 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
 |
Dolphins vs Broncos Game Summary |  | ||||||||
| | Home | News Wire | Roster | Depth Chart | Schedule | | ||||||||||
Miami Dolphins
Offense Defense
WR 86 M.Booker LE 93 K.Carter
LT 77 D.McIntosh NT 94 K.Traylor
LG 78 J.James DT 91 V.Holliday
C 68 S.McKinney RE 99 J.Taylor
RG 66 R.Hadnot WLB 52 C.Crowder
RT 72 V.Carey MLB 54 Z.Thomas
TE 81 R.McMichael SLB 55 J.Seau
WR 84 C.Chambers LCB 25 R.Howard
QB 11 G.Frerotte RCB 29 S.Madison
RB 23 R.Brown SS 24 T.Jones
TE 87 L.Diamond FS 30 L.Schulters
Notes: Rookie Channing Crowder started in place of veteran Donnie
Spragan at weakside linebacker, while Lance Schulters took over for
Yeremiah Bell at free safety.
Denver Broncos
Offense Defence
WR 80 R.Smith LE 91 E.Ekuban
LT 78 M.Lepsis LT 96 M.Myers
LG 50 B.Hamilton RT 61 G.Warren
C 66 T.Nalen RE 93 T.Pryce
RG 65 C.Carlisle WLB 52 I.Gold
RT 72 G.Foster MLB 56 A.Wilson
TE 82 S.Alexander SLB 55 DJ.Williams
WR 85 A.Lelie LCB 24 C.Bailey
QB 16 J.Plummer RCB 35 L.Walls
RB 38 M.Anderson SS 25 N.Ferguson
FB 39 K.Johnson FS 47 J.Lynch
SUMMARY:
The Dolphins opened their season with a 34-10 victory over the Denver Broncos on Sunday, surprising even the most faithful fans with their almost complete domination of Denver on both sides of the ball. The offense, while still making stupid mistakes . they committed five false starts in the first half . had a good game, overall. Innovative play calling, backed by the steady hand of Gus Frerotte racked up 426 yards for Miami along with 27 points. The defense kept the Broncos out of the endzone until the game was out of reach, stifling Denver's high powered running game and frustrating Jake Plummer to the point where he completed only 46% of his passes. It was a 1 o'clock game and the weather favored the Dolphins with high heat and humidity. Miami, of course, wore their white jerseys while forcing the Broncos to wear black in the South Florida sunshine. The first half was not very inspiring for either team, as both defenses stopped the opponent's running games cold. With the exception of Chris Chamber's 61 yard reverse and a 30 yard run by Tatum Bell, neither team had any kind of running game. The Bronco's Mike Anderson carried 4 times for 5 yards before he left with a rib injury while the Dolphins' Ronnie Brown managed only 9 yards on 8 carries. The Dolphins did better with their passing game in the first half than their running game, but were still largely ineffective, frequently stopping themselves with avoidable penalties. The Dolphins had 5 false start penalties in the first half, two of which stopped a decent drive in the second quarter and moved the Dolphins back from the Denver 16 to the 26 on two successive plays. Frerotte threw for 125 yards in the first half, but also threw a pick right to Champ Bailey that set up Denver's only first half points. The Broncos passing game in the first half was practically non-existent. They did manage to pick up 63 yards and Plummer was not sacked, but he didn't complete his first pass until midway through the second quarter. The Dolphins' pass coverage was excellent and while they didn't sack Plummer, they did manage to get some pressure on him. The highlight of the first half was when Denver had a first and goal at Miami's 3 yard line and couldn't punch it into the endzone. Zach Thomas stopped Tatum Bell 3 times for no gain and even after Jason Taylor jumped offsides on one of the plays, the Dolphins still kept Denver out of the endzone. When Denver elected to go for it on 4th down, Zach Thomas and Jason Taylor stopped Tatum Bell for a 1 yard loss and the ball went over to Miami on downs. The first half ended with Miami up 6-3. Even though the Dolphins had controlled the game, they were not far ahead at the opening of the second half. But the Dolphins eliminated the mistakes that had plagued them on offense in the first half and wore the Broncos down through the third quarter with long drives, scoring their first touchdown on a very nicely designed short pass to Randy McMichael. During the third quarter, Miami's offense controlled the ball for 11:39, wearing out the Denver defense and setting them up for the knockout in the 4th. The Dolphins scored on their first two possessions of the fourth quarter, first on a very nice nine yard touchdown run by Sammy Morris and the second time on a short pass to Marty Booker that Booker caught in stride right behind the Denver cornerback and outran him to the endzone. The only Denver touchdown of the game occurred after Wes Welker fumbled during a punt return at the Dolphins 26 yard line. Following the Marty Booker touchdown, which put Miami up 27-10, the Broncos went into desperation mode and Jake Plummer threw 2 interceptions on two of the last Broncos' possessions. The game ended, fittingly enough, when Jason Taylor stripped Jake Plummer of the ball at the Miami 13 yard line with 4 seconds to play and returned the fumble 87 yards for the final touchdown. The best thing about this game was the innovative and aggressive play calling on offense and the new schemes on defense. Denver had no idea what the Dolphins were going to do and were not prepared to handle either the Miami offense or to work against the defense. The Dolphins were more than ready to handle the Denver running attack and held the Broncos to 70 yards rushing on 20 carries. Mike Anderson had only 5 yards on 4 carries and Tatum Bell had 47 yards on 13 carries. If you take away Bell's one 30 yard run, Bell averaged only about 1.4 yards per carry. On offense, the Dolphins used a variety of formations and plays and spread the ball around to nearly every player. Eight different players caught Gus Frerotte passes and four of them caught four or more each. The offensive line acquitted themselves well in pass protection, keeping Denver's defense off of Frerotte for most of the game. Frerotte was not sacked once and was rarely pressured. Frerotte's receivers did a good job of getting open and, for the most part, catching the passes thrown their way. The best statistic the Dolphins' offense had was their 53% conversion rate on third down. That allowed them to keep their drives alive and keep the Denver defense on the field to the point where the Denver players were so tired they couldn't keep up with the Dolphins' receivers. Gus Frerotte's steady hand on the helm kept those drives alive with timely completions to the correct receivers. Also, the team did not stop attacking offensively until there was no hope for the Broncos. There was no "sitting on the lead" that past Dolphins' teams employed and Dolphins offensive coordinator Scott Linehan was never afraid to attack the Broncos' defense. On defense, the various schemes and constant shifting of players kept the Broncos' offense off-balance for much of the game. The run defense, in particular, was overwhelmingly better than last year's. The Broncos' offense was 4th in the NFL in rushing last year, without Mike Anderson, and the Dolphins (who were 31st in defending the run last year) completely shut them down. The defensive line was rock solid and immovable against the run and did a good job collapsing the pocket around Plummer. While Plummer was only sacked once, he was chased out of the pocket and harassed frequently. Pass coverage was generally solid and often kept Plummer from finding open receivers. There were a couple of nice plays by the defensive backs, knocking the ball away from the receivers. Special teams kick coverage was good and Olindo Mare' made both his field goals and all his extra points. Wes Welker did an excellent job returning punts, averaging about 16 yards per punt return. Stupid penalties - especially in the first half - cost the Dolphins a lot of good field position and stopped several drives. The Dolphins had five false start penalties in the first half and three on one drive. The defense also had two offsides penalties. They steadied down in the second half, but they won't be able to afford those penalties against better teams. Turnovers were a problem. The Dolphins lost two fumbles and an interception. Wes Welker fumbled during a punt return, Chris Chambers lost the ball on the first series after a pass reception and Gus Frerotte threw one pass right to Champ Bailey. To be fair to Frerotte, it was obviously a miscommunication with his receiver, but it was still an interception. Run blocking needs to get much better. Ronnie Brown only got 9 yards on 8 carries in the first half and was met in the backfield several times. Things improved somewhat in the second half, but while the Dolphins ended the day with 151 rushing yards, a lot of that was on Chris Chambers' 61 yard romp in the first half. Overall, Ronnie Brown only averaged 2.6 yards per carry and a lot of that wasn't his fault. Gus Frerotte completed 24 of 36 passes for 275 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. He looked poised and in command, did not try to force the ball where it didn't belong and had a very nice touch on some of this passes. He was helped by the offensive line but also did his own work in avoiding the pass rush and was not sacked. It was a pleasantly surprising performance by the veteran, especially considering how poorly he played in most of the pre-season games. Ronnie Brown started at tailback. He had a better second half than first and ended the day with 22 carries for 57 yards. He was a little hesitent at times hitting the hole and made some mistakes reversing direction, getting tackled for a loss more than once. But he was powerful and determined and broke a couple of decent runs. He had very good speed and made a nice one-handed reception. Randy McMichael caught 6 passes for 55 yards and a touchdown. The touchdown was interesting because McMichael lined up on the right and on the snap, crossed behind the offensive line to the left, where he tripped. When he got up, he was all alone and Frerotte tossed him the ball for an easy six points. Marty Booker caught 5 passes for 104 yards, including his 60 yard touchdown reception. On that play, he got behind the Denver secondary and caught an easy over-the-shoulder pass, then raced to the endzone. The Denver defensive backs were so depleted, they couldn't keep up with him. Chris Chambers had a very up-and-down game. He did catch 5 passes, but it was just for 40 yards, as the Broncos were obviously keying on him. He also fumbled after a catch in the first series. And when he ran that 61 yard reverse in the second quarter, he stepped out of bounds at the Denver 21 with no one touching him, when he could have carried it to the endzone. Wes Welker made a significant contribution to the offense, catching 4 passes for 60 yards in addition to his normal punt and kickoff return duties. He returned 4 punts for 64 yards and 2 kickoffs for 51. It would have been an outstanding day, but he fumbled a punt at the Miami 26 that set up the Broncos only touchdown. Travis Minor carried 5 times for 17 yards and caught 1 pass for no gain. Sammy Morris carried just twice for 14 yards, but one of those carries was a very nice 9 yard touchdown run that put the Dolphins up 20-3 in the 4th quarter. David Boston caught 1 pass for 8 yards, but dropped another on a crossing route. The offensive line was very good in pass protection, but not so good in run blocking for most of the game. None of the offensive line really stood out, either good or bad. On defense, Zach Thomas put on another classic performance, racking up a combined 14 tackles, including 3 stops of Tatum Bell at the Miami 3 yard line during the goal line stand in the 2nd quarter. Zach was at his best. Jason Taylor officially had 5 tackles, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery and an 87 yard fumble return for a touchdown. He got his hands on Jake Plummer at least 2 other times, but was unable to bring him down. He also lined up at tight end on the touchdown play to Randy McMichael and while he didn't catch the pass, he did draw 2 defenders away from the side where McMichael made the catch. JT was at his best, also. Lance Schulters, starting for the first time at free safety, picked up 8 tackles and an interception on an overthrown pass by Jake Plummer. Tebucky Jones, at strong safety, also had 8 tackles, as well as 3 tackles on special teams. Junior Seau had 4 tackles, but most of those were downfield. Keith Traylor, at nose tackle, had 3 stops, including a critical one on a goal line stand in the 4th quarter. More importantly, he took over Tim Bowens' job of clogging the middle and keeping offensive linemen off of the linebackers. His nickname is "the plug". Channing Crowder, starting at weakside linebacker, had 3 tackles, including one on Mike Anderson for a loss and knocked down one pass. However, he also had a pass interference penalty on Rod Smith. Sam Madison did a great job covering Denver's receivers and had 2 tackles, one of which stopped Mike Anderson for a loss on a 3rd down. He also knocked down 2 passes. Reggie Howard had 2 tackles and 1 special teams tackle. He also did a good job covering Denver's receivers. Kevin Carter only had one tackle, but did a good job stuffing the line of scrimmage and pressuring Jake Plummer. Yeremiah Bell had a tackle and Jeff Zgonina had an assist. Travis Daniels had no tackles, but did have an interception on a desperation pass by Jake Plummer and also knocked down two passes. Olindo Mare' hit both his field goal attempts and put most of his kickoffs in the endzone. He had a good day. Dan Jones did a good job substituting for Matt Turk, averaging 47.3 yards per punt. Gus Frerotte slammed his finger against a Denver helmet in the 3rd quarter, but stayed in the game and didn't seem to have any trouble with it. On Monday, he had it wrapped to protect it, but it isn't serious and he should play on Sunday. Jason Taylor had to have IVs after the game for dehydration, but he should also be fine for the next game. No other injuries of significance were reported. The Dolphins made a clear statement with their opening game on Sunday - they are a different team than the one that went 4-12 last year. A very different team. And if one thing that happened on Sunday demonstrated that, it was the way the Dolphins responded to adversity. After the turnovers and the penalties in the first half, the Dolphins regrouped and played better. Last year, the team couldn't seem to get past the mistakes they made and the problems they had. This time, their mistakes only seemed to make them more determined and motivated them to succeed. The coaching in this game was first rate. The defense was crushing the Broncos offense, so the coaches didn't change anything. The offense, on the other hand, was having problems, so adjustments were made and the offense improved in the second half. Gus Frerotte impressed me more than any other player, mostly because I expected nothing from him. I thought he was going to be another Jay Fiedler, but he proved me wrong. Sometimes it's good to be wrong and I was very wrong about him on Sunday. While he didn't complete any long passes (the 60 yard touchdown was mostly Marty Booker running away from John Lynch and Lenny Walls), he was steady, efficient, on-target and composed. He didn't panic, he was clearly the leader on the offense and he only made on serious mistake - which might have been the receiver's fault. Unfortunately, I think the player who disappointed me the most was Chris Chambers. While he had a decent game, he is supposed to be the guy who makes the big plays. He's supposed to be the Dolphins' Randy Moss and he just didn't show that on Sunday. The reverse was a big play, but he had what they call in baseball an "unforced error". That play should have been a touchdown. Chambers only averaged 8 yards per catch, which is not what a playmaker is supposed to do. Overall, however, it was about as good a first game as we could even hope for, let alone expect. As fans, we're still an awfully long way from being able to book our tickets to the next SuperBowl. As a team, the Dolphins are still a long way from even worrying about the playoffs. Still, as the saying goes, the journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step. And the Dolphins certainly got off on the right foot as they took that first step on Sunday.
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
 |
 |
|||||||||
