The game started in a predictable enough fashion after the Patriots received the Dolphins' kickoff - they tried to run the ball. However, the Dolphins were up to the task, stuffing the Patriots' running game and forcing them to go three and out on their first series. When the Dolphins received the punt, they attempted to run the ball also and had a little more success, going 25 yards in 7 plays until Terry Kirby fumbled the ball away on a 4th-and-1 running attempt at the Patriots 41 yard line.

I have this to say about Terry Kirby's fumble - he made at least 2 mistakes on that play. He didn't cover up the ball with both hands when he jumped and he ignored a hole that had developed to his right to attempt to jump over Keith Byars who was blocking for him. The papers and announcers said that the Patriots linebacker forced the fumble, but after watching my video tape of that play about 12 times, I think Kirby just fumbled after the ball hit Byars' helmet.

Anyway, on the Patriots' next possession, they took the ball down the field for the first score of the game. This drive went 59 yards on 10 plays and ended with a 1-yard run by Kevin Turner. Again, the Patriots didn't have any luck running the ball, but had a lot of success with passes to their running backs out of the backfield. It took them 3 running plays to get into the endzone from the 3, but they did get there and it gave them a 7-0 lead with 4:44 left to go in the first quarter.

When the Dolphins got the ball back, they proceeded to put together their own impressive drive, but once again gave the ball back to New England after going 64 yards in 16 plays, using both the running game and the passing attack to move down to the Patriots' 9. Marino tried to hit Byars crossing on the right side at about the Patriots 4, but the ball was underthrown and, as Byars tried to grab it off the turf, he batted it back into the air behind him, where it was picked off by Patriots' linebacker Dwayne(?) Sabb. At this point, both Dolphins' drives had ended in turnovers.

After each team had a short drive that ended with a punt, the Patriots started a drive on their own 20 yard line and pushed the ball down the field to the Miami 9 yard line. Just at the point where it looked like the Patriots would take a bigger lead, Gene Atkins deflected a Drew Bledsoe pass in the endzone into the hands of Troy Vincent. It would be the first of 3 Patriot turnovers that Atkins would have a part in.

The Dolphins wasted no time on the opportunity, starting at their own 9 and moving quickly up the field to their own 36 in 3 plays. Then, Marino stepped back into the pocket and hit Mark Ingram on a deep post pattern over the middle for a 64 yard touchdown pass that had Ingram beating the Patriots' defense by a good 5 yards. This tied the score at 7-7.

With 2:15 left in the half, Drew Bledsoe brought the Patriots right back with the 2 minute drill, marching 68 yards in 8 plays to the endzone. Bledsoe completed 2 important passes to Ben Coates on this drive; a 26 yarder and a 16 yarder for the touchdown. The Patriots took the lead again, 14-7, with only 25 seconds left to go in the first half.

However, it's not a good idea to give Dan Marino even 25 seconds of playing time. After the ensuing kickoff, Marino hit 2 quick 21 yard passes to OJ McDuffie and Scott Miller and Pete Stoyanovich hit a 42 yard field goal to make it 14-10 at the half.

The Dolphins got the ball first in the second half, giving them a chance to take the lead if they could score, but they fizzled instead of burning and went a quick 3 downs and out. The Patriots got the ball after the punt at their own 37 yard line and wasted no time in going right back to Ben Coates for a 63-yard touchdown pass right down the middle of the Dolphins' defense. Coates was supposed to be covered by Chuck Bullough, who couldn't keep up with him and Gene Atkins was stiff armed out of the play by Coates who made a terrific catch and run into the endzone. That put the Patriots up 21-10, in what was looking to be a serious upset.

After the Dolphins got the ball on the kickoff, they went 5 yards in 3 plays and punted back to the Patriots, who returned the favor by going 2 yards in 3 plays and punting back to the Dolphins.

At this point, Irving Fryar had caught no passes - that's right, 0 passes - in the game, because the Patriots had been double teaming him. But with Jackson and Ingram starting to get open, the Patriots changed their minds. This, of course, was a mistake.

Starting at their own 39 after the Patriots' punt, the Dolphins went 61 yards in 4 plays, including a 40 yard pass to Irving Fryar for Fryar's first catch of the afternoon. The drive ended when Marino hit a leaping Keith Jackson in the back of the endzone on a 3rd down and 15 conversion for a 26 yard touchdown. The Dolphins then scored a 2 point conversion, running Terry Kirby over the left side behind Keith Sims. This put the Dolphins behind by 3, 21-18.

The Patriots took the ensuing kickoff and began another march down the field to the Dolphins' 35, where Gene Atkins picked off a poorly thrown Bledsoe pass, giving the Dolphins the ball. However, on the very next play, Marino and Dellenbach had a bad exchange at the snap and fumbled the ball back to the Patriots, who promptly took the ball into the endzone on a 24 yard drive that ended with a 5 yard pass from Bledsoe to Timpson. As a sidenote, on this play, Vincent was covering Timpson, but ran into Atkins in the back of the endzone allowing Timpson to come open. The Patriots were now back up 28-18.

The Dolphins, not to be outdone in this developing aerial duel, took the kickoff and marched right back, starting from their own 22 and going 78 yards on 4 plays. Again, on third and 15 from the Miami 46, Marino took the snap, stepped back and left, avoided a rushing Patriot and hit Irving Fryar down the left side for a 54 yard touchdown. It was vintage Marino and it put the Dolphins down by 3 again, 28-25.

After the Patriots offense finally faltered and the third quarter ended, the Patriots were forced to punt from their own 40 yard line and their rookie punter could only manage a 29 yard punt. Thus, the Dolphins started the final quarter with a first and 10 on their own 46 and it took just 2 plays for Don Shula to open his bag of tricks and pull out the flea-flicker. On second down, Marino handed off to Terry Kirby, who took 2 quick steps forward and then turned around and tossed it right back to Dan Marino. As the Patriots' safeties came forward to defend the run, Marino tossed a perfect strike to Irving Fryar, who was wide open down the right sideline for a 50 yard touchdown pass. This strike gave the Dolphins their first lead of the game, 32-28.

The Patriots started at their own 33 after the kickoff and moved 67 yards in 6 plays to retake the lead on a beautifully caught pass from Bledsoe to Ray Crittendon, who stretched out full length to catch that ball in the corner of the endzone. At this point, Troy Vincent had left the game with a sore knee (no, it's not serious) and Frankie Smith was beaten by Crittendon. The drive was helped along by a 15 yard pass interference penalty on J.B. Brown, and it gave the Patriots a 35-32 lead.

The Dolphins took the kickoff and moved down the field again, but finally were forced to punt at the Patriots' 38 yard line. However, due to a great punt by Jim Arnold and some impressive coverage by Miami's special teams, the Patriots had to start at their own 8 yard line, where they, in turn, couldn't mount a sustained drive and had to punt it away themselves.

Miami started at their own 20 with less than 8 minutes to play and began to drive down the field. This drive, which would decide the game, was touch and go the whole way. Marino hit Kirby for 21 yards on 3rd and 12, then hit Scott Miller for 18 yards on 3rd and 7. After pushing down to the Patriots 35 yard line, Marino faced a 4th and 5. The Dolphins could have tried the 52 yard field goal to tie the game, but Shula elected to go for the 5 yards. The way Marino was playing, it was the right call.

With about 3:25 left in the game, Marino stepped up to the line of scrimmage and noticed that the Patriots' cornerback, Rod Smith, had come up close to the line and was going to be one-on-one with Irving Fryar. At this point, Marino deliberately made eye contact with Irving Fryar, who said "You don't make eye contact for nothing, it's coming". Marino took the snap, stepped back, and hit a streaking Irving Fryar down the right side with a perfect pass for a 35 yard touchdown pass - Fryar's third in the game and a 39-35 lead.

However, the way the Patriots had been playing, 3:19 was an eternity and Bledsoe and company began moving right down the field again, completing pass after pass until it looked as if they would score once more. That is, until Bledsoe hit his favorite target Ben Coates down the left sideline. This time, however, Gene Atkins decided not to give Coates the chance to stiff-arm him and he jumped on top of Coates and knocked the ball loose, which Michael Stewart promptly recovered for the Dolphins. Even though I'm a DolFan, I felt bad for Coates, who had played such a great game up to that moment.

The Dolphins went three and out on the next series, trying to run the clock out, but not having much success running three times in a row. However, when the Patriots got the ball back at their own 35 with about a minute to go, they had no timeouts left and Bledsoe had trouble finding an open man against the Dolphins' prevent defense. Finally, he just ran out of time and the Dolphins won, 39-35.

There were no mysteries in this game - the Old veteran just outdueled the young gun who came to town to challenge him. Experience beat youth, even though both teams really looked very similar - no running game, and no pass defense on either side of the ball.

For Dan Marino, he would up with 473 yards passing and 5 touchdowns, with 330 of those yards and 4 of those touchdowns coming in the second half. Irving Fryar had the best game of his career, getting 211 yards and 3 touchdowns on 5 catches. That's an average of 42.2 yards/catch and it's the second best performance by a receiver in Dolphins' history, behind Mark Duper's 1985 game against the Jets for 217 yards.

For the defense, there wasn't much to be happy about, but they did completely shut down the Patriots running game, holding the Patriots to 54 yards on 24 attempts and Marion Butts to 25 yards on 15 attempts. Individually, Gene Atkins was involved in all three turnovers, getting one interception, setting up a second and causing the fumble that stopped the Patriots' final drive. Bryan Cox had the only sack of the game for the 'Phins on a blitz and Troy Vincent was the beneficiary of Atkins' generosity when he picked off the pass that was deflected by Atkins.

The Dolphins have a long way to go and a lot to improve before they can be a SuperBowl team, but one thing is now definite - Marino is back!