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WEATHER AND FIELD CONDITIONS: At gametime, it was partly cloudy, 86°F (30.0° C). Humidity: 65%, Wind: East 15 mph. There was a very heavy shower in the 3rd quarter, but it didn't last very long. The Marlins baseball diamond was still in place.
Offense: Defense: QB - 10 Chad Pennington LE - 70 Kendall Langford RB - 23 Ronnie Brown NT - 95 Jason Ferguson FB - 39 Lousaka Polite RE - 94 Randy Starks WR - 19 Ted Ginn,Jr SLB - 99 Jason Taylor WR - 15 Devone Bess ILB - 51 Akin Ayodele TE - 80 Anthony Fasano ILB - 52 Channing Crowder LT - 77 Jake Long WLB - 55 Joey Porter LG - 65 Justin Smiley LCB - 25 Will Allen C - 64 Jake Grove RCB - 31 Sean Smith RG - 61 Shawn Murphy SS - 37 Yeremiah Bell RT - 72 Vernon Carey FS - 28 Gibril Wilson K - 5 Dan Carpenter P - 2 Brandon Fields PR - 87 Chris Williams KR - 87 Chris WilliamsGAME SUMMARY: The Dolphins' first pre-season game of the 2009 season was not a pretty affair and hopefully is not a foreshadowing of things to come. As is often the case in early pre-season games, both teams were pretty sloppy, with plenty of penalties (18 total), bad plays, missed assignments and poor route running. Having said that, the Dolphins did win this game 12-9 and since there are no points for style in the NFL, it counts just as much as any other pre-season game. What that means is that it counts a lot more to the rookies and veterans who are fighting to make the roster than it does to the team as a whole. From a team perspective, the game itself was not terribly interesting. Most of the drives were short, with only one touchdown scored by either team. In fact, of the 23 drives in the game, 10 went for fewer that 10 yards and 7 of those went for fewer than 5 yards. The Dolphins got the better of the first quarter, with Miami's offensive starters racking up 95 yards and 3 points against the Jaguars' starting defense - most of that on plays involving Ted Ginn, who caught 2 passes for 26 yards, ran an end-around play for 14 yards and drew a 34 yard pass interference penalty. On the other side of the ball, Miami's starting defense shut down the Jaguar's offense, limiting them to 18 net yards in 3 series for no points and sacking David Garrard once. In the second and third quarters, the game was more equal with the Jaguars getting all 9 of their points on 3 field goals after drives of 52, 48 and 8 yards. The final drive was after an interception of a Chad Henne pass intended for Patrick Turner deep in Miami territory. The Dolphins' second team offense also scored most of Miami's points in the second and third quarters off of drives of 55 and 46 yards, with Chad Henne hitting Ernest Wilford on short pass which he then turned into a 33 yard touchdown. The fourth quarter was scoreless, as both teams went deep into their depth charts to let the guys fighting for the final roster spots play. The Dolphins' first string played well, for the most part, although they had trouble getting their running game going. As I pointed out earlier, the offense had 95 yards in the first quarter and the defense held the Jags to 18 net yards. The second string defense had more problems, giving up 130 yards to Jaguars' QB Todd Bouman, who did not have a lot of stellar receivers to throw to. The Dolphins' second string offense was inconsistent, throwing an interception, but also scoring the game's only touchdown. In the last part of the game, neither team scored any points or played very well. Overall, the Dolphins' starters were good, but the backups had some issues. In terms of team stats, the team had 7 penalties for 72 yards, but the starters only had 1. The team picked up 257 yards of offense - 118 rushing and 139 passing, but at a modest 3.2 yards per rush and 5.3 yards per pass attempt. The Dolphins gave up two interceptions, but had two picks themselves for a net ratio of 0 turnovers. The Dolphins also controlled time of possession at 30:47 and converted 43% of their third downs. On the downside, they were 0 for 2 in the red zone, which was supposed to be an area of focus this year. On special teams, Miami made both of it's field goals, but had an extra point blocked. They gave up an average of 25 yards per kickoff return and allowed one punt return for 7 yards. The Dolphins averaged 31.7 yards per kickoff return, which is outstanding, but averaged just 0.25 yards per punt return - not so outstanding. Chad Pennington gave a decent performance, completing 4 of 7 for 38 yards with no TDs and no interceptions. Chad Henne complete 7 of 11 for 94 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT. He was not terribly consistent, but did drive the team down for two scores, including the game's only touchdown. And he would have had another touchdown if Ricky Williams had not dropped his pass in the endzone. Pat White's numbers look awful, until you take a closer look. Statistically, he completed on 2 of 7 passes for 14 yards with 1 interception. He also scrambled 6 times for 20 yards. However, of those 7 passes, 3 of those incompletions were clear drops including the interception where White hit RB Anthony Kimble in the hands and Kimble bobbled the ball into the air where it was picked off. If you don't penalize him for those 3 drops, his numbers look much better. Ricky Williams got 10 carries but only picked up 31 yards on the ground and dropped a pass in the endzone that would have given Chad Henne another touchdown pass. Ronnie Brown didn't play much, running 4 times for 10 yards. Ted Ginn,Jr looked like he's taken the next step, catching 2 passes for 26 yards, picking up a 34 yards pass interference penalty for 34 yards and running the end-around for 14 yards - all in the first quarter. His counterpart, Davone Bess, did very little, catching only 2 passe for 12 yards. Greg Camarillo did not play. Patrick Turner caught 3 passes for 33 yards, bu also had at least one blatant drop and another that he could have made a better play on. Brian Hartline caught 1 pass for 20 yards. RB Lex Hilliardplayed exclusively in the second half, but had the best rushing average, running 9 times for 42 yards at a 4.7 ypc average. He also had 2 special teams tackles. On the other hand, RB Anthony Kimble had no carries and the drop of White's pass that was picked off. On the offensive line, Shawn Murphy and Donald Thomas rotated at right guard, with Murphy getting the first start. Murphy looked ok, but Thomas looked better. It will be interesting to see what happens this week. Jake Long had a good game, although he did whiff on one fast pass blitz by a Jaguars' linebacker. Justin Smiley and Jake Grove both looked ok, but both had some good blocks and bad blocks against Jaguars DT John Henderson, who is one of the premier defensive tackles in the league. They seemed unable to move him out of the way consistently. On defense, Randy Starks was the best defensive lineman, getting consistent pressure on David Garrard, both from the end and from the nose tackle spot on passing downs. He was also credited with knocking down one pass. Jason Ferguson was credited with the only sack of the game for Miami, but that sack was an almost total collapse of the pocket from all sides. Jason Taylor is back. He only played the first quarter, but he also was consistently in the backfield in Garrard's face. Channing Crowder and Akin Ayodele had good games, keeping the middle solid and providing some decent pressure up the middle. From the left end, Kendall Langford also did a good job, getting credit for a quarterback pressure and remaining solid. Perhaps the most impressive single performance of the game, however, was turned in by rookie cornerback Sean Smith, who started on the right side opposite Will Allen. Smith was matched up against former pro-bowler Torry Holt and kept him in check. Holt ended up with no catches on Smith. Smith was also not beaten deep the entire game and had an interception in the endzone when he had perfect coverage on Jaguars WR Tiquan Underwood. In contrast, his fellow rookie DB and first round draft choice Vontae Davis gave up at least 2 passes plays over 20 yards and had 3 penalties for 36 yards, including a pass interference call on a third down that kept a Jaguars' drive alive. Yeremiah Bell and Gibril Wilson were relatively quiet, but considering that the Jaguars only managed 18 yards against the first team defense, that is hardly a bad thing. CB Eric Green did not look good against the Jaguars backup receivers, giving up 2 or 3 long passes. Considering that the Jaguars do not have particularly good receivers, this is not a ringing endorsement. Rookie linebacker JD Folsom had the Dolphins' other interception of the game, but was otherwise relatively quiet. Cameron Wake is credited with a quarterback pressure, a pass batted down and two tackles on special teams. He looks to be solidifying his place on the team. Other players credited with passes defensed include S Courtney Bryan, S Tyrone Culver and CB Jason Allen. K Dan Carpenter improved his kickoffs, putting one in the endzone and one at the 2. He also made a 48 yard field goal attempt, but had his extra point attempt blocked, although mud from the rain certainly influenced that. K Connor Barth had one field goal of 27 yards and kicked off to the Jaguars 5. Last but not least is WR Chris Williams, the 5'8" undrafted rookie from New Mexico State. Williams handled all the return duties on Monday night. He made some mistakes on punt returns early, muffing one punt and trying to field another at the Dolphins' 5 yard line. However, did better as the game went on and had a 27 yard punt return in the 2nd half. He also averaged an excellent 31.8 yards per kickoff return. There were no significant injuries in this game. It was a typical first pre-season game for the Dolphins, with some good things, but also some important things to work on. Collectively, the team did not play particularly well, but Miami's first string beat the Jaguars' first string and that is important. Individually, there were no important surprises from most of the Dolphins' veterans. Players like Ted Ginn and Randy Starks seem to have picked up their game and should be more important to the team this season. Other veterans, such as Chad Pennington and Jason Ferguson, look like they will still be the steady foundation and leaders on the team. And then there is Jason Taylor. Taylor is in a special class all his own, because he is an established veteran and team leader and yet is a newcomer at the same time. But his return could help lift the defense to a new level and will be very important to the team this fall. Not to mention the good feeling it gives us fans to see number 99 lining up on the Miami defensive line again. Of the rookies, clearly the biggest surprise is Sean Smith. To me, Smith has been the most exciting of all the rookies since the off-season workouts, because his physical gifts allow him to compete with players like Randy Moss and Terrell Owens on an equal footing. And now it looks like Smith may have the mental discipline and instincts to go along with his physical skills. That combination could prove to make him the best draft pick the Dolphins have made this season. His success so far reminds me of another defensive back taken in the second round that turned out ok - Patrick Surtain. On the other hand, first round pick Vontae Davis seems to lack the mental discipline and maturity to play well at the NFL level right now. The Dolphins have a sign in their team meeting room that says "tough, smart and disciplined." Right now, Davis only qualifies in one of those categories. Because of his first round status and contract situation, Davis will be on the team in September. But he has a long way to go before he is effective in the secondary.
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