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| | | | | | | |  Tuesday, November 14, 2000
Dolphins MNF Outlook: Defense MUST win this AFC East battle
By Marc Connolly
MondayNightFootball.com
Who are these guys?
The Miami Dolphins "triplets" at the skill positions are Jay Fiedler, Lamar Smith and Oronde Gadsen. Can you picture anyone wearing one of those jerseys around South Beach?
|  | | Zach Thomas is almost always on your television screen when the Dolphins defense is on the field. |
Yet, here the Dolphins sit with a 5-1 mark atop the AFC East -- the toughest division top-to-bottom in the league -- with a chance to distance themselves from the pack with a win over the Jets on Monday night (ABC, 9 p.m. ET). This year's Dolphins squad is in the running for elite status because of its menacing defense. Oh, have times changed.
It's plain and simple -- 51 points allowed over six games. Do the math -- that's just a little over one touchdown per game. And most of the scant points surrendered have come via someone's cleat as only three touchdowns (one rushing, two passing) have been scored by Miami's opponents thus far. Yes, go ahead and be startled. It happens to be the fewest over six games since 1977 when the Atlanta Falcons pulled the trick. Think about it -- that includes defenses such as the '85 Bears, '86 Giants or any of those deathtrap defenses Buddy Ryan coached in Philly.
So what if the Dolphins offense is as explosive as milk. You're going to win a lot of football games when your defense dominates games in such fashion.
But, as always, it's not as simple as that. The Fins have yet to take on either the Jets or the Colts, and they've also got a grudge match with the Bills up at Rich Stadium in December and a date with Tampa Bay down the road. A pessimist might look at this and bring up what transpired last season, when Jimmy Johnson's boys stormed out of the gate with a 7-1 start only to finish with 9-7 record.
The second half litmus test starts on Monday night against a team that has won three consecutive games over the Dolphins.
"This will be by far to this point our biggest challenge of the year," head coach Dave Wannstedt said. "I think the most important thing to our football team right now is that we're playing a team that's tied for first place in the division. A team that beat us twice last year."
One should never place too much emphasis on a single player, but it's safe to say that the status of Zach Thomas for Monday night's game is absolutely critical to the outcome of the contest. Word out of Miami is that he's going to play, but the question is, at what level? At full tilt, Thomas's non-stop, sideline-to-sideline pursuits and run-stopping prowess sets the entire tone for this unit. The human tackle-machine is especially essential this week being that Curtis Martin, the AFC's fourth-ranked rusher (533 yards), is coming off a 143-yard, three-touchdown performance against New England.
Whether Thomas starts or not, expect Larry Izzo to play his biggest role to date as a reserve middle linebacker. The special teams guru out of Rice is of similar size (5-10, 228) and plays with the same reckless abandon of Thomas, yet hasn't started an NFL game at this position throughout his five-year tenure.
It's not just Martin that the Dolphins need to be concerned about, either. Keyshawn Johnson's departure from this offense has brought out stellar performances across the board.
"You've got a Pro Bowl quarterback (Vinny Testaverde) and you've got a Pro Bowl tailback and (Wayne) Chrebet can make just as many big plays and (Dedric) Ward's got as good of speed as anybody you're going to defend," warned Wannstedt.
The Jets offensive line is also like a slab of sheet metal. This luxury gives Testaverde as much time to drop back into the pocket and go through his reads as any quarterback in the league. Miami's task is to apply pressure to the 37-year-old QB, which starts and ends with the rejuvenated play of ageless Trace Armstrong (10 sacks). Constant pressure on opposing signal-callers have been this defense's trademark in 2000 and have been the reason behind its 16 turnovers, two of which have led directly to touchdowns by the defense.
Without a powerful offense to rely on and taking into account the exceptional front seven that Al Groh has brilliantly assembled on his defense, Miami's hope to win its 10th game in 13 tries following a bye rests on its stifling D. Expect a low-scoring affair, reminiscent of the old AFC East when the Bills and Colts played to 19 straight 10-6 outcomes.
Even if Miami keeps Curtis Martin in check, they'll lose the battle in this defensive struggle if they are unable to either get their hands on Testaverde or force errant throws to Chrebet and Ward.
Of course, that is unless Miami's no-name Big Three states its case to break through obscurity in front of a national audience. Against the fourth-ranked ranks defense in the AFC and big game stalwarts such as Bryan Cox, Marvin Jones, Mo Lewis, Victor Green and Aaron Glenn to go with ready-for-primetime rookies John Abraham and Shaun Ellis, that's highly unlikely.
Marc Connolly is a senior writer at ABC Sports Online.
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Dave Wannstedt says his team is ready for their next opponent.