Can the Dolphins defeat the Broncos? 27-14?

This sunday the Miami Dolphins will be traveling to Denver to take on Peyton Manning and the Broncos. The Broncos are coming off a loss to the St. Louis Rams and will be trying to avoid two straight losses for the first time this season. The Dolphins need this victory as a way to keep pace in the AFC playoff race.

Going into Denver is never easy especially when Peyton is behind center. The Dolphins must get to Manning and not let him get comfortable in the pocket and sit back and pick apart the Dolphins secondary and linebackers. For starters the Dolphins must shut down the Broncos run game. Fortunately for the Dolphins, the Broncos are banged up at running back, with both Montee Ball and Ronnie Hillman most likely being inactive on Sunday. This means C.J. Anderson who has only rushed 39 times for 201 yards could get the start. The Dolphins must snuff out the run early, and make the Broncos one-dimensional. If they can stop the run then the Dolphins can be a bit more creative with sending blitzing pressure. The Broncos have a ferocious passing attack, and Miami is going to have to find a way to limit the big plays against players like Demaryius Thomas, Julius Thomas (who is listed as questionable) and Emmanuel Sanders (who has been cleared to play). The Dolphin defense has been solid against the pass all year long, and this will probably be it’s toughest challenge of the season. They need to play smart football, and not let Manning catch anyone out of position, and keep all pass catchers in front of them.

On offense the Dolphins must be able to move the chains and not go three and out a lot. They need to play a little bit of ball control, that way they can keep Manning off the field where he can’t hurt them. Miami must make a commitment to their running game, and create positive yards on early downs, in order to make their 3^rd downs more manageable. Tannehill also must take care of the football, because this is not a game in which the Dolphins can afford to loss the turnover battle. Lazor should continue to let Tannehill focus on the short to medium range passing game, and continue to spread the ball to his multitude of weapons. Clay has been deactivated for the game, which means Simms and Hoskins will have to step up to fill the void. Lastly, Miami must score TD’s when they get in the redzone, they can not leave points on the field against Manning.

The best sportsbooks in the world have the Broncos as the -7 point favorite, and this has pretty much been the line the entire week. The action is all coming in on the Broncos, as every one and their mother thinks there is no way that the Broncos can lose 2 games in a row. Well no one thought the Seahawks would lose 3 games in a row earlier this season and they did, so anything is possible. The Dolphins usually play well when they play a good team, so I fully expect them to put up a good fight against the Broncos. I think the Dolphins can make Denver one-dimensional on offense and will actually get pressure on Manning, which may lead to some turnovers. I’m going to go out on a long thin limb and say that the Dolphins will pull off the shocker and beat the Broncos by 13 points, 27-14.