Lions To Beat 'Phins in Miami Day After Christmas 2010

Can you imagine it?

Wouldn’t that be great, Lions fans?! 

Wouldn’t it be unbelievably fantastic if the Detroit Lions were to roll into south Florida and feast on ‘Phish for an after-Christmas delight on Sunday afternoon, December 26, 2010?

It could happen, and it isn’t as far fetched an idea as some might think.

I got to wondering the other day, what would it take for the Lions to pull off an upset,  on-the-road victory against a team highly capable of winning the AFC East? What conditions would have to be present in order for the Lions to beat the Dolphins on the road at Sun Life Stadium?

My first response?

A miracle.

One of my most anticipated matchups during Week 2 of the 2010 NFL season is Miami at Minnesota.  The league and its fans will have a pretty good idea of what they have on their hands in both teams by close of business on September 19, 2010.

Fortunately for the Detroit Lions and their fans, a Sunday afternoon contest on the day after Christmas in Miami comes in Week 16, the week before the regular season finale.

It would actually be in the Lions favor if they were facing a Miami team boasting a 12-win record.  If the Dolphins had the AFC East already locked up by Week 16, there’s a good chance the Miami leadership might suggest a pragmatic “rest” for certain key starters in lieu of risking injury to them right before the start of the playoffs.

Go Dolphins, Go!

Right up until Christmas, that is.

The Dolphins will face each team in the NFC North this year, and I will be especially interested not only in their second-week game against the Vikings, but also their October 17th trip to Green Bay, not to mention their hosting of the Bears on the 18th of November.

I will be hoping for DE Jared Odrick and LB Karlos Dansby to put the “Mallachi Crunch” on both Aaron Rodgers and Jay “Breaded Veal” Cutler, as each co-stars as Pinky Tusacdero (yes, Happy Days, circa 1976).  (Think Dick Sergeant – Rodgers - then Dick York – Cutler - and you’ll be just fine.  Yes, Bewitched, but you get it I think.)

Many pro football fans find it okay to have a home team that your root for —you know, “your team” (for me, obviously the Detroit Lions). They also happens to be in the National Football Conference, which means I have a team to secondarily cheer for in the other conference.  So as a youth, my team was the Detroit Lions followed by my AFC team, the Miami Dolphins.

Larry Czonka (Hall of Fame Class of 1987) was probably my favorite Dolphins player on offense, and I loved to watch the “Killer B” defense.

Although the Miami Dolphins offense presents its own particular threat to any NFL defense, it is the Miami defense that concerns me the most.

Now if the Dolphins leadership team finds it practical to rest certain defenders, I for one wouldn’t mind at all.  I would find their “rather safe than sorry” attitude a real blessing for the Detroit Lions in late December. It gives the visiting Leos a good shot at ending 2010 on a victorious note.

Of all the 2010 Detroit Lions road games I would be most interested in attending, the Miami contest is my runaway winner.  For vanity’s sake, it would be nice to let the south Florida sun tan my freshly shaved dome, but that is neither here nor there.  A natural tan on New Year’s Eve is a rare thing for us Michigan folks!

From an offensive perspective, if Chad Henne and Matthew Stafford both start and finish the game, football fans of the quarterback position should be in for a real treat.

Two former first-round Michigan men will start at left tackle, Jake Long for the ‘Phins, and Jeff Backus for the Leos.  For many Lions fans, that’s where the comparison stops. 

Regardless of Jim Schwartz’ declaration that the play of Jeff Backus was worthy of pro bowl votes based on his 2009 campaign, fans will remain “from Missouri” until they see Backus’ sack total reduced to around three or four on the 2010 season.

Let the offenses do what they will.  Somebody has to stop them. 

Let’s talk defense.

The Dolphins defense placed 22nd in overall NFL defense in 2009, allowing an average of just under 350 yards per game.  Miami finished 18th in rush defense, giving up just under 115 yards per contest.

The Miami scoring defense was less than impressive, allowing an average of 24.4 points per game, hence a 7-9 record and third-place finish in the AFC East in 2009.  The 2009 Dolphins were also a bottom-tier team in pass defense, allowing 234.6 yards per game enroute to a 24th-best (or worst, depending on how you look at it) ranking.

So, “What’s all the ‘hub-bub’, Bub?”

Call it a hunch or a gut feeling, but I think Miami’s 3-4 defense is going to be a machine to be reckoned with during the 2010 season.

For draft enthusiasts who enjoy a certain defensive bent in their outlook toward building a successful, championship-caliber franchise, the 2010 Miami Dolphins draft class might really tickle your fancy.  Of the eight selections the Dolphins made, seven were on the defensive side of the ball:

Rnd	Ovrl	Player	Pos.	College	Ht.	Wt.
1	28	Jared Odrick	DE	Penn State	6'5"	296
2	40	Koa Misi	OLB	Utah	6'3"	251
3	73	John Jerry	G	Ole Miss	6'5"	328
4	119	A. J. Edds	ILB	Iowa	6'4"	246
5	145	Nolan Carroll	CB	Maryland	5'11"	204
5	163	Reshad Jones	FS	Georgia	6'1"	214
7	212	Chris McCoy	OLB	Mid Tenn State	6'3"	251
7	252	Austin Spitler	ILB	Ohio State	6'3"	234

The key to this game, in my opinion, will be whether the Lions' offense can effectively block the Dolphins' front seven, and whether QB Matthew Stafford is able to beat Dolphins sophomore cornerbacks, Vontae Davis and Sean Smith.

If the 2010 Miami Dolphins defense isn’t any better on paper (or on the field) than they were during the 2009 season, I’m looking for Matthew Stafford to light it up throwing the ball to Calvin Johnson, Tony Scheffler, Nate Burleson, Brandon Pettigrew, and Jahvid Best.

Again, I think opposing defenses might be able to cover some of our offensive weapons some of the time, but they won’t be able to cover them all of the time.

This is a game where Calvin Johnson is going to have to run off deep Vontae Davis and his safety help, which should open up the underneath game to Scheffler, Pettigrew, and Best.  The key will be for Stafford to find Scheffler and Best in those timely situations where “the weapon” can get into the open field and make the defense pay by gaining large chunks of yardage after the catch.

Can you see it yet?

Another key to the December 26, 2010 contest in South Florida with be each team’s collective state of health.  That late in the season, it shouldn’t be a surprise to find key players on each team who have succumbed to injury.  It isn’t anything we wish upon any player, Lions fans especially; it’s just a fact of life in the National Football League.

The Detroit Lions will not be afforded the luxury of turning the ball over when in Miami.   If the Lions lose the turnover battle, they will lose the game, plain and simple.  Stafford and Best must protect the ball and C.J., Nate-B, and Scheff all need to be very sure handed during the late-December contest.

I think the Detroit Lions will need to see two of their defensive playmakers make a signature play, with at least one of them going for a score, if the Lions are to prevail over the Dolphins in Miami.  Free safety Louis Delmas proved to be Detroit’s most electrifying player on defense last year, and another return for touchdown of any kind would help the Lions best the Dolphins.

Cliff Avril, Kyle Vanden Bosch, DeAndre Levy, or Dré Bly might supply the extra defensive game-changing play the Lions could use to defeat the home team.

If the Dolphins struggle at offensive guard, Corey Williams, Ndamukong Suh, and Sammie Lee Hill could provide the extra push to stop the run enroute to sacking the quarterback.

Chad Henne, if that happens to be you, I’m really sorry.  Go Blue anyway!  Chad Pennington, if you’re behind center, good luck with that.  Welcome to the “Thundering Herd” of Suh, Williams, and Hill trampling you to the ground.

Gunther Cunningham must have his defense set on “kill mode” on the afternoon of Sunday, December 26, 2010, and the Detroit defense must execute the “Miami massacre” without hesitation if the Detroit Lions are going to win against a Dolphins team that features a pesky, diverse, and hard-to-defend offense.

Schwartz and Cunningham will have 15 weeks of game film to find the “Achilles ‘Gil’” of the Dolphins offense, and I hope their keen film study will provide the requisite impetus to completely stifle the Miami offense.

Whether the Miami Dolphins will taut double-digit wins headed into the December 26th contest against Detroit, or the Lions be only marginally improved, I will be looking forward to this match-up with excitement.  (Lions fans get excited about almost every road game —except for the inherent losing part —which hasn't been fun at all, as road games are not subject to local television blackout.)

In a hard-fought battle in south Florida, the Lions emerge triumphant by a final score of 24-20!  WOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOO!

A little Holiday cheer would be a great thing at Christmas time for Detroit Lions fans, and a Lions road win over the Miami Dolphins would make for an especially cheery beginning to the New Year.

I just hope we don’t get coal in our stockings again!

HäMM ë R