One of
the least interesting preseason games will be between two horrible Florida
teams, the Tampa Bay Buccanners and the Miami Dolphins. NFL odds come in favoring the
home Dolphins by -2 ½. Which of these teams will come out on top?
New faces
Debating
which one of these teams will have more wins by the end of the season is
probably a lost cause. The Dolphins will most likely be starting a rookie
quarterback, while the Bucs will be starting a third year quarterback who
slumped big time last season and a rookie running back.
On top
of the key rookies, these teams are implementing new schemes after disastrous
seasons in 2011. The Bucs will be headed by Greg Schiano, while the Dolphins
lead man is now Joe Philbin.
In a
regular season game, I would be all over Miami in this one. Despite them having
a rookie quarterback, they have the more experienced team and a much better
defense. Even though I don’t expect him to play much, rookie quarterback Ryan
Tannehill will probably play a little longer than other starting favorites in
the NFL. The Bucs, on the other hand, won’t be taking any chances with third year man Josh Freeman.
Building on the bad
Teams with new faces and new coaches normally had a less
than exciting season the previous year. The Bucs went a shocking 4-12 after a 2010 where
they went 10-6. The Dolphins were 6-10 in 2011, a season in which very few things went
right other than the career season of Reggie Bush.
So, both
of these head coaches will probably want to win this game even though it
doesn’t mean anything. I would expect the Dolphins to play their new quarterback a little more than normal, even if Matt Moore gets
the start over him in preseason; quarterback battles always lend to a little
easier to predict preseason.
The Sharp Pick
Despite
having a pretty good 2011, Matt Moore has come into training camp seemingly as
the Dolphins second choice for the starting job behind Tannehill. For a guy who
played in 13 games last season for Miami, throwing for almost 2500 yards and 16
touchdowns in that span, I suspect he isn’t quite ready to step down as
the starter.
With
that being said, I’m siding with the home favorites in this one. I’ve never
been much of a Bucs fan, and much like last season, four to five wins is all I
see for them. The Dolphins on the other hand have a much deeper roster, and
they have a quarterback battle going, which will mean that first stringers
might see a few extra snaps. After looking at the NFL odds, I’m going to watch this
game just to see how both Moore and Tannehill play.
My Pick: Dolphins -2 ½