FanHouse Sean Smith

As if blowing a 24-3 home lead and losing to the Saints wasn't bad enough, the Dolphins have lost Will Allen for the season to an ACL injury, the Miami Herald reported Sunday night.

Allen left Miami's 46-34 loss midway through the third quarter. He limped to the locker room, then returned to the sideline with a brace on his knee.

"Obviously, to lose Will in that situation. It's a close ball game; I thought Will was playing pretty well at the time," Miami head coach Tony Sparano said.

Allen, Miami's top cornerback, has missed just one game since coming to the Dolphins prior to the 2006 season, and just nine games total during a nine-year career that included a stay with the Giants. Sunday marked Allen's 43rd consecutive start -- a streak that will come to an end next week when Miami visits the Jets, if the early indications are accurate.

Training camps have wrapped up, the NFL season is right around the corner, and it's still hot as sin outside. But instead of cooling you off with a warm island song, FanHouse break out ye old heat check for our 2009 NFL Season Previews. We'll rate each club in 5 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

In 2007, the Miami Dolphins were one overtime loss against the Baltimore Ravens away from a winless season. Needless to say, expectations couldn't have been much lower heading into 2008. A new head coach, a new quarterback and 10 additional wins later, and the Miami Dolphins were one of the most unexpected playoff teams in recent memory. Can they do it again?

Who moved to the head of the NFL class during the draft? Find out with FanHouse's team-by-team 2009 Draft Grades.

For the fourth straight year, the Miami Dolphins used a second-round pick on a quarterback, selecting West Virginia's Pat White with the 44th overall pick. White, a record-setting player in college, joined John Beck (recently released) and Chad Henne as recent selections, to go along with the trade that brought Daunte Culpepper to Miami prior to the 2006 season.

While there is still some debate as to what type of future White will have in the NFL, the Dolphins view him as a quarterback, while one scout recently told Omar Kelly of the Sun Sentinel that Miami is trying to "revolutionize pro football by bringing the spread to the NFL."

Believe it or not, there is going to be an important storyline at next week's NFL draft that won't involve Matthew Stafford, Mark Sanchez or offensive tackles.

Even through all the posturing and coach-speak, it's still fairly easy to pinpoint just a handful of locations where Stafford or Sanchez might wind up. You can also more or less figure out which team needs a burly lineman or linebacker upgrade, and guess where guys like Eugene Monroe, Brian Cushing or Ray Maualuga might end up.

But I dare you to find a team that doesn't need cornerback help. There aren't many out there, which is why that position's fluidity heading into New York is a large part of the reason draft boards are still so uncertain.

With the draft approaching, we ignore projections and identify the dream scenario for each team in a series we call The Perfect Draft.

I don't have to go out on a limb to say that 6-10 wasn't a goal for the Green Bay Packers in 2008. Yes, they lost Brett Favre to retirement/unretirement/trade. Yes, many thought the Packers would fall off from a 13-3 mark in 2007, even before Favre became a New York Jet. But last year was close to disastrous for the Packers, as a leaky defense blew numerous fourth-quarter leads, and the team slipped to third in the NFC North. Expectations are higher than that, and now there will be pressure on management, making its job even harder.

With the draft approaching, we ignore projections and identify the dream scenario for each team in a series we call The Perfect Draft.

For all the good that Mike Holmgren did in Seattle (and everywhere else he coached), it's hard to argue that the first year of the Jim Mora Era hasn't already started out better than the Holmgren Farewell Trainwreck Tour. The Seahawks traded Julian Peterson, but they signed T.J. Houshmandzadeh and managed to pick up Colin Cole. Sure, it's not that impressive, but it's still better than what happened to Holmgren and Co. last year.

Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.

Mike Holmgren has long been one of the primary identities of the Seattle Seahawks. He took them to the Super Bowl and made them a perennial winner of the NFC West. Then last year happened. As Holmgren's retirement tour rolled along, more and more injuries piled up, Seneca Wallace had to start at quarterback for a few games, and the Seahawks stumbled to a 4-12 record.

We've reached draft season, the time of year where Mike Mayock, Mel Kiper Jr. and Todd McShay become you're best friends, and it's possible to spend 10 hours a day mulling over draft scenarios.

You may have your opinion on who is the best draft expert, but there's also something to be said for the wisdom of crowds. Why look at one mock draft when you can look at 10? We compiled the results from 10 of the most respected mock drafts on the Internet to see if there is agreement on who each team will pick. We'll do this several times before the draft arrives to give you an idea of what players and what positions look to be your team's best bets.