What to be Phishin' for against the Falcons
The Miami Dolphins (1-3) enter their final pre-season game against the Atlanta Falcons (3-1). The teams are two of four that have five pre-season games as opposed to the conventional four. The last pre-season game is generally a game for the 2nd and 3rd string players fighting for a job.
 However, unconventionally, the Falcons just cut their starting wide receiver on Tuesday in the first cuts to bring rosters down to 65 players. Peerless Price, the ex-Falcons wide receiver, was brought down in a trade with the Buffalo Bills two years ago with thoughts that he could energize the Falcons passing game. It just didn't work out, and that's pretty much what Falcon's head coach Jim Mora Jr. said.
"It's just not a good fit here," the Falcons coach said. "That's the bottom line. It's my hope that he'll go on and be productive with another team."
So, second year receiver Michael Jenkins and vetern Brian Finneran are projected to be the starters on opening day with first round selection Roddy White out with an ankle injury. Miami will see only a few plays from Jenkins, the 2004 first round selection.
The Dolphins still have their issues at quarterback and it was even hinted at earlier this week that they could go with a two-quarterback offense during the season. Gus Frerotte, who has started the last three pre-season games and appeared to be the front-runner for the job does not particularly like this idea.
"Personally, I don't really like it," Frerotte expressed. "It's really hard when you come in, you have to come in as you're the starter and take control. But do all these guys believe in you? Do all these guys trust in you? You don't know. But if that's the way we're going to go this year, that's what we're going to have to do."
Frerotte is 33/74 for 384 yards, a TD and an INT. Incumbent A.J. Feeley is 34/54 with 280 yards, a TD and an INT as well. Feeley's rating, a 74.6, is much better than Frerotte's 59.7. Nick Saban will most likely stick with Frerotte to start the game on Thursday in order to show some consistency on offense. Feeley, the incumbent will again work with the second team even though the QBs have been splitting snaps in practice this week.
With the Dolphins having cut 4th string QB Brock Berlin, Frerotte will likely play the 1st quarter, Feeley the second, and give Sage Rosenfels, the team's third-stringer the whole second half. Rosenfels did not play in the game against Tampa Bay.
Ricky Williams is listed as the Dolphins starter on the team's depth chart, but this will be his last game until the Dolphin's fifth game against the Buccaneers. He will see some playing time, however, Ronnie Brown, the team's first round draft pick this season will get most of the playing time since he missed the first 2 games due to a holdout and did not play in the third.
Williams has exceeded expectations after questions about his desire and weight and conditioning gaining 115 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries this pre-season. That's a 4.4 yards per carry average. Ronnie Brown has just gotten his feet wet on the other hand. He rushed 6 times for 20 yards and was welcomed to the NFL with a big hit as he coughed the ball up and turned it over.
 The Dolphins defense will have a test against Falcons quarterback Michael Vick who, when scrambling, can kill a team. If you keep him in check, which is virtually impossible, his arm is not always that accurate and he makes some mistakes. The defense has been good this pre-season. Saban is running the traditional 4-3, but also new this year is the 3-4. They show an aggressive blitz, then back off, confusing the offensive line. Against the Buccaneers they did this which allowed Jason Taylor to be one on one with a TE and come around for the sack.
The biggest question going into this game is whether one of the two quarerbacks can distinguish himself from the other. However, it would be doubtful that Saban would start Feeley over Frerotte now that he's allowed Frerotte to work up a chemistry with his receivers and the offense.
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