Fins offensive breakdown by position

Offensive Line:

Normally, a position by position breakdown would start with analysis of the quarterback, but the offense begins up front, and against the Cardinals the offense never got started. Losing Donald Thomas is tough, but shit happens in the NFL and the line wasn't performing even when he was in there.

We knew it would be a process with the line, but now it is clearer than ever that until this unit starts to jell, the Dolphins are going to have a lot of trouble moving the ball. EK is in there now at right guard, and he is working hard to get better. As for accountability, Samson Satele is no longer a rookie, and as the center and leader of this unit, he needs to step up and play better, or else Sparano will have a very quick leash in finding somebody bigger and stronger who can make the line calls.

Running Back:

Hooray Tony Sparano for fixing one of his biggest bonehead mistakes from week 1 and keeping Ricky and Ronnie on the field more. I was happy to see Ronnie Brown in on a lot of 3rd downs, and I was even happier to see our two best playmakers on the field together a few times. There was cleverness splitting them in the backfield in double tight, and I really liked running a double screen with both of them in there. Now that we've got them both in the game, we need to find a way to get them going. See "Line, Offensive."

Receivers:

As we know, this unit is bad. However, if there is one person playing well right now for the Miami Dolphins, it is Wes Welker himself, Greg Camarillo. The kid is a stud.

Unfortunately, beyond that the future looks bleak for the wideouts. Of Ginn, Hagan, and Wilford, we really needed at least one of them to pan out. Hagan and Wilford are laughable right now. Congratulations for getting Wilford in the game, but why was he the intended receiver on the longest passing play we attempted all day? What happened to "finding roles" for each receiver? The Dolphins are actually better off with him on the inactive list right now. I don't understand the obsession with the fade pass. It is a low percentage play. Find another way to get the ball in the end zone, preferably one that employs this team's strengths.

As for Ginn, he earned his doctorate in invisibility against the Cardinals. Without him on the return team, and with Beck sitting in the 3rd string role, last year's draft is already starting to look like a disaster of Ryan Leaf-like proportions. I still hold out hope for Teddy, but things reached rock bottom this week for him.

On the positive side, the tight ends did a nice job again today and David Martin is really proving his worth. We got them involved with a lot of double tight, so kudos to the coaches for that.

Quarterback:

I saved Mr. Pennington for last (Henne will get a separate column) because I want to be fair to him. Without the running game going anywhere or any receivers getting open, his job is awfully hard. However, he is just not doing a good enough job right now. With his physical limitations, he needs to make good reads, take what the defense gives him, and get the ball out on time. He is not doing a really good job at any of those tasks right now, and this team is suffering.

By no means am I advocating benching him. He needs to be the team's quarterback through these rough times, making up for some of the team's inevitable mistakes with his savvy. However, right now he is only exacerbating problems, with a perfect example being when Jake Long's protection could have been a little better and he decided to walk into the sack. He needs to pick the team up, and right now he is far from looking like the savior that walked onto the field in aqua and orange in the preseason.