OVERALL SUMMARY:

The Dolphins, apparently feeling in a generous mood, decided to choke and die in the second half against the Patriots today after squandering 2 leads. As a result, the Dolphins lost to the Patriots by the score of 42-23 in a game that was marred by bad officiating, squandered chances, predictable play-calling, missed tackles and outright miserable play by the skill players on the Dolphins offense.

There is one stat that shows just how miserable the Dolphins played - they committed 14 penalties, many in key situations.

The game started with the Patriots taking the opening kickoff and after a touchback, they managed to get one first down on a 13 yard pass play to Coates before the Dolphins stopped them at their 44. Following a good punt, the Dolphins' first series started at their 7 and ended at their 8 after McPhail dropped a pass on 3rd down.

The ensuing punt was taken by the Patriots at their 37 and they put together an 8 play drive, mostly on passes to Glenn, Martin and Meggett and then, with a first and goal at the Dolphin 1, Meggett dove over the top, getting the ball knocked loose before he actually crossed the goal line, but getting the officials call for a touchdown. Not that it would have mattered, because it would have been recovered by the Patriots in the endzone for a touchdown.

With the Dolphins trailing by 7, the ensuing kickoff was short and after Zach Thomas ran the ball back to the 32, Marino put together a 12 play, 68 yard drive based on the running of Karim Abdul-Jabbar and a 34 yard pass to Lamar Thomas, down to the Patriot 4, where Abdul-Jabbar took the ball up the middle for a touchdown and a 7-7 tie. This drive was costly, however, because on his only run of the night, Jerris McPhail fractured his arm on a 3 yard run and didn't return to the game.

Following the kickoff, which Meggett returned from his own endzone to the 34, the Patriots were stuffed by two great plays by Zach Thomas on 2nd and 3rd down and were forced to punt as the first quarter ended.

OJ McDuffie had a nice 19 yard punt return to the Dolphin 35, and from there, Miami put together another long drive, again relying on Abdul-Jabbar's running and passes to Charles Jordan, Stanley Pritchett, OJ McDuffie and assisted by a defensive holding call, moved down to the Patriot 3, where Abdul-Jabbar again ran the ball up the middle for a touchdown and a 14-7 Miami lead.

Following the kickoff, the Patriots started at their 30, but after a 20 yard completion to Terry Glenn, Bledsoe lofted a bad pass under pressure and Buckley made the easy pick in the deep center of the field, returning it to the Dolphin 25. There, the Dolphins managed to get only one first down on Abdul-Jabbar's running and after a running play was stuffed on 2nd and inches for a loss, Lamar Thomas tripped and fell down on third down and the Dolphins were forced to punt.

The Patriots started after the punt at their 22, but after a holding call on Byars and a nice tackle for a loss by Hollier, the Patriots faced 3rd and 7 at their 25. Bledsoe hit Ben Coates over the middle for 15 yards, but Tim Jacobs stripped him of the ball and it was recovered by Oliver at the Patriot 33. However, after two runs moved the Dolphins to the Patriot 25, Abdul-Jabbar was stuffed for minus 2 yards on 3rd and 2 and the Dolphins were forced to try a field goal, which sailed wide left.

With less than two minutes remaining in the first half, the Patriots went to the hurry up offense and moved rapidly down the field, mostly on passes to Meggett and Terry Glenn. With the Patriots having a 2nd and 2 from the Dolphins 7 with less than 30 seconds remaining, the Dolphins committed 3 defensive penalties in a row to move the Pats down to the Dolphin half-yard line. From there, Curtis Martin ran the ball over for a touchdown and a 14-14 tie. The ensuing kickoff was downed by Miami and that ended the first half.

The second half opened with the Dolphins going three and out from their 17, after Abdul-Jabbar dropped a pass on 2nd and 8 and Marino threw too low on 3rd and 8 to Lamar Thomas. Following a punt to the Patriot 45, the Patriots started out with the hurry-up offense. However, after a singled 10 yard completion, Danny Stubbs came around left tackle and stripped the ball from Bledsoe, which Gardener recovered.

The Dolphins started at the Patriots 47, but a first down pass to Randal Hill was thrown a little too short and picked off by the Patriots. A questionable pass interference call on the Patriots gave the ball back to the Dolphins at the Patriot 24, but after a 3 yard run by Abdul-Jabbar, a questionable pass personal foul was called on Troy Drayton for fighting, moving the ball back to the Patriot 36.

A quick pass to Pritchett moved it back to the Patriot 22, but on 3rd and 8, a slightly underthrown Marino pass was batted by a Patriot defender into Randal Hills hands. Hill, however, couldn't hold on to the ball and dropped it, forcing the Dolphins to settle for a field goal and a 17-14 lead.

After the kickoff to the Patriot 35, Bledsoe hit one completion and one incompletion, but facing a 3rd and 2 from their own 44, Bledsoe tried to go to Coates again, but Shawn Wooden stepped in front of the ball and took it away, returning it to the Dolphins 43, where, on 1st and 10, the killer play occurred. Following a nice 9 yard run, the ball came out of Abdul-Jabbar's hands as he hit the ground. However, the refs incorrectly called it a fumble and gave the ball to the Patriots.

After this bad call, the Patriots started at the Dolphin 43 and needed only quick 5 plays to move it down to the Dolphin 23, where Bledsoe found a wide open Ben Coates at the Dolphin 3 for a touchdown and a 21-17 lead. At this point, the Dolphins could still have gotten back into the game, but seemed to have lost heart.

Following the kickoff, the Dolphins went 3 and out and punted to the Patriot 18. The Patriots put together a short drive, but after a great tackle by Louis Oliver at the Patriot 35, the Patriots punted back to the Dolphins. The Dolphins, however, could only manage one first down on a 29 yard pass to McDuffie, before Marino under threw Randal Hill who was running down the left sideline and had the ball intercepted at the Patriot 10.

The Patriots, however, could do nothing with this good fortune and went 3 and out, punting back to the Dolphins at their 41. The Dolphins then went 3 and out in their turn and ended the 3rd quarter on a punt back to the Patriot 26.

The fourth quarter, where the Dolphins would come completely unglued, began with the Patriots getting one first down on a pass to Terry Glenn before the Dolphins stopped them at their 43. Following a fair catch at the Miami 12, Miami began their last chance to do something in this game by running Abdul-Jabbar and hitting passes to Jordan, Spikes and Lamar Thomas. They moved down to the Patriot 36 and faced a 3rd and 1, but a totally inexcusable motion penalty on the Dolphins moved them back 5 yards and they were forced to punt.

The punt was downed at the Patriot 2 by an alert Robert Bailey, but after a couple of short completions put the Patriots out to the 16, the Dolphins called an all-out blitz that left Ben Coates wide open in the flat. After Oliver and one other defensive back missed tackles on Coates, he ran untouched 84 yards for a touchdown and a 28-17 New England lead that broke the Dolphins' spirit.

Following the kickoff, on the first play from scrimmage at the Dolphins' 33, Richmond Webb allowed Willie McGinest to run around him and sack Marino, forcing a fumble. The Patriots recovered at the Dolphins 24, and, assisted by two important penalties by the Dolphins, marched down to the Dolphin 5 where Bledsoe threw a 5 yard touchdown pass to Sam Gash for a 35-17 lead.

With 5:47 remaining, the Dolphins started from their own 36, but after one 27 yard completion to the Patriot 37, the Dolphins moved backwards to the 50 and then, after 3 incompletions, Marino was sacked on 4th and 20, giving the Patriots the ball at the Dolphin 43. They ran Curtis Martin 4 times in a row for all 43 of the yards and ended with a 2 yard touchdown run for a 42-17 lead.

With 2:36 remaining in the game, JJ decided to pull Marino and inserted Craig Erickson instead. Erickson managed to move the Dolphins right down the field in just 1:41 on passes to Lamar Thomas and Bernie Parmalee and popped a 29 yard touchdown pass to OJ McDuffie with just 1 minute remaining, but it was too little, too late. Even after the Dolphins recovered an onsides kick, they were down 42-23 at that point with less than a minute remaining. They moved to the Patriot 31 before time ran out.

Overall, the Dolphins had plenty of opportunities to win this game, but couldn't get it done. The held the lead at 2 points during the game, but folded like a house of cards in the 4th quarter. There was no excuse for this debacle.

GOOD STUFF:

About the only thing good about this game was the way that the Dolphins held the Patriots to 59 yards rushing on 21 carries.

THINGS TO WORK ON:

Everything else, especially the stupid mistakes like dropped passes and dumb penalties.

INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES:

Karim Abdul-Jabbar had 104 yards on 29 carries and 2 rushing touchdowns and he also caught 3 passes for 16 yards. However, he dropped at least 2 easy passes.

Marino was 17 of 34 for 225 yards with no touchdowns and 1 interception, but he should have had one more interception and despite having all the time in the world for most of the game, chronically underthrew receivers and had trouble finding the open man.

The offensive line was good at opening holes in the first half and protected Marino through most of the game, but failed to open holes in the second half for the running game and didn't protect Marino in the 4th quarter.

All the wide receivers failed at getting open against a mediocre secondary, didn't come back for the ball and generally didn't give Marino much in the way of targets.

Drayton only caught one pass for 8 yards.

Zach Thomas lead the team with 8 total tackles, but only 3 solo. He had some nice moments on blitzes, forcing Bledsoe to pass early on at least one occassion and making some initial hits in the backfield.

Buckley and Wooden each had an interception, and Wooden lead the team with 7 solo tackles, but overall the defensive backs allowed Bledsoe 414 passing yards and missed some important tackles.

Daniel Stubbs had one sack and a forced fumble, but the rest of the defensive line was pretty much invisible.

Nedney missed one field goal and made one and Kidd averaged 43.8 yards per punt.

INJURIES:

Jerris McPhail broke his arm and may be out for the rest of the season.

My Comments:

I don't think I've seen the Dolphins squander a chance like this since the 27-24 loss to the Colts last year in Miami. They had everything going for them and they choked and died. It was as big a fold as they've made.

If there is blame to be laid for this game, most of it must fall on the offense. They were given plenty of chances and even controlled the time of possession by more than 10 minutes, but kept tossing away opportunities throughout the game.

This is not to say that the defense was blameless. The missed tackles in particular lead to several disasters. But the defense did it's job well enough in the first three and a half quarters to deserve the victory. It was the offense that repeatedly screwed up.

I didn't think that the Cowboys game was that big a deal, but I was apparently wrong. Any team that plays this badly in a crucial game when they have as many chances as the Dolphins had today isn't a playoff team and it seems as if they had the heart torn out of them.

Related Info:

• Dolphins Endzone: Game Summary
• NFL.COM: Game Book
• NFL.COM: Dolphins vs Patriots Recap
• ESPNet Sportszone: Pats Pull out Coates, Leave Dolphins in Cold
• USA Today: Dolphins vs Patriots