Miami Dolphins vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 10 Important Situations to Watch For

Finally, the closest that Dolphins fans will come to real football between now and September 12 vs. New England.

The Dolphins will travel to Tampa on Saturday (7:30pm on WFOR CBS4 Miami, WBBH NBC2 Ft. Myers-Naples, WTVX CW34 West Palm Beach, WRDQ Central Florida's 27 Orlando, and WTSP 10 in Tampa) for both teams' third preseason game.

For the Buccaneers it's a chance to see if the team is as ready for a playoff run as many believed after their surprising 10-6 season last year.

For the Dolphins, it's a chance to see if the team can be a contender in the AFC East.

So what important situations should we look for? Let's find out.

1. Miami Dolphins Defense vs. Josh Freeman

After a sophomore season which saw Freeman complete 291 of 474 passes for 3,451 yards, 25 touchdowns and only six interceptions, while also running it 68 times for 364 yards, I'm ready to consider Freeman as being better than everyone except the usual suspects of Brady, Manning (when healthy), Rodgers, Roethlisberger, Rivers and Brees.

But he's awfully close to each.

So how will the Dolphins defense contain the dual threat, efficient quarterback?

Freeman has the ability to get out of sacks that few quarterbacks do, yet his total turnovers (the six interceptions along with only two fumbles) suggests that he could easily turn nothing into something.

Whether the Dolphins defense, likely to be one of the best in the league, can contain Freeman will say a lot.

2. LeGarrette Blount vs. Miami Rush Defense

LeGarrette Blount is entering his sophomore season after a tremendous rookie season where he rushed 201 times for 1,007 yards and six touchdowns.

I'm predicting that this season Blount breaks out further and gets to at least 1,500 yards, especially since he's the starter in Tampa with Cadillac Williams gone.

Meanwhile, Miami's rush defense was ranked seventh last year in rushing yards allowed. With the addition of Kevin Burnett, as well as the return of 2010 first-round pick Jared Odrick, the Dolphins expect to improve on that ranking. 

If Miami can contain Blount, it would be a step in the right direction.

3. Miami's Battle at Free Safety: Chris Clemons vs. Reshad Jones.

Odds are, the race for starting free safety won't be decided until September 11th, and that's at the earliest. 

Right now this race is too close to call. Clemons is looked at as the better tackler, and Jones is looked at as the one with better ball skills.

Other than that, as this piece from the Miami Herald will tell you, nothing much separates the two.

Which one will step up in this battle against a Bucs offense that is poised to be an efficient yardage gaining machine on both sides of the ball?

That will be telling as far as who the starter will be.

4. Miami's Secondary vs. Tampa Bay's Receivers

Mike Williams, Tampa Bay's No.1 wideout, had 65 catches for 964 yards and 11 touchdowns last season.

He's one cog of an efficient Bucs offense lead by Josh Freeman (discussed earlier) along with tight end Kellen Winslow who last year rejuvenated his career with 66 catches for 730 yards and five touchdowns.

For Williams, he truly is a No. 1 in the sense that after him and Winslow, came Arrelious Ben at third on the team with 25 receptions.

Expect the Dolphins to have Vontae and Sean, self-proclaimed as the best Cornerback tandem in the league, switch off on covering Williams during the game, while Winslow will be a handful for the linebackers; however he will be containable for Burnett, Dansby and Misi.

As far as covering passing goes, it's not quite the test that you'd expect, but between Williams, Winslow, and what Freeman is able to do in the pocket, it is still quite the challenge. 

5. Miami's Front Seven vs. Tampa Bay's Offensive Line

Tampa's offensive line is going to have to contain Cameron Wake, Koa Misi and Jason Taylor.

Good luck.

While Freeman might prove to be elusive (he was only sacked 28 times last season), how much time he has to make plays will be crucial.

This Dolphins defensive front seven thrives on disrupting timing and using speed to get to the QB. Tampa Bay's offensive line has to make sure that they can contain the Dolphins' front line.

That's not a very easy thing for anyone to really do.

6. Miami's Running Game vs. Tampa's Run Defense

I've used this picture so many times (or some variant of the Reggie getting his Helmet knocked off picture) and it never gets old. 

But he will pretty much be the Dolphins running game, while Daniel Thomas, Lex Hilliard, Nic Grigsby and new acquisition Larry Johnson will be trying to determine who the Dolphins second string RB will be.

To do so against a team ranked 28th in rushing is a good place to start; however, Tampa Bay has addressed stopping the run in the offseason by drafting two defensive ends in Adrian Clayborn from Iowa and Da'Quan Bowers from Clemson.

Both the Dolphins rush unit and the Bucs Rush defense have to prove themselves. Which one will?

7. Brandon Marshall vs. Bucs' Secondary

Much like last week, Brandon Marshall (and Reggie Bush) will get a lot of passes thrown at them that they hope can turn into big gains.

Tampa's pass defense ranked seventh in the NFL last season and should challenge Ronde "The Ageless wondertwin" Barber and Aqib Talib (who's returning from a hamstring injury) in the secondary.

But the Bucs pass defense is ranked seventh for a reason, and a lot of their success has to do with rushing the passer, which we'll get to in due time.

8. Will Jake Long Stabalize the Dolphins O-Line?

Just as his backup Lydon Murtha will miss the game with an injury, Miami's only consistent offensive Pro Bowler and captain will be back.

Having Long back allows the Dolphins to solidify the offensive line, which throughout practice and the preseason has been a revolving door of mediocrity, and the team's true weak link.

Without Long and with an inconsistent O-Line, everything I've said about the Dolphins offense will become a moot point, so it's imperative for the Phins front line to get cohesive...quickly.

9. Chad Henne vs. a Young, Fast, Hungry Tampa Defense

Last season the Bucs compiled 26 sacks and 19 interceptions as a team.

While not known for the big defensive play, the consistency of the team that ranked seventh in pass defense is seen.

Plus, the NFL's youngest team is even younger this season, and a lot hungrier.

This will put a lot of pressure on Chad Henne obviously. 

The Bucs defense is also very aggressive and likes to disrupt the rhythm of an offense with complex blitz packages and multiple looks.

That's very difficult for someone like Chad Henne, a true rhythm quarterback, to truly handle.

But this will be a great test for him, as even Coach Sparano has stated:

“They have really good team speed on defense. Their defense moves really well, particularly up front. Now they do a lot of slanting, a lot of twisting, a lot of things that can cause you a lot of problems inside. In the first couple (preseason) games they blitzed a lot, so I really don’t know what they’ll do, but they pressured a lot.” 

If Henne handles this pressure well, it bodes well for the team this season.

10. Special Teams

In the end for Miami their special teams is still a work in progress.

It seems they've found their return man in Clyde Gates; however, Phillip Livas will continue to compete for that spot. 

The Dolphins' special teams are among the few that will more than likely be helped out by the new kickoff rules; however, Tampa Bay's special teams, which had four returns for touchdowns last season, might be hindered a bit.

The special teams game throughout the NFL has been changed by the new rules. Saturday we'll get a good look at how it will affect two teams in different ways.

Conclusion/Prediction

Since this is as close to a regular season game as you will find before the regular season, I'll give my three quarters prediction (in other words what the score will be at the end of the third quarter).

Tampa, who's favored by four, looks like the better team going into the game. So I'm going with Tampa taking the lead after three quarters by the score of 17-14 (I'm withholding my final score prediction because the fourth quarter will be usual preseason football, like Thursday night's crazy ending to Ravens-Redskins).

In the meantime, enjoy this video of the last time a Football team from Miami took the field against a football team from Tampa.

Thomas Galicia is a Miami Dolphins Featured Columnist. Follow him on twitter @thomasgalicia. For more of his opinions on other subjects, visit www.thomasgalicia.com.