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Posted by ESPN.com’s Tim Graham



The New England Patriots‘ chances of victory over the Miami Dolphins have improved even more.

Ferguson

Crowder

The Dolphins have downgraded underrated nose tackle Jason Ferguson and inside linebacker Channing Crowder from doubtful to out for Sunday’s game Gillette Stadium.



A battered, inexperienced defense generally isn’t the blueprint to beat Tom Brady.



A significant amount of experience has vanished from Miami’s defense the past two weeks. Top cornerback Will Allen went down with a season-ending knee injury in Week 7, forcing the Dolphins to start two rookie cornerbacks (Sean Smith and Vontae Davis).



In last week’s victory over the New York Jets, the Dolphins took it a step further and gave safety Chris Clemons his first NFL start in place of Gibril Wilson. That gave the Dolphins a secondary comprised of three-quarters rookies.



Miami will miss Ferguson the most. He’s not a star nose tackle like Kris Jenkins for the Jets or Vince Wilfork for the Patriots, but he’s in their mold. Ferguson anchors the Dolphins’ 3-4 defense and is a solid run-stopper who can occupy multiple blockers.



Backup defensive tackle Paul Soliai, who was in coach Tony Sparano’s doghouse over weight issues and a general lack of commitment last year, is coming off the best game of his career. Soliai was credited with six tackles, a pass deflection and the forced fumble Jason Taylor returned for a touchdown against the Jets.



Soliai will need to be a force again to compensate for Ferguson.



Crowder will miss his second straight game with a shoulder injury. Reggie Torbor should start again.



Crowder’s absence doesn’t mean as much to the Dolphins as the casual fan might think. His mouth has made him more relevant than his play this season. He’s a decent tackler but has zero sacks, zero passes defensed and zero forced fumbles.



Plus, the dropoff to Torbor isn’t that considerable. The season the New York Giants won the Super Bowl, Torbor started their final five regular-season games and all four in the postseason, including that gargantuan upset to deny the Patriots a perfect season.



The Patriots, however, have their share of injuries. They’ve already ruled out left tackle Matt Light, running backs Sammy Morris and Fred Taylor, receiver Julian Edelman and defensive end Jarvis Green.

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	Josh McDaniels and Mike Tomlin, two of the youngest head coaches in the league, face off on Monday night in Denver.

Posted by ESPN.com’s Bill Williamson



When Josh McDaniels and Mike Tomlin face each other Monday night for the first time as head coaches, the football world will watch two of the game’s brightest young coaches at work.



Observers will also see two men who took strikingly similar paths.



McDaniels and Tomlin are bright, engaging men who worked their way up from being small-school athletes to Super Bowl-winning, coveted assistant coaches. Both took over for Super Bowl-winning legends in cities steeped in football tradition.



“These are two similar guys,” said retired safety John Lynch, who played under both McDaniels and Tomlin during his career. “Both Mike and Josh are highly intelligent, strong-minded football men. They really are similar.”



As we prepare for a pivotal AFC matchup in Denver, let’s look at the career paths taken by these 30-somethings who look as if they will be roaming the sidelines for a long time:



Age



McDaniels: 33 (33 when hired).



Tomlin: 37 (34 when hired).



The playing field



McDaniels: The son of a legendary high school coach in Canton, Ohio. He went to John Carroll, where he was a receiver.



Tomlin: Grew up in Newport News, Va. Tomlin was a standout receiver/tight end at William & Mary.



Reputation



McDaniels: A great quarterback coach who uses an energetic, friendly personality. But he’s not afraid to hurt feelings for the greater good of the team, and can be stern when needed. He’s a detail-oriented coach who has a firm grasp of the X’s and O’s part of the game.



Tomlin: A high-energy, never-say-die defensive-minded coach whose brain is like a sponge. He craves football knowledge. He is not afraid to challenge stars to be better.



The other side of the ball



Last week, I spoke with Gary Horton of Scouts Inc., who said he was impressed by McDaniels’ ability as a defensive coach. McDaniels has a strong knowledge of defenses, Horton said, enabling him to prepare his offensive players for what to expect. McDaniels has experience coaching on defense and Tomlin has some history coaching on offense.



McDaniels: He was a defensive assistant in New England for 2002-03. He worked with the defensive backs in 2003.



Tomlin: In 1995, he was the receivers coach at VMI and in 1997, he coached the receivers at Arkansas State.



Highlights as an assistant



McDaniels: He was with the Patriots during all three of their Super Bowl-winning seasons. He was the offensive coordinator when the team went 16-0 in the regular season and set an NFL record for scoring.



Tomlin: Tomlin was Tampa Bay’s defensive backs coach when it won the Super Bowl in the 2002 season. In 2006, he turned around Minnesota’s defense in his one season as a coordinator.



Highlights as a head coach



McDaniels: The Broncos won their first six games this season despite being expected to be a bottom-feeder in McDaniels’ first season. Denver is 6-1 and McDaniels is a favorite for the NFL Coach of the Year award.



Tomlin: Taking over for Bill Cowher, Tomlin cemented his own name in Pittsburgh’s history by winning the Super Bowl last year in just his second season as a head coach.

(Read full post)

Mike Florio weighs in on the biggest storylines of Week 9, which includes some details on the high-stakes matchups between the Eagles-Cowboys, Ravens-Bengals and Bears-Cardinals.

Mike Florio weighs in on the biggest storylines of Week 9, which includes some details on the high-stakes matchups between the Eagles-Cowboys, Ravens-Bengals and Bears-Cardinals.

The Fox NFL pregame show will be broadcast from a military installation in Afghanistan on Sunday. The six-man announcing team traveled to an undisclosed location in the country this week to honor servicemen and women three days before Veterans Day. The two-hour special begins at 11 a.m. EST.