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Dolphins vs Bills Summary |  | ||||||||
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The weather in Buffalo was bright, clear, dry and cold on Sunday, about as good as could be expected on a December day at Ralph Wilson Stadium. The temperature was 27 degrees F (-3 C) at gametime, with a wind chill factor around 16 degrees F (about -8 C). This kind of weather used to be a recipe for disaster for the South Florida Mammals, but when Dolphins quarterback Jay Fiedler came out to warm up before the game in shorts, it was a signal that the old days of frozen fish being pounded by stampeding Buffalo are over. The game began at 1:00 PM, EST with Miami returning quarterback Jay Fiedler and running back Lamar Smith to the starting lineup. Their return provided the Dolphins with as close to a full starting lineup as they've had since week 1 of the season. Inactive for Miami in this game were safety Kevin Williams, tight end Alonzo Mayes, center Jason Andersen, guard Antonio Cesario, wide receiver Bert Emanuel, defensive end Rich Owens and defensive tackle Earnest Grant, while Mike Quinn served as the backup quarterback. The Bills kicked off to Miami, who started at their own 36 after a decent runback by Autrey Denson. Despite the fact that they had been saying all week that they wouldn't use a 4-3 defense, the Bills came out in a 4-3 alignment for the first series, which was a change from their normal 3-4 set. On the first play from scrimmage, Lamar Smith ripped off a 22 yard run against the new defense and followed that up with consecutive runs of 9 and 11 yards. That put Miami at the Bills' 22 after only 3 offensive plays and made the 4-3 defense look like a poor idea. The Dolphins followed up their initial success with a couple of short runs and a 13 yard pass to Leslie Shepherd to the Buffalo 3. Two plays later, Jay Fiedler dumped the ball off to Lamar Smith over the middle and Smith powered his way into the endzone to give Miami a 7-0 lead after just 4:22 had elapsed of the game. After Miami's first touchdown drive, the Bills would go back to their 3-4 defense and have much more success stopping the Dolphins' running game. However, they couldn't figure out a way to stop Jay Fiedler's passing and so never completely halted the Miami offense. The Bills responded well to Miami's first touchdown drive by putting together a drive of their own. From their 22, they used a very effective rushing attack and some short passes to drive to the Miami 17 yard line. But on 3rd and 13, Rob Johnson tried to hit Jeremy McDaniel on a crossing route in the front of the endzone. But Patrick Surtain closed the gap in his coverage quickly and stepped in front of McDaniel to pick off the ball, halting the Bills' biggest threat of the first half. The Dolphins and Bills each then conducted two very ineffective offensive series that ended in punts and carried the game into the middle of the second quarter. The defenses of both teams appeared to be turning up the pressure a notch at this point and the effective running games that Miami and Buffalo had both had in the first series seemed to slow down considerably. However, with 9:46 remaining in the 2nd quarter, Miami went to the air and the Dolphins began to move again. First there was a 24 yard strike to OJ McDuffie, followed by a 30 yard pass that Oronde Gadsden caught one-handed while leaping sideways at the Bills' 5. After two short runs by Lamar Smith, the Dolphins faced a 3rd and goal at the Bills' 1. Miami again ran the ball straight ahead and it appeared that Smith was stopped short of the goal, but the referees called a false start penalty on Miami that pushed them back to the 6 yard line. This penalty turned out to be good luck for Miami, because on the next play, Jay Fiedler hit Oronde Gadsden on a short crossing route in the front of the endzone for a touchdown. If the previous play hadn't been nullified, Miami would have had to settle for a field goal from the 1. However, now Miami had a 14-0 lead. The Dolphins' defense stepped up and sacked Rob Johnson twice in a row on the Bills next series, forcing the Bills to throw on 3rd and 21. On this play, Sam Madison was able to read Johnson's intentions and dropped off of deep coverage to make an interception at the Bills' 31 yard line. He ran it back to the Bills' 15, but the Dolphins' offense was unable to make much happen after Fiedler was sacked at the 21 and Miami settled for a field goal and a 17-0 lead. The Bills got the ball back at their 25 with 2:55 remaining in the first half and tried to put together a scoring drive to get some momentum back before halftime. But after Trent Gamble knocked the ball out of Jay Riemersma's hands and Jason Taylor sacked Rob Johnson, the Bills were forced to punt. Miami took over with 1:31 remaining at their 43, but unlike some past games where they would have been content to run out the clock, Chan Gailey pulled a couple of rabbits out of his hat. On the first play, Jay Fiedler hit Tony Martin on a deep post pattern to the Bills' 18 and after a short pass to Lamar Smith picked up 4 yards, Fiedler hit Leslie Shepherd 7 yards deep in the endzone for another touchdown. Shepherd had run a simple post pattern and Fiedler drilled him in the chest for a 24-0 lead. This touchdown at the end of the half was the final nail in the Bills' coffin. The Bills had 50 seconds remaining in the first half, but a sack by Jason Taylor ended that threat and Miami led 24-0 at halftime. The Bills came out of the locker room after halftime looking defeated. When Bills' head coach Wade Phillips was interviewed as he was returning to the field, he sounded like a beaten man as he said "Well, we've made our halftime adjustments. I don't know how much more we can do". The Bills opened the third quarter by receiving the kickoff and going 3 and out, with Trace Armstrong contributing a sack of Rob Johnson. Miami responded with a 38 yard drive from their 49 that ended with a field goal that gave them a 27-0 lead. The Bills responded with a short drive of their own to the Miami 41, but when they elected to go for it on 4th and 3, Jay Riemersma dropped a pass that gave Miami a first down at their own 42. The Dolphins again drove down the field on the running of Lamar Smith, but after Gadsden dropped a pass in the back of the endzone, the Dolphins were forced to settle for another field goal and a 30-0 lead. After the kickoff, with 2:22 remaining in the third quarter, the Bills benched Rob Johnson in favor of Doug Flutie, but Flutie couldn't find any magic on his first series, and the Bills punted to Miami. At the Bills' 46, Miami then committed their only real mistake of the game. When Jay Fiedler went to pitch the ball to Lamar Smith, it was a little behind Lamar, who couldn't hang on to the ball. Lamar Smith should have had the pitch, even if it was a little behind him, but the fumble was recovered by Corey Moore of the Bills and that gave them a first and 10 at the Dolphins' 46. The Bills wasted no time at this point and after two good runs by Bryson, Flutie hit Eric Moulds at the Miami 4 yard line. An offsides penalty on Tim Bowens on the next play moved the ball to Miami's 1 and from there it was an easy touchdown run for Antowain Smith to give the Bills their only points in the game. The Bills attempted a two point conversion, handing off to Antowain Smith up the middle, but the referees ruled that Smith was down at the 1 foot line and so the Bills stayed at 6 points. There was some legitimate controversy about the 2 point conversion, whether or not Smith was actually touched by Zach Thomas when he was ruled down, but replay did not overturn the call and it would not have made any difference in the game in any case. Personally, I couldn't tell if Zach touched Smith or not. Now entering the 4th quarter, the Dolphins began at their own 32 after the Buffalo kickoff, but two holding penalties killed this drive early and Miami ended up punting with 11:52 remaining in the game. Buffalo took over at their 32, but after an incompletion, Flutie tried to hit Eric Moulds around the Buffalo 45. The pass was tipped up by Patrick Surtain and caught by Brian Walker at the Miami 46, who then returned it 29 yards to the Buffalo 25. From there, Miami ran the ball 6 times in a row to the Bills' 6, but a holding penalty on Kevin Donnalley killed the 3rd down conversion and Miami ended up kicking a field goal, completing all of their scoring at 33 points. With only 6:29 remaining in the game and 27 points to make up, the Bills ran two more offensive series, but their hearts clearly weren't in the game. On the first series, Trace Armstrong sacked Flutie to force a 3rd and 23 and when the next pass fell incomplete, the Bills didn't even try a 4th down play. Miami received their punt and ran two running plays for 10 yards, but their first down was nullified by a holding penalty and they ended up punting back to Buffalo with just over 2 minutes remaining in the game. The Bills, having no hope left, tossed a short pass to Eric Moulds and after the two minute warning sounded, ran Antowain Smith up the middle twice before just letting the clock run out. The final score of 33-6 was a very good indicator of how well Miami dominated this game. From the opening kickoff to the closing whistle, Miami controlled the game on both offense and defense and never appeared to be in danger of losing. It was a complete victory for the Dolphins in a place where they have had as much trouble winning as any place in the NFL. It also declared to the league that these Dolphins are the "New and Improved" version - no slides included. The overall play of the team was excellent. The entire team played a full 60 minutes of football against one of their toughest opponents in their home stadium. Moreover, they didn't let the cold, the crowd or the pressure get to them. They executed properly, avoided mistakes and played smart and aggressive football. It was a total team effort. On offense, the running game was especially good early in the game and would have been good late in the game, except for the penalties. The offensive line wasn't thrown off-balance by the Bills' experiment with the 4-3 alignment and opened plenty of holds for Lamar Smith to run through. The passing game was excellent as well, as receivers got open, the offensive line did a good job blocking and Jay Fiedler delivered the ball on time and on target. All three of Miami's touchdowns were delivered through the air this week and the touchdown drive at the end of the first half was particularly impressive. On defense, the pass defense was simply outstanding. They limited the Bills' passing attack to 36 net yards passing and held the league's most prolific pass catcher to just 2 receptions. The pass rush sacked Bills' quarterbacks 6 times, while the secondary picked off 3 passes. You will never see pass defense played any better than the Dolphins did yesterday. Special teams played well - Olindo Mare' hit 4 field goals without missing any and coverage and return teams did a decent job. Last, but certainly not least, the coaching was excellent again this week. The team was clearly ready to play, was not bothered by the cold and didn't let the crowd get to them. Chan Gailey's offensive calls exploited a number of weaknesses in the Bills' defense and going for the touchdown at the end of the first half was an excellent gamble that paid off as a crushing blow to the Bills' spirits. Despite the overall impressive performance of the team, there were a few things that could and should be worked on in the next week before Miami faces the Buccaneers. The run defense against the 19th rated rushing attack in the league was a little disappointing. In the end, it didn't matter much and the Dolphins did keep the Bills from sustaining a consistent rushing attack, but the Dolphins ended up giving up 160 yards at 6.2 ypc. That is too much room for a top defense to give up, especially against a team like the Bucs this week, who are relying on Warrick Dunn to propel their offense. Also, penalties were a factor again this week. The Dolphins committed 10 penalties for 89 yards and stopped several drives late in the game with holding penalties. If Miami is going to beat some of the higher powered teams at the end of the year, they are going to have to keep drives going in the 4th quarter and not penalize themselves into punting. Jay Fiedler returned and played his best game as a Dolphin so far, completing 13 of 21 passes for 214 yards with 3 touchdowns and no interceptions. That's a quarterback rating of 135.7, folks, and it doesn't get much better than that. Lamar Smith also returned and rushed 28 times for 100 yards at 3.6 ypc. That average is not particularly impressive, but on the opening drive, he carried 6 times for 45 yards and caught the touchdown pass. All together, he caught 4 passes for 23 yards. He pounded and battered his way through the game and gave Miami the running attack it lacked last week. JJ Johnson got some playing time in the 2nd half, carrying 6 times for 23 yards. If not for a couple of holding penalties, he would have had more. Autrey Denson also played, but didn't make nearly as much of an impact as he did last week, against the Colts. He carried twice for 10 yards, but didn't catch any passes. He also returned 2 kickoffs for 32 yards. Rob Konrad and Deon Dyer both did their share of blocking this week and did a good job. Konrad also caught a pass for 18 yards, helping to set up one of Miami's scores. Leslie Shepherd led the receivers this week with 3 catches for 67 yards and a touchdown at the end of the first half. He continues to surprise me with his speed and ability to get open. Oronde Gadsden also caught 3 passes and a touchdown against the Bills, including a beautiful, leaping one-handed grab at the Bills' 5 yard line to help set up one score. His one big mistake was getting penalized for holding in a 4th quarter drive that killed one of the Dolphins' first downs. Tony Martin only caught one pass in the game, but it was a big 39 yard completion on the final drive of the first half that put Miami in striking distance for a touchdown. OJ McDuffie also caught only one pass, but it went for 24 yards and helped set up Miami's second touchdown of the game. Hunter Goodwin and Jed Weaver didn't catch any passes this week and Goodwin seemed to have a little trouble with his blocking. He also got penalized for holding late in the game. The offensive line did a good job against Buffalo's defense and were especially effective against the Bills' 4-3 alignment. They did give up two sacks, but otherwise did a good job blocking and opening running holes. Zach Thomas played on his ankle even though it is still bothering him somewhat. He led all defensive players with 8 tackles, but seemed to be limited in his mobility. Jason Taylor had a great day, picking up 3 sacks and 6 tackles. He was all over Rob Johnson from the beginning and on one of his sacks, he took down John Fina and Rob Johnson at the same time. Brock Marion was next with 5 tackles and provided good deep coverage, but was the only starting defensive back who didn't record an interception this week. Poor Brock. Trace Armstrong seems to enjoy playing the Bills, because he always has good games against them. He totaled 5 tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble. Lorenzo Bromell was given playing time this week when Rich Owens couldn't go. He responded with an impressive performance of 4 tackles and a sack. Patrick Surtain got back on track after a rough week against the Colts last week. He picked off a pass in the endzone to halt the Bills' first scoring threat, registered 3 solo tackles and deflected another pass that resulted in an interception by.... Brian Walker had 3 solo tackles, just like Surtain and got an interception off of a tipped ball by Surtain. He also had another pass defensed. Following this game, Walker leads all Miami defensive backs with 6 interceptions this season. Kenny Mixon continues to play steady, if unspectacular football at the left defensive end position. He picked up 2 solo tackles this week. Derrick Rodgers did not duplicate his performance of last week, but had 2 tackles in the regular defense and 2 tackles on special teams. He also did a good job on Jay Riemersma. Daryl Gardener only had 1 tackle this week and made a mistake when he hit Rob Johnson late after Johnson was out-of-bounds. He did deserve the penalty, although it didn't look like he was trying to hurt Johnson. Jermaine Haley and Robert Jones both contributed 1 tackle each, but neither had any big plays worth discussing. They continue to be steady contributers to the overall effort. Sam Madison only had one tackle, but made a nice adjustment to get his interception that set up a Miami field goal. Between Madison and Surtain, Eric Moulds was limited to 2 catches for 31 yards. Terrence Shaw had a single tackle and while he didn't contribute any big plays, he also was not beaten for any. Trent Gamble made a surprise appearance in the game after Jerry Wilson was injured. Gamble did a good job in coverage of Jay Riemersma for much of the game and at one point, knocked the ball out of Riemersma's hands, denying him a 25 yard catch. Larry Izzo contributed 3 special teams tackles this week, while Tommy Hendricks had one of his own. Matt Turk went back to being "Mr. Inconsistent" this week, punting 4 times for an average of 40.3 yards per punt, but shanking at least one kick. Olindo Mare' had a good game, making all 4 of his field goal attempts, but not putting any of his kickoffs in the endzone. There were a number of injuries this week, although none appear to be serious. Foremost was Todd Wade, who left the game with a bruised and swelling calf in the 2nd half. He will be evaluated on Monday, but nothing appears broken. Of more concern may be his shoulder, which has been bothering him for several weeks. Leslie Shepherd twisted his knee in the 3rd quarter and will have an MRI on Monday, but first indications are that it's a sprain. Jerry Wilson sprained his right ankle, while linebacker Twan Russell sprained his left ankle. And Jason Taylor bruised his hand, but X-rays were negative, so he should be fine for next week. This game against the Bills seems to have put to rest the notion that this Dolphins' team will follow the pattern of most of the Dolphins' teams over the last 10 years; specifically, that they will fold in December and limp into January - if they get there at all. Yesterday, the Dolphins not only didn't fold, they came out stronger than they have in any game this season, beating one of their fiercest opponents on the road and giving themselves a real boost going into the home stretch. While the season is far from over, the Dolphins are looking more and more like the team that we've been hoping they'd be since Don Shula left. It's both surprising and ironic that it happened after both JJ and Dan Marino retired. Regardless of how well they played this weekend, they still have a tough road ahead of them and can't afford a letdown in motivation or preparation as the Bucs come to town. One bad game in the next three weeks could ruin all the hard work they've put in since March to get where they are now. The Dolphins are playing terrific football, but they must still take it one game at a time.
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