Three time Pro Bowl left tackle Jake Long will miss his first NFL start.

Long, whom the Miami Dolphins selected first overall in 2008, prides himself on his iron man reputation. He’s started 61 straight games for the Dolphins, but the back injury he suffered in last Sunday’s 26-10 loss to the Eagles won’t allow him to play in Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Bills.

Nate Garner replaced Long last week against the Eagles, but it’s reserve guard John Jerry who will start for Long.

Jerry, who has played much better in the past two games, practiced with the starters all last season. But he’s never played left tackle in a game.

The Dolphins, which allowed nine sacks last week without Long, better have a good game plan because starting quarterback Matt Moore, who suffered a concussion last week, expects to start his 10th game of the season.

Moore practiced for the past three days after passing his baseline test, and has been cleared by the NFL to be active for Sunday’s 1 p.m. kickoff. It’s possible the Dolphins will use plenty of two tight end sets to provide extra protection.

Also inactive for the Dolphins is starting strong side linebacker Koa Misi, who is sidelined by a shoulder injury. Jason Taylor will likely start in his place and its possible Jason Trusnik or Ikaika Alama-Francis will inherit a larger role.

Alama-Francis is active for the third time today.

Will Yeatman will play in his first NFL game, replacing Jeron Mastrud on the active list.

Tailback Steve Slaton, defensive end Ryan Baker, and offensive linemen Ray Feinga and Will Barker are also inactive.

After this disappointing and trouble-filled year is over, there will be wonderful opportunities waiting for the Dolphins if only they can, after nearly a decade of failing, finally string together two or three good decisions.

It has been a long time since that happened, hasn’t it?

Fans of this team so inclined can turn the past decade into a sad trivia game of failed franchise-defining decisions that would surpass just about anything comparable in professional sports.

You remember those decisions, right?

Remember the league-wide search for a general manager in 2004? The Dolphins interviewed all the up-and-coming stars in the personnel field, including Ted Thompson, but somehow picked in-house candidate Rick Spielman.

Thompson eventually got the general manager job with Green Bay and has built a budding dynasty.

Remember the coach searches in 2005, 2007 and 2008?

The Dolphins interviewed, among others, Mike Tomlin, Rex Ryan, Chan Gailey and Dom Capers …

… And hired Nick Saban, Cam Cameron and Tony Sparano.

The first group has gone on to win three Super Bowls, and reach three AFC title games and one NFC title game. The second group yielded two coaches that were fired and one that lied before skipping town.

The club’s grand search for a chief executive officer in 2004? Then-owner H. Wayne Huizenga hired a search firm headed by Joe Bailey. And Bailey, having searched far and wide for the new executive, convinced Huizenga only one man was capable of filling the job.

Joe Bailey.

Bailey’s greatest success would be a nightly radio show. The show was unlistenable and unrated, but it was Bailey’s greatest success nonetheless.

The Dolphins also had countless opportunities to fill the void left by quarterback Dan Marino’s retirement in 2000 but seemingly signed or drafted everyone and anyone as long as they weren’t named Drew Brees.

Are we seeing a trend here?

Over the past decade, the Dolphins have had ample chances to set a course for success and every single time have instead steered into a concrete wall. And the frustrating thing is those wrong decisions were rarely made by the same people, so it wasn’t one individual’s blunders that hurt the franchise but rather failure on an institutional scale.

So isn’t it time the law of averages kicked in?

Don’t Dolphins fans get a break eventually?

The timing is now perfect for that because in the coming months this franchise has a grand opportunity to fix, well, everything.

The team will hire a new coach at a time proven, Super Bowl winning coaches, hot coordinators and brilliant college coaches are available.

The team might hire a new man to oversee all football operations.

The team will draft or sign a potential franchise quarterback in a year where franchise quarterbacks seem abundant in the draft, and Peyton Manning might be available in free agency.

With Tom Brady getting no younger and questions still hovering over Mark Sanchez and Ryan Fitzpatrick, the AFC East will be a wide-open division in the next few years and there’s nothing that says it cannot belong to the new Dolphins.

But only if these guys finally pick the right people.

Owner Stephen Ross has to get this right. If he’s going to hire Carl Peterson to head football operations as NFL sources are insisting, these two can’t just fill the coaching vacancy with a future fired coach that will eventually top off the Wannstedt-Saban-Cameron heap.

The three final mile in the marathon the Miami Dolphins have been running just got harder.

Todd Bowles’ candid approach will test the Dolphins.

The players lost their leader Tony Sparano, who also doubled as their motivation.

Now the season shifts from “Save Sparano” to “Save Yourself” heading into the final three games, which begins with Sunday’s road contest against the Buffalo Bills.

I don’t envy interim coach Todd Bowles, who has never stood in front of the whole team before TODAY.

In my column, which ran in Wednesday’s  newspaper, I explain the mindset of the players – from the young (Jared Odrick), to the powerful (Karlos Dansby), to the aged veteran (Will Allen) who has been there and done that.

Make no mistake about it, Bowles will have to fight against an every man for himself mentality, which doesn’t exactly work well in a team sport.

However, from what I know about Bowles and his approach, he’ll be just fine.

Allen said he’s doubtful Bowles will change that approach, which is candid and honest.

“Todd is no nonsense. It may appear that he’s an easy going coach sometimes, but that’s only if you’re doing things right,” Allen said. “He’s not afraid to call you out. If you’re doing something wrong you’ll hear about it first hand. He’s not going to pull you to the side. Everyone in the room is going to hear him do it.”

Bowles does a post game breakdown for every player in the secondary, outlining their positives and negatives for the past game performance.

He gives ALL the breakdowns to every player. He goes over the performance of every play in front of every player and it forces them to be accountable for their actions, decisions and performance.

Life earlier this season was rough for members of the Dolphins secondary, which were allowing opposing quarterbacks to produce a cumulative 103.1 QB rating during the team’s 0-7 start. However, the secondary has tightened up since November, dropping that QB rating to 85.4 during the past six games.

I’m told Bowles has a no nonsense, take no prisoners approach that can be humbling.

“As a player it makes you know where you stand at all time,” Allen said. “For the rest of the team its going to be difficult and awkward, but for us (members of the secondary) its going to be business as usual.”

Coincidentally, Bowles becomes the 10th African-American coach in the NFL this season. That’s 10 out of 32, which you have to believe is an all-time high. And 11 coaches (if you include Carolina’s Ron Rivera, who is Hispanic) are minorities.

Talk about progress being made!

Unfortunately, three of those coaches – Romeo Crennel in Kansas City, Mel Tucker in Jacksonville and Bowles in Miami – are interim coaches.

But everyone has to start somewhere, and its refreshing to see progress being made from a diversity standpoint.

Coincidentally Bowles, who has interviewed for head coaching jobs in Detroit and St. Louis, was a candidate to become defensive coordinator in Dallas and Arizona this past offseason.

The Dolphins blocked those lateral moves because they didn’t want to lose Bowles. This is his opportunity to show the rest of the NFL what he’s all about and a strong performance could make him the next Perry Fewell or Leslie Frazier.

 

By Ryan Michaels

– Dolphins Editor

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Dec 9, 2011 – Awestruck.

That is how I felt watching the Miami Dolphins dismantle the Oakland Raiders in Week 13. The final score may have been 34-14, but the game wasn’t nearly as close as the scoreboard indicated. If the Dolphins didn’t take their foot off the pedal on defense, they could have shut them out. It didn’t happen, but it was arguably their best game of the season.

Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Eagles continued their losing ways last week, this time falling to the Seattle Seahawks 31-14. It marked the Eagles’ fourth loss in their last five games. They won the offseason, and have one of the most talented teams in the NFL on paper, but haven’t been able to translate it onto on-field success. If they want to reverse their fortunes, they’ll have to do it against one of the hottest teams in the league. Can they do it? Read on.

Dolphins Pass Offense vs. Eagles Pass Defense

QB Matt Moore continued his solid play as of late against the Raiders. Although Moore didn’t end up with huge numbers (162 yards passing and one touchdown), he continued to show confidence in the pocket and showed off his mobility by rushing for a touchdown. WR Brandon Marshall put up average numbers last week as well (four receptions for 60 yards), but he made a couple of great catches. He also has three 100-yard receiving games since Moore took over as the starting quarterback and has shown some signs of getting over the drop issues that plagued him in the beginning of the season. The Eagles pass defense ranks a solid, if unspectacular, 13^th in the league, giving up 229.2 passing yards per game. The Eagles have also sacked opposing quarterbacks 33 times, tied for 5^th-best in the league. Moore has been good, and may not make a killer mistake this game, but the Eagles should be able to limit his effectiveness.

Advantage: Eagles

Dolphins Run Offense vs. Eagles Run Defense

RB Reggie Bush played like an every down back last week, rushing for 100 yards on 22 carries. RB Daniel Thomas seems to have kicked the injury bug and rushed for 73 yards on 13 carries last week. This can be a killer 1-2 punch if used properly, and Philadelphia is exactly the kind of team that can be taken advantage of on the ground. Seattle Seahawks RB Marshawn Lynch tore through the Eagles run defense last week, rushing for 148 yards and two touchdowns on only 22 carries. With all due respect to Lynch, he isn’t an elite running back. Expect big things Sunday out of Bush and Thomas.

Advantage: Dolphins

Eagles Pass Offense vs. Dolphins Pass Defense

QB Michael Vick is expected to return to the lineup on Sunday, although that doesn’t sound as frightening now as it did this time last year. The Eagles’ pass offense does rank 10^th in the league this year, gaining 255.5 yards per game through the air. However, WR DeSean Jackson has been inconsistent and his 16.2 yards per catch is down from last year’s 22.5. WR Jeremy Maclin has missed the past three weeks with shoulder and hamstring injuries, but is expected to return. Meanwhile, the Dolphins pass defense has played like a unit possessed. CB Vontae Davis is finally backing up his talk of the Dolphins cornerback tandem being the best in the NFL, intercepting two passes the past four games and playing physical football. The pass defense as a whole has not allowed an opposing quarterback to get a QB Rating above 78.8 since Eli Manning in Week 8. Vick will not reverse that trend.

Advantage: Dolphins

Eagles Run Offense vs. Dolphins Run Defense

This will be the deciding matchup of the game. The Dolphins defense will have two main objectives: First, to keep Vick in the pocket, and second, contain RB LeSean McCoy. McCoy has been one of the best running backs in the league this year, already rushing for 1,134 yards and averaging 5.3 yards per carry. He is a threat to run both between the tackles and cut to the outside. All eyes should be on LB Karlos Dansby and LB Koa Misi to stop McCoy while the Dolphins rotate their talented defensive line to keep them fresh throughout the game. If the defensive line prevents Philadelphia’s offensive line from opening up too many holes, the Dolphins should be able to stop McCoy the way they have stopped Raiders RB Michael Bush and Bills RB Fred Jackson recently. McCoy will be the Dolphins’ biggest challenge yet on defense, but this unit is up to it.

Advantage: Dolphins

Intangibles

The Dolphins are 3-3 at home and have won four of their last five games overall. Moore and head coach Tony Sparano have been playing and coaching like they really want to be in Miami next year and see through this rebuilding project. More was expected out of the Eagles this season coming off last year’s success and adding CB Nnamdi Asomugha, CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, and DE Jason Babin this offseason. It hasn’t worked and head coach Andy Reid may find himself out of a job at season’s end.

Advantage: Dolphins

Summary

The Dolphins play has been incredibly impressive over the past five weeks. They are finally playing up to their talent level, and if they had played like that in the beginning of the season, they could be in the playoff hunt. Alas, they’ll have to wait until next year to see the postseason, but that won’t stop them from continuing the Eagles’ nightmare of a season that was supposed to end in Indianapolis.

Prediction: Dolphins 27, Eagles 20

Poll

The Dolphins host the Eagles on Sunday. Who do you think will win?

Read More: Michael Vick (QB – PHI), Matt Moore (QB – MIA), Miami Dolphins, Philadelphia Eagles, Buffalo Bills

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The Dolphins were recognized Thursday for having the best offensive line in the league in Week 13 and are now contenders for the third annual John Madden Protectors Award.

While the news surely won’t get South Florida radio shows to turn the focus away from the suddenly free-spending Marlins or even the first-place Panthers, Thursday’s award did bring a smile to the face of Dolphins left guard Richie Incognito.

And why not? Before the Dolphins rushed for a season-high 209 yards last Sunday against the Raiders, and before their 4-1 run, the play of the offensive line could best be described as stinky.

In their first seven games, the Dolphins gave up 27 sacks — worst in the league. Their two rushing touchdowns through their first six games was also worst in the league. Since then, the Dolphins have given up eight sacks over their past five games and they have run for eight touchdowns over their past six games.

“I think our communication has really improved,’’ Incognito said. “[Quarterback] Matt [ Moore] has done a good job escaping a couple of [sacks]. But I think as the season has gone on we’ve really grown together. We’ve taken our growing pains together. Now, we’ve played against a lot of defenses, seen a lot of looks and it’s nice to have all five of us on the same page.

“We take in pride in running the ball in the end zone. As an offensive line, we don’t want to have to drop back when we’re down that close. It’s been nice lately.’’

Offensive coordinator Brian Daboll said rookie center Mike Pouncey has done a great job of late with identifying pass rushers. Right guard Vernon Carey, who missed last week’s game against the Raiders with an ankle injury but has practiced on a limited basis the past two days, said the reason the offensive line got off to a slow start was because the unit didn’t have enough time to gel with practice time cut short by the lockout.

“We hade new pieces in there, guys who had never played together before,’’ Carey said.

“Mike’s doing a good job directing the whole offense and guys are stepping up, being stern, being aggressive at the line and being strong.’’

According to ProFootballFocus.com, which grades game film of every game, Pouncey (ranked 18th out of 37 centers), Incognito (17th out of 79 guards) and left tackle Jake Long (17th out of 76 tackles) are all playing above average.

Carey (35th out of 79 guards) and right tackle Marc Colombo (68th out of 76 tackles) are scoring below average.

“They’re playing hard,’’ Dolphins coach Tony Sparano said. “I’m not saying they weren’t playing hard before. What I mean by playing hard is you can pretty ball or ugly ball up front.

“Sometimes, ugly ball is kind of effective. I think right now they’re just playing really hard and physical at this time, starting to learn how to get each other’s back in there.

“We’ll have our hands full this week [with the Eagles] because this group is a little deep and they can get after you. There are no readers here, they’re penetrators.’’

Third-down stops

When it has come to getting off the field on third down, the Dolphins defense has made a drastic improvement over the past three weeks as opposing teams have converted just four of 32 attempts (12.5 percent).