*** DOLPHINS NEWS ***

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Nov 15, 1995: -- Atkins Benched; Gray Out for Year --

According to a variety of media sources, Dolphins safety Gene Atkins will probably be benched for at least the next game against San Francisco in favor of Louis Oliver. This comes after Atkins got into a heated exchange with Shula and Olivadotti on the sidelines during the Patriots game.

The Dolphins, at the time of Briby's touchdown, were playing a 3 deep zone defense, which means that the weak safety (Gene Atkins) is supposed to stay deep and not allow anyone to get behind him. However, Atkins came up to help with the short coverage, allowing Brisby to beat JB Brown for the touchdown.

According to one report, this marks the third time in 5 games that Atkins has blown coverage, allowing an opponents' touchdown. According to another report, Atkins stalked out of a team meeting on Monday after getting into another shouting match with Tom Olivadotti over coverage responsibilities.

In other news, Chris Gray will have surgery on his ankle on Friday, which he sprained in the Patriots' game. This will probably mean that he will be lost for the rest of the season. Bert Weidner will start in his place while he recuperates.

Also, reserve tackle and long-snapper Ethan Albright will be out for the rest of the year with a torn knee ligament in his left knee.

My Comments:

This answers the question of who blew their coverage responsibilities against both the Chargers and the Patriots on the deep touchdowns. It was Gene Atkins.

Atkins has been a source of trouble all year and probably deserves to be benched to see if he can get control of himself. He is very talented, but has lost control of himself.

The loss of Gray will probably not hurt the passing game, as Weidner is more than capable of holding his own as a pass blocker. But Gray, under the tutelage of offensive line coach Monte Clark, was coming into his own as a run blocker and Weidner can't fill that role.

I believe that Weidner will also take Albright's place as the long snapper, but I'm not sure about that.