Miami-New Orleans: Dolphins and Saints "Showdown in South Beach"

(Photo by Marc Serota/Getty Images)

The New England Patriots literally rolled over the Tennessee Titans this past Sunday, winning by a 59-0 score that shocked many in the sports world, including myself, who figured Jeff Fisher’s Titans were due to play well. We had hopes it would be against the Patriots, a team many of us love to hate because of their bellicose head coach, Bill Belichick.

However, as much as many were shocked by this outcome, because the Titans were 13-3 and their division’s champions last year, it really wasn't all that surprising considering how the Titans have played this year. While Tennessee was predicted by most to do well this year and possibly contend for a title, they've played as poorly as a team can in going winless in their first five contests prior to facing the Patriots. The shock was more due to the outrageously lop-sided score than anything else.

What did surprise many, and not just because of the equally lop-sided score, was the thorough destruction of the previously undefeated New York Giants by the New Orleans Saints this past weekend, 48-27 (and that final score wasn’t truly indicative of how badly the Saints demoralized the Giants, who scored 10 fourth-quarter points to make it appear a little more respectable).

Experts throughout the nation had gone into this game thinking the two teams, both unbeaten, would battle it out like two behemoths. They were expecting, to use a boxing analogy, a “Thrilla in Manila,” a grueling and savage 14-round fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier (scheduled for 15 rounds) that took place in 100-degree temperatures in the Philippines and which Ali won when Frazier wasn’t able to answer the bell for the 15^th and final round.

Instead the NFL faithful got the “Phantom Punch” of Ali/Liston II, with the Giants playing the role of Sonny Liston lying on the canvas after a phantom punch as Ali stands over him yelling, “Get up and fight, sucker!” that was captured by the incredible photograph seen here.

Experts are quickly jumping on the bandwagon of the Saints (if they hadn’t already), and are predicting they’ll mop the floor with their next opponent, the Miami Dolphins, as easily as Ali dispatched of Cleveland “Big Cat” Williams in three rounds early in his professional boxing career.

After all, the Saints are the No. 1-rated offense in the NFL in points scored (38.4) and yards gained (430.0) per game, and their defense is nothing to sneeze at either, being ranked 10^th in the NFL overall and 5^th against the rush. They are, quite simply, nothing like the ‘Aints team of 1980, or to use another cliché, these aren’t your Daddy’s Saints.

And more than just the rankings prove that. Of the six games in the NFL this year where a team has scored more than 45 points, three of them were accomplished by the New Orleans squad (in five games). Think about that. Of the five games the Saints have played, their offense has rung up more than 45 points three times. That isn’t just offensive production, it’s mega-production. These guys are murdering people.

So, should the Dolphins just lie down and die before they get murdered? I don’t think so.

Winston Churchill once said, “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

I’m of the opinion the Miami Dolphins and their fans should be highly optimistic about their chances against the New Orleans Saints.

Miami Dolphins offensive tackle, Justin Smiley, when asked whether facing the juggernaut that is the New Orleans Saints was a big test for the Fish, had this to say, “I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. Just an all-around team, from offense to defense to special teams. Those guys are really good. We’ve played some teams with one or two stars; this whole front seven is a bunch of studs. So, we’ve got our work cut out for us, but we’ll be ready.”

I’m confident he’s not just selling us a line, either. Tony Sparano will have his squad ready for anything. Thankfully for the ‘Phins their bye week came the weekend before they had to face New Orleans, and I’m sure Sparano has spent the entire extra week going over with the team exactly how they can beat the Saints.

And let’s not forget that this Miami team is nothing to sneeze at either. They may have started out 0-3, but as the past two games have proven, they might have been one of the best 0-3 teams the NFL has ever seen. Two weeks ago they literally destroyed a Buffalo Bills squad, 38-10, in a game that left many Miami fans wondering just where that offensive production had been prior to that game.

That win came after the ‘Phins had suffered the disappointing news they’d lost their starting quarterback, Chad Pennington, for the year due to injury. This made that 0-3 start they’d suffered even more devastating, as ‘Phins fans everywhere looked at the schedule ahead and figured this year would more resemble 2007 (when Miami struggled to win one game and set a franchise record for futility going 1-15 for the year) than it would 2008 (when Sparano and Bill Parcells orchestrated a division-winning 11-5 miracle season to shock the world).

Chad Henne, who replaced Pennington, made his first start in that game, and while the ‘Phins destroyed the Bills, he didn’t give rise to any accolades with his pedestrian play, shepherding the Dolphins offense in journeyman-like fashion to the victory, going 14-of-22 for 115 yards and a touchdown in the win.

While he’d performed well, no one was making any comparisons between him and former Miami great Dan Marino. Heck, they weren’t even making any comparisons between him and Pennington, who was brilliant last year for the ‘Phins even if he’s never orchestrated an offense the way ol’ “Dan the Man” could.

Still, Henne hadn’t messed anything up in that win, either, and ‘Phins fans were grateful for that. They watched as he did his job, as Miami continued to run through NFL defenses. For while the ‘Phins hadn’t won a game before beating the Bills, they had opened some eyes with their ground-game. There were numerous positives that could be taken from those first three losses Miami had suffered, chief among them the play of Ronnie Brown, Ricky Williams, and the Wildcat formation Sparano and Parcells had “re-introduced” to the NFL last year.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?