OVERALL SUMMARY:

The Dolphins went into last Sunday's game needing a win to stay competitive in the AFC East. They took on a Chiefs team who were 4-1 and had been performing well and beat them by playing solid defense, especially in the 2nd half and controlling the football.

The game did not prove to be the breakout game for the offense that everyone had hoped for, but there were some notable improvements in many facets of the offense's play. Despite the typical dropped passes from Jordan and Barnett, the Dolphins ended up with 259 yards passing and a touchdown and Marino was successful in spreading the ball around. Unfortunately, the running game still suffered from dreadful inconsistency and will need to be improved.

The defense did play much better than it did against the Bucs and virtually shut down the Chiefs' offense in the second half, allowing no points and holding them to 79 total yards of offense in the 3rd and 4th quarters. There were still problems with the pass rush, but overall the defense played much better.

The special teams played well on kickoffs, but was not so good on punts as punter Kyle Richardson had problems shanking the ball and controlling the placement of the ball. Also, Olindo Mare' missed a very makeable 41 yard field goal attempt in the second half that could have been crucial. He did, however, make a 26 yarder late in the game that sealed the victory.

Overall it was not as good a performance as we could have hoped for, but it was a solid victory against a good team in a tough game.

GRADES:

Overall, the team get's a B for it's performance. Against the Packers or Bucs, their effort probably wouldn't have been enough but against the Chiefs it was what they needed to get back on track.

RUSHING:

Unfortunately, the running game was still pretty bad. Karim had only 38 yards on 17 carries and the team totaled just 83 yards on 27 carries. The run blocking still couldn't seem to clear the holes and when the holes weren't there, none of the runners could get to daylight.

However, there were three big runs that made a difference. Abdul-Jabbar had a nice run in the 1st quarter for a touchdown behind a nice hole that was opened on the left side. On this run, Abdul-Jabbar had smooth sailing until the 5 yard line when he broke two attempted tackles to put himself in the endzone. Irving Spikes also had a nice 14 yard run to help set up the winning field goal through a hole the size of Montana behind McIver and Charles Jordan had a nice reverse for 16 yards.

The running game does seem to be improving a little bit at a time, but they still have an awful long way to go before the running game is a real threat. They didn't give up any turnovers. GRADE: C-

PASSING:

Marino passed for 259 yards and a touchdown and the ball was spread around nicely to 7 different receivers. Troy Drayton, in particular, had a fine day catching the ball, catching 4 passes for 80 yards with 3 of those passes going over 20 yards. Bernie Parmalee was effective as an outlet receiver, gaining a crucial first down and making a touchdown catch after a rollout by Marino.

Also, the pass blocking continues to excel and the line didn't seem to miss Keith Sims much at all. There continue to be too many drops, however, as Fred Barnett, Charles Jordan and Karim Abdul-Jabbar each dropped at least one easily catchable pass. GRADE: B

RUN DEFENSE:

The run defense did not start out that well, surrendering 77 yards in the first half. However they stiffened up in the 2nd half, holding the Chiefs to just 17 yards rushing. They did a good job controlling Greg Hill, Kimble Anders and Marcus Allen. They did get fooled on a reverse, but didn't allow a score.

The defensive line, in particular, seemed to play much better against the run this week. They stuffed the middle and both Bowens and Gardener had several good tackles at or behind the line of scrimmage. GRADE: B+

PASS DEFENSE:

The pass defense had a rough first half, surrendering 103 yards and 2 touchdowns and while they got much better in the 2nd half, they still had trouble covering Andre Rison. Some of that was the play calling, with the Dolphins calling soft zones in a number of situations that allowed Rison to get open on the final drive. I was particularly upset that the Dolphins didn't seem to even try to double cover Rison on the final drive.

The coverage by the defensive backs was generally very good, although Buckley did slip and fall while trying to cover Rison in the first half that allowed Rison to get open and catch his only touchdown of the day. However, the pass rush was only periodically effective and allowed Grbac too much time to pass on a number of plays. I'm afraid that the Dolphins miss Danny Stubbs more than they thought they would and Jason Taylor is being asked to play too many downs without a rest. GRADE: B

KICKING GAME: Mare' put 3 out of 4 of his kickoffs in the endzone and the only one that didn't make the endzone came down at the 5. He did make a 26 yarder in the 4th quarter that turned out to be the game-winner, but also missed a very makeable 41 yarder in the 3rd quarter.

The punting was not very good with Richardson shanking a couple out of bounds and not having very good control. The coverage was good against Tamarick Vanover and they did force a fumble on a kickoff but were unable to come up with the ball. GRADE: C+

KICK RETURN GAME:

It was not as effective as it has been. Neither kickoff returner (Spikes or McPhail) had a return over about 20 yards and Jordan averaged just 6.5 yards per punt return. GRADE: C-

COACHING:

The coaching improved somewhat this week with more variety on offense and more intensity on defense. There were still a couple of strange calls, but overall the team was as ready for this game as for any game that they've played this year. GRADE: B-

GOOD STUFF:

The passing game continues to improve, little by little. Marino had 259 yards passing and spread the ball around quite a bit with Troy Drayton finally becoming the impact receiver that we all hoped he'd be.

The defense overall and in particular the run defense, were quite good. They got better as the game progressed and ended up holding the Chiefs to about 45 yards less than they are used to getting in each game.

THINGS TO WORK ON:

The running game still needs a lot of work despite the touchdown run and Spikes' 14 yard effort in the 4th quarter. Those two and the reverse were about the only parts of the running game that were imprssive.

The pass rush also needs some work. It did not get to Grbac as much as it should have. They did hurry his throws on a few occassions, but Grbac ended up completing over 75% of his passes, which is too many.

INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES:

Marino had an outstanding game, completing 19 of 31 for 259 yards with 1 touchdown and no interceptions. He was comfortably in control and spread the ball around, with no one player monopolizing the receiving yardage.

Karim Abdul-Jabbar only got 38 yards on 17 carries, but did do a nice job on the 10 yard touchdown run in the 1st quarter. He didn't catch any passes, and had at least one dropped pass.

Irvin Spikes had one good 14 yard run in the 4th quarter that helped set up the winning field goal, but otherwise didn't do much as he rushed 3 other times for no yards and caught no passes. He returned one kickoff for 19 yards.

Bernie Parmalee split time in the backfield as a fullback with Ed Perry and had a nice game, catching 4 passes for 32 yards and a touchdown, along with a crucial 1st down. He also carried the ball once for 6 yards and had a solo special teams tackle.

Ed Perry spent some time at both tight end and fullback. He only caught one pass for 2 yards, but his blocking was instrumental on the two longest runs that the Dolphins' backs had.

OJ McDuffie again lead all receivers with 5 catches for 86 yards.

Fred Barnett had only one catch for 10 yards and a couple of drops. He lost his starting job because of his poor performance.

Charles Jordan returned two punts for a total of 13 yards and did a nice job on a 16 yard reverse. However, he continued to drop some easy passes and ended the day with no catches.

Lamar Thomas returned to the field with 3 catches for 43 yards. He played well enough that he was elevated to the starting spot ahead of Fred Barnett.

Troy Drayton caught 4 passes for 80 yards, including two 25+ yard passes on the Dolphins touchdown drive in the 2nd quarter. He was definitely instrumental in this victory. However, some of his blocking was questionable.

The offensive line did another fine job protecting Marino, allowing only 1 sack. However, they still had trouble opening holes for the running backs, with the notable exception of the two big plays.

On the defensive line, Tim Bowens and Darryl Gardener both had good efforts. Bowens had 4 tackles, with 3 of them for either no gain or a loss. Gardener had 3 tackles of which 2 of them were for no gain or a loss. They also helped keep the offensive line off the linebackers to allow them to make plays.

Jason Taylor did not have a lot of tackles, with 3, but did play well and managed to get some pressure on Grbac.

Trace Armstrong only had 2 assists and didn't get to the quarterback.

Shane Burton had one exceptional play where he wasn't fooled by a Grbac play fake and took Grbac down for a big sack.

Derrick Rodgers continues to play well, getting 8 total tackles and being used extensively in pass rushing situations. He also had a pass defensed that was almost picked off.

Zach Thomas is gradually regaining the form he had last year and had 7 tackles.

Anthony Harris had 4 tackles, but two of them were for no gain and one was his crucial stop of Marcus Allen on 4th and 3 at the end of the game. He also seems to be improving.

Terrell Buckley had 5 solo tackles, but did slip and fall while in coverage, allowing Andre Rison to get open on the first Chiefs' touchdown.

Calvin Jackson had 4 solo tackles, including a nice shoestring tackle of Kimble Anders that prevented a first down late in the game.

Corey Harris had 4 tackles and seemed to be improving his coverage.

Shawn Wooden again lead the defense in tackles, getting 8, but he did allow Gonzalez to get behind him for the Chiefs' second touchdown. To be fair to Wooden, it looked as if he was expecting coverage help on the play, but he was the only Dolphin player in the vicinity.

Sam Madison did play some, but not enough to record any statistics, except the forced fumble on the kickoff that the Chiefs recovered and a special teams tackle.

Olindo Mare' kicked off well, putting 3 of 4 kickoffs in the endzone and making a field goal. However, he did miss a makeable 41 yard attempt in the 3rd quarter.

Kyle Richardson did not punt well, shanking a couple short and not being able to control the ball well enough to keep it inside the 20.

INJURIES:

Tim Ruddy banged up his knee some during the game, but not enough to be taken out. He will miss some practice time this week, but not enough to miss the game next Sunday.

There were no other injuries.

My Comments:

While this game was not everything I could have hoped for, it was not a bad outing for the Dolphins. Most impressive to me was the determination and effort shown by the team in a close, important game. They played hard on nearly every down and got tougher as the game went on. It's important that this team know that it can win tough games against tough teams.

As for the future chances of the team over the course of the season, it looks to me like the team is showing a little bit of improvement each game in some area. If they can continue to improve over the rest of the games, they are still in good shape for a playoff run.

This week, they improved the passing game and the run defense. If they can continue to play at this level in those areas, they can concentrate on the other areas that need improvement.

This weekend is another big test that could have an important impact on the Dolphins' playoff chances. This makes it imperative that the Dolphins play well against the Jets this coming Sunday. However, the Chiefs game was a good preparation for the Jets and a good confidence builder, and came at a good time.

Related Info:

• Sun-Sentinel: Q&A; with JJ
• Dolphins Endzone: Jimmy Johnson's Day after Press Conference
• Dolphins Endzone: Post Game Wrapup
• NFL.COM: Dolphins vs Chiefs Gamebook