The Miami Dolphins May Have QB Dilemma in Facing Bucs
By Charles Jay
Joe Philbin remarked the other day that this version of the Miami Dolphins is his best team since he took over as head coach. That won’t necessarily be proven on Saturday night against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but he at least hopes to see some crispness he didn’t see in the pre-season opener when his team takes the field at 7:30 PM ET at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.
The Dolphins were held to just a dozen first downs and suffered from lack of backup strength at quarterback in a 16-10 loss at the hands of the Atlanta Falcons. Meanwhile, the Buccaneers found themselves on the short end of a rather uneventful 16-10 defeat against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Is there some pride at stake here? Perhaps bragging rights in the Sunshine State? Maybe, although there has been enough coaching turnover in the last several seasons that not much of that talk is really done.
In the NFL football lines that have been posted on this game by the folks at VietBet, the Bucs are the home favorites:
Tampa Bay Buccaneers -2.5 (-115)
Miami Dolphins +2.5 (-105)
Over 37.5 Points -110
Under 37.5 Points -110
One of the things the Dolphins must do is wade through a number of wide receiver candidates who have impressed them. And that means certain players must get some playing time here in order to make their case. That include Armon Binns, Damian Williams and Rishard Matthews. Wide receiver is not always the easiest position to make a distinction, particularly when evaluating game performance, because as analysts of the NFL football lines know, so much depends on whether they are thrown to, and the quality level of the quarterback.
And that’s another subject to explore. Miami’s staff would like to see Quinn wage a battle with Moore for the #2 spot, and might facilitate him appearing in Saturday’s game. Perhaps this gets more interesting this week. Still, VietBet customers may be well-advised to keep an eye on the running back spot as well, since there are injuries that have second-stringers like Mike Gillislee and Daniel Thomas on the sidelines.
The Bucs know they didn’t get a whole lot out of Josh McCown in the opener, but they like to think he is the kind of veteran who will be ready when it really counts. Mike Glennon is not battling for the starting quarterback job, and maybe that takes a little intensity away from his effort. He was 11-of-19 for 140 yards last week. NFL football bettors know that whoever is at QB (Mike Kafka is also in the mix) is going to be throwing to a receiver corps that is big, to say the least. Miami’s defensive backs had better be ready to deal with the likes of Mike Evans and Vincent Jackson, plus some sizable tight ends, who are all battling to be the starter.
There was some bad news this week, with word that rookie running back Charles Sims, who might have wound up as Doug Martin backup in the backfield, is going to be out for at least half the season with a broken ankle. But Tampa Bay (+3000 to win the NFC title at VietBet) seems to be well accounted for in this area; remember that Bobby Rainey was outstanding at times as he was one of several RB’s who filled in during Martin’s shoulder injury absence in 2014.
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