It’s time for rookie watch week 3 and I’m hoping by now that you all know the rookies on the roster and who to look out for now, but just in case, here they are:
WR – Jaylen Waddle #17
DE/LB – Jalen Phillips #15
OL – Liam Eichenberg #74
TE – Hunter Long #84
FS – Jevon Holland #22
OL – Robert Jones #65
DB – Trill Williams #51
Oh, and still 3 rookies on the practice squad who could get elevated to the game day roster too, being Gerrid Doakes (RB), Milo Eifler (IB)and Kion Smith (OL). Let’s get down to it!
ROOKIE WATCH: GAME DAY 2 – Buffalo Bills (Home)
I would give a recap of what happened last week, but let’s be brutally honest with ourselves. It wasn’t our best performance, and if you could have described the worst case scenario to me, that probably would have been it. Tua out on IR, a goose egg on offense and 35 points scored against us, so let’s just move swiftly on, especially as I was was off on my bold predicitions too.
This week, I just want us to see us be more competitive and hopefully actually score some points, but there are some good points for the team, no more so than the competitive debut of Will Fuller V for Miami.
Jaylen Waddle – Wide Reciever #17
How much changes in a week, no Tua for 3 weeks and the return of Will Fuller V to the team. So things have probably taken a slight turn for the worst for Jaylen, but the cream always rises to the top. I fully expect a slight downturn in playing time for Waddle with the return of Fuller, and with Tua out for at least 3 weeks, that Tuscaloosa connection is on hold for the moment.
For the Las Vegas Raiders, they have given away 5 touchdowns and 44 points in two games, 24 passing first downs and on average 254.5 pass yards per game, according to espn.co.uk. So there are some opportunities for Waddle to get some good yards and make an impact, especially on giving him the ball early and getting some yards after catch.
Bold Prediction For The Game: 0 Receiving Touchdowns, 60 yards receiving.
Jalen Phillips – Defensive End/Linebacker #15
It was a rough game for Jalen, but he did make some impact in a match that had very little going for Miami. 3 tackles and 3 assists against a stout Buffalo offensive line is a good stat, considering his impact against New England was 0 and things could get better against an O line that is not as talented as the two previous teams.
With 10 rushing first downs, and 34 passing first downs, this is a team that can not run the ball with any decent efficiency, and one that is throwing bombs downfield. This is a good thing for Miami. With our lockdown corners and good safety play, we should expect some limitations in the passing offence, meaning that there could be some more time for the Raiders O line to protect Derek Carr, and more time for Phillips to shine through.
My predicition is for Jalen to use last week’s performance as motivation and to bring the talent to familiar settings in Hard Rock stadium, and have a big bounce back game.
Bold Prediction For The Game: 1.5 Sacks, 2 tackles.
Liam Eichenberg – Offensive Line #74
Well the less said about Miami’s offensive line the better, but Eichenberg was a bright spark in a pretty dull and dark situation. The real hard part is where will he be playing?! Whispers are that he will be playing at LG, some people online want him at LT replacing Jesse “The Matador” Davis, and I’m part of those people personally.
This d line of the Raiders give up a lot in size to our offensive line, and arguably aren’t as well known or as talented as the previous two opponents, so if we can stop their marquee players of Maxx Crosby and Yannick Ngakoue and force them to bring on their heavier and slower players, our offensive could do a lot better than the goose egg we laid last week
Bold Predicition For The Game: Best offensive lineman for Miami, 0 sacks given.
Jevon Holland – Free Safety #22
A massive bright spark in what was a dark game last week. Holland was rated as the best rookie last week according to PFF, and he has been one of the highlights in this team, like we predicted, just a lot earlier than expected!
With the gun-ho style offence the raiders like to play, I mean with 782 passing yards and 8.8 yards per passing attempts done over 2 games, this could be the game we see his first INT. Combining well with Xavien Howard and Bryon Jones, I genuinely believe this could be the game that he makes himself known to the NFL and makes his big accouncement. He will definitely have plenty of opportunities.
Bold Predicition For The Game: No deep touchdown passes given, 2 Passes defended, 1 INT
And that will do us for another week of Rookie Watch! Let’s hope for a better match and outcome for our Miami Dolphins and that we get close to some more bold predictions! FINS UP!
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