*** DOLPHINS NEWS ***
Oct 05, 1997: -- Dolphins Out-Stubborn Chiefs 17-14 --
The Dolphins played toe-to-toe with the Chiefs this afternoon
in Miami and when all was said and done, they managed to make one
mistake less than the Chiefs and come away with a 17-14 victory.
The game started with the Dolphins and the Chiefs both moving
the ball only sporadically and each defense playing well. However,
after a penalty on a punt return gave the Dolphins a first down at the
Kansas City 45, two nice passes to OJ McDuffie moved the ball down to
the Chiefs 10 and Abdul-Jabbar ran behind Jeff Buckey straight up the
middle for a touchdown and a 7-0 Dolphin lead.
In the second quarter, the Chiefs used two back-to-back drives
to score two unanswered touchdowns and take the lead 14-7. The first
drive ended in a pass to Rison when Terrell Buckley slipped and fell in
coverage. The second was a straight pass to the tight end, who had
gotten behind the coverage of Shawn Wooden. In both cases, a coverage
mistake left the receivers wide open to give the Chiefs a 14-7 lead.
The Dolphins came right back, however, and two 27+ yard passes
to Drayton paced a drive that ended with a 7 yard dump pass to
Parmalee after a Marino rollout fooled the coverage. Parmalee took it
the last 5 yards himself, getting knocked head over heels into the
endzone. The first half ended with the score tied 14-14.
In the second half, the Dolphin defense played much tougher,
surrendering only 19 rushing yards and 74 passing yards while holding
the Chiefs scoreless. The offense played a little more consistently,
but was unable to put together any touchdown drives. However, they
did control the ball for 18:06 of the second half and put Mare in
position for two field goals. Mare missed a 42 yard attempt, but made
a 26 yarder in the 4th quarter to put the Dolphins ahead for good.
The game ended on a final drive by Kansas City, but a heads-up
play by Anthony Harris prevented Marcus Allen from getting converting
a 4th down attempt late in the game and the Dolphins hung on to win
17-14.
Dan Marino was 19 of 31 for 259 yards, 1 touchdown and no
interceptions. Abdul-Jabbar ended up with just 38 rushing yards on 17
attempts, but had an 11 yard touchdown run in the first half on 3rd
and 1. McDuffie lead receivers with 5 catches for 86 yards and
Drayton was right behind him with 4 catches for 80. Bernie Parmalee
caught Marino's only touchdown pass of the day and Lamar Thomas put in
a nice appearance, catching 3 passes for 43 yards, but more
importantly not dropping any.
On defense, Shawn Wooden and Derrick Rodgers lead the team
with 8 tackles a piece, followed closely by Zach Thomas with 7. Tim
Bowens and Shane Burton each had a sack and Rodgers and Anthony Harris
were each credited with a pass defensed.
Oddly enough, there were no turnovers in this game by either
team, but crucial penalties played an important role in this game for
both teams.
My Comments:
The Dolphins had to have this game and they won it. They
played toe-to-toe with a tough team and came out ahead, although again
it could have gone the other way with just one or two plays.
However, I think that it's fair to say that the Dolphins
deserved to win today. They tackled well, played good pass coverage
for most of the game, got some good pressure on Grbac and were able to
stop the run, especially late in the game. They had very few gross
mistakes, although Barnett and Jordan both continue to drop easy
catches.
The running game showed signs of life, especially up the
middle, but was also non-existent in too many instances. There seemed
to be a number of missed blocks that were either screwups on Drayton
and/or Parmalee's parts or were the result of players being
unaccounted for in the blocking schemes.
Overall, though, I think it was a good win and even though it
wasn't domination, it was what the team needed and the produced it
when then had to.
Oh, and one other comment - if this doesn't put to rest the
"Marino will be benched/traded/cut" rumors, then there isn't anything
in the world that will. Marino had an outstanding day, even rolling
out of the pocket and showed more mobility, arm strength and touch
than he has all year.
Dan Marino IS the Dolphins quarterback.
Related Info:
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Curt Fennell,
curt@phins.com, DOLFAN in New Rochelle (almost)
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