Will Belichick kick himself for a change?

Saturday, December 6, 2003
Alistair Henderson
MDBW Staff Writer

Let's assume for the moment that the weather in New England this weekend, and particularly Sunday late afternoon is as diabolical as the weatherman predicts. Heavy snowfall, icy winds up to 35 mph, and some freezing rain thrown in for good measure.

Who do you suppose it will affect the most? Will it be the warm water southern Dolphins or the freezing cold Atlantic New England Scrod? Will it be the kickers, trying to boot a frozen rock with their usual precision. Actually, it will be kind of interesting, because it will be the first really cold game of the year for either team.

In fact, because both these teams are so well coached and prepared, I don't believe that the cold weather will benefit or hurt either team particularly. Miami knows what to expect and it's nothing new to them. They will be ready for whatever weather presents itself, and so will New England.

So let's not bother using the weather as a factor one way or the other. It's the same for both teams. Freezing cold and a rock for a ball.

The games between these two teams over the past few years have generally been close nail biters, often decided by a field goal at the end of the game or even, as per the last game in Miami, by sudden death overtime.

And this game is likely to be the same. Which brings up an interesting point. Which team has the better kicking game?

Olindo Mare or Adam Vinatieri?

With Matt Turk holding for Mare, or…………or………who holding for Vinatieri? Who will hold this week for New England?

Coach Belichick made an interesting change this week and let punter Kenny Walter go, who happens to also be the holder for Vinatieri.

So who will be the lucky guy to hold the freezing cold potato for New England? Will it be Damon Huard of former Dolphin fame (well, he's the third string quarterback, so he is automatically ineligible), or the new punter Brooks Barnard, or even Tom Brady? And, more importantly, could this effect the normally efficient Vinatieri in already difficult conditions?

With Olindo Mare desperately wanting to redeem himself for the costly misses in the last game at Miami, the Dolphins just might have a slight edge here in what promises to be a critical aspect of a very close game.

He's done everything right so far this season, but this time Bill Belichick may just end up kicking himself for making a kicking change at this critical stage.

Alistair Henderson can be reached by e-mailing fishface@miamidolphinsbahamas.com. Or you can talk about this story and more on the MDBW Forums message board!