OVERALL SUMMARY:
The Dolphins went into Rich Stadium and stunned the Buffalo Bills 21-7 today in a game that was easily the most exciting Dolphins game of the year. The Dolphins' defense deserves most of the credit, stifling the Bills' offense while sacking Jim Kelly 7 times and pressuring him into throwing 3 interception.
The offense didn't get on track nearly as well, but avoided mistakes and didn't turn the ball over at all. The rushing game was practically non-existant, except down near the goal line, where 2 of the 3 Dolphins touchdowns were from running plays.
The game started with Miami taking the opening kickoff, starting at their own 22 and moving up the field, mostly on the strength of a couple of completions to Troy Drayton and Randal Hill. But they were stopped when Erickson was sacked by Jim Jeffcoat on 3rd down, and the Dolphins were forced to punt from their own 38.
The punt went out of bounds at the 18 and the Bills took over. However, on the first play of the game, Jim Kelly tried to hit Lonnie Johnson over the middle on a short pass and Zach Thomas stepped in front of Johnson and picked the ball off. However, the Dolphins could gain no yardage from the Buffalo 15 and after 4 abortive plays, had to settle for a field goal attempt, which was pushed wide right by the wind.
The Bills took over at the 23 and moved up the field with Thomas running and Kelly throwing to their 47, but on 3rd and 1, Tim Bowens got in the backfield and knocked the ball out of Kelly's hand. Trace Armstrong recovered the fumble and the Dolphins moved from the Buffalo 44 to their 20, mostly on one 17 yard reception by McDuffie, but again were stuffed. Facing a 4th and 6 at the 24, the Dolphins looked like they were going to try a field goal, but John Kidd took the snap and ran up the middle for 4 yards.
However, that wasn't enough yardage for a first down and the ball went over to the Bills on downs. The Bills, however, went 3 and out and punted to the Dolphins 26 yard line. The Dolphins ran 2 plays, including a 16 yard draw to Stanley Pritchett to their 42, and then the 1st quarter ended in a scoreless tie.
To start the 2nd quarter, the Dolphins drove down to the Buffalo 3, mostly on the strength of an 11 yard draw and a 26 yard dump pass to Abdul-Jabbar. There, the Dolphins ran 3 consecutive rushing plays from the 3. On the first two, the Dolphins gained nothing, but on a third and goal, the Dolphins opened a hole over the right guard and Abdul-Jabbar powered into the endzone for a touchdown to give the Dolphins a 7-0 lead.
At this point in the game, the Bills abandoned their "new" offense and went back to the no-huddle. This appeared to work at first as they moved from their 14 to the Dolphins 36, but at this point the defense stiffened and the Bills were forced to punt.
The next three possessions - 2 by Miami and 1 by Buffalo - each went 3 and out as each defense was impenetrable. The half then ended with the Bills in possession of the ball at their own 11.
The second half opened with Buffalo taking the kickoff and returning it to their 29. They then went 3 and out as their drive ended with Trace Armstrong sacking Kelly. The Dolphins took the punt at their 25 and could only move up to their 44 before being forced to punt.
The next Bills possession started at their 20 after a touchback on the punt and they moved out to their 43, but were stopped when Zach Thomas sacked Kelly on a blitz and were forced to punt. The punt was fumbled by OJ McDuffie on the catch, but he managed to cover it up.
The Dolphins started their next series at their 29 and on the first play from scrimmage, Randal Hill got behind Jeff Burris and was wide open, catching the ball for a 61 yard gain down to the Bills' 10 yard line.
A comment at this point - Hill cut back into the middle of the field after catching the ball and was caught from behind by the corner or the safety from the opposite side of the field. He probably should have continued down the sideline instead of slanting back towards the goalpost.
In any case, the Dolphins were helped by a pass interference call and then ran 3 consecutive rushing plays up the middle with Irving Spikes. On the third play, with a third and goal from the 1, Irving Spikes vaulted over the middle of the line for a touchdown and gave the Dolphins a 14-0 lead.
After the kickoff, the Bills started at their 27 and moved rapidly down the field, mostly on 2 long pass plays until they faced a 2nd and 9 at the Dolphins' 19 yard line. There, they caught the Dolphins in an all-out blitz and Thurman Thomas went untouched off right tackle for 19 yards and a touchdown. This cut the lead to 14-7 and put the momentum back on the Bills' side.
The Dolphins started at their 31 after the kickoff, but after a sack and some more great defense by the Bills, the Dolphins moved into the 4th quarter by punting to the Bills. The Bills started their next series at their 32 and moved to their 45, but Trace Armstrong sacked Kelly on 3rd and 9 and the Bills punted.
After a touchback, the Dolphins managed to use up some of the clock by moving from their 20 to the 47, but were forced to punt when Erickson couldn't find McDuffie on a third down. The punt was a touchback and after Jim Kelly was sacked on the first play, the Bills managed to move out to their 32. However, on first down, Calvin Jackson stepped in front of a Jim Kelly pass and picked it off at the Buffalo 48.
The Dolphins, however, went 3 and out on this series after a pass to OJ McDuffie went over his fingertips. The ensuing punt by Kidd was downed at the Buffalo 1 by Sean Hill and the Bills could only push out to their 20, before they had to punt. However, an amazing 80 yard punt by the Bills' Chris Mohr started the Dolphins back at their own 20 and, once again, they couldn't get any offense going, gaining only 3 yards before they were forced to punt once more.
This punt was either pushed back by the wind or was a bad punt, but it was taken by the Bills at their 47. With 2:17 remaining, the Bills made one quick completion to their 49 and on 2nd and 9, Kelly found Andre Reed down the right sideline in between Buckley and Shawn Wooden. Wooden missed the tackle on Reed and Reed sprinted down the right sideline. However, Terrell Buckley caught Reed from behind at the Dolphins 2 yard line, saving the touchdown.
On first and goal at the Dolphins' 2, Kelly was penalized for intentional grounding while throwing the ball away into the endzone under pressure. Kelly's next pass was thrown away and a draw to Thurmon Thomas went only to the 10 yard line.
At this point, it was fourth and goal at the Miami 10 with exactly one minute to play. Kelly dropped back to pass and under pressure, threw towards Andre Reed in the right front of the endzone. But Terrell Buckley cut in front of Reed and picked off Kelly's pass, then raced down the left sideline for a touchdown.
Now, with 41 seconds remaining, the Bills were out of timeouts and ran a couple of half-hearted plays, but the game was essentially over.
This game was a great contest between two tough teams, both contending for dominance in their division. It was a game unlike recent contests and it was the first time in recent memory that the Dolphins have managed to take the Bills down to the wire and then win in the last seconds. In the recent past, the Dolphins would not have won this game.
GOOD STUFF:
The defense played as well as they have all season, especially along the defensive line. The Dolphins sacked Jim Kelly 7 times, mostly on just regular defensive line pass rushing - not on blitzes. This speaks volumes both for the play of the defensive line and for the coverage of Kelly's receivers.
The pressure on Kelly translated into 3 interceptions, one fumble and one touchdown. The Dolphins also held the Bills to converting just 25% of third downs.
On offense, the Dolphins were not as successful, but didn't make too many dumb mistakes and even though there were a few close calls, they didn't turn the ball over once. Pass protection was as good as could be expected without Marino's fast release.
And despite having the running game stuffed for most of the game, both Dolphins' offensive touchdowns were on running plays. In each case where the Dolphins were down inside the Bills' 10 yard line, they ran the ball into the endzone, unlike past years.
Special teams were good, although not as impressive as they have been. However, the punt coverage continues to be good and the Dolphins keep pinning opponents deep in their end of the field. The Bills didn't start one drive in Miami territory and started 11 of their 14 drives inside of their 30 yard line.
But perhaps the best thing about this game is that the Dolphins beat a healthy Bills' team with a backup quarterback in Rich Stadium.
THINGS TO WORK ON:
The running game was, for the most part, absent for the third week in a row. The Dolphins had just 63 yards rushing on 32 carries, for a 2.0 yard/carry average.
Also, the rushing defense gave up 85 yards to Thurmon Thomas on 16 carries and a touchdown. This isn't terrible, but Thomas ended up with a 5.3 yard/carry average and that's too much for a guy they should have been keying on.
INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES:
Where to start after a great game like this? Well, let's start with the defense:
Terrell Buckley had 5 tackles and 1 assist, including the game-saving tackle of Andre Reed at the Dolphins' 2 yard line late in the 4th quarter. He also had 2 passes defensed and 1 interception returned 91 yards for the game clinching TD. Buckley now has 5 interceptions, leading the league and tying his all-time season interception record.
Trace Armstrong appeared to have switched souls with Bruce Smith, getting 5 tackles and 2.5 sacks. He was all over Kelly all day.
Danny Stubbs quietly had 9 tackles and a sack.
Calvin Jackson had 7 tackles and an interception.
Tim Bowens was an animal up the middle, getting 4 tackles, 2 sacks and a forced fumble.
Norman Hand had half a sack on a play where he really should have gotten all the credit. He just pushed the Bills' right tackle down on the ground and got to Kelly.
And, of course, Zach Thomas lead the team in tackles again with 9 solo tackles, 2 assists, an interception and a sack.
On the offense:
Craig Erickson completed 14 of 29 passes for 192 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions. He was also sacked 3 times and pressured a lot. However, for the most part, he kept his head and didn't do anything really stupid (although he came close to tossing an interception). He still needs to work on his reads and knowledge of the offense.
Troy Drayton, in his first outing, caught 3 passes for 27 yards. He looked pretty tough, especially on one reception where he was fighting for a first down.
Karim Abdul-Jabbar ran 25 times, but only got 37 yards. However, he did get one 3 yard rushing touchdown. He also caught 3 passes for 30 yards.
Randal Hill lead the team in receptions, catching 4 passes for 94 yards, including a 61 yard bomb.
Irving Spikes only carried the ball 3 times for 6 yards, but scored a touchdown on a leaping play into the endzone from the one.
On special teams, Nedney missed a field goal into the wind and put 2 of 4 kickoffs into the endzone.
Kidd continues to impress punting the football, averaging 48 yards per punt.
INJURIES:
There were no serious injuries that I observed.
My Comments:
This game was not good for my general health - it was way too exciting. The Dolphins went into Buffalo with so much going against them and kept the game close with great defense and sporadic, but safe offense.
It is not completely unheard of for the Dolphins to beat the Bills in Buffalo at this point of the year. And this game had some of the hallmarks of the 37-10 victory by Miami back in 1993.
However, this game had two notable difference - first, it was won late in the 4th quarter. The Bills have owned the fourth quarter this year and the Dolphins took it away from them this time.
Secondly, the Dolphins won without Dan Marino. In fact, they won without a particularly strong offense, which is highly unusual.
Overall, I'd have to call this a truly great game. Both teams played very tough, right down to the end. Nobody choked and nobody folded. It was as fine a defensive game as you're likely to see.
And oh, by the way - do you think JJ did a good job motivating the defensive line?
The Dolphins have re-established themselves with this win as one of the stronger teams in the league and a true force to be reckoned with in the AFC.
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