The Other Guys Who Balled On Sunday

Without a doubt Ted Ginn is the talk of the town. Well, at least on Miami Dolphins blogs and in the South Florida papers.

ESPN and the NFL can't really be too bothered to make a big deal of Ted Ginn's double waltz into the record book. Oh well, they won't notice us until we upset the Patriots this weekend. It's the way it works.

There is a trio of other players however, that Dolphins fans need to tip their hats to. Not JT. Our hats should always be tipped for that guy. I'm talking about two big men and a guy who'd been in the doghouse next to Ginn's.


Gibril Wilson

A pair of bonecrushing hits on Mark Sanchez, one for a sack. Seven tackles and a pass defense. But more than anything, we watched Wilson fly around the field and make tackles, plays and in general play like the guy we all hoped we got this off-season.

So hat tip to you, Gibril Wilson.


Randy Starks

That sack at the end actually left Mark Sanchez as Starks' forgotten baby mama. Randy racked up seven tackles and is really holding together a very substantial front three. The rotation of Starks, Ferguson, Langford, Merling, McDaniels and Soliai is truly turning out to be one of the better groups playing.

Starks is already having a career year with 3.5 sacks and 26 tackles. His play has been nothing less than dominant and without that 4th quarter sack we all might be holding our heads pretty low.


Paul Soliai

This is exciting stuff. A 3-4 is defined by the play of the nose tackle. No player is as important in the defense. Any success the Phins have had with stopping the run in the Sparano era has come because of the play of the nose. Jason Ferguson is one of the best in the business. He is getting old however, and many feared the Phins failed to address this position in the off season.

Soliai has been "popping" a lot as Coach S. likes to say. He's been in on some pressures and making some big tackles. He even has a pass defense on the season. All this in limited action. Then on Sunday he got to play more snaps than he has since late in 2007, the year he was drafted.

Five tackles, one assist and a humdinger of a forced fumble, which Jason Taylor picked up for a six point ramble. JT's 9th TD, incidentally.

After watching Soliai on Sunday I am confident that he can keep improving and shake the "undisciplined" knock he got last year. With Paul Fuapapa Soliai stepping up the Phins have a solid anchor in the middle.

Hat tips all around, fellas. Keep it up.

BTW: Fuapapa? Best middle name ever.