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[ Individual Performances | Injuries | Comments | Web Links ] The Dolphins came into Sunday's game needing a win to stay ahead of the Patriots in the AFC East while facing their least dangerous opponent over the next 6 games. Damon Huard got his first start in place of the injured Dan Marino with a simple game plan designed to keep him from having to do too much to win the game by himself. By the end of the game, the Dolphins' offense had committed several terrible mistake that had turned what started out as a dominating performance into a narrow squeaker of a game. But, at the end of the game, the Dolphins had come away with a narrow 16-13 victory that kept them in first place in the AFC East. The game was a 1:00 PM game in Miami. The weather was bright, clear and warm and the field was dry. For the Dolphins, Autry Denson, Shawn Wooden, Rob Konrad, Anthony Harris, Mark Dixon, Kenny Mixon, and Yatil Green were inactive, while Dan Marino was the backup quarterback. The Eagles started the game with the ball after a touchback on the opening kickoff. A couple of runs got them a first down at their 30, but they got no further and punted. The Dolphins started at their 32 after a nice return by Jacquet. After 3 nice runs by Cecil Collins, a quarterback draw by Huard and a pass to McDuffie, the Dolphins stalled at the Eagles' 19 and were forced to settle for a field goal and a 3-0 lead. The kickoff again went out of the endzone, but this time the Eagles couldn't even manage one first down and punted from their 29. The Dolphins started the next series from their 37 and ran Collins again to start the series. After some decent Collins' runs and a nice pass by Huard to Drayton for 24 yards, the Dolphins had moved to the Eagles' 26, where JJ Johnson ripped off an 8 yard run on first down right up the middle. Then, on 2nd and 2 from the Eagles 18, JJ Johnson took the pitch from Huard and ran outside to his left, outside the blocking and straight up the sideline to the endzone for the only offensive touchdown of the day for either team. On this play, Hunter Goodwin took the Eagle cornerback completely out of the play with a very aggressive block that he sustained for the entire play. Now leading 10-0, the Dolphins kicked off into the endzone for their third touchback of the game. The Eagles started at their 20 and with a combination of some short passes, some scrambling by Pederson and some running by Staley, moved down to the Dolphins' 24 before Jason Taylor sacked Pederson on third down, forcing the Eagles to settle for a long field goal that cut the score to 10-3. Following the punt, the Dolphins started at their 20, but only managed 1 first down on a nice rollout pass to Goodwin before they were stopped and forced to punt for the first time. Following a nice punt by Hutton, the Eagles started at their 23. Following two short plays, Trace Armstrong and Lorenzo Bromell met on top of Doug Pederson, forcing a fumble that was recovered by Jason Taylor, giving the Dolphins the ball at the Eagle 27. Unfortunately, the Dolphins did not fully capitalize on this opportunity when a penalty on Drayton moved the team back to the 37. They got back to the 20, but on 4th and 3 were forced to take a field goal and a 13-3 lead. On the subsequent kickoff, the Dolphins tried an onsides kick, but it took a bad bounce to the Eagles and gave them the ball at their 45. However, they quickly went three and out and punted to Miami, who started at their 10. Miami then returned the favor, going three and out and allowing the only sack on Huard of the day. Following the punt, the Eagles started at their 49 and drove down the Miami 21 on some good running by Staley and a short pass. But on 2nd and 8, Rich Owens had dropped back into coverage and Pederson didn't see him. Pederson threw the ball right at Owens, who batted it into the air twice, where it was batted up again by Jason Taylor and finally came down in the arms of Derrick Rodgers, who rumbled a whole 5 yards up the sideline with the interception. The Dolphins then ran Cecil one more time before the end of the first half. At the half, the Dolphins led 13-3 and had an edge in turnovers and passing yardage. Otherwise, the stats were very similar for both teams. To start the third quarter, the Dolphins had a nice kickoff return by Brock Marion, but a holding penalty pushed it back to the Dolphins' 13. From there, the Dolphins moved slowly up the field on the legs of Cecil Collins and some short passes to Martin and McDuffie all the way to the Eagles 35, but on third and 1, Kevin Gogan jumped early and that set the Dolphins back to a third and 6 at the 40 and after Huard's pass fell incomplete, the Dolphins were forced to punt. The Eagles started at their 20 but after Zach killed a screen pass for a 5 yard loss, the Eagles were stymied and punted after 3 downs from their 15, which the Dolphins took at the 50. After a couple of runs and a pass, the Dolphins had moved to the Eagles' 35 and faced 2nd and 8. On the next play, JJ apparently called a run, but Huard checked out of that play to a pass play. When Huard tried to the throw the ball on the quick out pattern to Oronde Gadsden, it was picked off by safety Bryan Dawkins and returned 67 yards up the field for a touchdown for the Eagles. It was the 4th interception that the Dolphins had had returned for a touchdown this year. On replay, it was clear that Dawkins had just positioned himself in the zone between Huard and the receiver and Huard didn't see him. The touchdown cut the score to 13-10 in favor of the Dolphins. On the kickoff, Marion returned the ball to the 33, where Miami started. Some runs by Cecil Collins and a pass to McDuffie moved the ball down to the Eagles' 35, but a screen to Pritchett resulted in no gain on 3rd down and on 4th down, Mare' kicked his 3rd field goal of the game to extend the lead to 16-10 to start the 4th quarter. Following the touchback on the kickoff, the Eagles went 3 and out on 3 Duce Staley runs. Following a punt that was run back to the Dolphins' 43, the Dolphins also couldn't get anything going and were set back by a Tim Ruddy holding penalty. They punted back to the Eagles with 10:02 remaining. Starting at his 44 after a nice punt return, Pederson threw a deep sideline pass to Charles Johnson down to the Miami 26. T-Buck had good coverage on the play, but turned back to look at the ball at just the wrong moment and Johnson caught it over Buckley's head. Now at the 26, Pederson threw 3 short passes that moved the ball all the way down to the Miami 7. However, a holding penalty pushed them back to the Miami 17 and after a pass fell incomplete, Lorenzo Bromell broke through right up the middle for a sack on 3rd down at the Miami 26. Now facing 4th and goal from the 26, the Eagles settled for a field goal and a 16-13 score. Following a kickoff return to the 29, Miami successfully ran the ball to the Eagles 44. However, on 1st and 10 there, Collins took Huard's handoff and tried to go up the middle. Eagles linebacker W.Thomas reached in and got into a wrestling match with Collins for the ball, which Collins lost and the ball came out. The Eagles recovered at their 42 and using timeouts and short passes, moved the ball down to the Miami 24 with 59 seconds remaining. At this point, Pederson overthrew Charlie Johnson on third down and the Eagles elected to go for the tie from the Dolphins 24 by kicking a field goal. At first, it appeared the kick would go through, but it drifted in the air and eventually went right of the goalpost, leaving the Dolphins with the ball and the score at 16-13. All that was left was for Huard to take a knee, which he did. The defense played an excellent game. They gave up only 6 points to the Eagles on 2 field goals and didn't allow a touchdown. They held the Eagles' offense to 175 total yards and an average of just 3.4 yards per play. Both the run defense and the pass defense did their jobs well, sacking Pederson 4 times and coming up with 2 turnovers. The offense converted 7 of 15 third downs, which is a 46% conversion rate. That is much better than they had been doing earlier in the season and is a very respectable number. Also, they converted all of their 3rd and short situations to first down, which they had been having trouble with. The running game, while not providing overwhelming statistics, was very effective for most of the game and produced the only touchdown. The Dolphins also controlled the clock for 36:05 of the game and that turned out to have a lot to do with winning. The interception returned for a touchdown kept the Eagles in the game and the fumble by Cecil Collins almost allowed them to tie it and send it into overtime. These kinds of turnovers must be eliminated, especially in crucial situations like the last 3 minutes of the game. Also, silly penalties killed several drives that the Dolphins had going. The silliest was in the first quarter, where the Dolphins were penalized for an illegal formation on a play where Collins ran from the Eagles 24 down to their 8 yardline. Instead of 1st and goal at the 8, the Dolphins had a 1st and 10 at the 29. Illegal formation penalties are inexcusable. In other words, the offense has to stop making big mistakes. Without those mistakes, the Dolphins dominated this game in most aspects. With the mistakes, the Dolphins were a field goal away from overtime. Also, the Dolphins need to go deep more often. I realize that Huard is new and that Kippy Brown didn't want to put too much pressure on him, but the Dolphins got Tony Martin for a reason. JJ did say after the game that the Eagles were tackling Martin at the line of scrimmage to keep him from getting deep, but they should have found a way to get him off the line of scrimmage and deep down the field. Damon Huard had a good game - except for his huge mistake that cost the Dolphins a touchdown. He completed over 70% of his passes and scrambled effectively. However, partly because of inexperience and partly because of the Eagles' defense, his longest pass completion was just 26 yards. However, his decision to check out of the running play into the pass play that was intercepted shows he still has a lot to learn. Cecil Collins, like Damon Huard, was good for most of the game - except for one big mistake. He ran well and was effective breaking tackles and burrowing for more yards. He converted both 3rd and short attempts he had and was responsible for 5 first downs in total. He ended the game with 26 carries for 97 yards (a 3.7 ypc average). And while his fumble was not the result of inattention or poor technique, it was still crucial and he must learn to avoid those in the future. JJ Johnson had his best game, rushing 5 times for 35 yards and his first NFL rushing touchdown. He was effective in giving Collins rest. Stanley Pritchett did not have any big plays this week, rushing twice for 5 yards and catching one pass for no gain. However, his blocking was effective in springing Collins and Johnson on their runs. OJ McDuffie led the receivers this week with 4 catches for 41 yards, but none of the receivers had big numbers this week. Tony Martin had a disappointing day, catching 3 passes for only 26 yards, but the Eagles were mugging him at the line of scrimmage and only got called for it once. Troy Drayton had 4 catches for 38 yards, including a big 26 yard grab to help set up the first touchdown. He also provided some excellent blocking that helped the running game. Oronde Gadsden only had 1 catch for 17 yards and was pretty much invisible for most of the day. Hunter Goodwin stood out this week, providing a key block on JJ Johnson's touchdown run and turning a 3 yard dump pass into a 14 yard gain. You may see more of Goodwin in the future. The offensive line had a much better week this week, giving up just one sack, making holes for the running game and providing good push in short yardage situations. The only real letdown was the stupid penalties, which continued this week. On defense, Zach Thomas led all tacklers with 10 for the 5th time this year, knocked down one pass, made a number of significant plays and was all over the field. In other words, it was just a normal day for the team's best defensive player. Brock Marion was second with 8 tackles and even got a sack this time. He also continued to provide excellent kickoff returns, averaging 25 yards per return, which would have been even more if not for some penalties. Calvin Jackson played the entire game at strong safety and had a number of nice plays, totaling 7 tackles. Robert Jones had 5 tackles, including one for a loss. Sam Madison also had 5 tackles and didn't give up any big plays to Eagles' receivers. Lorenzo Bromell had 4 tackles and 1.5 sacks, including a crucial one deep in Miami territory. He continues to be Miami's most dangerous pass rusher. Tim Bowens was in on three tackles and continues to provide outstanding power in the middle, especially against short yardage plays. Jason Taylor had 2 tackles, a big sack of Doug Pederson and recovered a fumble. He was more visible in this game than he has been recently. Trace Armstrong had 2 tackles, a half-sack and is credited with forcing Doug Pederson's fumble. Terrell Buckley had 2 tackles and knocked down one pass, while giving up the longest completion of the day for the Eagles. Rich Owens had 2 tackles and deflected the pass that was eventually intercepted by Derrick Rodgers. And speaking of Rodgers, he also had 2 tackles and a pass defensed, in addition to his heads-up play on the ball that resulted in his interception. Darryl Gardener is only credited with 1 assisted tackle, but he was a force in the middle, doing his usual excellent job of clogging the middle of the line. On special teams, Nate Jacquet returned 3 punts for 43 yards, which is an average of 14.3 ypr. His season average is 18.4 yards per return, which would rank him 2nd in the NFL if he had enough returns to be ranked. Olindo Mare' had another outstanding game. In fact, it was almost perfect. Every deep kickoff he made was a touchback and he hit all three of his field goal attempts, including a 53 yarder. Larry Izzo led the special teams tacklers with 2 of his own. The only injury of significance was to Troy Drayton, who sprained a toe badly enough to make him questionable for the upcoming game against Oakland. This was not what you would call an outstanding win. But it was, however, a win and it came without Dan Marino and with the offense giving up another touchdown. Naturally, the team will have to improve on offense if they are going to go to the SuperBowl this year. Mostly, they have to stop making stupid mistakes that cost them drives and points. It's not so much that they lack talent as they lack concentration and familiarity with each other. And, of course, both Damon Huard and Cecil Collins are very inexperienced and that is costing the team. Still, it was a win and I'll take it. I'll take it because this team has mental toughness and tenacity, something that they haven't always had. I'll take it because, even though the game was very close at the end, I was not worried about the outcome - and I worry a lot. This team has something about it that inspires confidence. Perhaps it's their attitude, or perhaps it's their level of talent or perhaps I'm just optimistic this year. But whatever it is, this team, despite it's problems, seems to have a lot going for it and I think that they'll go far this year.
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curt@phins.com DOLFAN in New England |
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