Miami Dolphins Good Fortunes Last all of one day

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The Miami Dolphins earned their first victory of the 2019 season Sunday and all was well in South Florida sports.

 

For roughly 24 hours if that.

First news broke that wide receiver Preston Williams was being shut down for the season with a knee injury.

 

Williams finishes a breakout rookie season with 32 receptions for 428 yards and three touchdowns, two of those scores came in his final game Sunday against New York.

Adding company to the misery, at least for Dolphins’ fans stateside, it was also announced Miami would again be playing overseas next year.

 

Season ticket holders will again be losing a home game in Miami Gardens but there is good news, they’ll save about 12% on the cost of tickets!

Those same season ticket holders can forgo the International Series and enjoy just seven games against what would be likely a last place schedule.

But wait, there’s more…

On a busy news day, you might as well keep the hits coming.

 

Walton will be suspended for the next four games as a result of his three arrests in the offseason.

 

Walton was the new lead back after the departure of Kenyan Drake to Arizona. Kallen Ballage will now assume that role, look for more roster moves in the running back room as the week goes on.

After a resounding win against Adam Gase and the Jets, thankfully the 2019 Miami Dolphins have quickly returned to form we all know and love.

 

 

Miami Dolphins lose Preston Williams for rest of 2019 season

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The Miami Dolphins suffered a major injury loss on Monday.

The Miami Dolphins wide receiving unit has suffered a huge loss. Monday, an MRI revealed a season-ending knee injury for Preston Williams per multiple media reports. He is done for the season.

The rookie from Colorado State was really impressing over the course of the season. In what has been an up-and-down campaign for the Miami Dolphins, Williams has played well. Signing as an undrafted rookie, the Colorado state product made a good first impression in his opening season. He caught 32 passes for 428 yards and three touchdowns. His best game of the season came on Sunday against the Jets. He caught five passes for 72 yards and two touchdowns. Averaging 14.4 yards per reception, a 26-yard grab was his longest of the afternoon.

Williams was a player that made an impact from the get-go. In the season opener against the Baltimore Ravens, he caught three passes for 24 yards and a touchdown. In a season that has been all about rebuilding, he has been a bright spot.

Williams a key component of Miami Dolphins future

The next goal for Williams is to make sure that he gets healthy for the 2020 season. In a season where Miami is sending players packing in an effort to gain capital and rebuild, Williams looks to be a part of this organization for a long time. He has the potential to become a top target for the future. Hopefully, everything goes well during the rehab process so he can get back on the field as soon as possible.

The Miami Dolphins are going to need big contributions from two players specifically the rest of the way. Tight end Mike Gesicki is one of them, and wide receiver Devante Parker is the other.

Gesicki heads into Sunday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts looking to build off his successful performance from last week. He had his best game of the season, catching six passes for 95 yards.  Parker had a great game as well, catching four passes for 57 yards and a touchdown. Those two will look to spearhead the Miami Dolphins passing offense for the foreseeable future.

This is certainly unfortunate news for the Miami Dolphins. Hopefully, Williams can come back even stronger in 2020. He is certainly a promising young player with a ton of talent. Here’s to hoping his recovery efforts go according to plan.

Tank That! Dolphins Beat Adam Gase’s Jets for 1st Win

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MIAMI GARDENS — You could see this coming.

Really, you could.

You didn’t even Adam Gase’s fancy, darting eyes.

The reasoning was simple. On one side you had a team that was clearly improving under its first-year coach, Brian Flores, even though the Dolphins were trading or idling their better players. On the other side, you had Gase, and a Jets team that had already tired of him. So this was somewhat predictable. Ryan Fitzpatrick is a capable NFL quarterback when he has time, and he had time just enough times Sunday, in a 26-18 victory. Gase is a fraud, and his time with the Jets may soon come to an end, after signing a long-term contract this offseason.

Even some players were calling their shot:

It didn’t start well for the Dolphins:

But then Fitzpatrick and Preston Williams started to connect:

And the defense settled in a little, after letting Jets second-year quarterback Sam Darnold get comfortable early…

Fitzpatrick, who has been plagued by inconsistency since training camp, continued to find targets on the outside…

Hey, it’s DeVante Parker….

A Jets touchdown got taken off the board on a coach’s challenge, but they still made it closer by halftime after a couple of Dolphins’ mistakes…

If you were rooting for the Dolphins to win — which wasn’t all of you — then you feared the worst…

The Dolphins, however, had a little juice in the running game, at least when Kallen Ballage (2.0 yards per carry this season) isn’t getting the suspicious calls….

The Jets coach tried to use his wizardry…

Some of the Dolphins’ most criticized players showed up, though. That included a defensive back who has seemingly been torched since preseason…

And then the Jets went full Jets….

So the Dolphins and Jets are now both 1-7.

Flores, who has done increasingly solid work, has his first victory.

Miami won’t join the Detroit Lions and Cleveland Browns as the only winless teams in modern NFL history.

Williams, Parker and Mike Gesicki (95 receiving yards) continued to show promise, as did linebacker Raekwon McMillan.

Fitzpatrick (24 of 36, 295 yards, 3 touchdowns, 0 interceptions) showed he may be worth keeping as a veteran backup next season, to whatever rookie the Dolphins draft.

That’s the good.

The bad?

The rookie may not be the one that fans wanted, not unless the Dolphins lose out, which won’t be easy with the Bengals and Jets still on the schedule.

The dream of Tua Tagliavailoa may be over.

Look for more content on the Dolphins here — and on Three Yards Per Carry.

FIU’s Olin Cushion III gets his Senior Day moment

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Senior Day is a special day in college football. It’s the last home game of the season and for the senior class, that means the last home game ever.

Makes the game even more special when the seniors are the main contributors to the home team’s victory. Senior quarterback James “Captain” Morgan and running back Napoleon Maxwell scored a rushing touchdown but senior defensive back Olin Cushion III put the finishing touches on FIU’s 24-17 win against Old Dominion with a last minute interception.

It was Cushion’s first interception of the season. He now has a pick in the last three seasons.

Cushion had been eyeing ODU quarterback Hayden Wolff like an eagle throughout the Monarchs last offensive drive of the game. He dove at a low pass from the freshman and scraped his arm on the turf field, causing him to bleed.

That didn’t stop Cushion from trying to distract Wolff by saying,  ‘Come on. Come on.’

“I was wiping blood everywhere,” Cushion said. [Fellow FIU safety] Dorian Hall tried to take my side of the field, but I said, ‘Nah, you can’t get this side. I need this side so the ref won’t see the blood and take me out.’

“The next thing I know, the ball was coming to me, and I ran up under it and slid on my knees.”

With the win, FIU is now a game away from bowl eligibility. The Panthers have made it to a bowl game in each season since Butch Davis took over as head coach starting in 2017. This senior class has the opportunity to be the first class to play in three bowl games, much less three straight.

The path to that sixth win will be hard. Their next opponent is the Shula Bowl at rival Florida Atlantic. Owls head coach Lane Kiffin has had the upper hand on Davis lately with two wins by a combined score of 101-38.

Then comes the game that Panthers fans have been waiting for, a local slugfest with the Miami Hurricanes at Marlins Park, the spot of the old Orange Bowl where the two programs infamously clashed a little over a decade ago. Even at Miami’s weaken state, nobody truly expects the Hurricanes to lose to FIU, or any non-power 5 team for that matter.

Finally Marshall, which currently shares the C-USA East Division lead with FAU at 4-1. FIU is 0-3 on the road this season, which is a streak that will have to end if the Panthers are going to go bowling. 

Surging Panthers ride Huberdeau, Barkov to easy win

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Something’s happening here.

After Saturday’s dominant, no-doubt 4-0 win against the Detroit Red Wings, the Florida Panthers have now won six of their past nine games. And this seems, well, real. They’ve survived the start of the season, which typically buries them, and they’ve done it with star Sasha Barkov struggling to score and hyped goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky posting a goals-against-average near four.

Both, however, were exceptional Saturday on a night the Panthers were without several regulars, including Vincent Trocheck.

Barkov hasn’t admitted to an injury, but he has appeared hobbled at times. Not Saturday. He was everywhere, from faceoffs to the crease, finishing with a goal and an assist — and four of the Panthers’ 41 shots. Bobrovsky wasn’t tested much after the opening few minutes, but stopped all 22 shots he saw.

So now the Panthers have 18 points through 14 games, compared to 15 points through 14 games last season and 10 points through 14 games the season prior.

Most importantly, they seem to be grasping Joel Quenneville’s system. The coach was beaming about how “clean” they played in their own end — very few chances, even fewer Red Wings left unmarked on rebounds.

Here are a few of the tweets from the game, and after:

Here are player videos:

 

 

And here’s a video from Michael “Dutch” Sonbeek, who covered the game with me for Five Reasons Sports.

Rousseau, Hurricanes’ Defense Storm Over FSU 27-10

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The Miami Hurricanes lived up to the hype and the nickname this week, storming into Tallahassee and crushing Florida State 27-10.

Gregory Rousseau was the catalyst of the Hurricanes defense, tallying another FOUR sacks in Tallahassee today.

Rousseau has a ridiculous seven sacks in his last two games and Miami found that attacking style defense which kept FSU off balance all afternoon.

Miami (5-4, 3-3) evened their ACC mark and put on their most complete performance of the season.

Jarren Williams made enough plays when it counted and finished 21-of-37 with a season high 313 yards and two long touchdowns. He continues to hold the ball too long and it hurt, Williams lost a fumble for the lone Miami turnover which gave Florida State some life.

The offensive line played their best game of the season by a mile, helped by quick passes and great blitz pickups by the running backs.

Dan Enos has been under fire for his play calling but dialed up some timely deep shots.

 

Miami was the more aggressive team for once and you could sense they did not want to let Florida State back into it late.

Jeff Thomas had a triumphant return from suspension, finishing with four catches for 64 yards including a 39-yard dime to open the scoring for Miami.

DeeJay Dallas finished with 61 yards on 18 carries with a touchdown, Cam Harris could not get it going today and actually lost five yards on just two carries.

Neither team could manage anything on the ground, Miami finished with just 40 net yards rushing. Florida State was even less effective, Miami shut down star running back Cam Akers most of the day.

Akers managed 66 yards on the ground but it took 22 carries for a paltry 3.0 yard average. He did add three receptions for 23 yards and a touchdown, but the Hurricanes made life tough for the junior running back.

Seminoles quarterback Alex Hornibrook (yeah that guy) was the latest victim of the Hurricanes pass rush which dropped him nine times on the day. Hornibrook managed just 135 yards on 17-of-31 attempts with one touchdown and an interception.

As usual with these two the defenses set the early tone and the game was chippy from the jump.

Both teams were jawing throughout the game, finally Miami came out with energy and fire from the opening whistle.

Manny Diaz (FSU alum) certainly had this game circled on the calendar day one and it showed, his fingerprints were all over the defensive game plan.

Florida State offensive coordinator Kendal Briles dialed up trick play after trick play with little success, Miami was more sound tackling and with assignment football than in recent weeks.

Shaq Quarterman (9 tackles, 3 TFL), Trevon Hall (4 tackles, sack), and Nestor Jade Silvera (6 tackles, sack) were a force for the front seven.

 

Penalties (6/65) and third down (3/15) continue to be a sore spot, but the Hurricanes were able to overcome them with timely efforts on both sides of the ball.

Special teams did their job today, Camden Price did miss one field goal but made his other two and all three extra points. KJ Osborn continues to be a solid and safe punt return option.

Lou Headley had five punts for a 44.8 yard average, including a 65-yard bomb to pin FSU near their goal line.

Miami now has three straight wins over Florida State and will carry a two game winning streak back to Miami Gardens when they host Louisville November 9th.

 

Follow us on Twitter for more Hurricanes coverage @SportsWaveDave and @CaneMaven. Subscribe to the 5 Rings Canes podcast for exclusive Canes content.

Photo by Tony Capobianco.

Breaking it Down: Nekias Duncan on Heat-Hawks II

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How is this happening?

How are the Miami Heat off to a 4-1 start with Jimmy Butler missing three games and playing passively on offense for most of the other two?

How are Kendrick Nunn and Tyler Herro doing this…. as rookies?

How is someone on a two-way contract, such as Chris Silva, contributing so much?

After the Heat’s latest win, this one 106-97 against the Hawks in Atlanta, Nekias Duncan (@NekiasNBA) does what he does: a comprehensive video breakdown on Twitter.

Duncan contributes to Five Reasons Sports Network from time to time, so look for more of his work here.

Still, this thread is worth your time, just like this Heat team:

 

 

 

Miami Heat secure victory behind versatile Butler, hot Nunn

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 The Miami Heat were able to secure a win behind a strong effort from Jimmy Butler.

The Miami Heat recorded a huge victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday night. With Miami winning by a 106-97 margin, there were many good things to take away from the game. However, one thing stood out to me in particular: Jimmy Butler had 11 assists.

Now, I am not diminishing the efforts of Kendrick Nunn at all. His 28 points paced the Heat’s offensive attack. However, it was Butler’s contributions on Thursday evening that spearheaded the Miami Heat towards a victory. His willingness to share the basketball showed up in the box score and on the court. Five different Miami Heat players scored in double figures.  Butler himself had 21 points. In addition, he had six steals and three blocks.

This game reminded me of his days in Chicago. In Philadelphia, there were a lot of mouths to feed in terms of sharing the basketball. In Chicago, he was more of the superstar that the Bulls leaned on. I think he will serve a similar role here in Miami, but the production from the youngsters has made me believe that he will not do it all by himself.

Miami Heat received all-around effort from Butler

When I think of Jimmy Butler, I think of a player who bullies his way to the basket, and can drive to the hoop with ease. I forget sometimes how good he is defensively. He reminded me Thursday just how impactful he can be on that end. Butler is a stout defender that is not afraid to get up in the face of his man and make life uncomfortable. He plays the game with tremendous passion, and it shows.

The fact that Butler was able to combine his scoring prowess with his defensive skill set on Thursday was great to see. It’s hard to play defense in today’s NBA. It seems like everything is called a foul nowadays. It’s easy to accumulate a ton of points, it’s harder to accumulate steals and blocks. Butler did a nice job of that and as a result, he made a huge impact on the game.

He is going to be fun to watch in a Miami Heat uniform. Thursday night, he proved that. If he can play like this every single night, this team is going to make a very deep playoff run.

 

Old Teammates Won’t Let Jimmy Butler Move On

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Jimmy Butler seems to be living his best life of late.

He got paid this offseason, and traded to the city where he wanted to play.

He is a new father — of a baby girl.

And he with a team and teammates he clearly likes.

But others in the NBA won’t let the man be.

Joel Embiid and Karl-Anthony Towns, two of the game’s elite bigs — and each problematic for his own reasons — got in a skirmish Wednesday in the game between the Philadelphia 76ers and Minnesota Timberwolves.

These days, what isn’t settled in person spills over into social media.

So it did.

And Embiid, well, he can’t leave anything alone, except the Eastern Conference Finals. He and Butler were on good terms in Philadelphia last season as teammates — Butler roundly praised Embiid a month ago during Heat training camp.

Butler was never as glowing about Towns, with the fraying of that relationship playing into his desire to leave the Timberwolves — that set up his brief partnership with Embiid in Philadelphia. Embiid apparently knows the history. Quite well.

The “3rd stringers” is a reference to Butler, during his self-imposed sabbatical in Minnesota, supposedly teaming up with 3rd stringers in practice and routing the Wolves’ starters, including Towns, in practice. You’ll remember Woj giving Jimmy something akin to Paul Bunyan status for this.

So, with two of his ex’s squabbling, will Butler leave this alone?

The answer, naturally, is no.

Butler chimed in on Embiid’s Instagram post.

So this won’t be the last of it.

Butler will be asked, probably prior to Thursday’s Miami Heat game in Atlanta. And you can be sure, he’ll answer. It would be fun if he just buried both of them.

 

The Miami Heat have no room for Dion Waiters

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The veteran and the Miami Heat should part ways.

Dion Waiters is back with the Miami Heat, but he still is on the outside looking in. He practiced with the team on Wednesday, but he will not travel with them to face the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday.

To me, Dion Waiters is the odd man out right now for the Miami Heat. The team has gotten some great contributions from rookies like Kendrick Nunn and Tyler Herro. Many did not predict that the youth movement would start out as smoothly as it has for the Heat. The two rookies don’t even look like first-year players. They look like seasoned veterans, and have put a spark into this Miami Heat team.

The Miami Heat have found their dynamic duo

For their efforts, Nunn and Herro have averaged 21 and 16.3 points. One of the key assets of Waiters’s game is his ability to provide scoring. He is a volume shooter who used to be able to provide that spark off the bench. Now, that role is filled. Quite honestly, I don’t see where Waiters fits into this team at the moment. The whole situation is kind of fascinating. With the emergence of the rookies and the fact that Waiters’ tenure with the Heat has taken an unfortunate turn, it’s the perfect juxtaposition.

I will be interested to see what Miami does with him. They can’t really break up the rotation at the moment. Things are firing on all cylinders, and it will be stupid to jeopardize that. I could see him forcing his way out of Miami. Including this year, he has  two years left on his contract and is set to become an unrestricted free agent in 2021. Making a $13 million per season, the contract doesn’t exactly make him the easiest players to move. If anything, is a hindrance.

Waiters is the odd man out

As it stands right now, I don’t see where he fits on the Miami Heat. He is a good player and has done a lot for them. However, it would be too risky to break up the roster right now. Everybody seems to be jelling and meshing with each other. He would definitely be a bigger asset to another team. He could come back and be a solid rotation player, assuming they don’t change the way they’re doing things right now. However, I don’t see that happening. I think his days as a member of the Miami Heat are numbered, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in a new uniform before the trade deadline. It would be best for both parties to move in a new direction.