OVERALL SUMMARY:
The rookies were the stars today as the Miami Dolphins beat the New England Patriots by the score of 24-10 in Miami. In a day that was the second hottest every recorded for a Miami game, the Dolphins were hot, especially in the first half, when they took a 17-3 lead on the running of Abdul-Jabbar and a defense that already looks better than the one they fielded last year.
The game started with poor play by the Dolphins special team, who allowed Dave Meggett to return the opening kickoff to the Miami 48 yard line. However, Dave Meggett was one of only 2 New England players who had a good day. The Patriots drove from the Miami 48 to the 33, but the Dolphins were containing Curtis Martin well and Bledsoe was forced to pass from a 3rd and 6 at the Miami 33.
Bledsoe watched his receiver run the quick out to the left, but so did Louis Oliver, who timed his charge perfectly and stepped in between Bledsoe and his receiver. He briefly juggled the ball, but eventually hauled it in while running down the middle. However, Dave Meggett caught Oliver from behind, tackling him at the Patriot 10 and forcing Oliver to fumble. An alert Sean Hill picked up the ball and ran it in to give the Dolphins a 7-0 lead early in the game.
After the defence stopped the Patriots in 3 plays, the Dolphins, starting at their own 29, marched down the field in a drive that featured 5 runs and two passes. Abdul-Jabbar gained 19 yards on 4 carries in this drive that carried the Dolphins down to the Patriot 17, where the Dolphins settled for a field goal and a 10-0 lead.
The Patriots took the next series down the field after the kickoff for 71 yards in 19 plays, but a series of great plays by Zach Thomas deep in the Dolphins end of the field forced the Patriots to settle for a field goal and a 10-3 Miami lead. Again, the Dolphins stuffed Curtis Martin on this drive, holding him to 17 yards on 7 carries.
The Dolphins' next drive did feature some good running by Abdul-Jabbar, but stalled at the Patriot 42 and the Patriots got the ball back at their 14. After Meggett ran for a yard, there was a bizarre series of plays. First, Patriot's WR Shawn Jefferson had the ball knocked loose by JB Brown and it was recovered by Louis Oliver. Then, after a loss by Abdul-Jabbar, Marino threw an interception to Terry Ray on a bad pass. Ray returned it to the Dolphins' 47 before Richmond Webb knocked him out. On the very next play, Shawn Jefferson again caught the pass and again fumbled when running over the middle as he ran into Steve Emtman. It was 3 turnovers in 4 plays.
The Dolphins didn't blow this next series, however, marching 61 yards on 10 plays to the Patriot's endzone, with Karim Abdul-Jabbar getting the touchdown on a 3 yard run right up the middle. The Patriots had one more play to end the half, with the Dolphins up 17-3.
The halftime stats showed that Karim Abdul-Jabbar had 56 yards rushing on 14 carries, while Curtis Martin had 24 yards on 9 carries. The Dolphins had run 18 rushing plays in the first half and 7 passes. They had a total of 84 rushing yards in the first half.
The second half started with Miami running a 96 yard drive after Jerris McPhail fumbled the kickoff and had to be bailed out by Louis Oliver, who recovered the ball at the 4. McPhail never made a clean catch, but Marino and Stanley Pritchett bailed out McPhail on this drive, with Marino hooking up with Pritchett for 72 of the 96 yards in this drive.
On the final play of this drive, Marino hit Pritchett over the middle and Pritchett fought down to the one, but fumbled when he was sandwiched between Patriot defenders. However, the fumble popped into the arms of Scott Miller, who was in the endzone and he held on for a touchdown and a 24-3 lead.
After Dave Meggett ran the ensuing kickoff back to the Miami 38, the Patriots got their only touchdown of the game when, after the Patriots were stuffed 3 downs in a row, Bledsoe hit Ben Coates on the sidelines and Coates made a beautiful play to wrestle Gene Atkins into the endzone for a 29 yard TD pass.
This TD in the third quarter was the final scoring of the game. The Dolphins would put together two more decent drives, but never really threatened to score. They did manage to chew up the clock with some decent running, but stalled in both cases around the Patriot 40.
The Dolphins defense, however, continued to harass Bledsoe into bad passes and shut down the running game. The Dolphins got another interception in the 4th quarter when Bledsoe underthrew a pass into the endzone and Gene Atkins batted it into the hands of Terrell Buckley. Great coverage by the defense and well timed blitzes allowed the defense to put pressure on Bledsoe and forced him to make some bad throws.
Overall, the game developed in exactly the manner that JJ said he wanted it to develop. The running game and defense dominated and Marino was not forced to carry the team. In fact, if you look at the stats, Marino didn't have a particularly good game. He passed for 176 yards, no touchdowns and 1 interception. But he completed 73% of his passes and averaged 8 yards per attempt.
More important than the passing game, however, was the fact that the Dolphins ran the ball 39 times and only threw it 22. They gained 146 yards on the ground and the running backs averaged 4.1 yards per carry. That is exactly the kind of team that JJ wants to have.
On defense, the Dolphins dominated, getting 4 turnovers, 4 sacks and holding Curtis Martin to 23 yards on 11 carries. It should be noted that most of the sacks were coverage sacks, which speaks volumes for the pass coverage and also says a lot about the selection of the blitzes that JJ chose to throw at Bledsoe.
GOOD STUFF:
The Dolphins attitude in this game was terrific and the play of both the offensive and defensive lines was dominating. The fact that two touchdowns were on fumble recoveries is both a plus and a minus. It's a plus, because the Dolphins, as a team, showed hustle and drive in covering the fumbles. It's a minus, because the Dolphins had 4 fumbles in this game. But the Patriots recovered no fumbles, while the Dolphins, all together, recovered 6.
Other important items included controling time of possesion by keeping the ball 8 minutes longer than the Patriots. This has always been a sore spot with the team, but it's particularly important because most of that difference was in the second half. The time of possession for the first half was roughly equal.
NOT-SO-GOOD STUFF:
The Dolphins do have some work to do. First of all, McPhail fumbled two kickoffs. And they committed 9 penalties throughout the game, mostly cheap stuff like offsides and false starts.
Also, the Dolphins defensive backs' had their hands on at least 6 of Bledsoe's passes and only got 2 interceptions. It's great play, but they need work on holding on to the ball.
Worst of all, however, was the special teams coverage. Dave Meggett was allowed too many long returns. The team obviously still needs a lot of work on special teams.
INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES:
Karim Abdul-Jabbar paced the offense with 115 yards rushing on 26 carries for a 4.4 yard/carry average and he slipped through some cracks that weren't even there. He also had a rushing touchdown.
Zach Thomas lead the defense with 9 solo tackles and a sack, but most impressive of all was his two consecutive stops deep in the Dolphins end of the field to halt a New England drive.
Stanley Pritchett had a fine game, leading all receivers with 6 catches for 77 yards and blocking very well for Abdul-Jabbar.
Louis Oliver had one interception and batted away at least 4 other passes.
Daryl Gardener had a pretty good game, getting 3 tackles and a sack. While that sack was a coverage sack, the Patriots were doubled teaming him on that play and he kept driving until he reached Bledsoe and buried him.
Buckley dropped one interception, but made another.
Bernie Parmalee played some and gained 32 yards on 8 carries, including a 17 yard run in the second quarter.
INJURIES:
Calvin Jackson was helped off the field in the second quarter with what appeared to be a knee injury of some kind. The good news was that he walked off the field under his own power. The bad news was that he didn't return to the game.
My Comments:
I must admit that I was scared to death of this game. Living in New England, I have been bombarded by Patriots propaganda since the end of last year. The Patriots have looked impressive in the preseason and I thought that Bill Belichek's defense would be better than it was.
But JJ has made a believer out of me. He told everyone what he was going to do today and then he went out and did it. There were no surprises here - JJ was not lying to the public about his game plan. But superior execution and domination on the line of scrimmage are what made the Dolphins the better team today.
And I've gotta tell you, it was good to see.
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