The Dolphins showed a conspicuous lack of offensive prowess yesterday as they lost to the Vikings 13-7 in Minnesota. The story of the game was quite simple - while the Dolphin defense did a fairly good job of keeping the Vikings' offense from scoring, the Dolphin offense could only be characterized as inept - if you were being kind.
The game started about like it finished - there were no turning points or big surprises in this game. On offense, Miami never got the running game going that they wanted and when that didn't materialize, they were treated to an endless series of blitzes by the Vikings that the Dolphins couldn't handle.
It's not clear whether or not the running game could have worked if the Dolphins had tried more, but they ended up giving up on the rushing attach at halftime, even though they were only down by three points.
The Vikings stopped the run early in the game by stacking the line of scrimmage with 8 and even 9 players and when that worked, the Dolphins abandoned it - much too soon, in my opinion.
So, with the running game abandoned, the Dolphins tried - for the most part, unsuccessfully - to go to the air. While the offensive line did an adequate job of pass blocking - Fiedler was only sacked 3 times, despite the Vikings blitzing on 70% of their plays - the pressure on Fiedler made him commit error after error, overthrowing, underthrowing or just not seeing his receivers.
The skill players did little or nothing to help Fiedler out. Only Tony Martin was getting open regularly against a suspect Vikings secondary and Martin dropped at least one catchable ball. Also, the backs had some problems picking up the blitz. In one noteable instance, Lamar Smith wiffed a block on Vikings' linebacker Dwayne Rudd that ended in a sack that moved the Dolphins out of field goal range late in the game.
The only Miami score came as the result of a 44 yard pass to Tony Martin at the very end of the game against a Minnesota "Prevent (Nothing)" defense. Martin was downed at the 2, but one play later Fiedler tossed a short pass to Thurman Thomas - who was largely absent from the game plan for the rest of the day - for the Dolphins' only touchdown.
When the Vikings had the ball, they would typically put on a decent drive, making several first downs before they would be stopped, either by a sack, a stuff at the line of scrimmage, a turnover or a penalty. The Dolphin defense was very much in a "bend but don't break" mode, and was giving up shorter passing routes to keep the Vikings from completing the deep passes.
For the most part, that strategy worked and the Dolphins kept the Vikings out of the endzone. Only very late in the game when they were getting desparate did Miami give up a touchdown and even that play was nearly an interception. Sam Madison had perfect position on the touchdown pass to Moss and only a nearly superhuman grab by Moss over the top of Madison gave him the touchdown.
Looking at the stats will give you a somewhat disproportionate view of how well the Dolphins' defense played. While the Vikings did pick up a lot of yards, their total of 13 points was a more accurate picture of the performance that the Dolphin defense put on.
The defensive line did a very good job of containing Daunte Culpepper in the pocket, limiting him to 37 yards on 8 carries. Unfortunately, the discipline needed to contain him in the pocket limited the pressure they could put on him, but they did sack him 3 times and Trace Armstrong knocked the ball out of his hands for a fumble at one point.
The lack of pressure was apparent in the number of completions Culpepper had and the yardage the Vikings picked up, but it was almost all underneath on very well thrown passes to Carter and Moss that would have been very difficult to defend in any situation.
The Dolphin defense did play more zone than usual and mixed and matched coverages to try and contain Moss and Carter. There were no blatant coverage breakdowns and no instances of receivers running wide open behind Miami defenders - at least, not without the receivers pushing off to get separation.
Also, the Dolphins forced 4 turnovers from the Minnesota offense and in each case, the Dolphins made good plays on the ball. With the exception of one pass that went through the receiver's hands, each turnover was caused by Miami, rather than the result of Viking mistakes.
On special teams, Miami did a very good job, epecially Matt Turk, who boomed a lot of punts on Sunday. In one instance, Miami was backed up at their 1 yard line when Turk boomed a 62 yard punt to get them out of the hole.
Miami's return game was nothing special, but it's kicking and coverage units more than got the job done.
Overall, it was a disappointing loss for the Dolphins, who could have seriously challenged in this game with one decent offensive drive. About the only good thing that can be said about the result is that at least it wasn't against a division opponent.
I found this game to be pretty ugly and quite disappointing. I had not thought that the Dolphins would be stymied as much on offense as they were. The offensive line blocking was particularly disappointing, especially after they controlled the Seahawks as completely as they did.
I have been a Jay Fiedler supporter for most of the year, but I was not pleased with his performance on Sunday. Especially when under pressure, Fiedler made quite a few bad throws and while he only threw one interception, he continually missed open receivers.
I hate to say it because I don't want to start a controversy, but I believe that Damon Huard probably would have played better than Fiedler on Sunday and might have been able to squeak out a victory. Huard seems to me to play better under pressure than Fiedler and is more capable of making something out of nothing.
However, that is hindsight and there's nothing to be done about it now. Also, despite my feelings about Huard, I hope that the team doesn't bench Fiedler, but keeps him in as the starter, at least through the bye week. If he continues to have problems, that's ample time to replace him.
I don't really have anything good to say about the offense at all, but I do have some kind words for the defense.
First of all, they held the Vikings to just 13 points. You'll read some recaps that say that Viking mistakes kept them from scoring more points, but I don't agree. With one notable exception, all the turnovers were forced by Miami and they stopped the Vikings repeatedly in the red zone.
Brock Marion's interception, for example, was a perfect piece of timing on a deep pass. The fumble recover by Jason Taylor was the result of Trace Armstrong getting his hand out and batting the ball out of Culpepper's grasp. And Tim Bowen's interception was the result of Rich Owens playing Culpepper just right and batting the pass up in the air at just the right moment. Only Brian Walker's interception was the result of a ball that went through the receiver's hands.
On an individual level, I thought that Sam Madison did not have a particularly good day, but that Patrick Surtain did play well. I was a little worried about Surtain after the end of last season, but he did at least as good a job on Moss and Carter as Madison did.
As far as special teams are concerned, the Dolphins will do OK with Brock Marion returning kickoffs, but they need Ben Kelly back on the field to return punts. Kelly would have gotten a couple of opportunities yesterday to do some real damage to the Vikings.
Overall, I think that Miami learned a lot yesterday. While not winning the ball game, they now have a very clear picture of what they'll need to do the rest of the year.