Kevin Coyle turning his focus to Stafford, Johnson and Bush

Written by Matthew Cannata at 6:30 PM | Twitter: @PhinManiacs

Sunday is going to be a day where the Miami Dolphins will have to pick their poison when deciding what to do when squaring off against the Detroit Lions offense. However, Kevin Coyle gave some hints as to who he is zeroing in on during preparation this week and that begins with Reggie Bush.

“I think he’s an outstanding person and a terrific athlete. You just know how dangerous he is after being with him day after day after day. We talked about it today, a lot of the players on our defense have been around, they know exactly what he can bring to their team when he gets the ball in space in particular. So we’re very aware of what Reggie can do. It will be a big challenge for us. I don’t think it’s an advantage. The only advantage is they’re not going to be surprised when they get out there and have to try to stop him. They know what he’s capable of.” 

It then goes to Calvin Johnson, who is returning from an injury. No one knows how healthy he’s going to be but he’s a huge threat no matter where he is on the field and regardless of how limited he might be.

“There’s a few guys we see every year and we’ve seen some early in the season, but certainly there are very few players in the league of his size, athleticism,” Coyle said. “It’s a big challenge, but we are going to do our best. We anticipated he was going to play. It’s been a number of weeks that he’s been out. I think they’ll be healthier than they’ve been in some time. We’ll get their best shot.”

Finally, they’re going to focus on Matthew Stafford, who will be the one responsible for getting Bush, Johnson and others on the Lions offense the ball on Sunday.  

“They catch a lot of balls. When you add it all up, the running backs are one of the top receivers so to speak at the end of the day when you add all those snaps up. He’s a quality player. He’s a guy who has proven he can make big plays, that he can utilize the weapons that he has. He’s a smart player, competitive guy. This will be another challenge by a great quarterback that we are going to have to be on the top of our game to stop him.”

If the Dolphins are able to stop those three on Sunday, it will go a long way towards helping them get a victory on the road and improve their record to 6-3.

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