the playoff discussion.

It certainly won’t be easy and few talking heads will give the Dolphins much of chance. But we’ve heard that story before.

Miami has been the underdog against New England for every game the past decade it seems. But history has shown us, even in dire times for this franchise, never to count out the underdog.

The Patriots have won four out of the past five matchups and outscored the Dolphins by a whopping 62 points in their two contests last year.

But Miami has been a thorn in the Patriots’ side on several occasions in the Bill Belichick era. Let’s get pumped up for Monday night’s opener by revisiting a couple games against New England nobody gave the Dolphins a chance to win.

December 20th 2004: Dolphins 29 Patriots 28

Less than a week after receiving his pink slip when final cuts were made, Larry Johnson was back on the practice field for the Dolphins today.

Johnson was presumably brought back because Daniel Thomas reportedly tweaked his hamstring. Another theory is the Charles Clay injury, also a hamstring, is forcing Lex Hilliard to spend more time at fullback, thus opening a need for a third running back.

At any rate, Johnson’s performance in the fourth preseason game, highlighted by a 22-yard touchdown, was likely what the Dolphins needed to see to bring him back in a scenario like this.

It's time once again for one of my favorite segments during the season. Please welcome in Ricky Keeler from Foxboro Blog- Bloguin's one-stop coverage for New England Patriots' coverage- to shed some light on the Dolphins' rival.

I answered some questions for Ricky as well regarding the Dolphins. Be sure to check them out here, as they should be posted within the next couple days.  

Phins Phocus: The Patriots made some headlines by bringing in Chad Ochocinco and Albert Haynesworth in free agency. What sort of impact have they had thus far and what do you expect from them this season?

FB: So far, the two main acquisitions of the offseason for the Patriots have not had the impact that the fans would like. Haynesworth just started practicing last week and although he played well against the Giants in the final preseason game, he was not facing the Giants’ starters on the offensive line. I do expect him and former Jet Shaun Ellis to have a solid impact this season for this team.

As for Chad Ochocinco, I thought he would have about a 800-900 yard season for NE, but I am having my doubts. He has been average and the Randy Moss rumors show you possibly that Chad is not doing as well as Belichick would like. He dropped a lot of balls in the preseason and him and Brady are still not on par with each other. It can change and I think eventually #12 and #85 will be on the same page.

Phins Phocus: Explain the reasoning behind the Patriots getting rid of Brandon Meriweather? Who's in line to replace him?

FB: The cutting of Brandon Meriweather was that he was not living up to the hype that he had when the Patriots drafted him in 2006. His tackles and interceptions went down last year and he only started in 13 games.

His cutting tells me two things. One, he was not living up to the Patriot way and his lack of discipline on the field caught up to him (i.e hit on Todd Heap last year). Second, the Pats must love the way Pat Chung has progressed this offseason and as you guys saw last year in Miami, he can make an impact.

As far as the depth behind Chung, they do have Sergio Brown who is young, but knows the system from playing in 11 games last year. Also, they signed James Ihedigbo from the Jets who despite his tackling inefficiencies shown in the preseason, he learned under a great defensive coach in Rex Ryan and played a key role in the Jets’ upset of the Pats last season. True, the depth is not great, but we know Belichick can just plug guys in and make them play that role in the defense and succeed.