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Our Football insiders for NFL Picks report that the Miami Dolphins are truly a team on the up rise and one of the NFL teams to watch for the 2010 NFL season. The Miami Dolphins ran an unconventional wildcat offense last year that no one in the league could solve as they had one of the NFL's best rushing attacks ranked 4th in 2009. With a solid rushing attack, the Dolphins will look to Chad Henne who was named the starter by default when Chad Pennington was injured to be their quarterback of the future.

Chad Henne went 7-7 as a starter while throwing 12 touchdowns and 14 interceptions in his 1st year as a starter for the Dolphins who were ranked 20th in passing. The Dolphins made one of the biggest impact moves on offense this off season by getting receiver Brandon Marshall from the Denver Broncos who comes to Miami catching at least 100 passes per season the last three years while scoring 23 touchdowns during that span. Marshall makes Miami's offense a threat on every down with the combination of Ricky Williams who rushed for 1,121 yards and Ronnie Brown who is coming back from a foot injury in the 2009 season.

The Dolphin defense struggled last year against the pass and the rush ranked 22nd in total yards. Their pass defense was a disaster ranked 29th in the league which caused the firing of defensive coordinator Paul Pasqualoni and in with their new coordinator Mike Nolan. The Dolphins made an overall of changes on this side of the ball getting rid of cornerback Will Allen and safety Gibril Wilson as they will rely on second year cornerbacks Vontae Davis and Sean Smith to take over a secondary that allowed a total of 57 completions of 20 yards or more. Miami was ranked 18th against the run and may suffer early in the season without nose tackle Jason Ferguson who was suspended for the first eight games although new outside linebacker Karlos Dansby should close some holes for their rush defense.

The Dolphins have high expectations for Henne who showed signs of being a top flight NFL quarterback and if he can capitalize on his experience, this offense has the weapons to control the ball and score a lot of points. The question will still be with this soft Miami defense but with the changes made and new offensive coordinator Mike Nolan, they should improve immensely. The Dolphins will be in a three headed race in the tough AFC East Conference with the Patriots and Jets. Our Football experts for NFL picks predict that after surviving a 7-9 season playing a first year starter who was thrown into the fire, there is no reason the Dolphins shouldn't make the playoffs in 2010 if the stay healthy.

Go to http://www.jrtips.com/ to get all your winning NFL Picks and Football Betting Picks for the 2010 season.

With all due respect to the players the New England Patriots, New York Jets and Buffalo Bills have added this offseason - OK, I probably shouldn't include the Bills - there was no bigger potential impact move in this division than the Dolphins trading for Broncos wide receiver Brandon Marshall.

Behind Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams, the Dolphins were fourth in the NFL in rushing last season on their way to a 7-9 record one season after winning the AFC East. But they were 20th in yards per game passing under Chad Henne, and the Dolphins had just 15 touchdown passes (27th in the NFL) and 29 completions of more than 20 yards, which was better than only the inept Cleveland Browns.

Miami had 331 completions last year, and Marshall had nearly a third of that by himself with the Broncos after another All-Pro season with 101 catches (record 21 in a game) for 1,120 yards and 10 TDs despite missing the season finale due to a team-issued suspension. Marshall did have offseason hip surgery but should be fine by the opener. The Fins haven't had a 1,000-yard receiver since 2005.

And look for Williams and Brown - the latter who is reportedly near 100 percent after last season was cut short by an injury - to have big seasons because both are in the final years of their contracts.

The Dolphins did lose Jason Ferguson, Joey Porter and Jason Taylor, among others, off their defense from last year, but added the top free agent linebacker on the market in Arizona's Karlos Dansby. Perhaps the biggest addition was coordinator Mike Nolan from Denver, as this team will now be much more aggressive on defense. Cornerbacks Vontae Davis and Sean Smith both started games as rookies and should be much improved as sophomores. The Miami defense ranked just 26th in the NFL last season, giving up 24.4 points per game.

WagerWeb lists Miami's over/under for NFL season win totals at 8.5. Let's break down the 2010 Miami Dolphins schedule:

Week 1: Sunday, Sep. 12, at Buffalo, 1:00 PM
Week 2: Sunday, Sep. 19, at Minnesota, 1:00 PM
Week 3: Sunday, Sep. 26, NY Jets, 8:20 PM
Week 4: Monday, Oct. 4, New England, 8:30 PM
Week 5: BYE
Week 6: Sunday, Oct. 17, at Green Bay, 1:00 PM
Week 7: Sunday, Oct. 24, Pittsburgh, 1:00 PM
Week 8: Sunday, Oct. 31, at Cincinnati, 1:00 PM
Week 9: Sunday, Nov. 7, at Baltimore, 1:00 PM
Week 10: Sunday, Nov. 14, Tennessee, 1:00 PM
Week 11: Thursday, Nov. 18, Chicago, 8:20 PM
Week 12: Sunday, Nov. 28, at Oakland, 4:05 PM
Week 13: Sunday, Dec. 5, Cleveland, 1:00 PM
Week 14: Sunday, Dec. 12, at NY Jets, 4:15 PM
Week 15: Sunday, Dec. 19, Buffalo, 1:00 PM
Week 16: Sunday, Dec. 26, Detroit, 1:00 PM
Week 17: Sunday, Jan. 2, at New England, 1:00 PM

The NFL betting lines are ranked right in the middle of the 32 teams in strength at a tie for 16th with an opponents' 2009 winning percentage of.500 (128-128). There are eight games against playoff teams from last year. Miami plays eight road games and six will be against 2009 playoff teams.

Miami needs to learn to start fast. Last year the Dolphins were 0-3 out of the gate. In 2008, they were 0-2 to start. And in 2007 the Fins were 0-13. Miami has to win at Buffalo to open the season because then the schedule gets downright scary for a while. However, the Bills thumped Miami at Ralph Wilson Stadium last year. Actually the 31-14 score was misleading as Buffalo scored 24 unanswered points, all in the fourth quarter.

Weeks 2 through 9 will likely determine Miami's season. They have the Vikings (NFC title game last year), Jets (AFC title game last year), Patriots (AFC East champs last year), Packers (NFC North favorites this year; playoff team last year), Steelers (likely playoff team this year and which beat the Fins in Week 17 last year), Bengals (reigning AFC North champs), Ravens (playoff team last year, AFC North favorites this year). If there's a tougher stretch for any team in the league, I don't know one that could compare. And I'm not even including two very possible playoff teams in Weeks 10 and 11 in the Titans (beat Miami last year) and Bears. That's a lot of teams at the top of the NFL Power Rankings.

So that's the bad news. Here's the good: In Weeks 12 through 16, the Dolphins play teams that were a combined 27-53 last year with only the Jets having a winning record. And Miami beat the Jets twice in 2009. Hard to see the Fins winning in the elements in New England to close the year out, however. This will be the ninth time in 11 seasons the Dolphins end on the road. It's not a good thing that Miami's final two games against the other AFC East contenders, the Jets and Pats, both likely will be in very cold weather.

I think that rough midseason stretch kills this team's playoff hopes and the Fins go 8-8. Miami is +300 to win the AFC East, but it simply isn't better than the Pats or Jets.

Doc Moseman is one of the pioneers of college football and the NFL Handicapping industry. Check out his Web site for up-to-the-minute NFL Odds and his famous winning college football and NFL picks.