When the Saints Come Marching In

                       A Defining Moment in the 2009 Season 

                  Can the Fins earn league respect by grounding the high flying saints?

This Sunday at 4:15pm the Miami Dolphins will be at the fork in the road for their 2009 season. The win against New York was about emotions and about rivalry and about refusing to become irrelevant. This game is about making a statement about what kind of football team they are and about coaching and about the mental aspect of being a playoff team or perhaps even a champion. The Saints come in undefeated and are flying as high and as confident as a team can possibly be. They are the highest ranked team by most media outlets and appear to have an unstoppable force in Drew Brees who is in a zone that would make Dan Marino blush. The Saints defense has been tough with relentless pressure on opposing QBs and are forcing turnovers and giving the offense great field position. The New Orlean Saints are simply awesome.  If you want to be the best you have to beat the best. A Miami Dolphin uspet on Sunday would boost the confidence of the team and put the Dolphins back on the map in terms of the NFL elite. There is also a HUGE difference between being 3-3 and 2-4 so this game could dictate the entire season.

Miami has proven it can dominate a game and keep high threat offenses on the bench for most of the game. What it hasn't proven is that the defense can stop those offenses once they DO get on the field. If Miami allows Brees the run of the house that they gave Peytom Manning this will be an ugly, ugly game. If they can control the clock and time of possession, score TDs to finish long drives and then get enough pressure on Brees to force him to throw before he is ready then they have a shot. Miami was only one or two plays away from beating the Colts. It is now time for them to find a way to win that kind of game where perhaps they were not mature enough or confident enough to do it a few weeks ago.  The defensive leaders like Porter and Taylor and Crowder have to have big games and someone else is going to have to surprise. Maybe its one of the rookie corners or maybe even a Cameron Wake or a Philip Merling. Plain and simple the Miami Dolphins will have to play their best game of the year to have a chance of winning. If they come in flat and get blown out (see NY Giants) then this could very well be the end of the season for the defending AFC East Champions.

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