OVERALL SUMMARY:

The Dolphins went into Monday night's game in a must-win situation and came out with a 30-13 victory that put them in charge of their destiny for the rest of the year. The win put them one game ahead of the Patriots and 2 games ahead of the Bills in the AFC East. They remain tied with the Jets, but are effectively one game ahead of them because they swept the series this year.

The Dolphins' game plan worked very well in this game, with the Dolphins being able to run enough to force the Bills to respect the run. The Dolphins' offensive line, tight ends and running backs did a decent job blocking against one of the better defensive lines in the league. That allowed the Dolphins to actually out-rush the Bills, 96 yards to 92 and help keep the Bills off of Marino. Marino himself, while not passing for a record number of yards, was very efficient as a passer, completing 75% of his passes and getting 2 touchdowns.

The defense, for their part, did a good job containing Antowain Smith and Thurman Thomas. They held the Bills to 3.2 yards per carry and didn't give up any big plays to the Bills' offense. Their pass rush was not outstanding, but it was improved over previous weeks with the return of Jason Taylor full time. The defensive backs did a pretty good job in coverage, and Sam Madison and Terrell Buckley both broke up deep passes with excellent coverage.

The only real downside was the play of the special teams. Mistakes on the part of the special teams set the Bills up for two scores in the 2nd half and that is really unacceptable against one of the poorer special teams units in the league.

Overall, the Dolphins fought hard and played well and came away with a well-deserved win.

GRADES:

The overall grade for the team would probably have to be an A-. There is clearly room for improvement in some areas, but it was a pretty complete game by the team.

RUSHING: It still surprises me that the Dolphins outrushed the Bills in this game, gaining 96 yards. They were not very consistent, but they ran well enough to force the Bills to respect their running game. The most impressive running sequence of the game was the final touchdown drive, when the Dolphins ran the ball 4 times in a row in the 4th quarter for 24 yards and their final touchdown. In past games, the Dolphins have not been able to establish that kind of running attack at the end of games when they needed it. GRADE: B+

PASSING: Overall, a fine effort. While they didn't put up huge numbers, they got 2 touchdowns, completed 75% of the passes attempted and had several nice catches on great efforts by the receivers. Nine different receivers caught at least one pass and no one receiver had more than 4 catches. For the most part, the blocking was excellent also, with the exception of the two sacks by Bruce Smith. Marino did throw one ill-advised interception, but overall, the passing game was efficient and deadly. GRADE: A-

RUN DEFENSE: Much improved over last game, the run defense held the Bills to 92 yards rushing (instead of the 179 that they got last time) and kept the Bills from running over them. There were a couple of instances where missed tackles failed to bring down Thurman Thomas, but that's only normal when the Dolphins play the Bills. The longest run of the day by the Bills was 16 yards. GRADE: B+

PASS DEFENSE: It's hard to know how good the pass defense was because the Bills' Todd Collins was so poor at quarterback, but they did a good job for most of the game. The Dolphins didn't have as good a pass rush as they'd like, but they forced one interception when Jason Taylor hit Collins as Collins was releasing the ball and they had 3 sacks, all in important situations. Also, both Buckley and Madison knocked down deep passes to Andre Reed. GRADE: B

KICKING GAME: The kicking game was great for most of the game, but both the kickers had bad moments. Even though Mare put 4 of his 7 kickoffs in the endzone for touchdbacks, the first kick of the second half came down at the 20 yard line. That, in combination with a penalty, gave the Bills excellent field position for their only touchdown drive of the game. John Kidd also shanked a couple of punts, although most of his punts were fine. GRADE: C+

KICK RETURN GAME: Not much happening here against one of the weaker coverage teams in the NFL. Spikes averaged about 25 yards per return and fumbled on one of them, turning the ball over deep in Miami territory. Jordan had one return of a punt for 7 yards. GRADE: C-

COACHING: The game plan was right on target. The continued emphasis on th run paid off and the combination of passes worked very well. JJ's decision to start Bock at right guard and to allow Roosevelt Potts to play worked just about perfectly. GRADE: A

GOOD STUFF:

The most obvious positive about this game to me was the resurgance of the offense in the 4th quarter. In the previous games, the Dolphins have not been very potent offensively in the 4th quarter. Against the Bears, of course, they lost the game at least partly because they couldn't score any points late in the game.

In this game, they score two touchdowns in the 4th quarter to turn a close game into a decisive victory. Most impressive of all was the last touchdown drive, where the Dolphins ran the ball decisively on 4 consecutive plays, which ended in a 1 yard touchdown run.

The pass blocking was much better this time against the Bills' front seven and Marino had plenty of time to pass for most of the game.

The running game, while not spectacular, did what it was supposed to do and helped the passing game be more efficient.

The pass coverage was, for the most part, improved over past outings this season as Sam Madison gets more playing time.

THINGS TO WORK ON:

The Dolphins still had trouble on 3rd and short plays, converting almost none this game. However, now that Roosevelt Potts is in the backfield, perhaps they can address this problem more.

Blocking pickups on Bruce Smith's stunt moves was non-existant and that needs to be addressed.

The Dolphins still need a speedster for a deep threat, but that will probably have to wait until next year.

The special teams need to have as much concentration and fire as the rest of the team - maybe more. They can't afford to have breakdowns like the ones they had against the Bills.

INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES:

Dan Marino was - well, Dan Marino. He hit 75% of his passes for 234 yards with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. The interception was really the only bad pass he had all night.

Karim Abdul-Jabbar carried 26 times for 83 yards and had a touchdown. He also caught 2 passes for 29 yards and got most of those receiving yards on his own. He did drop one easy pass early in the game, but made up for it later.

Irving Spikes did not have a particularly good game. He carried twice for 11 yards, but fumbled a kickoff return late in the game that was almost a disaster. He also caught 1 pass for 10 yards.

Roosevelt Potts got to play a number of plays at fullback and even though he didn't touch the ball, he did provide some crushing blocks to help spring Abdul-Jabbar. Look for him to play more in the future.

Bernie Parmalee was fairly quiet this game, as was Jerris McPhail. Parms didn't have any carries or receptions and McPhail had 1 carry for 4 yards and 1 catch for minus-3 yards on a badly executed shovel pass.

Ed Perry played in the 2 tight-end set and although he only caught 2 passes for 4 yards, one of those receptions was for a touchdown. He also continues to block well.

His counterpart, Troy Drayton, led all receivers with 4 catches for 62 yards. One of those receptions was a 30 yard touchdown, but his most impressive reception was the one in which he brushed a Buffalo defensive back aside like a piece of lint and got an extra 10 yards.

Brett Perriman got his first start and led the wide receivers with 3 catches for 48 yards. He had a couple of nice grabs late in the game.

Lamar Thomas didn't let the fact that he was no longer starting bother him. He only caught 2 passes for 49 yards, but they were both key passes on the Dolphins' first touchdown drive. His leaping reception over the top of the Bills' Jeff Burris was a classic.

OJ McDuffie only caught 2 passes for 10 yards as he continues to draw double and triple coverage.

Charles Jordan only caught 1 pass for 25 yards and he dropped that ball after the catch and had to pick it up. He also returned 1 punt for 7 yards.

John Bock started at right guard and appeared to play well, not allowing any sacks.

On defense, Shawn Wooden led all tacklers with 9 total tackles and had 1 pass defensed. He also dropped Thurman Thomas in the backfield for a loss on one play.

Terrell Buckley was right behind him with 8 total tackles and had a nice breakup of a deep pass early in the game.

Anthony Harris had the most solo tackles, getting 7 and had a key sack of Todd Collins deep in the Miami end of the field.

Zach Thomas was back to his old self, with 7 total tackles and a forced fumble. He had one tackle of Antowain Smith for minus 3 yards.

Dwight Hollier got the start in place of Anthony Harris at strongside linebacker when Harris moved over to take Rodgers' place. Hollier did a good job and finished the day with 4 tackles.

Trace Armstrong had 3 tackles and a sack, although to be fair about it, Collins slipped and fell down and then Armstrong fell down on top of him.

Tim Bowens had 4 total tackles, including one inside the Dolphins' 20 where he dropped Antowain Smith for a 5 yard loss.

Darryl Gardener only had 2 tackles and was relatively quiet, but did recover a fumble.

Jason Taylor was back and pressuring the quarterback. He had 3 tackles, batted down a pass and while he didn't get a sack, he did hit Todd Collins on one play just as Collins let go of the ball, causing an interception.

Mike Chalenski, signed 3 weeks ago to help the defensive line, had 2 tackles.

Barron Tanner had just 1 tackle in this game.

Sam Madison got his 2nd start as the designated nickel back and played very well. He knocked away a sure TD pass to Andre Reed late in the game and was very active. He also had 2 tackles.

George Teague also played well, getting 2 tackles and an interception.

Cornerback Jerry Wilson had a sack on a corner blitz in the game and continued to play well in nickel and dime coverage.

John Kidd punted 3 times for a 40.7 yard average, but shanked one punt for about 20 yards at the Buffalo 44.

Olindo Mare' hit 4 of his 7 kickoffs deep for touchbacks and made all three of his field goal attempts, including a season-long 37 yarder. However, his first kickoff of the 2nd half came down at the Bills' 20.

INJURIES:

Jerry Wilson had an MRI yesterday for a knee problem that he suffered in the game, but it turned out that he just had a contusion and he should be ok to play this Sunday against the Patriots. Also, Jason Taylor dislocated his thumb during the game, but he should be ok.

My Comments:

A win over the Bills is always a good win and this one was better than most. The team played as good a game as they have all year and a number of players stepped up to make plays at crucial points in the game.

There are a couple of areas that the Dolphins need to address for the future, but right now, the team seems to be getting their act together for a run at the playoffs.

Of course, it's impossible to know how this game would have turned out if the Bills had had a decent quarterback, but the fact that the Dolphins were able to out-rush the Bills has to be a good sign.

Related Info:

• Dolphins Endzone: Post Game Report
• Sun-Sentinel:
• Sun-Sentinel: Q&A; with J.J.
• NFL.COM: Gamebook