The Dolphins took on the Seattle Seahawks at home on Sunday to start the NFL 2000 regular season. By the time the game was over, the Dolphins had shut out the Seahawks 23-0, in a game where the Dolphins' smothering defense and conservative offense dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.
The game began at 4:15 EDT in Miami on a hot, clear Florida afternoon. The temperature on the field at gametime was nearly 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Inactive for the game were Autry Denson, JJ Johnson, Earnest Grant, Arturo Freeman, and Terrence Shaw. At least two other players were inactive for the game, although I haven't been able to find out who they were. Mike Quinn was the reserve quarterback.
The Dolphins took the opening kickoff and drove down the field on their first possession to the Seahawk 4 yard line, where Lamar Smith ran behind Mark Dixon and Tim Ruddy (and over Cortez Kennedy) into the endzone for a touchdown. Most of this drive was based on the running of Lamar Smith, who ran over, around and through the Seattle defense.
On the Seahawks' first possession, they converted one third down before John Kitna launched a deep pass to Shawn Dawkins, but the pass went outside while Dawkins was running inside and Sam Madison picked it off over his shoulder.
The Dolphins took this turnover and drove down the field, but stalled at the Seattle 30 and kicked a field goal for a 10-0 lead.
For each of the next three Seattle series, the pattern would be the same. Seattle would run a couple of plays and then turn the ball over, twice on interceptions to Sam Madison and Patrick Surtain and once on a fumble when John Kitna mishandled the snap. The Dolphins took these turnovers and converted two of them into field goals, boosting their lead to 16-0.
Finally, with 6:21 remaining in the first half, Seattle got one good play out of Ricky Watters, who burst through the line on a draw and ran 36 yards to the Miami 34. Miami stuffed the Seahawks there, however, and Seattle's 52 yard field goal attempt sailed wide left.
In response to Watters' run, Jay Fiedler led the offense on a drive down to the Seattle 16. On this drive, Fiedler went 4 for 4, and after being helped out by a 15 yard run by Lamar Smith, Fiedler finished off the drive with a perfect pass to Oronde Gadsden on a slant into the endzone for a touchdown.
The touchdown boosted Miami to a 23-0 lead and was the final scoring of the game by either team.
There is very little in the second half to discuss, because Miami made a conscious decision to run a more conservative offense to avoid mistakes and that limited Miami's offense and scoring opportunities.
The Seahawks, for their part, just couldn't get anything going and even though they benched John Kitna in the third quarter, his replacement Brock Huard was almost as ineffectual as Kitna.
Of the 15 total offensive series run in the 2nd half, 11 of them were 3 downs and punt and one was 2 plays long. The longest series of the second half was an 8 play drive by the Dolphins that netted 31 yards.
There were several plays of note in the second half, however. Early in the third quarter, Miami had a 1st and 10 at the Seattle 37. Lamar Smith, took the ball, scooted around right end as Todd Wade sealed off the line. With nobody near him, Smith barrelled towards the endzone. However, Seattle safety Reggie Tongue caught up with Smith at the Seattle one yard line and knocked the ball out of Smith's hands from behind. The ball sailed through the endzone, where it was ruled a touchback and Seattle was awarded the ball at their own 20.
The NFL rule is apparently that a fumble out of the opponents' endzone is a touchback in their favor. If the ball had gone out of bounds at the one yard line, Miami would have retained possession, but because it went out in the endzone, Seattle was awarded the ball.
The other significant play of the half was at the end of the third quarter. Jay Fiedler was in the shotgun on 3 and 4 at the Miami 40. Michael Sinclair of the Seahawks jumped offsides and Ruddy snapped the ball, catching him offsides. Fiedler took the free play and attempted a pass to his left, where it was intercepted and run back for an apparent touchdown by the Seahawks' Jay Bellamy.
However, because Seattle was offsides, the play didn't count. I point out this play because there is a little controversy whether it was a mistake by Fiedler or just a risk that he took with a free play that didn't pay off.
In my opinion, it was mostly just a risk that he deliberately took that didn't pay off. From the shotgun, Fiedler saw Sinclair jump and knew he had an opportunity. While I'm sure that Fiedler would rather not have thrown the interception, I don't think that it was a terrible mistake on his part that he was lucky to get away with. I think that it was a calculated risk from a quarterback who knew he had a free play.
Overall, the game was practically a teaching example of the kind of game that Dave Wannestedt has said he wants the Dolphins to play this year. The defense and special teams dominated and the offense was steady and relatively mistake free.
While the team could have improved in one or two areas and did let some scoring opportunities pass them by, they executed their game plan about as good as could be expected in the opening game.
The Dolphins ran the ball very effectively with Lamar Smith getting the lion's share of the carries. By the end of the day, Miami had accumulated 181 rushing yards at an average pace of 4.4 yards per carry. The last time Miami had more rushing yards was against the Panthers in 1998.
The passing game was not as impressive, but it was effective enough in the early going to help the team move down the field. The second touchdown Miami scored was on a drive where Fiedler completed 4 of 4, including his bullet to Oronde Gadsden for the touchdown.
The running and passing game worked because the offensive line dominated the line of scrimmage, opened holes for Lamar Smith and did a good job protecting Jay Fiedler from a pass rush that included Michael Sinclair and Cortez Kennedy.
The defensive line also dominated and while they didn't get as many sacks as they did last year against the Seahawks, they did give Kitna (and later, Brock Huard) constant pressure. Against the run, the defensive line did their job very well, stuffing the holes, blowing up the blocking schemes and disrupting the Seattle offense.
However, I believe the most impressive part of the Dolphin defense was the pass coverage. Jim Bates' combined zone and man-to-man schemes paid off hugely by confusing and confounding John Kitna. It at least 2 cases, Dolphins' cornerbacks pealed off from apparent man-to-man coverage to a zone coverage that resulted in interceptions.
Overall, the Dolphins held the Seahawks to 143 yards of total offense - 72 passing yards and 71 rushing yards.
Special teams did a good job, also, containing Charlie Rogers well on all but one punt return and on that one play, they forced a fumble at the end of the run that was recovered by rookie Trent Gamble.
On the other side, neither Ben Kelly nor Leslie Shepherd had any big returns, but Kelly showed some excellent eyes and hands when he darted forward to grab a punt that looked like it was going to bounce in front of him.
Olindo Mare' was a perfect 3 for 3 in field goals, erasing his disappointing performance against the Packers two weeks ago.
All in all, most of what Miami did on Sunday might be considered "Good Stuff".
Despite the domination they had, there were some areas where Miami could improve.
First of all, there were 4 dropped passes, one of which hit Tony Martin in the chest deep in Seattle territory. While passes will be dropped from time to time, Jay Fiedler's passes are not particularly tough to catch and receivers are supposed to make those catches.
Second, there were a few costly mental mistakes, including two false starts by offensive linemen that cost Miami opportunities for touchdowns deep in Seattle territory. Both Todd Wade and Mark Dixon jumped offsides on 4th and 1 plays that would have sustained drives by Miami close to the Seattle goal line.
And last, there was Lamar Smith's fumble at the Seattle one. Without wanting to take anything away from Smith's fine performance, he needs to protect the ball, especially near the goal line.
Jay Fiedler made his NFL debut as a starting quarterback and showed that Dave Wannestedt's faith in him had not been misplaced. While not flashy and certainly not airing the ball out repeatedly, Fiedler played turnover-free, mistake free football.
He completed 15 of 24 for 134 yards with 1 touchdown, no interceptions, and 4 dropped passes. His quarterback rating was 91.3, which is not stellar, but is above average in the NFL. His passes were crisp and on target. He showed poise and confidence in the pocket and he knew when to throw the ball away or take a sack to avoid the big mistake.
Some time in the future, Fiedler will be asked to do a lot more than he was asked to do on Sunday and when that happens, we may see something different. But for the gameplan that the Dolphins had against Seattle, Fiedler was the right man for the job.
Lamar Smith also made his debut as Miami's starter and his day was spectacular. He ran 27 times for 145 yards, breaking tackles and finding holes on his way to a 5.4 yards per carry average. He had a single touchdown, but if not for his fumble, he would have had 2 scores. He also caught a pass for 12 yards, making his total contribution to Miami's offense 157 yards, which was just about half the total output.
In front of Smith, Rob Konrad did a good job blocking and was very helpful opening holes for Smith. Also, late in the game, Konrad carried the ball behind Deon Dyer and did some pretty decent power running to help run out the clock. He also caught several short passes, but didn't make any big plays.
Thurman Thomas ran the ball 3 times for 9 yards and caught 3 passes for 22 yards. His best play was on a shovel pass from Huard on 3rd and 12 that Thurman turned into a 15 yard gain for a first down. This was on the first Dolphins' scoring drive that set the tone for the rest of the game.
Deon Dyer did play as a blocking fullback in front of Rob Konrad at the end of the game and did a good job, but didn't touch the ball and didn't make the highlight reel.
Leslie Shepherd led all receivers with 3 catches for 30 yards, including one nice 20 yard grab.
Oronde Gadsden caught 2 for 21 yards, including the 16 yard touchdown pass at the end of the first half.
Tony Martin had a disappointing outing, catching only 2 passes for 19 yards while dropping 2 other passes, both of which hit him in the chest.
Bert Emmanuel caught 1 pass for 16 yards, but was stuffed for a loss on his one try at a reverse. He did line up at quarterback and apparently got the first down, but the referees said that because he wasn't designated on the roster as a quarterback, he couldn't be used as one and penalized the Dolphins for an illegal formation.
Hunter Goodwin spent most of the game crushing Seattle linebackers and defensive linemen with some excellent blocking, but he also caught a pass for 8 yards.
On the offensive line, Todd Wade did an excellent job against Michael Sinclair, holding him without a sack and providing some good running room for Lamar Smith to the right side. He did make one rookie mistake, jumping early on a 4th and 1 play deep in Seattle territory that ended the offense's chance to score a touchdown on that drive.
The rest of the offensive line had a fine day, opening holes for Lamar Smith and keeping the Seattle defense off of Jay Fiedler. Fiedler was sacked twice and forced out of the pocket at least two other times, but in every case, he was holding on to the ball quite a while before things broke down.
On defense, Zach Thomas led the charge (who else?) with 10 total tackles, although only 3 were solo tackles. Being the team player he is, he also shared a sack with Trace Armstrong.
Speaking of Trace Armstrong, he had another fine performance against Seattle, racking up 2.5 sacks and generally harassing the opposing quarterbacks on nearly every passing down.
Jason Taylor ended the day with half a sack, two assisted tackles and a fumble recovery. While he didn't get a lot of sacks, he was responsible for consistent pressure against the Seattle quarterbacks.
Daryl Gardener shared a sack with Jason Taylor, had 4 total tackles and was an immovable object in the middle of the line. While he didn't have any one play that stood out, both he and Tim Bowens played a lot more than they did under the old system, when JJ would rotate them out on passing downs. Combined with Bowens, Gardener did an excellent job of putting pressure up the middle on Kitna and Huard.
Tim Bowens was awarded a special game ball by Dave Wannestedt. The stats on Bowens are a little confused - none of the "official" stats give him more than 1 tackle, but Coach Wannestedt said he had 5. Regardless of how many tackles he had, under the new system of Jim Bates, Bowens was in on a lot more passing downs than he was under JJ and it paid off with consistent pressure right up the middle into Kitna's face. Bowens was one of the reasons the Dolphins held the Seahawks to just 72 yards passing.
Kenny Mixon played as the strongside defensive end, switching sides to play in front of the Seahawks' tight end. He, too, had a good game, refusing to be blocked out of plays and forcing running backs far outside.
Rich Owens and Jermaine Haley both saw playing time on the defensive line and while neither player made any big plays, both were steady and consistent.
Robert Jones only had 1 tackle, but did a good job keeping his position and forcing Seattle running backs out of bounds or back into the rest of the defense.
Derrick Rodgers had 4 tackles on defense and one terrific tackle on special teams, proving that he has picked up his game since last year and deserved to retain his starting job.
Sam Madison had two interceptions in this game and knocked down a third pass. He read Kitna very well, especially on the second pick and was a big part of the reason that Kitna was embarrassed so badly.
On the other side, Patrick Surtain also had an interception on a well-played zone coverage where he fooled Kitna into thinking he was going deep.
Neither Surtain nor Madison were beaten deep and between them and the rest of the Miami defensive backs, Seattle only completed 1 pass of 9 yards to any of their starting wide receivers. Shawn Dawkins finished the game without a catch.
Jerry Wilson actually led the team in solo tackles with 4, while playing as the number 1 nickel back.
Brock Marion had an interception on a ball that was thrown up for grabs at the end of the first half and knocked down one other pass.
Brian Walker got some revenge on his old teammates by having a good game, collecting 4 tackles and knocking one Seahawk's helmet off.
On special teams, Scott Galyon was the demon of the hour, making 3 solo special teams tackles.
His teammate, Twan Russell, had a special teams tackle and is credited with the hit that forced Charlie Rogers to fumble on his one long return of the game.
Rookie Trent Gamble also had a good game on special teams, recovering Roger's fumble and getting a tackle of his own on special teams.
Olindo Mare' was perfect on field goals, scoring 3 out of 3, from 48, 25 and 30 yards. His kickoffs were good, but he didn't get any touchbacks.
Matt Turk did a good job punting the football, averaging 40.4 yards per punt and putting several inside the 20 yard line of Seattle.
Ben Kelly sprained his knee on a punt return, but an MRI done on Monday showed no tears. He will probably have to sit for a week or two. Also, Greg Jeffries strained a hamstring, but could play against the Vikings this weekend.
This game went about as well as I could have expected for the opener. While not a complete blowout, this game was only in doubt for about the first two offensive series. After that, it was clear that the Dolphins were physically dominating both sides of the line of scrimmage and that would be enough to let them beat the Seahawks.
To be realistic for a moment, it's pretty clear that John Kitna has not recovered from his end of the year slump from last season. Kitna spent the entire game on Sunday looking like a deer caught in Miami's defensive headlights.
His interceptions were the result of him getting confused by Miami's defensive schemes, combined with pressure on him both up the middle and from the outside. He was expecting to see last year's man-to-man coverage by the Dolphins and when they changed to zone, he didn't know what to do.
As a result, Kitna threw 4 interceptions in the first half and by the start of the third quarter, he was so messed up that he couldn't hit a back out of the backfield with a 5 yard dump pass. Unless he makes a major recovery shortly, he's going to be benched for the year and his NFL career will take a dramatic nosedive.
And Seattle is in for a very long, very dismal season.
Still, Kitna doesn't get all the credit for Miami's victory. The Dolphins' offense played surprisingly well against a defense that contains players like Michael Sinclair, Cortez Kennedy, Chad Brown, George Koonce and Shawn Springs. This defense led the NFL in interceptions last year with 30, but Miami's offense had 2 long touchdown drives against them (70 and 58 yards) in the first half and ran the ball for 181 yards against them.
While it's way too early to worry about anything more than next week's game, several things are clear. First of all, Miami does have an offense, rejuvenated mostly by Chan Gailey. Sure, the addition of Lamar Smith looks good, as does the acquisition of Thurmon Thomas and Jay Fiedler.
But the foundation of the offense - the offensive line - is substantially unchanged from last year, with the exception of Todd Wade. And while he looks like the real deal so far, he is still a rookie and will make some rookie mistakes.
So most of the credit for yesterday's offense must go to Chan Gailey. His schemes and planning have helped improve the offensive line by using their talents appropriately and capitalizing on their strengths, instead of just trying to muscle the ball down the opponents throats.
The second thing that seems clear to me is that the defense, under Jim Bates, has tweaked things in just the right way to improve an already outstanding unit. It may be too soon to tell, but it looks like Bates' schemes are more innovative and imaginative than George Hills' were.
Well, who are we kidding? Miami's defensive schemes last year were JJ's.
And one of the things that Bates has done is to leave his best players in the lineup for more plays. This is particularly true of Tim Bowens and Daryl Gardener, who would be pulled out of the lineup on passsing downs last year.
This year, Bowen and Gardener are staying in for more plays, giving them more opportunities to make an impact.
Also, the switch of Jason Taylor to the weakside of the formation, instead of always having him play on the right, will pay dividends this year. It will allow him to use his speed better and keep him from having to fight both the tackle and the tight end on that side. That should make for a fresher Jason Taylor down the stretch.
And the last thing that is clear from yesterday's game is that Jay Fiedler can be an effective starter for Miami this year. Whether he can be a genuine leader in tough situations remains to be seen, but he can be effective as a starter.
This coming Sunday, Fiedler may be asked to take that next step as Miami faces the high powered Vikings in Minnesota. But just like Miami, the Vikings are playing a relatively inexperienced quarterback. The play of both quarterbacks will be key to success in this game.
It will take a total team effort to beat the Vikings on Sunday, but the Vikings are beatable and the coming game will give us a better indication of where the Dolphins stand in relation to the rest of the league.
As for the final word on this game - well, let me just say that it played out better than I expected and almost as good as I had hoped.
... And I have high standards.