For the third week in a row, the Dolphins got blown off the line of scrimmage, committed numerous penalties, made countless mental errors and generally played bad football as they lost to the Giants 17-7 in Miami today. This loss effectively locks Miami out of the playoffs for the first time since 1993, when Dan Marino missed most of the season with his achilles injury and the Dolphins lost the last 5 games of the season.
The game started with the Dolphins kicking off to the Giants, who returned the ball to their own 20. From there, Burton batted down a first down pass, but a 13 yard screen pass to Hampton, followed by 2 runs by Hampton moved the ball to the Giant 46. From there, Brown hit Way for 17 yard to the Dolphin 37, where 3 runs by Hampton and Way left the Giants with a 4th and 2 at the Miami 29. However, a pass to Chris Calloway gained 7 yards and kept the drive alive.
A short run by Hampton from the Dolphins 22 was followed by a 14 yard completion to Saxton, on a play that saw Sean Hill blow the coverage. This gave the Giants a 1st and goal at the Miami 6 and it only took 2 runs by Hampton to punch it in and give the Giants a 7-0 lead.
During this drive, the Giants used intelligent play mixes to keep the Dolphins defense off balance and dominated at the line of scrimmage, opening holes for Hampton and keep the Dolphins defense off of Dave Brown. The drive covered 13 plays for 80 yards and took 6 minutes.
After the Giants kicked off, Spikes returned the ball to the Dolphin 29, where Marino hit McDuffie on the first play for 15 yards on the left side. However, after no gain by Abdul-Jabbar on 1st down and only a 3 yard to completion to Drayton on 2nd down, Marino threw behind Parmalee on third down and the Dolphins were forced to punt.
The Giants took the ball on a fair catch at their 15 and a quick dump pass to Way for 9 yards was followed by an attempted flea-flicker on 2nd and 1 from the 24, but everyone was well covered and Dave Brown threw the ball away. However, 2 runs by Hampton moved the ball to the 44. With a 1st and 10, Tyrone Wheatley fumbled, but recovered his own fumble for a 5 yard loss. Then pressure from Bowens caused an incompletion that was negated by a penalty on Miami, giving the Giants a 2nd and 9 at their 45. After a dropped pass gave the Giants a 3rd and 9, Tim Bowens came around the right side on a stunt and sacked Dave Brown to force a 4th and 12.
Terrell Buckley was the punt returner for the Dolphins today, but this punt sailed into the endzone for a touchback and the Dolphins had a 1st and 10 at their 20. After a run by Abdul-Jabbar and a pass to Pritchett netted 0 yards, it took a pass interference penalty on the Giants on 3rd down to give the Dolphins a 1st down at their 26. After a 10 yard pass to Abdul-Jabbar on 1st down moved the ball to the Dolphin 36, and a batted pass and then a false start on Ruddy moved the ball back to the 31, Marino hit Fred Barnett on a left-to-right crossing pattern and Barnett ran quickly towards the right sideline, out-running all but one defender down to the Giant 3 yard line, where he was barely knocked out of bounds.
From there, Marino tossed a short dump pass to Robert Wilson in the left flat and Wilson managed to out-muscle Phillipi Sparks and dive into the endzone and give the Dolphins a tie score at 7-7. The ensuing kickoff from Nedney sailed out of the endzone and the first quarter ended with Zach Thomas tackling Rodney Hampton for a 2 yard gain at the Dolphins 22.
To open the second quarter, Zach Thomas put pressure on Dave Brown and he dumped the ball off to Rodney Hampton in the right flat, but Anthony Harris sniffed out the play and tackled Hampton for a 7 yard loss. Then, on 3rd and 15, Calvin Jackson came on a corner blitz and he and Shane Burton met at Dave Brown, giving the Dolphins a sack and forcing the Giants to punt from their 8. Buckley almost fumbled the punt, but fell on the ball and the Dolphins started at the 46.
From the Dolphin 46, three nice runs by Karim Abdul-Jabbar collected 27 yards down to the Giant 27 and after a 4 yard catch by McDuffie, the Dolphins faced a 3rd and 2 at the 23. However, after a 3rd and 2 run by Karim got no yards, the Dolphins elected to go for it on 4th down. Unfortunately, Pritchett could only get one yard and the ball went over to the Giants on downs.
I must make a comment at this point, because both of these runs were to the Dolphins' left side, behind Sims and Webb. In both of these cases, Webb and Sims were blown back off the ball and dominated. It was a sad comment on the how the Dolphins' "best" offensive linemen were playing today.
The Giants took over at their 22 and a run and short pass to Way left them with a 3rd and 2, but on third down the Dolphins couldn't get any pressure on Brown and he completed a 9 yard pass to Cross, giving the Giants a first down. This was followed by couple of runs by Hampton, an encroachment penalty on Stubbs and more passes to Cross that moved the ball down to the Dolphin 38, where the Giants faced a 4th and 1. However, on the next play, the Dolphins were completely blown off the ball and Hampton rushed for 6 yards, giving the Giants a 1st down at the Dolphin 32.
After a pass that was thrown away, Brown hit Dawsey for 15 yards after Sean Hill missed the tackle, down to the Miami 17. Then, after Brown had to scramble for 5 yards, he hit Way for another 7, which gave the Giants a 1st and goal at the Miami 5. Two runs could only get them down to the 2, but on 3rd and goal from the 2, Brown hit a wide open Howard Cross on the right side for a touchdown, giving the Giants a 14-7 lead.
On this play, Zach Thomas should have had the coverage, but as the TV announcers pointed out, Trace Armstrong should have jammed Cross at the line of scrimmage, but instead ran right by him.
With less than 2 minutes remaining in the first half, the Dolphins had already used up all their timeouts with miserable clock management. They called a couple of timeouts because they had the wrong personnel and one because they couldn't get the play off in time. So when the kickoff went into the endzone for a touchback, the Dolphins were facing a 1st and 10 at their 20 with 1:15 remaining.
However, at this point, the Dolphins ran Karim Abdul-Jabbar twice in a row with no timeouts. This moved them to their 37, where Marino spiked the ball. A pass to Parmalee and a Marino scramble ran more time off the clock and a final pass to Randal Hill with time running out fell incomplete. The half ended with the Dolphins down 14-7.
The second half opened with the Dolphins getting the kickoff, which sailed out of the endzone for a touchback. However after 2 runs by Abdul-Jabbar moved the ball from the 20 to the 25, Marino was sacked on 3rd down after James Brown couldn't sustain the block on Strahan and the Dolphins were forced to punt to the Giants, who returned it to the Giant 38.
From there, Rodney Hampton dropped a 1st down pass, but Dawsey caught the next pass for 16 yards to the Dolphin 47. However, Hampton was stuffed twice in a row and on 3rd down, Brown's pass to Lewis only got 3 yards after Sean Hill made a nice open field tackle and the Giants punted back to Miami, who started at their 10 after McDuffie made a fair catch.
On this drive, the Dolphins started by running Abdul-Jabbar for 6 and then 8 yards and then Marino hit Randal Hill for 8 yards to the 32. Abdul-Jabbar was stuffed on 2nd down, Marino found McDuffie for 3 yards and a first down. Two dump passes to Abdul-Jabbar then got the Dolphins another first down, but this was nullified by a penalty on Tim Ruddy and gave the Dolphins a 2nd and 16 at their 29 and Marino's next pass fell incomplete.
Facing a 3rd and 16 at their 29, Marino found Fred Barnett on the sidelines at the 50 for a 1st down. After a 4 yard Abdul-Jabbar run, Keith Sims allowed Hamilton to get around him and sack Marino for a 6 yard loss. On 3rd and 12 from their 48, Marino stepped back and threw into double coverage, which was picked off by another Hamilton and returned to the Dolphin 33.
On 1st and 10 from the Dolphin 33, Tim Bowens got penetration into the backfield and took down Tyrone Wheatley for a 5 yard loss. However, an 8 yard pass to Calloway, followed by a 14 yard completion to Lewis gave the Giants a 1st and 10 at the Dolphin 19. Steven Emtman then stuffed Way for a 1 yard loss and after Dave Brown threw two incompletions under pressure, the Giants faced a 4th and 11 at the Dolphin 20 and were forced to settle for a field goal and a 17-7 lead.
After the kickoff went out of the endzone, the Dolphins started at their own 20 and a 1st down pass to McDuffie was incomplete. Then, a dump pass to Pritchett put the ball out to the 25, but after a completion to McDuffie was nullified by a holding penalty on Webb, the Dolphins faced a 3rd and 15 at their 15 and after a draw on 3rd down went nowhere, the Dolphins were forced to punt. However, a holding call on the punt eliminated a good punt by Kidd and forced the Dolphins to punt again from their 8. On the second punt, Marshall took the ball at the Dolphin 46 and ran it back to the Miami 22 as the 3rd quarter ended.
To start the 4th quarter, Wheatley ran 4 times in a row for 12, 2, 7 and then no yards down to the Miami 3. This left the Giants with a 4th and 1, but Hampton picked up the 1 yard on 4th down, giving the Giants a 1st and goal at the Miami 2. On the next play, Zach Thomas knifed through the offense and tackled Hampton for a 3 yard loss, leaving the Giants with a 2nd and goal from the 5. On th next play, Brown dropped back to pass, but Trace Armstrong got around his man and got a hand on the ball, knocking it loose. Anthony Harris recovered the fumble, giving the Dolphins a 1st down and stopping the Giant's drive.
With a 1st and 10 at their own 10, Karim Abdul-Jabbar ran twice in a row up the middle for 14 yards and then 15 yards to the Dolphin 39. From there, Marino found a diving Fred Barnett for 39 yards down the left side to the Giant 22. With a first and 10 at the Giant 22, Marino was under pressure and stepping up into the pocket, tried to hit Abdul-Jabbar on the crossing route. However, the ball was thrown slightly behind Abdul-Jabbar and bounced off his hands into the air, where the ball came down in the hands of Corey Widmer of the Giants for Marino's second interception.
Starting with a 1st and 10 at their 13, the Giants ran Wheatley around left end for 37 yards to the Dolphin 50. After that, Wheatley ran for another yard and Brown hit Dawsey for 9 more, to which was added 5 yards for a facemask penalty on Hill down to the Dolphin 35. Brown then hit Way for 9 more yards down to the Dolphin 26. However, the Giants were stuffed 3 times in a row at the Miami 26 while trying to run and the ball went over to Miami on downs.
The Dolphins started the next series by getting the Giants to jump offsides and started with a 1st and 5 at their 31 with 5:51 remaining in the game. After a short pass to Parmalee moved the ball to the 35, Parmalee was stopped for a 1 yard loss and then Marino hit Barnett for 12 yards to the 46. However, after an incompletion to Barnett and then to McDuffie that was almost picked off, Marino was sacked on 3rd down when the Dolphins couldn't handle the blitz and Webb missed a blocking assignment and the Dolphins were forced to punt once more.
With 3:48 remaining, the Giants took the punt at their 24, but were penalized for a false start and moved back to their 19. A 10 yard run by Wheatley, followed by a run for a loss, followed by a pass to Way gave the Giants a 1st down at the 38. After a 2 yard run by Wheatley, the Dolphins called their 1st timeout with 2:08 remaining in the game. Wheatley then lost a yard on 2nd down and the Dolphins called another timeout. Facing a 3rd and 9 at their own 37, Brown dropped back to pass, but the coverage was there and when he couldn't find anyone open, Armstrong got to him and sacked him.
With 1:57 remaining after the 2-minute warning, McDuffie took a fair catch at the Dolphin 20. However, on 4 consecutive passes, Marino threw incompletions and that left the Dolphins with only one timeout with less than 1:30 remaining and the Giants with the ball. Mercifully, the Giants knelt down several times and preserved the 17-7 win.
There wasn't much that was good today, but the rushing game did produce some yardage. The Dolphins wound up with 103 yards on 20 carries for a 5.2 yard/carry average. The question, however, is why didn't they run some more.
And the pass defense does seem to be improving a little. The Dolphins got 4 sacks and limited the Giants to 169 yards passing with the longest completion allowed being just 17 yards.
Again, stupid mistakes cost the team. There were fewer penalties this week but there were still 7 penalties called on the Dolphins. There were also a number of other mental mistakes, including blown coverages.
The pass blocking was bad again, with the team unable to pick up the blitz and allowing Marino to be pressured constantly. Also, the receivers seemed to have trouble getting open and didn't appear to be trying to come back for the ball. And Drayton is still not getting the chance to help the passing offense.
On defense, the defensive line was blown off the line of scrimmage for a good portion of the game. Even though they got 4 sacks, there were plenty of plays where the Dolphins got no pressure on Brown at all. Also, the coverage on the tight end and the backs was poor, allowing the Giants to complete the short passes almost at will. And, of course, the Dolphins allowed the Giants to gain 131 yards on the ground.
Dan Marino had another dismal performance, completing 16 of 30 passes for 209 yards with 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions, but it wasn't completely his fault as he got even less help this week than he did last week.
Karim Abdul-Jabbar rushed 17 times for 96 yards and a 5.6 yard per carry average. He also caught 2 passes for 14 yards and the ball that bounced out of his hands wasn't entirely his fault, as the ball was thrown behind him. He needs 112 yards in 2 games to break 1000.
Fred Barnett lead the receivers again this week with 4 catches for 139 yards.
OJ McDuffie only had 3 catches for 22 yards.
Troy Drayton was not used again, getting only one pass for 3 yards.
Robert Wilson caught only 1 pass for 3 yards, but it was the Dolphins' only touchdown.
Bernie Parmalee had one carry for -1 yard and caught 2 passes for 14 yards.
Richmond Webb and Keith Sims both had trouble getting and sustaining blocks and each gave up at least one sack.
On defense, Zach Thomas had 10 solo tackles and 2 assists for 12 total tackles, leading the team again.
Steven Emtman had a good day, also, making 7 solo tackles and a couple of critical stops late in the game.
Sean Wooden and Sean Hill both had 6 tackles and 1 assist, and both had some nice tackles, but Hill missed a couple of pass coverage assignments and at least one tackle.
Anthony Harris had 5 tackles, including 1 for a big loss and a fumble recovery, but missed a couple of coverage assignments.
Shane Burton had 2 tackles and an assist, but really seems to be coming on. He also batted down a pass.
Tim Bowens had 4 tackles and a sack.
Trace Armstrong was credited with 2.5 sacks, and did force one fumble, but it seemed to me that he was also invisible for a large part of the game.
Darryl Gardener had only 2 tackles, but 1 was for a loss.
Calvin Jackson had 4 tackles, and half a sack.
Gary Stevens called an especially poor game today. With Abdul-Jabbar gaining over 5 yards per carry, he only got to carry the ball 17 times. Especially appalling, however, was the bizarre play sequence at the end of the first half. It almost looks as if Stevens is almost begging to be fired.
John Kidd averaged 42 yards per punt and Joe Nedney put both of his kickoffs into the endzone.
Shawn Wooden was knocked out for a couple of plays, but came back later in the game.
With this loss, the Dolphins are effectively out of the playoff picture and are probably headed for a 7-9 season. The saddest part of this loss, as well as the last 2 losses, is the way in which stupid mistakes by the team and an appalling lack of fire on the part of some of the veterans has caused the team to play well under it's capabilities.
Watching today, I was struck by the impression that some of the veteran players didn't really feel like playing. Their sad effort left me with the feeling that they were more interested in getting the season over with than in winning.
And I think that Jimmy Johnson must take some of the blame. With all his shifting of players at different positions and firing of players during the season for non-performance, it must be hard for the players to keep their heads about them during the week. Hopefully, this will steady down next year, as JJ gets the players he wants.
Overall, the Dolphins were overachievers in the first part of the season and underachievers in the last few weeks. Well, now that the playoffs are out of the question, the Dolphins can play the last 2 games untroubled by standings. Perhaps they can play a little more wide open and get back on track a little.