Miami Football Blog

There is a lot going on around the Miami Dolphins practice facility this week as the team prepares itself for a major challenge against the division leading New England Patriots. The Sun Sentinel has been reporting that Jake Grove has been working out, but isn’t participating in practices so far this week. From the looks of it Joe Berger will likely be starting again at center on Sunday in Land Shark Stadium. This basically assures that a double team will be coming at Patriot nose tackle Vince Wilfork’s way all afternoon. However, that likely would have been the case with or without Grove. Also along the offensive line, it appears Justin Smiley will be returning to the starting lineup this week, and Nate Garner might switch over to right guard, dropping Donald Thomas to second string. This isn’t entirely sure though, and is something to take a look at as game time nears.

Ted Ginn Jr. may not be receiving many passes from Chad Henne lately but he did receive some love from the NFL this week. Ginn was named AFC Special Teams Player of the Month, largely based on his big game returning kicks against the New York Jets several weeks ago. Ginn averaged 30.8 yards per kick return to total just short of 650 kick return yards in November. Though his role as a receiver has reduced, and rightfully so as he trails only the Oakland Raiders’ Louis Murphy with 8 drops on the year, he has settled nicely into his new role as a kick returner and is now getting some recognition for it.

In other news, Miami Dolphins Offensive Coordinator Dan Henning met with the press for the first time since last weekend’s loss to the Buffalo Bills on Thursday, and defended his decision to have Ricky Williams throw a pass from inside the 5 yard line by saying the Ricky had completed that pass consistently in practice for the past 3 weeks. The Miami Herald even had an interesting article on how Henning was fired as the Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator several years ago for being too conservative, which no one can accuse him of now. Henning also indicated that Brian Hartline might be getting an increased role in the passing game in coming weeks. Henning said that “Hartline is coming around; we haven’t pushed him to the front as much. We probably will here in the near future.”

Miami Dolphins Tickets will once again be at Land Shark Stadium on Sunday with our all you can eat and drink tailgate complete with tailgate Olympics and live entertainment. The New England Patriots game has been declared a sellout, but Miami Dolphins Tickets can still get you in with access to seats in most sections!