They were able to control the line of scrimmage due to outstanding play by both the offensive and defensive lines. This is not to take anything away from the play of the other parts of the team, particularly the rest of the defense, but it was domination by the lines that really won this game for the Dolphins.
This game could have ended by the score of 34-3 in favor of the Dolphins. It also could have been much, much closer. I doubt if the Dolphins would have lost, but the score could also have been tied late in the 4th quarter, depending on a couple of key plays.
From there, the Dolphins ran Parmalee up the middle and off the left side 3 times in a row and then tossed a little swing pass to him that carried the Dolphins to the Patriots 42. Next, Marino threw 2 incompletions towards Irving Fryar and 1 towards O.J. McDuffie that apparently stopped the Dolphins drive. However, on the third down incompletion to McDuffie, the Patriots' Collons was penalized 5 yards for illegal use of hands to the face and the Dolphins got 5 yards and an automatic first down at the Patriot 37.
At the Patriot 32, Parmalee ran a sweep to the left for 5 yards and then caught a quick dump pass over the middle for 12 more. Irving Spikes then took the next 2 carries for 8 yards and Parmalee went around the left end for 7 more yards to give the Dolphins a first and goal at the Patriot 5 yard line.
Parmalee moved the ball to the 3 on the next carry, but was stacked up for a two yard loss after that on what looked like a busted play. When Marino's 3rd down pass went to no one (even though it was intended for Gary Clark), the Dolphins were faced with a 4th and goal at the 3 and elected to take the field goal and a 3-0 lead.
Stoyanovich's kickoff was taken by Meggett at the 9 yard line and returned to the Patriot's 28. The Patriots then started their first drive by trying to run Martin behind the left guard, but he was stuffed for no gain. Bledsoe then tossed two passes to Will Moore of 14 and 10 yards that took the Patriots to the Dolphins' 48. After a pass to Brisby went incomplete when Jeff Cross pressured Bledsoe in the pocket, the Patriots ran Martin for 9 yards and then 1 yard to give them a first down at the Dolphins 38.
The Patriots ran Martin twice twice more, but were limited to 6 yards. On a third and 4, Brisby dropped a pass from Bledsoe and the Patriots elected to go for it on 4th and 4. However, the coverage was there and Bledsoe tried to force it, only to have it fall incomplete.
The Dolphins took over on downs at their own 32 and on the very first play, the Patriots called a corner blitz with Maurice Hurst going after Marino. However, Fryar and Marino saw it coming and when safety Myron Guyton of the Patriots tried to cover Fryar one-on-one, Fryar faked him out of his shoes and blew by him. Marino saw Hurst coming for him and, realizing that Fryar was now one-on-one with a safety, lofted the ball deep down the left sideline to the streaking Fryar, who gathered the ball in and ran, untouched, into the endzone for a 68 yard touchdown. This gave the Dolphins a 10-0 lead.
The kickoff was taken by Dave Meggett at the Patriot 18 and returned to their 40, where the Patriots took over. On the first play, a blitz by Bryan Cox almost got to Bledsoe and his pass went incomplete. After a short run by Martin and a 9 yard reception by Moore took the Patriots to the Dolphins 47, Bledsoe hit Moore with a 33 yard pass down to the Dolphins 14 yard line that Moore had to lay out to get.
With a first down at the Dolphins' 14, Martin carried twice for 4 yards to the Dolphins' 10 before the quarter ended with the score 10-0 in favor of the Dolphins.
The Patriots kickoff was taken by McDuffie at the 4 and returned 30 yards to the Miami 34 yard line. There, Irving Spikes ran the ball twice for 3 and then 9 yards and Byars then caught a little dump pass that he turned into a 14 yard gain. This gave the Dolphins a first down at the Patriot 41.
Spikes ran twice more for 9 yards, but after Parmalee was stopped on a short pass for no gain, the Dolphins faced a 4th and inches at the Patriot 32. Parmalee ran up the middle for a yard for an apparent first down, but Billy Milner had committed a rookie mistake by failing to report to the official when he joined the huddle, so a penalty nullified the play and gave the Dolphins a 4th and 5 at the Patriot 36.
The Dolphins then tried a field goal, but the Patriots partially blocked the kick and took over at their own 45 yard line.
Bledsoe started moving the Patriots with a quick dump pass to Martin, who ran out of bounds at the Miami 46. Martin then picked up the first down with a 3 yard run to the 43.
Bledsoe's next pass fell incomplete as Troy Vincent almost picked it off. On the next play, Bledsoe tried a little screen to Meggett, but Chris Singleton was there to take Meggett down for a 4 yard loss. It was now 3rd and 14 and Bledsoe's pass was batted down, but an offsides penalty on Marco Coleman gave the Patriots another shot at the Dolphins 42. However, great coverage by Stewart deflected Bledsoe's next pass to Coates and the Patriots were then forced to punt.
After the touchback, the Dolphins started at their own 20 yard line, with a run by Parmalee for 3 yards, but Ruddy was called for holding and the Dolphins had to start over with a 1st and 20 at their 10. They got some of it back on a 9 yard dump pass to Byars, but Webb was penalized for a false start on the next play and Marino was faced with a second and 16 at the Miami 14.
Marino then attempted to hit Irving Fryar on a short curl route, but Irving slipped down and the ball sailed into the hands of Ricky Reynolds for the interception.
This gave the Patriots a 1st and 10 at the Miami 22, and Bledsoe decided to go for it all, attempting to hit Coates over the middle at the goal line. However, Michael Stewart was there all the way, jumping in front of Coates for a leaping interception at the Miami 4 yard line.
The Dolphins had put Terry Kirby in at this point and Kirby started things off with a 13 yard run behind Chris Gray to the 17 yard line. Then, Kirby carried to the 19 on first down and Irving Fryar caught a second down pass to the 34.
From the 34, Marino hit Eric Green for his first catch of the day. Green was hit first by Maurice Hurst, who Green brushed off as if he were a fly, before being knocked out of bounds after a 13 yard gain.
The Dolphins now had a 1st down at the 47 yard line, but a short pass to Kirby was nullified by a holding penalty on Webb. Now, with 1st and 20 at the Miami 37, Marino attempted to hit Fryar on the left sideline, but Maurice Hurst got there first and hit Fryar early, forcing the incompletion, but drawing the pass interference penalty.
The next two plays were runs of 5 and 9 yards by Terry Kirby that gave the Dolphins a 1st and 10 at the Patriot 31. On this next play, it appeared that the Dolphins were going to try and sweep left, but the Patriots appeared to have the play read and it looked to me as if Kirby would lose a couple of yards. However, rather than continue with the sweep into the Patriot defense, Kirby stopped and lofted the ball to down the right sideline to Irving Fryar, who had gotten behind his coverage. Fryar took the pass in stride and ran into the endzone for the Dolphins' second touchdown of the day.
With the score now 17-3, in favor of the Dolphins, Stoyanovich kicked off to Meggett, who took the ball at his goal line and ran out to the Patriot 30.
With a first and 10 at the 30, Bledsoe went to Coates again, but again, Michael Stewart knocked down the pass. After pressure from Armstrong and Coleman forced Bledsoe to miss a pass to Meggett, Bledsoe finally did complete one to Will Moore for 19 yards to the Patriot 49. The next pass was a screen to Meggett, that was once again smothered by Chris Singleton for a 3 yard loss. And after one incompletion to Meggett and a batted down pass by Jeff Cross, the Patriots were forced to punt.
The punt was downed at the Miami 28 and the Dolphins, with 1:16 left in the half, tried Kirby up the middle for 2 yards. Marino then hit Eric Green with a pass that Green dove for, made a great catch and then got up and ran 55 yards with. However, The play was called back because of a holding penalty on Keith Sims.
This gave the Dolphins a 2nd and 18, which they tried to run with by giving the ball to Kirby two times for 13 yards, but on the subsequent 4th and 5 at the Dolphins 33, they were forced to punt.
Kidd hit a beautiful 56 yard punt to the Patriot 12, where Meggett returned it to the 22. With time running out, however, Bledsoe just kneeled down to end the half.
My impressions at the half were that Miami was controlling the line of scrimmage very well on both sides of the ball. At the half, Ben Coates had no catches, due mainly to Michael Stewart; Meggett had been kept in check, mainly by former Patriot Chris Singleton and the Patriots had amassed a grand total of 26 yards rushing.
The Dolphins, in contrast, had 99 yards rushing and were getting a solid pass rush on Bledsoe, even though they had no sacks.
On a second and 10 from their own 44, Martin ran for 1 yard and Bledsoe's third down pass to Brisby went incomplete. Pat O'Neill then punted to the Miami 24, but McDuffie muffed the fair catch and the Patriots recovered at the 24.
However, the Patriots got 0 yards on Martins first down run, followed by an incomplete pass on second down. This gave the Patriots a 3rd and 10, but Trace Armstrong was offsides and the Patriots moved to the 19 with a 3rd and 5. However, on the next play, as Meggett was given the handoff, Jeff Cross and Bryan Cox shot through the gap and nailed Meggett for a two yard loss. By the way, Cross beat Jeff Dellenbach on this play.
Now, with a 4th and 7, the Patriots elected to go for it. But Bryan Cox came ripping around the Patriot's right side and flattened Bledsoe for the only sack of the day. Bledsoe fumbled and Jeff Cross picked up the ball and began lumbering towards the Patriots goal line, but was caught from behind and also dropped the ball, where it was covered by Michael Stewart.
This gave the Dolphins a first down at their own 46. They proceeded to run Parmalee 3 times in a row for 16 yards, to the Patriot 38. There, on second and 8, Marino threw the ball away under pressure and then, on third down, drew a delay of game penalty.
This gave the Dolphins a 3rd and 13, but on the next play, after Parmalee was stopped on a short pass, the Patriots were flagged for defensive holding, which gave the Dolphins an automatic first down at the Patriot 39.
Kirby caught a short pass for 2 yards and ran for one yard before Marino missed Gary Clark with a pass on third down and 7 at the Patriot 36. However, the Patriots were once again penalized for holding, giving the Dolphins a first down at the Patriot 31.
On this play, Kirby was caught for a loss by Myron Guyton. Marino then tossed a shovel pass to Kirby for 7 yards and, on 3rd and 5, Marino hit Gary Clark on a crossing pattern for 18 more yards down to the Patriot 8.
With a first and goal from the 8, Richmond Webb was penalized for a false start, moving the Dolphins back to the 13. However, on the next play, which was a nice sweep around the right side, Parmalee picked up 6 yards before he was sandwiched between Ray and McGinest and fumbled the ball, which was recovered by the Patriots.
To be fair to Parmalee, he did have both arms wrapped around the ball, but he was hit right in the arm with a helmet.
With a first and 10 at their own 7, the Patriots first pass was incomplete and an illegal crackback block was called on Kratch. The Dolphins declined the penalty, however, and Bledsoe attempted to then hit Will Moore on first down. However, Gene Atkins came up strongly from his safety position and almost picked the ball off. He had the ball right in his arms, but couldn't hold on to it.
This left the Patriots with a 3rd and 10 at their own 7, but Bledsoe managed to complete a pass to Brisby for 17 yards. The very next play, from the Patriot 24, Bledsoe hit Brisby again for another 20 yards to the Patriot 44.
The next plays were a short pass to Sam Gash for 9 yards and a run up the middle by Martin for 6 more. This gave the Patriots a 1st and 10 at the Miami 41, but they were penalized for a false start back to the Miami 46.
Bledsoe then hit Will Moore for 12 yards and after Meggett ran for 2 yards, Bledsoe tossed one incomplete towards Coates under pressure from Cross, but were able to convert on 4th and 1 with a short run by Martin.
With a 1st and 10 from the Miami 31, Bledsoe missed a pass to Will Moore, but was able to complete an 11 yard pass to Meggett that took the ball to the Miami 19, at which point, the 3rd quarter ended.
On fourth and goal at the Miami 1, the Patriots made perhaps their worst play call of the game. Despite their lack of success running the ball, they attempted to send Martin right up the middle. The Dolphins, however, diagnosed this play and sent in a run blitz package that had Cox and Hollier blitzing up through the middle, where they caught Martin behind the line of scrimmage for a two yard loss.
The Dolphins took over on downs at their own 3, but two short runs by Kirby and a short pass reception by Wilson only yielded 7 yards, and with a 4th and 3 at their own 10, John Kidd punted for just 24 yards to the Miami 34.
With 10:51 to go in the game, Bledsoe started by passing to Will Moore for 9 yards and then running Martin for 3 yards to the Miami 23. After a short 3 yard pass to Coates and an incompletion to Brisby, Bledsoe hit Brisby on a third and 6 with a 14 yard completion over the middle to the Miami 7.
On first and goal at the 7, a one yard run Martin was followed by a 6 yard pass to Coates over the middle that was an apparent touchdown. But officials called Coates for offensive pass interference after he bumped into Cox in the middle of the field before catching the pass.
This brought the ball back to the Miami 16, where Bledsoe hit Gash for 9 yards to the 7, but then, on third and goal from the 7, Bledsoe's pass attempt over the middle was deflected by Jeff Cross into the arms of Bryan Cox for the interception. Cox ran the ball back to the 16, effectively ending the Patriots' last scoring threat.
Now, with 7:22 remaining, the Dolphins started by giving Terry Kirby the ball and running around the left side. Kirby got free and raced around the left side for 38 yards out to the Patriot 46 yard line. On the next play, Kirby lost 2 yards and after a screen pass to Spikes yielded nothing, Marino was faced with a 3rd and 12 at the Patriot 48. At this point, Marino hit Gary Clark on a deep crossing route for 24 yards to the Patriot 24.
With a first down at the Patriot 24, Marino's first pass to Fryar went incomplete, but on second down, Parmalee went around the right side and got 17 yards to the Patriot 7 yard line. From this first and goal at the seven, the Dolphins ran Parmalee up the middle three times in a row and, while they managed to get to the one inch line, couldn't punch it in and settled for a field goal to make the score 20-3.
With under 2:30 remaining, Stoyanovich kicked off, but the ball bounced out of bounds and with the resultant penalty, the Patriots started at their own 40 yard line. Bledsoe's first pass attempt to Meggett was knocked down by Terrell Buckley, but the second was completed to Will Moore for 12 yards.
Now, with 1:56 remaining, Ben Coates caught an 11 yard pass to the Miami 37, followed by a 15 yard reception by Brisby to the Miami 22. Bledsoe threw away his first pass and an illegal motion penalty moved the ball back to the 28, but then Coates caught a 10 yard pass to the Miami 18. With a 3rd and 5 at the Miami 18, Bledsoe's next pass fell incomplete and his last pass of the game went off the fingertips of Brisby in the endzone.
Miami took over on downs at their 18, but with :48 seconds to play, Marino just knelt down and the game ended with a Dolphins 20-3 victory.
But ex-Patriots Chris Singleton and Irving Fryar also had big days and safety Michael Stewart was especially effective in shutting down Ben Coates, with 1 interception and 2 passes defensed.
The team continues to make too many mistakes, with 10 penalties and 3 turnovers stopping Miami scoring opportunities, but the overpowering play of the Dolphins, especially on the offensive and defensive lines, really allowed them to win this game.