It is important for Dolphins fans to keep up with not only their own team’s trades, record, and other information, but also with Miami’s divisional and conference rivals. In order to keep on top of things, it is necessary to be aware of what kind of threats the other teams are to the Phins.
Well, well, well…if it isn’t the Patriots. As most will recall, it was they who knocked Miami out of the playoffs last year with an overtime field goal. Let’s see what's different this year. The Patriots have bolstered up their defense this offseason, resigning five defensive players, signing four new ones, and drafting four more (this was probably because Ricky and the Phins made the D look so bad when they played). Among their top acquisitions, the Pats got Rodney Harrison, the hard-hitting Charger corner, defensive tackle Ty Warren, who was the 13th pick of the draft from Texas A&M, and Eugene Wilson, the cornerback from Illinois. This should make it a little tougher on Miami this upcoming season. The Phins did manage to snatch Terrell Buckley from them though.
“J-E-T-S Jets! Jets! Jets!” This is the chant that the Dolphins have heard enough of after the tough road loss to New York in the middle of the season behind Ray Lucas last year. What will be different this year? The Jets lost a lot of big players during the offseason, but they also gained a lot. Players lost include young receiver Laveranues Coles, linebacker James Darling, kicker John Hall, punter Matt Turk, and kick returner Chad Morton. However, New York replaced Coles with Curtis Conway and former Dolphin receiver Albert Johnson, Turk with Dan Stryzinski, and Hall with Doug Brien. In the draft, they traded up and spent the fourth overall pick on Dewayne Robertson, the defensive end from Kentucky. He should help the Jets’ weakness of stopping the run. Other than that, the Jets look pretty much the same as last year talent-wise, just with some new faces.
Last year the Bills of Buffalo beat the Phins twice, with a total of 61 points scored. Miami’s total was 31. It was mostly the Bills passing offense that lit up the Phins. Well…that and the 200-some yards that Travis Henry put up. With that, defense seemed to be the item for the Bills to work on. Oddly enough, they spent an equal amount of time and money, if not more, on offense as they did defense. They traded wide receiver Peerless Price to the Falcons for the 23rd overall pick only to spend it on another offensive player, University of Miami’s Willis McGahee. Buffalo then acquired wide receiver Bobby Shaw from the Jaguars and tight end Mark Campbell from the Browns, as Jay Riemersma left for Pittsburgh. They also signed kicker Ryan Lindell after the loss of Mike Hollis who is now with the Giants. On the defensive side, the Bills acquired Titans’ corner Dainon Sidney, defensive tackle Sam Adams, linebacker Jeff Posey, and, biggest of all, Takeo Spikes, the excellent former Bengals linebacker. They also lost two defensive lineman, two linebackers, and a corner. When all's said and done, not much has changed on offense except for the dim-witted (my opinion) trade of Peerless Price, a young guy with a bright future in Atlanta. On defense, the presence of Takeo Spikes at linebacker should strengthen the D and keep opponents’ points down.
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