The Dolphin Digest has provided the following game summary:

News according to Alain Poupart, assistant editor of the Dolphin Digest:

Poupart uses the adjectives ugly, brutal, terrible, pathetic and embarrassing to properly describe the Dolphins performance in Atlanta Friday night. The second pre-season game ended in a 37-0 less, and dropping the Dolphins to 0-2.

Looking for bright spots? No one was injured, but outside of that practically nothing went right. The run defense was sacked at times. The pass defense had it problems. The run offense had some moments, but nothing great. The passing offense was absolutely atrocious. There was a breakdown in special teams. All in all, it was downright ugly.

How's this for the Dolphins totals as a team: 9 for 29 passing. A grand total of 69 yds. Two interceptions, no TDs.

Dan Marino 0 for 7. What happened to Marino? There were a couple of throws that he threw into traffic, and the Falcons broke up the plays. There were a couple of throws, perhaps, that could have been caught. There were a couple of bad throws. Overall, the pass protection was not a major problem. The timing was clearly not there between Marino and the receivers. Since the Dolphins have begun keeping stats for the pre-season (in 1989), this was the first time Marino ever played a game without completing a pass.

Bernie Kosar had some better numbers: 6 for 10, but he only managed 41 yds and there were some problems with hand-offs. There were a couple of fumbles by the Dolphins, who committed 4 turnovers.

Doug Pederson was absolutely atrocious; he was 3 for 12 for 28 yds; two interceptions. That clearly was the low light for the Dolphins. There was a high throw to Ricky Sanders, cutting across the middle for a pass. That would have been a very tough catch. Sanders went up tipped the ball and it came down in the arms of a Falcons defensive back for one of the interceptions. The other one, Pederson tried to go long when the wide receiver was clearly well-covered, when the DB Ron Davis just made the play after that.

John Kidd had a decent night punting the ball. He did 43 yds on his 5 kicks. The Dolphins also came up with a blocked punt by WR Demeris Johnson near the end of the first half, which put the Dolphins inside the line of 20, but a few plays later, on a 3rd and short, Kosar handed off to FB Robert Wilson, who never had control of the ball. He fumbled it and the Falcons recovered.

Aside from when Marino was there, the Dolphins never advanced beyond their own 39-yd line.

The other fumble happened when Kosar had a problem with a hand-off to Irving Spikes, who never got control of the ball. Spikes seemed to drop everything he touched all night.

RB Bernie Parmalee did some good running; 37 yds on 6 carries.

RB Irving Spikes - 4 for 18.

RB Brent Moss - 4 for 16, though he did have a one 13-yd run, the longest of the night for the Dolphins.

RB Ontiwaun Carter - 4 for 11, but he dropped an easy pass.

RB Robert Wilson - 3 for 5 with the one fumble.

Dolphins only completed 9 passes; two guys had two interceptions -- Randall Hill and Spikes (Editor's Note - I think she means fumbles).

The offensive line, the Dolphins had some success when they ran straight up the middle, creating some holes. All things considered, it appears that Tim Ruddy had a strong performance.

Dolphins put up 161 total yds with only 11 first downs. Not a good sign.

Terrell Buckley and Bryan Cox had leading tackles. Buckley had 6 tackles, but Buckley appeared to be beaten all night long.

Overall, a distressing performance.

**END OF DOLPHIN DIGEST REPORT**

MY COMMENTS & ANALYSIS:

There really isn't much to analyze in this game. The Dolphins never showed up to play, so it's hard to analyze a total lack of effort.

About the only decent performance of the night seemed to come from Bernie Parmalee, who ran for 37 yards on 6 carries, for a 6.1 yard/carry average.

It's kind of hard for me to come to some kind of conclusion about this game. Clearly, the guys that the Dolphins normally rely on to lead the way - guys like Dan Marino and Bryan Cox - didn't even want to be there. And why should they? This game doesn't count for anything and both Marino and Cox have played in more than their share of pre-season games. Especially Marino.

Nevertheless, I'm disappointed. It's always hard on me when the Dolphins lose, regardless of what point in the season it happens.

And, more disappointing than the fact that they lost was the fact that they lost so badly. I was basically pleased with the performance of the starters in the Jaguars game, but not this time. They didn't even belong on the field Friday night - they should have stayed home.

I guess it's just the pre-season blues. There is no other explanation for it. Marino has always seemed to play better under pressure and there just isn't enough pressure in the pre-season to get him fired up. And when he's not fired up, no one else on the team, especially on the offense, is either.

And, as I said earlier - the game counts for nothing. Next year at this time, it will be tough enough just to remember this year's preseason record, let alone how well they played in each game.

So, I guess the best way to look at it is to remember this game doesn't count.

Of course, if they look this bad next week - I'll really be angry....