Game Prediction: Miami 24, SD 10

Update: I am leaving Brian Griese as the starter but there still exists a chance that Jay Fiedler would play. The Dolphins are being intentionally vague about the QB situation but against the Chargers I would expect that either QB would end up with similar numbers. The actual decision may not be made until game time.

It is now official. The schedule makers for the Monday Night Football games needs to be tested for drugs. MNF is intent on either giving cardiac-arrest inducing games that keep the country up until all hours of the night or they want everyone to check their local listings to see what else is on after 8 PM.

Here we have the best rushing defense showcased on Monday night against a team that has nothing beyond a running back. The Dolphins are still steamed over losing, again, at home while the Chargers are still giggling like a band of girl scouts at a sleepover after they experienced an actual win last week in spite of only passing for 74 yards in the game.

The country will be on time for work on Tuesday morning.

Miami Notes

The Dolphins fall to 4-2 after their loss to the Patriots and are now one game back in the AFC East.

Quarterbacks: Jay Fiedler suffered a sprained medial collateral ligament in the New England game and may not be available this week. He had an MRI on Monday but the results will not be released until Wednesday. If he cannot go, then Brian Griese will receive his first start as a Dolphin and have the chance to throw for the 25, 093rd passing yard by a Griese.

At this point I am assuming that Griese will start.

Running Backs: Ricky Williams ended with 97 yards rushing against the Patriots, but it marked the third consecutive game that he failed to hit the 100 yard mark. What he needs is a soft rushing defense to face like, oh, say the Chargers.

Wide Receivers: The biggest news here was that Derrius Thompson had three catches for 65 yards last week which was about the same as his last three games combined. Chris Chambers only had 30 yards on his three receptions but scored once.

Tight Ends: Randy McMichael comes off his best game of the season with an eight catch, 102 yard effort against the Patriots. If Brian Griese does play, he is equally comfortable throwing to tight ends.

Match against the defense: The only question here is how many carries will Ricky Williams be given? The Chargers have arguably the worst rushing defense in the league and Ricky is in need of a big game. With either a hobbled Fiedler or a still green Griese at the helm, there is no need to pass any more than necessary. With the Chargers giving up monster games to Portis, Lewis and Holmes, look for Williams to get back into the century club this week.

The San Diego pass defense is nothing special either, but Miami is unlikely to need to throw much nor want to push their luck if they do not need to do so in order to win.

San Diego Notes

The Chargers 'whew' shoot up the rankings to 1-5 on the season with the Tomlinson show last week.

Quarterbacks: Drew Brees went from having a 296 yard, three touchdown effort against the Jaguars to only managing a 9 of 18 for 74 yard game against the Browns. The funny thing - he lost the first game and won the second one.

Running Backs: LaDainian Tomlinson has had some big games and some stinkers this season, but never had he literally taken the entire team on his back and won a game single-handedly. He rushed for 200 yards and a score while adding 21 yards receiving which is pretty huge when there was only 74 passing yards in the first place.

The Chargers have probably lost their center Jason Ball this week with a sprained ankle.

Wide Receivers: Yeah - 74 yards. Big game last week. David Boston went from 181 yards and two scores against the Jaguars to only one catch for ten yards last week. The funny thing - he lost the first game and won the second one.

Tight Ends: Josh Norman blocked pretty well. Will need to repeat this week.

Match against the defense: The Dolphin defense is currently the #1 defense against the run. This does not bode well for the Chargers. This is more like "Yo Bob, you want my tickets this week? Okay, what if I give them to you?".

The Dolphins have been giving away big passing yardage on the road like Kerry Collins (276) and Byron Leftwich (256) but neither of them scored through the air. This game should be decent outing by both Drew Brees and even David Boston because that is the only way they are going to be moving the ball. Junior Seau has a slight hamstring problem but will be looking forward to this game back in San Diego.

* Fantasy point rankings calculated using standard Huddle fantasy points