The Dolphin played their first pre-season game of the post Dan Marino era on Saturday night, and despite some impressive individual performances, the Dolphins lost the game 13-10 on a 4th quarter field goal that never should have happened. And the reason it never should have happened is that the refs blew yet another call.
But, the truth is that the first two pre-season games are not really about winning or losing, so I'm not going to dwell on that. The first two pre-season games are really about individual performances and I've got more than enough to talk about without worrying about incompetent officials.
Instead of reviewing the game in the order in which it happened, this review of the game is divided into offensive and defensive sections, with emphasis on individual performances.
Before I do that, I want to remind you folks that when it comes to the Dolphins, I am an optimist. I try to be a realistic optimist, but I'm definitely an optimist. If I wasn't an optimist, I couldn't be a fan.
The other thing I want to remind you of is that this game was the first pre-season game. To draw any conclusions about how the team as a whole will play in September from this game is guesswork at best.
So, with that in mind, my overall impression of the game was mixed, but basically pretty good. At first, I listened to the game live over the Internet and it didn't sound very good. Not very good at all.
But in a stunning reversal of past pre-seasons, the game was broadcast on tape delay on DirecTV to us folks that don't live in Florida. So I got to see the entire game on tape. And once I got a chance to watch the game, I felt a lot better about it.
Oh, there's a lot of work to do. But all things considered, I thought that the Dolphins showed a lot of potential for this year.
We'll start with the not-so-good - the offense. Overall, the offense was very inconsistent, especially after the starting offensive line sat down. When the starting line was pulled off the field, the offense really began to sputter and stagger. There were some good individual performances throughout the game, but as a unit, the offense obviously needs a lot of work.
Nevertheless, there is reason to be optimistic.
The starting offensive line consisted of Willie Jones at left tackle, Mark Dixon at left guard, Tim Ruddy at center, John Bock at right guard and Brent Smith at right tackle. Facing the Steelers' starters, I thought they did a pretty good job, considering the fact that there were 3 new starters and they had never played together in a "real" game.
The offense moved pretty well behind the starters and on the first offensive series in particular, the team was able to move down the field.
Running behind these starters, JJ Johnson had 6 carries for 29 yards. That's nearly 5 yards per carry against a pretty tough Steeler D. The starting offensive line also gave Huard time to throw and Huard was not sacked. And this was all without Richmond Webb.
Once the backups on the offensive line came in, it was a different story. After the backups started playing, JJ Johnson had 5 carries for 0 yards and the team gave up 4 sacks, two of which resulted in fumbles.
Given last year's problems with the offensive line, this unit looks pretty good to me. John Bock impressed me with his ability to pull and get downfield. For a big man, Willie Jones moves and sets up pretty well and Brent Smith seems better suited to right tackle than left tackle.
The skill players - with the notable exception of Thurman Thomas - did not stand out. When he was running behind the starters, JJ Johnson looked ok - but not special. Once the starters left the field, he was completely ineffective.
The receivers did nothing special, either, although it's hard to know whether that was their fault or the fault of Damon Huard, who spent most of his time dumping the ball off on short passes to people like Thurman Thomas and Rob Konrad.
The starting offense did not score, but they also did not commit any turnovers and were able to move the ball, albeit somewhat inconsistently.
Of the other offensive players who played, the ones that stood out in a positive way were Autry Denson, Deon Dyer, Nate Jacquet and Jim Druckenmiller. The ones who had bad days included Keno Hills, Terrence Huston, Hunter Goodwin - in fact, all the tight ends looked bad - and Kevin Donnalley.
At this point, it might be a good idea to talk about the new offense. While the execution by the offense was spotty, for the most part, the play calling was inspired. Chan Gailey is easily the most important addition to the offense this year and if the Dolphins' offense improves, it will be because of him.
The Dolphins offense, while concentrating on running the football, really mixed up plays well. For the first time in a long time, I didn't feel as though I could predict what was coming next. Things like Druckenmiller's perfect quarterback draw and the screen passes that the Dolphins used - and succeeded with - reveal how much progress the offense has already made.
Gailey obviously has a good sense of timing and an excellent idea of how to use his players in different situations. He's definitely not as predictable as any of his recent predecessors and knows how to maximize his own unit's strengths while attacking opponent's weaknesses.
Gailey will improve the Dolphins' offense this year.
INDIVIDUAL OFFENSIVE PERFORMANCES:
Damon Huard played the entire first half at quarterback and ended the day completing 8 of 14 for 64 yards with no TDs and no INTs. While that's a quarterback rating of just 68.8, the more important stat is that his average yards per attempt was just 4.6 and that's low.
To be fair to Huard, if both Lamar Thomas and Hunter Goodwin had not dropped passes that landed in their hands, Huard would have completed 10 of 14 for about 98 yards with 1 touchdown. That would raise his quarterback rating to 114.0 and his completion percentage to over 70%. But he'd still have a modest 6.9 yards per attempt.
For his part, Druckenmiller played better than he's ever played in Miami. He completed 13 of 21 for 141 yards, with no TDs and no INTs. That's a quarterback rating of 81.6. Of course, he also had his share of drops by receivers.
But Druck was also sacked 4 times and fumbled twice. One of those fumbles was not his fault ( on a blindside sack ), but the other was his fault as he was scrambling forward, not protecting the ball. And Dave Wannestedt is just as adamant about protecting the ball as JJ was, so Druck's faults would stand out more than Huard's problems.
On a related note, Mike Quinn did not play because of Dave Wannestedt's pre-season philosophy. Next week, Quinn will play the entire second half while Druckenmiller will sit. The reason is that Coach Wannestedt wants each player to get a full half of work, rather than only one or two series per game.
The same philosophy explains why we didn't see Lamar Smith at running back on Saturday night. In this game, Autry Denson was given the majority of the work in the 2nd and 3rd quarter. Next game, Lamar Smith will get most of the work in the backup situation to give him a chance to work longer. Then the coaches will compare the way the two work.
Speaking of running backs, JJ Johnson averaged 4.8 yards per carry behind the starting offensive line. When they sat down, however, he averaged 0 yards per carry behind the backups. He looked steady but unspectacular. He still has a tendency to attack too quickly and try and bull his way through tacklers instead of waiting for holes to develop and cutting back.
Thurman Thomas had the best night of any of the Dolphins' running backs and it's obvious that Chan Gailey intends to use Thomas in a lot of screens and draws. He looked just as good as he's ever looked, and will provide the Dolphins with it's first serious screen pass threat in many years. On one screen pass on third and long, Thomas picked up 18 yards (with John Bock out in front of him).
Autry Denson had the next best performance of any of the running backs, also being very effective in screen and dump passes. He is very quick, has good vision and is a lot more powerful than he appears to be. On one play, I saw Denson (at 193 pounds) ran hard into two Steeler defenders, knocking them both back a yard.
Denson scored the only Dolphins touchdown, following Deon Dyer into the endzone in a short yardage situation. But he was also responsible for most of the gains on the touchdown drive and is a very exciting player to watch.
Brian Edwards got to carry the ball several times towards the end of the game, and while he was steady and ran hard, he didn't do anything that I saw to move himself up on the depth chart.
At fullback, Rob Konrad did a respectable job, mostly catching passes out of the backfield. His blocking was adequate, if not stellar. However, if he is to become a true threat, he needs to bash out those last yards to the first down marker. On Saturday night, he came up short a couple of times.
Deon Dyer actually caught a pass out of the backfield on Saturday, showing some good power as he ran down the field. He also hit a key block on Denson's' touchdown run, driving the linebacker into the dirt. Overall, he looked good.
Frank Leatherwood caught a short pass, but that was about it for the rest of the fullbacks.
Bert Emmanuel caught the only pass that was completed to a wide receiver by Damon Huard. He was also open on another pattern, but Huard missed him.
Tony Martin and Lamar Thomas came up empty in this game, with Lamar Thomas dropping a pass down the middle that would have set the Dolphins up for a score. While he was hit just after he caught the ball, it still appeared he should have held on to it.
Of the other wide receivers, only Nate Jacquet stood out. He made a terrific one-handed grab of a deep Druckenmiller pass to get the Dolphins out of a big hole in their own end of the field and he had 2 other catches as well. He ended the day with 3 catches for 71 yards from Druckenmiller, which was over half of Druckenmiller's yardage total.
Oronde Gadsden didn't play because of his finger and while Quinton Spotwood, Robert Baker, Corey Thomas, and Kevin McKenzie all had catches, none of them gained more than 10 yards - total.
Hunter Goodwin started at tight end, but impressed no one. He dropped a potential touchdown pass that went through his hands and was not to be found on several other passes. His blocking was adequate, but Chan Gailey likes to use his tight ends and Goodwin was not up to the task.
But if Goodwin was bad, Terrence Huston was worse. He had a false start on one play, then dropped a ball that bounced off his stomach. Huston probably played himself right out of a spot on the team.
All in all, none of the tight ends on the roster did anything to distinguish themselves in a good way.
Of the offensive linemen, all the starters played well. As I pointed out earlier, the starting offensive line allowed JJ Johnson to pick up 5 yards per carry and they gave up no sacks. However, both John Bock and Willie Jones sprained their ankles in this game and while neither injury is serious, both were out of the game after the middle of the second quarter.
Jones' backup Keno Hills looked bad, getting beaten and out-run by the Steelers line for as long as he played.
Kevin Donnalley looked very bad for a guy who was supposed to be a "tough guy" - on one play he allowed the Steelers' safety to run through him to the backfield and stop JJ Johnson for a 5 yard loss. And this safety was the only guy he had to block - there was no defensive tackle in that part of the field.
Grey Ruegamer played as the backup center and did a credible job, making some nice blocks. He may have worked his way back into the lineup.
The only other offensive lineman I paid any attention to was Todd Wade and I watched him pretty closely. He played very well from the middle of the second quarter to about the middle of the 4th quarter, but then he began to slack off. By the end of the game, he was bull-rushed over for a sack of Druckenmiller during the final two-minute drill and as big as he is, he shouldn't be bull-rushed by anyone.
For most of the game, he stood his ground well in pass protection and opened some nice holes for the running backs. On Autry Denson's touchdown, he sealed off the defensive line to his left and after Deon Dyer pancaked the linebacker trying to fill the hole, Denson ran it in untouched.
I would say he had an excellent game, if it wasn't for that late sack he gave up. He had good position, but he didn't set his feet well and that allowed the defensive end on that side to just run over him and take Druckenmiller down. Late in the game is when you need your offensive line to be their toughest.
So that's about all I have to say about the offense (as if that wasn't enough). Like I said earlier, they were very inconsistent throughout the game, but there is reason to be optimistic about them if they can just steady up their play.
Overall, the defensive performance was outstanding, particularly the pass defense. The first string defense was basically impenetrable, stuffing the run and pressuring the Steelers' quarterbacks into bad throws, scrambles and other mistakes. The final stats listed the Steelers as having gained a net total of -5 yards passing. That's right - at the end of the game, the Steelers posted a minus number of passing yards.
The reason for this is simple. The defensive line, from starters all the way down to the last string, put continuous pressure on the Steelers' quarterbacks, without any help from blitzes. This allowed the linebackers to drop off into coverage a lot more and helped cover the short routes.
The deep routes were covered better than they were in the recent past, with the safeties playing more zone defense and helping out the corners - who were playing good tight coverage of their own.
The Steelers' first round draft pick Plaxico Burress ( who roasted the Cowboys last week ) was held without a catch in this game. In fact, the Steelers completed exactly 4 passes all night.
The only real gains made by the Steelers' passing game came from 3 pass interference penalties on the Dolphins' defensive backs, one of which was highly questionable.
The performance against the Steelers' running game was not as impressive as the pass defense, but the first and second string played well against the Steelers' first string runners. It was only after the Dolphins' 3rd string players entered the game that the Steelers began making significant gains by rushing the football.
The only real weakness turned up in the Dolphins' defense was a lack of depth at linebacker. Both defensive backs and defensive line appeared strong and deep, but the 2nd and 3rd string linebackers had problems with the Steelers' running game.
And let me also comment on the new Dolphins' defensive coordinator, Jim Bates. It appears, at least initially, that if the Dolphins play his schemes on defense, they'll be even better than they were last year. He has added more zone coverages to help limit the big plays and that appears to be working.
He's also given Jason Taylor more freedom to line up away from double teams and farther outside the tackles, which appears to have helped him in his pass rush.
These changes should help fix the few problems the defense had last year and could even make them better this year.
INDIVIDUAL DEFENSIVE PERFORMANCES:
Starting on the defensive line, Kenny Mixon showed why he is now the "strongside" defensive end. I didn't pick up a lot from him, but from what I did see, he continues to play very strongly, stuffing his side and creating problems.
Daryl Gardener is playing better than ever and is now an "every down" player. He had a sack of Kordell Stewart and several tackles and was constantly in the backfield, disrupting plays, beating double-teams and playing like the Pro-Bowl player he is determined to be.
Next to Gardener was backup defensive tackle Jermaine Haley, filling in for the injured Tim Bowens. Haley, you may remember, was the CFL player that JJ picked in the 1999 draft. Because of his CFL contract, Haley couldn't even practice with the Dolphins last year, but this year he has taken over for Antoine Simpson as the principal backup defensive tackle.
On the very first play from scrimmage, playing with Miami's first team defense, Haley shed his blocker immediately and charged hard into Kordell Stewarts face, forcing Stewart to throw the ball away. It was an impressive debut for Haley, who played well for the rest of the game.
Jason Taylor continues to start, although his position might be more accurately described as "weakside" defensive end, instead of right defensive end. Jim Bates is shifting Taylor to the side opposite where the offensive tight end lines up. Taylor is also lining up slightly farther outside than he has in the past.
I've heard some criticism of Taylor, although I thought he did a fine job in this game. He also appears to be stronger than he used to be and he did a good job getting in the backfield and containing Kordell Stewart in the pocket.
If Rich Owens played, I didn't see him in the game.
Trace Armstrong continues to be one of my sentimental favorites. When the Dolphins got into a pass defense, Trace Armstrong came in at left defensive end and Kenny Mixon moved to the tackle position. Armstrong had at least one sack and several pressures and he continues to excel in getting around that right tackle and pursuing the quarterback relentlessly until the play is over. He never quits.
Authors Note: Has anyone else noticed that Trace Armstrong has been instrumental in the Dolphins' last two playoff victories? Last year against Seattle, he had three sacks. The year before - well, that was the year he crushed Doug Flutie at the Miami 7 yard line, forcing the fumble and ending the game. Ah, fond memories....
After the starters left in the second quarter, the most noticeable guy on the defensive line was Damien Gregory. Like he did in the scrimmage, Gregory opened many eyes with 5 tackles and two sacks in the second half. As a pass rusher, he is as relentless as Armstrong, never quitting until the whistle is blown. One of his sacks happened after he was initially blocked to the ground, when he crawled through blockers and wrapped up the Steelers' quarterback around the ankles, taking him down.
The Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel seems to think that defensive tackle Earnest Grant played a good enough game to warrant consideration to make the team, but I didn't see him do much at all. When the Steelers ran effectively up the middle, they seemed to be doing it over his side.
Defensive ends Tim Martin and Rameel Connor both got playing time, but I didn't see either of those players do much that was noticeable. Ditto for defensive tackle Noel Scarlett.
Still, with the Steeler passing attack effectively silenced the entire game, the Dolphins' defensive line was doing a good job at all levels of collapsing the pocket, so Martin, Connor, Grant and Scarlett must have been doing some good things.
At linebacker, Zach, Robert Jones and Derrick Rodgers did a fine job. Zach is still Zach and to add to has run defense ability, he's become better at covering receivers. He should have another awesome year.
Jones and Rodgers don't seem to have changed much, either. They played steady football and covered their responsibilities well, but neither made any big plays.
The backups behind them were not so impressive, however. I was paying more attention to the defensive line, so I didn't notice much about the linebackers, but none of the backups did anything that I thought was that impressive. I did see Scott Galyon get caught inside on a run to the outside to his side of the field. The run went for over 10 yards.
On the plus side, I understand that it was Kyle Shipley that forced the fumble in the 4th quarter as he decked the Steelers' Fuamata-Ma'fala in the backfield for a two yard loss.
But in the contest to make the team, none of the new backup linebackers did anything to stand out positively that I saw and their play had a lot to do with the fact that Fuamata-Ma'fala of the Steelers ran for over 100 yards on 15 carries.
In the defensive backfield, there did not appear to be any passes thrown towards Sam Madison or Patrick Surtain. Madison did make a beautiful diving interception of a tipped ball, but otherwise both cornerbacks were pretty invisible. When you consider that the Steelers completed just 4 passes, their "invisibility" was a good thing.
I don't believe that Terrence Shaw played, so Ray Hill did the lions share of the nickel back work for the starting defense. As a result, he got flagged twice for pass interference, but one of those calls was completely wrong and while the other was justified, it wasn't entirely Hill's fault.
On the first penalty, Hill was in good position on the receiver, but as the underthrown ball was coming down, the receiver tried to cut back and catch it. When he cut back, Hill ran over him. This was the deserved penalty.
In the other instance, Hill was covering Plaxico Burress one-on-one down the sideline and brushed Burress. Then the ball came down and Burress caught it 2 yards out of bounds. Even if the ball had been catchable in bounds, the call would have been wrong, but since it was obviously not catchable, the flag never should have been thrown.
Still, it was impressive to see the Dolphins' 4th cornerback on the depth chart - Ray Hill - running step for step down the field with the Steelers' number one draft pick who supposedly had a great week last week against the Cowboys.
Jerry Wilson provided some good coverage as the dime back, but didn't do anything spectacular.
Ben Kelly got some action in the secondary, although his main contribution seemed to be running down Fuamata-Ma'fala from behind on his long run. But I also didn't see him get beaten deep by anyone.
At safety, Brock Marion and Brian Walker played a lot of deep zone to help prevent the deep passes. Walker came up in run support several times, but otherwise I didn't notice much action from either player.
However, behind Brock Marion, rookie Arturo Freeman continued to have a strong showing. When he was on the field, he seemed to be constantly showing up the picture in the vicinity of pass plays and in run support. On one play, I saw him take on the Steelers' blocking fullback, beat that block and force the running back out of bounds after a medium size gain. Ordinarily, he shouldn't have to do that, but the linebacker on that side was taken out of the play and Freeman did a good job, especially beating the block of a fullback.
The other safeties didn't stand out particularly, except for Orlando Steinauer, who picked up the third pass interference penalty of the game for Miami when he mugged a Pittsburgh receiver downfield. And it really wasn't necessary, because he had good position and if he had looked around, he would have had an interception.
So the defense looked good in this game and I think that they could be even better than last year, especially in the area of pass defense. The only thing that concerns me right now is the lack of depth at linebacker.
The special teams looked pretty good this game, although there was at least one embarrassing moment. On his first punt, Matt Turk was trying for a short kick because they were deep in Steeler territory and shanked the punt badly off his foot. It went out of bounds for a net loss of about 5 yards on the play.
After that, there were no problems to report. Downfield coverage on both punts and kickoffs was good with several young players making good impressions in their bid to make the team.
Linebacker Scott Zimmerman continued to impress in coverage, as did Arturo Freeman, who stopped a Steelers' return at the 18 yard line late in the game. Also, I believe (though I can't be sure, because of the unreadability of the numbers) I saw Scott Galyon make a couple of nice plays on special teams coverage.
The return game also did well, with Leslie Shepherd and Ben Kelly returning punts. Shepherd had the longest return of the game - a 45 yard scamper all the way across the field - and may have strengthened his bid to make the team against stiff competition.
Kelly looked very exciting returning both punts and kickoffs and while he didn't break any for big gains, that will definitely be coming in time.
Robert Baker got the chance to return one kickoff, but didn't really impress on that occasion.
As I said at the beginning, I felt better about the team after seeing the game than I did when listening to it. I believe that the offense will come together under Chan Gailey and while they may not be flashy, they will get the job done.
The defense is already in fine form and I think that Jim Bates' schemes will have them playing better than last year.
The same is true for special teams.
But this game was more about individual efforts that team efforts and with that in mind, I have these comments:
A few veteran Dolphins stood out for me and appear to be ready to be better than they've ever been: John Bock, Daryl Gardener, Kenny Mixon and possibly Jason Taylor will be noticeably improved over their past performances.
Of course, some veterans appear ready to hit the road, Kevin Donnalley being the foremost example.
Up until this game, I would have had Nate Jacquet as a guy who was on his way out. But after his stunning performance on Saturday night, his stock is on the rise.
Rookies who looked especially good included Arturo Freeman, Deon Dyer, Jermaine Haley, Damien Gregory, Ben Kelly (as a kick returner) and Autry Denson.
Yes, I know that Denson isn't technically a rookie, but he seems to fit in with this list better.
Todd Wade would have made that rookie list, but his critical mistake at the end of the game really disappointed me.
Rookies who are in trouble include Terrence Huston, Earnest Grant and Orlando Steinauer.
New veterans who will make a difference this year include Willie Jones, Thurman Thomas and Bert Emmanuel.
New veterans who will have problems making the team are Keno Hills and Heath Irwin, although Irwin may turn out to be a backup.
Leslie Shepherd's punt returns were impressive, but so were Nate Jacquet's returns last year and Jacquet looked like the better receiver on Saturday and is probably cheaper. However, the jury is still out on Shepherd.
That leaves a lot of players who I have no opinion on, but we should know pretty soon who is in good shape with the coaches - and who is in trouble.
For the next pre-season game, we're going to see Mike Quinn at quarterback in the second half, instead of Jim Druckenmiller and we're going to see Lamar Smith in the backfield quite a bit. Otherwise, the team will line up much the same as they did on Saturday night.