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WEATHER AND FIELD CONDITIONS: At gametime, it was partly cloudy, 87°
F (30.6° C). Humidity: 64%, Wind: SSE 8 mph. There was a shower
early in the game, but nothing like last week's deluge in the 3rd
quarter. 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 - 82 Brian Hartline 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 - 24 Vontae Davis RG - 66 Donald Thomas 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 WilliamsNOTES: The Dolphins started WR Brian Hartline opposite Ted Ginn,Jr and Vontae Davis in place of the sick Sean Smith. Donald Thomas got the start at right guard, but Shawn Murphy rotated with him after the first series. Offense: Defense: QB - 17 Jake Delhomme LDE - 96 Tyler Brayton RB - 34 DeAngelo Williams LDT - 98 Nick Hayden FB - 45 Brad Hoover RDT - 92 Damione Lewis WR - 80 Dwayne Jarrett RDE - 90 Julius Peppers WR - 81 Kenny Moore SLB - 53 Neil Diggs TE - 88 Dante Rosario MLB - 52 Jon Beason LT - 69 Jordan Gross WLB - 50 James Anderson LG - 70 Travelle Wharton LCB - 20 Chris Gamble C - 67 Ryan Kalil RCB - 31 Richard Marshall RG - 68 Keydrick Vincent SS - 43 Chris Harris RT - 79 Jeff Otah FS - 30 Charles Godfrey K - 4 John Kasay P - 7 Jason Baker PR - 16 Larry Beavers KR - 33 Mike GoodsonGAME SUMMARY: The Dolphins beat the Carolina Panthers on Saturday night 27-17 with a much smoother performance than their first game, but one that was not without its problems. Many of the problems in the first game were successfully addressed, but others still remain and will need to be worked on if the Dolphins are to have a successful season. The Dolphins' starters played through the first quarter and into the start of the second quarter on both sides of the ball. The starting offense, with Chad Pennington at the helm, drove 60, 25 and 75 yards on their first 3 drives for a total of 10 points. Ronnie Brown was exceptionally effective on the first drive, accounting for 53 of the 60 yards and the touchdown. On the other scoring drive, the Wildcat formation was used 3 times, accounting for 50 of the 73 yards. On defense, the Dolphins shut down the Panthers' starters on two of their 3 drives, putting good pressure on Jake Delhomme and stuffing the Panthers' running game. Unfortunately, the second drive went for a touchdown with the Panthers converting two 3rd and long situations. The touchdown itself was an amazing 25 yard run by DeAngelo Williams, where he broke 4 Dolphins' tackles, two of which were behind the line of scrimmage. With about 10 minutes left in the first half, the Dolphins put Pat White in at quarterback with the first string. White worked the entire second quarter for the Dolphins and did not make any terrible mistakes, but also did not drive the team for any points. The first half ended with the Dolphins down 14-10, although the Dolphins' starters had mostly dominated play. The defense began substitutions in the middle of the second quarter and after Chris Williams muffed a punt deep in Miami territory, the defense gave up a touchdown to the Panthers. Otherwise, the defense held the Panthers in check for the rest of the half. In the second half, Chad Henne took over at quarterback and played the rest of the game. The starting offensive line played the first part of the third quarter and Henne took advantage of that by driving the Dolphins down for a field goal on their first possession in the second half. After the Panthers were stuffed deep in their end of the field on their first drive of the second half, the Dolphins had good field position and responded with a touchdown drive, most of which was a 39 yard touchdown run around the left side by Lex Hilliard. The Panthers did manage one more decent drive to start the 4th quarter that stalled in the red zone and resulted in 3 points, but otherwise were shut out the rest of the game. Following a fumble by Carolina on a punt return, the Dolphins got more touchdown on a pass to Joe Kowalewski from Chad Henne in the 4th quarter. This left the final score 27-17. The Dolphins' first string played better this week that last week and they weren't that bad last week. Pennington and the first string offense were very effective, putting up 10 points on two long drives. The running game was excellent, averaging 5.2 yards per carry in the first half and 5.0 yards per carry for the whole game, with Ricky and Ronnie together getting 10 carries for 5.1 ypc. The passing game was less effective, with the QBs completing 20 of 30 for 180 yards and 2 TDs with no interceptions. While that is a not terribly impressive 6 yards per attempt, they did complete 67% of their passes and did not turn the ball over, for a combined QB rating of 104.9. The defense was not quite as effective, although they were dominate for most of the game. Overall, they held the Panthers - who are normally a very effective running team - to 98 total yards rushing at 3.8 ypc. Unfortunately, the starting defense did miss 4 tackles on DeAngelo Williams' 25 yard touchdown run. Against the passing game, the Dolphins were also pretty effective, limiting Panthers' QBs to 16 of 29 for 146 yards and no touchdowns. While the defense was only credited with one sack, they did put consistent effective pressure on Panthers' QBs for most of the game, although the starters did allow two long completions on the Panthers' 1st quarter touchdown drive. It should also be remembered that neither Steve Smith nor Mushin Mohammed played in this game, so the Panthers were without their best receivers. Special teams were a mixed bag for this game. The Dolphins' coverage units allowed an average of 14.4 yards per punt return by the Panthers, including several long returns. However, they also caused two fumbles by the Panthers and recovered both (although one was negated by a blind referee). In their own return game, the Dolphins did not do so well with Chris Williams allowing a punt to bounce off his facemask for a muff that would ultimately result in a Panthers' touchdown. Williams was eventually benched in the second half for poor performance and Patrick Cobbs and Brian Hartline handled return duties after that, without any fireworks, but also without any big mistakes. In the stats department, the Dolphins converted 43% of their 3rd downs, while allowing the Panthers just two third down conversions. The Dolphins also dominated time of possession at 32:58 and committed just 3 penalties in this game. On the downside of the stats, the Dolphins were not efficient in the red zone, converting 1 of 2 opportunities into touchdowns. They also had 4 fumbles, although they only lost 1. Chad Pennington played very well this week, completing 8 of 11 for 105 yards and a touchdown. That works out to a QB rating of 132.8. Chad Henne completed 10 of 16 for 75 yards with 1 TD. His completion percentage and yards were lower than last week, but he didn't throw a pick and lead the team to 17 points. Pat White got to play with the starting offense for about 10 minutes of the 2nd quarter, but was not involved in any of the Wildcat plays. His stats look better this week, but he was not really any more effective. He was 2 of 3 for 4 yards and rushed twice for 11 yards. Ronnie Brown saw a lot more action this week, carrying 7 times for 31 yards, catching 3 passes for 43 yards and scoring 1 touchdown on a 28 yard pass. He also ran the Wildcat 4 times. He was extremely effective from both the backfield and in the Wildcat. Ricky Williams got 3 carries for 21 yards and caught 1 pass for 7 yards. He did not look as effective as Ronnie Brown, but he was very dangerous from the Wildcat. Patrick Cobbs continues to look outstanding, picking up 24 yards on 5 carries and catching 4 passes for 56 yards, including a 35 yard reception on a Wildcat play. He is very fast and much stronger than his size indicates. Lex Hilliard has been having a very good pre-season and this week he scored a touchdown on a 39 yard run around the left side. He also caught 2 passes for 11 yards. He may convince the team to keep 4 running backs. Lousaka Polite did not get any carries this week, but his lead blocking looked much better. His backup, Joe Kowalewski, finally made his presence known by catching a 2 yard touchdown pass. This week Ted Ginn,Jr only had one pass thrown his way and he dropped it. He was clearly not the focus of the offense this week. Rookie Brian Hartline surprisingly got the start opposite Ted Ginn,Jr, but didn't do much to validate this decision. He had three passes thrown his way, but only caught one of them. One was out of his reach, but he dropped another one that was low. He also returned 2 punts for 9 yards. Patrick Turner caught the most passes of any wide receiver, taking in 3 for 25 yards. However, he dropped one that he should have had. Davone Bess also dropped one and caught one for 7 yards. Bess did have one punt return for 19 yards. Greg Camarillo did catch 2 passes, but for just 4 yards. On the offensive line, Shawn Murphy and Donald Thomas rotated at right guard, with Thomas getting the first start. Murphy looked ok, but Thomas looked exceptional again this week, especially when pulling. Jake Long had a very good game, controlling Julius Peppers but once again, he whiffed on one fast pass rush by a Panthers' rookie that resulted in a sack and a fumble. Long needs to get more consistent - he should not be beaten by a rookie second string player. Justin Smiley and Jake Grove looked better this week and Smiley looked good while pulling. On defense, Randy Starks, Kendall Langford and Jason Ferguson and played very well, each taking his turn in collapsing the Carolina offensive line and keeping the running game in check. Jason Taylor did play this week and did a good job defending the run. He didn't have any big plays, but did put pressure on Delhomme. Channing Crowder and Akin Ayodele had good games, keeping the middle solid and providing some decent pressure on blitzes. Ayodele had one particularly nice stop behind the line on DeAngelo Williams for a 3 yard loss. This week, with CB Sean Smith sidelined, Vontae Davis started and played an excellent game. He was aggressive but smart this game, did not get beat severely in coverage and made several nice stops including 2 tackles for a loss. Will Allen had one tackle but was relatively quiet. Yeremiah Bell and Gibril Wilson were more active this week, with Bell getting pressure on a blitz and Wilson getting two tackles, although neither had any big plays. Rookie Chris Clemons actually lead the team in tackles with 5 this week and a special teams tackle. Tyrone Culver also had 4 tackles along with Nathan Jones, who also had a pass defensed. K Dan Carpenter had 3 kickoffs with an average of 68 yards, a 41 yard field goal and an extra point. K Connor Barth also had 3 kickoffs for an average of 62 yards, a 21 yard field goal and a couple of extra points. ` WR Chris Williams could not duplicate his success of last week, only average 2.7 yards per return on 3 punts, including the muffed punt and a single 22 yard kickoff return. It turns out that he may have fractured his hand in the game, WR Chris Williams may have fractured his hand during the game, but the team is not saying much about that. He was waived-injured today, so there must be some issue with him physically. This game was a much better performance for the team than the first pre-season game, but they're still not where they want to be for the regular season opener. The starting offense did an excellent job in the first 20 minutes of the game, moving very well and getting 10 points. The running game was very strong and Ronnie Brown looked like an all-Pro this game. The starting defense looked good overall, but had some lapses that kept the Panthers competitive during the first half. Allowing the long completions on 3rd down and missing 4 tackles on DeAngelo Williams on the Panthers' first touchdown drive was sloppy. Vontae Davis' turnaround was the biggest surprise in the game. After looking very poor in the first game, he looked like a legitimate first round pick this week. He played smart, very tough and disciplined. He showed some excellent tackling for a defensive back and showed he can be a real asset to the team. The backups on both offense and defense looked good, too. Certainly Patrick Cobbs will continue to be a big threat and even Lex Hilliard looks like a good backup. Right now, the Dolphins may have the deepest starting backfield in the league. The receivers are still looking inconsistent, but the focus this week was clearly on the running game, so it's difficult to tell whether the starting receivers' lack of production was from poor performance on their part or because of design by the coaches. The biggest concern from the game is the play of the special teams. The did not have good coverage on returns and did not return the ball well, themselves. Despite the emphasis on that aspect of the game during the off-season, it does not look like the team has made much progress in that area. The loss of Chris Williams for the year (he was waived injured following the game) could be a big setback to special teams. While he did not play well this week, his talent is undeniable and no one else looked very impressive trying to fill his shoes. It was a good game for Miami and if they can just get their special teams in order, they should be in for a good season.
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