Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Rookie Watch – Game 6 vs Jacksonville Jaguars (London)

GAME DAY 5 Recap – Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Away)

We kind of expected a loss here let’s be honest, but in that kind of fashion and with those kind of stats? From the outside, it’s easy to say that “It’s Tom Brady, what do you expect?” but when you look further you can see that the offence didn’t really get going, and we knew that going in, but the defence?! Man, where is the powerhouse unit from last year?

Either way we move on and what better way to move on that to have our beloved Miami Dolphins fly over to my neck of the woods, England! More specifically London, and don’t you worry, I’ll be there rooting for them loud and proud, and to top it off, it looks like Tua will be starting too, so we can finally say good bye to the Jacoby Brissett era.

Rookie Watch: Jaylen Waddle – Wide Receiver #17

With the news that franchise quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa should be back in the starting line up should be welcome news to us, but also to Jaylen Waddle. Since the injury to Tua, Waddle didn’t reach the heights of his performance against New England averaging just 42 receiving yards and 9.8 yards per reception, per game, compared to the 61 receiving yards and 15.3 yards per reception against New England, so this could be a key component to winning this week.

Jacksonville have conceded an average of 9.5 yards per reception to opposing wide receivers, 7 passing touchdowns and have hauled in 1 interception so far. They have also allowed on average 286.6 passing yards per game, and with Will Fuller V on IR and missing from the game, again, Jaylen should be able to make full use of this experience and torch a vulnerable Jaguars defensive back room. Therefore, I’m expecting big things from him this week. I fully expect him to bounce back and give his best performance so far.

Bold Prediction For The Game: 2 Receiving Touchdowns, 150 yards receiving.

Rookie Watch: Jaelen Phillips – Defensive End/Linebacker #15

He did it! He finally broke the duck and we saw the glimpse of what we expected from Phillips. Also, what a player to get your first sack on than none other than Tom Brady. Credited with 4 tackles last week, 2 solo and 2 assists, it looks like he is starting to take some small strides forwards as he gets acclimated to the NFL. In what has been a bleak part of the team, the pass rush element of the defence has been a gleaming light, and with Ogbah on the pitch too, hopefully this is an element that can get better and better as the season progresses.

Unlike our previous few opponents, who were renown on the offensive line, Jacksonville have had some struggles allowing 8 sacks with a total loss of 53 yards. They have had success on what little bits of running they have done though with 647 yards of rushing over 122 attempts, that’s an average of 5.3 yards per attempt. So if Phillips can stop the outside runs, and force them Trevor Lawrence to pass, we could see some positive things come this week.

With the steep learning curve Phillips has had to endure over the past few games, I expect him to come good against a team in struggle right now and to get another sack.


Bold Prediction For The Game: 1 Sacks, 2 solo tackle

Credit: Jason Vinlove, USA Today Sports

Rookie Watch: Liam Eichenberg – Offensive Tackle #74

Like a heavyweight boxer taking the punches, it looks like the barrage may be over for now for Liam Eichenberg. Going against some stella opponents in the first 5 games, we hope that he may finally be over the mountain top. Filling in at LT, his natural position, he played better than nearly all rookie offensive tackles scoring 76.0 in the PFF grades, his highest grade yet, and second among rookie offensive tackles and second highest graded player on the team.

We’re also very quick to throw and point out blame to when the offensive line mess up, but when you’re going against names like Jason Pierre-Paul, Shaq Barrett and Vita Vea, we need to recognise when they’ve done well too.

This week would see him line up against Miles Jack, who is out of the game this week, a hammer blow for Jacksonville and some reprieve for Miami. The defensive line was ranked 30th last season by PFF is the weakest rank Miami have faced, with the lowest being the Colts at 19.

Some names to keep tabs on would be Josh Allen (no not the quarterback) and K’Lavon Chaisson, who last year only recorded a 9.2% pressure rate overall, so this could be a game to really see how much he has learnt

Bold Prediction For The Game:  2 pressures allowed. 0 Sacks given.

Jaelan Phillips with his first career sack vs Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Credit: The Associated Press, 2021.

Jevon Holland – Free Safety #22

Jevon Holland has shone over the previous few weeks it is safe to say, and going up against Trevor Lawrence who has had a rough start to his NFL career to say the least, this could be a good opportunity to shine. Lawrence has thrown for 8 interceptions this year, making him 2nd in the NFL for interceptions thrown, only behind Zack Wilson with 9.

The number 1 overall pick has thrown for just 6 touchdowns and his wide receivers have only gone for 6.5 yards per passing attempts. Therefore, if Jacksonville go down deep early and are forced to throw the ball, we could see some picks in this game, and maybe one will go his way.

However, if Miami are to win this game, they need to stop the run. Whilst this isn’t a high priority in Holland’s list, recognising the run will be and he will need to work on his communication and organisational skills. Getting 7 tackles last week was a career high for him, and hopefully the number isn’t that high again unless it’s necessary.

Bold Prediction For The Game: 1 INT, 2 tackles.

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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