OVERALL SUMMARY:

The olphins (no "D" today) allowed the Eagles' Ricky Watters to run wild and Irving Fryar caught 4 (count 'em - 4) touchdown passes this afternoon as the Eagles beat the 'Phins 35-28 at Veterans stadium. The story of this game was simple, really. Miami couldn't contain Ricky Watters, couldn't cover Irving Fryar and couldn't pressure Ty Detmer.

The offense played better than the defense, but under Craig Erickson, they missed some chances and failed to gain a first down on a crucial series late in the 4th quarter. The special teams also played fairly well, and for the first time this year, Joe Nedney made all the field goals asked of him.

The game started after Nedney's kickoff went into the endzone with the Eagles starting at their own 20. After a short pass and a penalty left the Eagles with a 2nd and 15 at their 15, Watters ran behind right tackle for a 47 yard gain to the Dolphins' 38. On the very next play, Detmer had all day in the backfield to find a wide open Irving Fryar at the Miami 2 for a TD and a 7-0 lead.

After a decent return by McPhail to the 28, the Dolphins were penalized for holding on first down and faced a 1st and 20 at their 18. They couldn't get back the yardage with a dropped pass and a short completion, so they punted to the Eagles' Mark Seay, who returned the ball from their 28 to the Dolphins' 48.

The Eagles then marched efficiently down the field with a series of runs by Watters and found themselves with a first and goal from the Dolphins' 2, where Detmer hit Fryar on a short out pattern for another touchdown and a 14-0 lead.

The Dolphins took the kickoff out to the 34 of the Eagles and then began their first sustained drive of the day, running the ball and passing to OJ McDuffie and Jerris McPhail. They moved to the Eagles' 17, but on 3rd and 1, Abdul-Jabbar was thrown for a 3 yard loss and the Dolphins were forced to settle for a Joe Nedney field goal and a 14-3 score.

Nedney's ensuing kickoff went out of the endzone and starting at their own 20, the Eagles could only go 3 and out. The Dolphins started at their own 17 after the punt, but after a couple of nice runs by Karim Abdul-Jabbar and a catch by Drayton, a Craig Erickson pass was deflected at the line of scrimmage and picked off by the Eagles at the Dolphins' 36.

After the interception return, the Eagles had a first and 10 at the Miami 26 and moved down to the Miami 9, but on a 3rd down pass, Ty Detmer tried to force it over Shawn Wooden's head and Wooden picked the ball of in the endzone and stopped the drive.

The Dolphins started at their own 20 and after moving backwards for 2 plays, Erickson hit McDuffie on a 36 yard pass to start the drive. Miami moved all the way down to the Eagle's 6, where Erickson hit a diving Randal Hill, who fell at the one but rolled into the endzone for a touchdown. After Erickson hit Troy Drayton for a 2 point conversion, the Dolphins were down 14-11.

However, the Eagles, starting at their own 24 after the kickoff, and having less than 2 minutes remaining in the half, moved down the field on passes to Fryar, Jones and Watters to the Miami 31. There, the officials stepped in to help the Eagles by making a terrible roughing the passer call to move the ball down to the Dolphins' 13. After an incompletion, Ty Detmer hit Irving Fryar in the middle of the endzone for a touchdown. Replay showed that the officials assisted on this touchdown, too, as Daniel Stubbs was tackled by the offensive lineman, but holding wasn't called.

The first half ended following the Eagle's touchdown with the Eagles up 21-11 and the Dolphins realing.

The Dolphins opened the second half getting the ball on the kickoff at their own 28 and moving out to the Eagles' 47, mostly on a 32 yard screen pass to Jerris McPhail. However, they stalled and punted to the Eagles, who used Ricky Watter's running to move from their 18 to the Dolphin 36, where Ty Detmer found Irving Fryar deep over the middle on a post pattern for a touchdown. Fryar had beaten Shawn Wooden deep and had given the Eagles a 28-11 lead early in the third quarter.

After the kickoff from the Eagles, the Dolphins went 3 and out and it was beginning to look as if the game was already over. The Dolphins punted to the Eagles' 17, but a holding penalty moved the Eagles back to their own 5. They moved out to their 24, where Detmer clearly fumbled the ball while drawing it back to throw, but the officials called it an incomplete forward pass. However, the Dolphins stopped the Eagles and forced them to punt down to the Dolphins' 23, where a penalty moved the Dolphins back to their 14.

The Dolphins used Karim's running and passes to Fred Barnett and OJ McDuffie to move down to the Eagle 37 as the 3rd quarter came to an end. Fred Barnett's first catch as a Dolphins was on a 3rd down pass from Erickson to Barnett for 20 yards and a first down.

The fourth quarter opened with the Dolphins driving down to the Eagles 14 yard line on runs by Abdul-Jabbar and passes to McDuffie. But a 10 yard scramble by Erickson to the 4 was negated by a holding penalty on Keith Sims that gave the Dolphins a 3rd and 18 at the Eagle 24. However, on this play, Craig Erickson threaded the ball between three defenders and hit OJ McDuffie in full stride on a post pattern for a touchdown. This cut the lead to 28-18.

With 12:07 remaining, the Eagles started at their own 11 after a holding call on the kickoff and despite a holding call on the Miami defense, the Eagles were only able to move to their 23, where they were forced to punt after Daniel Stubbs got Miami's only sack of the game.

The Eagles were penalized on the punt when an Eagle defensive back run into OJ McDuffie, who was attempting a fair catch. That gave the Dolphins a first and 10 at the Eagle 43, trailing by 10, with 9:28 remaining. Karim Abdul-Jabbar rushed 3 times and Craig Erickson scrambled once to move the Dolphins down to the Eagle 21, but the Dolphins couldn't convert on 3rd down and were forced to settle for a Joe Nedney field goal that cut the lead to 28-21.

Following the Dolphins' kickoff, the Eagles ran Ricky Watters 3 times in a row and then tossed a little dump pass to him on a 3rd and 7, but Zach Thomas caught him from behind and kept him from making the first down. The Eagles punted with 3:45 remaining, but McDuffie let the ball bounce and it was downed at the Miami 8, where the Eagles pressured Erickson into an incompletion, a sack for a 7.5 yard loss and on 3rd and 18, Erickson passed to Karim Abdul-Jabbar at the 4, where he was immediately tackled.

The Dolphins punted to the Eagles from their own 4, and the ball was taken down to the Miami 49, where, on first down, Ricky Watters ran behind his left guard, juked right and outraced the secondary to the endzone for a touchdown and a 35-21 lead with less than 2:40 remaining in the game. Again, it appeared that Zach Thomas was being held on the play, but there was no call and the Eagles had just put the game out of reach.

The ensuing kickoff was taken by Jerris McPhail out to the Dolphin 43 and a 15 yard facemask penalty on the Eagles moved it down to the Eagle 42. At this point, JJ inserted Bernie Kosar into the game in place of Craig Erickson. With 2:28 remaining, Kosar moved the Dolphins down to the Eagle 17 on a series of passes to McPhail and Barnett. Then, with 1:11 remaining, Kosar hit OJ McDuffie from the shotgun with a touchdown pass to cut the score to 35-28.

The Dolphins attempted an on-sides kick, but the Eagles recovered at the Dolphin 42 and ran Watters 4 times in a row to run the clock out and win the game 35-28.

GOOD STUFF:

There wasn't much that was good about this game, but there were a few things. First of all, the offensive line blocked fairly well and, despite the 4 sacks that the Eagles registered, Erickson has time to throw the ball most of the day. Also, the rushing game looked like it was pretty effective, for the most part.

The special teams also played well, for the most part. Kick coverage was generally good and McPhail and Spikes returned the ball well. Nedney kicked well and made both his field goal attempts and all his extra points. Kidd didn't punt as well as he has, but he wasn't terrible.

And last, but certainly not least, the team didn't quit. No matter what else happened, they kept fighting and didn't give up. In fact, they were in the game until the on-sides kick was recovered by the Eagles in the 4th quarter.

THINGS TO WORK ON:

Except for most of the 4th quarter, the Dolphins defense stunk. The defensive line got no pressure on Detmer at all, the defensive backs couldn't cover Irving Fryar to save their lives and the linebackers were invisible, except, of course, for Zach Thomas. Even the one sack that the Dolphins got was a coverage sack.

Ricky Watters ran for 173 yards on 25 carries, a 6.9 yard/carry averge. That shows just how badly the defense played the run.

The most obvious thing missing from the defense, however, was the intensity. It just wasn't there today. The most glaring example was the defensive line, who was pushed all over the field by an Eagle offensive line that shouldn't be able to do that.

Also, the Dolphins committed a total of 9 penalties, in the worst possible circumstances. Penalties killed a number of opportunities for the offense today.

On the offense, the Dolphins had a pretty good day, except for one series late in the 4th quarter, when they were down by 7, where they couldn't get out of their own end of the field. Just like last week and the week before, the offense couldn't get it done at a crucial point late in the game. Also, there were several blocking breakdowns in short yardage situations where the Dolphins failed to convert because Karim Abdul-Jabbar was stopped in the backfield.

INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES:

Craig Erickson played fairly well today, getting a 90.7 quarterback rating and making some nice passes, particularly the TD to OJ McDuffie over the middle, where he rifled a shot between three defenders. However, he wasn't spreading the ball around and a number of times didn't see the open receiver. Other times, he held on to the ball too long and at least 2 of the sacks on him were his own fault.

Bernie Kosar came in late and completed 5 of 6 passes for 42 yards and one TD.

Karim Abdul-Jabbar had 80 yards on 22 carries for a 3.6 yard/carry average. When he got room, he ran well.

OJ McDuffie had a great game with 7 catches for 121 yards and 2 touchdowns. But his punt returning (or, more appropriately, his lack of punt returning) really is deteriorating. He needs to be taken off of punt return duty.

Jerris McPhail caught 6 passes for 71 yards and made most of his yardage on runs after the catch. He is FAST. He also made the best kickoff return of the day. They need to get him the ball more.

Fred Barnett's first reception as a Dolphin was on a key third down for 20 yards that kept a scoring drive alive. He finished the day with 2 catches for 27 yards.

Randal Hill caught 3 passes for 44 yards and a TD.

Troy Drayton caught 3 passes for 19 yards and caught a 2 point conversion.

Zach Thomas lead the team in tackles AGAIN with 9 and had a number of big stops. However, on Ricky Watters TD run late in the game, he was taken out of the play.

Danny Stubbs had the only sack in the game and 3 tackles and Tim Bowens had 7 tackles and some key stops in the 4th quarter. Unfortunately, the rest of the defensive line was invisible.

Shawn Wooden had an interception and 3 tackles, but got beat for at least one touchdown. The rest of the defensive backs were as invisible as most of the defensive line.

John Kidd averaged 44.3 yards per punt, but has been better.

Joe Nedney made both his field goals, all his extra points, put 2 kickoffs in the endzone and knocked one all the way out of the endzone.

INJURIES:

There were no major injuries today.

My Comments:

I spent most of the afternoon trying to figure out where the Dolphin defense had gone and I think I finally figured it out. With the exception of Zach Thomas, JJ left the defense in Miami to rest up for the Dallas game. The players he actually brought were from local high schools in Miami, recruited by JJ for this weekend. The real Dolphin defense stayed home.

..... at least, I hope so.

Because, if that was the real Dolphin defense, then it's going to be a long day next Sunday when Dallas comes to town.

What really bothered me most about this game was the lack of intensity on the defensive line. They were pushed all over the field today. Even the one miserable sack that they got was the result of coverage.

And since I believe that great defense begins on the defensive line, it isn't hard to figure out why the Eagles were able to do as well offensively as they did. The Dolphins never put enough pressure on Detmer to rattle him at all and, as a result, he was able to put the passes exactly where he wanted them.

As far as the run defense is concerned, the defensive line didn't do their job there either, and there was only so much that Zach Thomas could do to make up for it.

All in all, it was the worst defensive game that the Dolphins have had this year. About the only good thing about this game was that it was against an NFC opponent and it doesn't count as much towards the final standings.

Hopefully, it will be a learning experience for them.

Related Info:

• USA Today: Miami vs Philadelphia
• ESPN: Eagles' Fryar cooks JJ with four TD catches
• NFL.COM: Eagles vs Dolphins Recap
• NFL.COM: Game Book
• Dolphins Endzone: Game Summary