The Dolphins took on the Tennessee Oilers today in Miami and for the second time in two weeks, won a nail-biter against a tough opponent. This time, however, Dan Marino was the man of the hour, passing for 324 yards against the Oilers and guiding his team to victory.

OJ McDuffie was Dan's favorite target, getting 8 catches for 135 yards. Zach Thomas played most of the game, although he was rotated with Dwight Hollier on several occassions.

Inactive players for the day were QB Damon Huard, CB Sam Madison, RB Jerris McPhail, P John Kidd, OT Andre Johnson, WR Lamar Thomas, WR Qadry Ismail and OT Brent Smith.

FIRST QUARTER:

The Oilers kicked off to the Dolphins and Del Greco's first kick of the day sailed through the Dolphins endzone for a touchback. The Dolphins, starting at their own 20, came out firing with Marino hitting McDuffie on the first offensive play for an 11 yard gain. Then, on 1st and 10 from the 31, they ran Abdul-Jabbar for 2 yards and on 2nd down, Marino hit Pritchett on a crossing pattern for 16 more yards and another 1st down.

The Dolphins now had a 1st and 10 at their 49 and Marino went back to McDuffie again for 12 yards down to the Oiler 39. On the next play, Abdul-Jabbar was thrown for a 1 yard loss, but facing 2nd and 11, at the Oiler 40, Marino hit McDuffie for 26 yards down to the Oiler 14.

The Oilers blitzed on this play and Stanley Pritchett picked up the blitz successfully, but suffered tendon damage in his knee and will have an MRI tonight or tomorrow.

With a 1st and 10 at the Oiler 14, Abdul-Jabbar ran for 2 yards and then Marino hit McDuffie again for 5 more yards down to the 7. However, Marino went back to McDuffie again on third down at about the 2 yard line, but the ball was defensed by the Oiler cornerback and almost picked off. Marino had gone to McDuffie once too often on this drive and fortunately, the Oiler player couldn't hold on to the ball. He read the quick slant perfectly, though.

Now facing a 4th and 3 from the Oiler 7, the Dolphins elected to go for a field goal, but Mare' missed wide right and the game remained scoreless.

On the first drive, Marino completed 5 of 6 passes for 69 yards.

The Oilers took over at their 20 and tried running Eddie George on 1st down, but were penalized for an illegal block and were forced back to their 10. On 1st and 20, George picked up 4 yards and when all the receivers were covered on 2nd and 16, McNair was forced to scramble for 11 yards to the 25. However, on 3rd and 5, McNair threw low to Willie Davis and the ball fell incomplete, forcing the Oilers to punt from their 25.

Charles Jordan took the ball at the Miami 34 and made a nice return to the Oiler 42, where the Dolphins took over. The Dolphins tried running the ball this series and after Abdul-Jabbar gained 4 yards on 1st down and 5 yards on 2nd down, he was stuffed on 3rd and 1 at the line of scrimmage trying to run in behind McIver. This left the Dolphins with a 4th and 1 at the Oiler 33 and the Dolphins elected to go for it.

However, on 4th and 1, the Dolphins tried running in behind Keith Sims and Abdul-Jabbar was nailed for a 2 yard loss. The ball went over to the Oilers on downs and with 1st and 10 at their 35, McNair hit Sanders on a quick shot to the sideline for 8 yards. On second and 2, McNair scrambled for 5 yards and a 1st down at the Oiler 48.

From there, the Oilers ran Thomas for 4 yards on 1st down and on 2nd and 6 from the Oiler 48, tried to run Sanders on an end-around. However, Jason Taylor, who was quiet for most of the day, played this perfectly and nailed Sanders in the backfield for an 8 yard loss, leaving the Oilers with a 3rd and 14. Again, McNair dropped back to pass, but was forced to scramble and got back 10 yards before he was dropped at the Dolphin 46. Now facing a 4th and 4, the Oilers decided to punt.

Jordan took the fair catch at the Dolphin 12 and on 1st down, Abdul-Jabbar slipped while trying to make a cut in the backfield and was nailed for a 3 yard loss. On 2nd and 13 from the 9, Marino found McDuffie again for 14 yards to the 23, where Abdul-Jabbar ripped off a tough 8 yard run up the middle as the first quarter ended in a scoreless tie.

SECOND QUARTER:

The second quarter opened with the Dolphins facing 2nd and 2 at their own 31 and on the next play, Abdul-Jabbar ran the ball again behind Keith Sims for 7 more yards. Now the Dolphins had a 1st and 10 on their 38 and Marino dumped a short pass off to Irving Spikes, whoc took the ball and raced 24 yards up the middle. This gave the Dolphins a 1st and 10 at the Oiler 38.

On the next play, Marino went to Fred Barnett for 7 yards to the Oiler 31 and Abdul-Jabbar picked up the next first down on a 5 yard run up the middle to the Oiler 26. Now having a 1st and 10, Marino tried to hit McDuffie on the fly pattern to the endzone, but just barely overthrew him and the ball fell incomplete.

On 2nd and 10 from the 26, Abdul-Jabbar ran for just 2 yards, but on 3rd and 8 from the 24, Marino hit Bernie Parmalee with a short dump pass that Parmalee ran for 13 yards down to the Oiler 11. The Dolphins ran the ball twice from the 11, with Abdul-Jabbar getting 4 and then 1 yard, leaving the Dolphins with a 3rd and 5 at the Oiler 6. On the next play, Marino hit Jordan in the hands as he was crossing into the endzone, but Jordan couldn't hold on and the Dolphins were forced to go for the field goal. This time, Mare' hit it just right and the Dolphins lead 3-0.

The kickoff was taken by Mel Gray at the goalline and he returned it to the 20 yard line, where the Oilers began by running Eddie George up the middle for 3 and then 4 yards. Facing 3rd and 3, it appeared that Zach Thomas had stopped George short when he tried to go around the right tackle.

Zach, however, was called for an intentional facemask and the Dolphins were penalized for 15 yards. While Zach did get his hand on the facemask, it's pretty clear that it was unintentional.

The Oilers took advantage of the 1st and 10 at their 44 by tossing a little dump pass to Thomas for 7 yards to the Dolphins 49. However, on 2nd and 3, Barron Tanner managed to get free and stopped Eddie George in the backfield for a 2 yard loss.

Now facing a 3rd and 5 from their 48, McNair hit Ronnie Harmon with a short pass that Harmon turned into a 27 yard gain, down to the Dolphins' 25 yard line. From there, they ran George for 5 yards and hit Sanders with a short pass for 4 more. On 3rd and less than a yard at the Dolphin 15, McNair kept the ball and snuck up the middle for 2 yards to the Dolphin 13.

From there, on 1st down, the Oilers ran Eddie George between their right guard and tackle and he broke through the line, leaped over a diving Corey Harris and high stepped into the endzone to give the Oilers a 7-3 lead.

On the kickoff, Spikes returned the ball to the 21, but the Dolphins were penalized for holding and they had to start at their own 11. A short pass to Spikes netted 4 yards, but the next pass attempt to Dotson was incomplete as Marino had pressure in his face and on 3rd and 6 from their 15, Marino attempted to hit Barnett deep down the left sideline, but badly underthrew the ball and the Dolphins were forced to punt on 4th down from their own 15.

The Oilers' Mel Gray made a nice return from his 33 out to the Oilers' 48, where Dotson brought him down. On 1st down, Eddie George ran for 7 yards and then the 2 minute warning for the end of the half blew.

Now facing a 2nd and 3 from the Dolphins' 45, with under 2 minutes remaining, Eddie George ran 3 times in a row for 4, 13 and then 9 yards, down to the Dolphins 19. Facing a 2nd and 1, the Oilers tried to pass, but McNair ended up scrambling instead and dropped the ball when hit by the Dolphins, but it was recovered by the Oilers H-back at the Dolphins' 15.

This gave them a first down and 10 at the Miami 15 with less than a minute left to play in the half. McNair again scrambled on the next play after attempting to pass, gaining 4 more yards to the Dolphins' 11. Now with a 2nd and 6 at the 11, McNair tried to pass again, but was hit by Rodgers as he released the ball and the pass fell incomplete.

On third and 6, the Dolphins called an all-out blitz, and the pass appeared to sail harmlessly out of bounds, but McNair was called for delay-of-game and got another chance on 3rd and 11 from the 16. He called his own number and attempted the quarterback draw, but he was brought down just short of a first down by Rodgers and Anthony Harris and with a 4th and 1 and just 18 seconds left in the half, the Oilers took the field goal and a 10-3 lead.

The ensuing kickoff was a squib kick to the Miami 43 and after a false start on 1st and 10 from the 43, Marino hit Barnett on the sideline route down to the Oiler 46. However, with only 4 seconds on the clock, the Dolphins could only try a Hail Mary pass, that bounced around through several players' hands before falling incomplete.

THIRD QUARTER:

The 2nd half began with the Dolphins kicking off to the Oilers, who returned the ball to their own 25. From there, on the first play of the second half, McNair tried to hit Willie Davis, but Buckley had excellent position and the ball shouldn't have been thrown. Buckley picked the ball off and was tackled almost instantly, but it gave the Dolphins a 1st down at the Oiler 35.

However, Marino overthrew Dotson on 1st down and McDuffie zigged when Marino thought he would zag on 2nd down, so after 2 incompletions, Marino hit Parmalee for 9 yards on 3rd and 10, but it wasn't quite enough for the first. This left the Dolphins with a 4th and 1 at the Oilers' 26 and just like the first half, the Dolphins tried to run Abdul-Jabbar behind Keith Sims on 4th down, but also just like the first half, Abdul-Jabbar was swamped by blue jerseys for a one yard loss and the ball went over to the Oilers on downs.

On first and 10 from their own 27, the Oilers started by running Thomas for 11 yards and then on 1st and 10 from their 38, went back to Eddie George for 4 yards to their 42. Ronnie Harmon gained another yard on 2nd and 6, but on 3rd and 5, McNair was low and off-target with his pass while under pressure from the Miami defense.

The ensuing punt from the Oilers at their 43 was fielded by Jordan at the Dolphins 10. He decided at the last second to make a fair catch and made a half-hearted attempt to wave his arm in a fair catch signal. To be fair, it was a poor signal and he was hit by an Oiler and fumbled the catch. It appeared that the catch was recovered by the Oilers, but the Oilers were penalized for interfering with the catch and the Dolphins stared with a 1st and 10 from their own 26.

I want to comment on this play for a moment, because I know it will be controversial. While it's true that Jordan didn't make a decent fair catch signal, the penalty was interfering with a catch because the Oiler player was in Jordans face and making contact before the ball got there. Whether Jordan was making a fair catch or not is irrelevent - just like a pass, a player on the kicking team can't interfere with a punt returner's opportunity to catch the punt. The returner can't be hit before the ball gets to him.

On the next series, the Dolphins dispensed with the standard offense and went to the no-huddle. They ran from a 3 wide receiver, 2 back offensive set with 5 offensive linemen and no tight end. Marino lined up in the shotgun and went to work.

From the 26, a draw on 1st down to Abdul-Jabbar gained no yards, but a quick pass to him on 2nd down gained 16 yards and gave the Dolphins a 1st and 10 at their 42. Marino then hit Abdul-Jabbar on another short pass for 7 more yards, but on 2nd and 3 at their 49, Marino's pass was deflected at the line of scrimmage and the Dolphins went to a 3rd and 3.

On the next play, Marino hit Spikes for 11 yards down to the Oiler 40 and a draw play to Spikes on 1st and 10 gained another 9 yards to the 31. On 2nd and 1, Marino ran the draw again, this time to Bernie Parmalee and it gained another 4 yards down to the Oiler 27. On 1st and 10, Marino tried to hit Barnett on a fly pattern into the endzone, but the ball was just out of reach. However, on 2nd and 10, Marino hit McDuffie on a crossing pattern for 14 yards and moved the Dolphins down to the Oiler 13 yard line.

Starting with a 1st and 10 at the Oiler 13, Marino was sacked on 1st down when he held on to the ball a little too long. This forced a 2nd and 19 from the 22, but a 12 yard pass to Jordan had a facemask penalty added to it on the tackle and the Dolphins now had a 1st and goal at the 5.

At this point, however, the Dolphins went back to their standard formation and after Abdul-Jabbar gained only one yard on 1st down, Marino tried to hit Jordan in the endzone on 2nd down. The pass was knocked away from Jordan, so Marino went back to the shotgun on 3rd down and hit Jordan in the hands as he was crossing the back of the endzone.

Unfortunately, for the second time in the game, Jordan dropped a Marino pass that hit him in the hands in the endzone. And this time there was no question of the ball being thrown too hard - Jordan just didn't hang on.

So the Dolphins sent for Olindo Mare' on 4th and goal from the 4 and he hit a field goal and cut the Oilers lead to 10-6. On the ensuing kickoff, the ball went 5 yards deep into the endzone and the Oilers took over at their own 20.

From there, they ran Eddie George twice for 5 and then 3 yards, but the offensive line was called for holding on the second run and the Oilers were pushed back to their 15. They ran Thomas for 9 yards on 2nd and 15, but on 3rd and 6 from their 24, pressure from the Dolphins' defense forced McNair out of the pocket and he threw the ball incomplete.

The Oilers punted on 4th and 6 from their 24 and Jordan dropped the ball at first, but picked it up on the run and appeared to have a nice return. However, a penalty on OJ Brigance for an illegal block above the waist brought the ball back to the Dolphins' 17.

From there, the Dolphins went with their standard formation and on 1st down, Marino was sacked when Hall came untouched into the backfield and hit Marino for a 7 yard loss. Then on 2nd and 17 from the Dolphins' 11, Marino hit Barnett for a 15 yard gain, but Barnett was hit and stripped of the ball at the 25 and the Oilers recovered at the Dolphins 25.

On 1st down, George was stopped at the line of scrimmage by Jason Taylor and on 2nd down, McNair's pass was batted at the line of scrimmage by Trace Armstrong. Facing a 3rd and 10, McNair didn't get the play off on time and the Oilers were penalized for delay of game, pushing them back to a 3rd and 15 at the 30. McNair then tried to run the quarterback draw and gained 10 yard, but Wooden made a nice stop on him at the 20 and facing a 4th and 5 at the Dolphins' 20, the Oilers elected to go for the field goal, which was good, raising their lead to 13-6.

The kickoff was taken by Spikes at the 4 and he made a nice return to the 37, where Marino went back to the shotgun formation. With a 1st and 10, Marino hit McDuffie for 5 yards to the 42 as the third quarter ended with the Dolphins trailing 13-6.

FOURTH QUARTER:

The 4th quarter started with McDuffie dropping a very hard catch to make from Marino, but on 3rd and 5 from their 42, the Dolphins did a nice job of picking up the blitz and Marino hit Barnett for 8 yards to the 50 and a first down.

On the next play, the Oilers ran a full blitz and there weren't enough players to pick all the guys up and Marino was sacked back to the Dolphins' 42. On 2nd down, Marino hit Jordan for 7 yards, but Tim Ruddy was called for holding and the Dolphins were pushed back to a 2nd and 28 from their own 32. On the very next play, the Dolphins ran McDuffie down the middle from the slot and Marino hit him in stride right down the middle for a beautiful 51 yard gain down to the Oilers' 18 yard line.

From there, Spikes ran for 3 yards on 1st down and Marino attempted to hit Barnett in the back of the endzone on 2nd and 7 from the Oiler's 15, but the defensive back was between Barnett and Marino and the ball hit the defensive back in the back. He wasn't looking for the ball and he was in Barnett's face, but interference wasn't called, so the Dolphins tried again on 3rd and 7 to go to Barnett, but the ball was thrown very short and the Dolphins now faced a 4th and 7 at the Oilers' 15.

The Dolphins elected to go for it and Marino attempted to hit Jordan with a timing pattern in the corner of the endzone while under a full blitz. The ball fell untouched into the endzone, but the Oilers' defensive back covering Jordan didn't get turned around in time and bumped Jordan away from the ball and so was called for interference, giving the Dolphins a 1st and goal at the 2.

On the first play from the 2, the Dolphins handed off to Spikes, who ran behind Sims and Webb. He was hit at the line of scrimmage, but twisted around and lunged into the endzone for the Dolphins' only touchdown of the game. Following Mare's extra point, the score was tied at 13-13 with about 11 minutes left to play in the game.

Mare's kickoff sailed through the endzone for a touchback and the Oilers started at their 20 with 11:16 remaining in the game. Eddie George ran 3 times in a row for 5, 4 and then 5 more yards out to their 34 yardline. With a 1st and 10 at the 34, the Oilers ran a play-action pass and tried to hit Chris Sanders deep down the middle. Sanders made the catch in stride, but Calvin Jackson managed to close the gap and strip him of the ball at the catch, forcing an incompletion.

This left the Oilers with a 2nd and 10 at their 34 and McNair hit Willie Davis for 11 yards on a crossing route to the 45. On 1st and 10, McNair hit Wychek to the Dolphins 48 for 7 yards, but on 2nd and 3, stepped back too soon from the center and was penalized for a false start. Then, on 2nd and 8 from their 47, Tim Bowens read the draw to Ronnie Harmon perfectly, shedding his block and taking Harmon down for a 1 yard loss.

This forced a 3rd and 9 from the 46 and when McNair couldn't find anyone open, he tried to scramble, but Gardener came off his block and tackled McNair just over the line of scrimmage. This left the Oilers with a 4th and 8 from their 47 and they were forced to punt.

Once again, Charles Jordan gave a small fair catch signal that the Oiler kick coverage man probably didn't see and he tackled Jordan just as Jordan was catching the ball at the Dolphin 21. However, the ref had seen Jordan signal for the fair catch and threw the flag and the Oilers were penalized for unnecessary roughness, giving the Dolphins a 1st and 10 at their 36.

From there, Marino hit Drayton for 4 yards on 1st down and tried to go deep down the sideline to Jordan on 2nd and 6. Jordan, however, came down with his feet just barely out-of-bounds and that left the Dolphins with a 3rd and 6 from their 40. Marino went to Jordan again, but Jordan was hit right at the catch and couldn't hold on to the ball. This left the Dolphins with a 4th and 6 and they punted to Mel Gray at the 11 and he returned it for the Oilers to the 21.

The Oilers again ran Eddie George for 5 yards and then for 6 more, but on the second run, the Oilers were called for holding again and that left them with a 2nd and 15 at their 16. They ran Eddie George again for 10 more yards, but on 3rd and 5 at the 26, McNair once again scrambled and was taken down by Trace Armstrong and Anthony Harris after only 2 yards. This left the Oilers with a 4th and 3 from their 28 and they punted to the Dolphins 21 where Jordan took the ball and made a quick return up the right sideline through to the Oilers 42 yardline.

With 2:58 remaining in the game and the score still tied, the Dolphins were in perfect position to move close enough for a field goal attempt. From the Oiler 42, they ran Spikes for 3 yards on 1st down and Abdul-Jabbar for 3 more on 2nd down, leaving them with a 3rd and 4 at the Oiler 36. From there, Marino attempted to hit Jordan on the quick slant, but Jordan dropped the ball while paying attention to the defensive back.

The Dolphins, instead of trying a 53 yard field goal, elected to punt on 4th and 4 from the Oiler 36 and the ball went through the endzone for a touchback.

With just 1:49 remaining, the Oilers lulled the Dolphins into thinking that they were going to just run the clock down and go into overtime by running Eddie George repeatedly. They ran him for 6 yards and then for 3 yards and after a quarterback sneak on 3rd and short gave them a first and 10 at their own 32, they called a timeout with just 53 seconds remaining in the game.

On the next play, the Oilers called a play action fake and got Shawn Wooden to play too close to the line, while their best receiver Chris Sanders got in behind him and made a catch of a perfect McNair pass across the deep middle. Wooden reacted late and dragged Sanders down from behind, but not before he had gained 46 yards to the Miami 22 yard line.

Now there were just 44 seconds remaining and the Oilers were in perfect position for a field goal to win. They tried to run Eddie George up the middle, but he was stuffed for a 3 yard loss by Tim Bowens and the Oilers called their 3rd time out with 11 seconds remaining in the game.

The Oilers' line of scrimmage was the Dolphins' 25, but on the 43 yard attempt, the snap was just a bit high and Al Del Greco's kick sailed a little bit too far to the right, leaving the game tied with 5 seconds remaining. Marino took a knee on the next play and that sent the game into overtime.

OVERTIME:

The Dolphins won the toss and elected to receive the kickoff. Del Greco's kick was taken by Spikes at the 8 yard line and the blocking opened a big hole for him. He ran up the middle and swerved to the right, almost breaking it all the way and finally getting tackled at the Oiler 45 after a 48 yard return.

Marino opened by trying to hit Barnett on 1st down, but it was a little outside of Barnett's reach. However, on 2nd and 10 from the Oiler 45, Marino hit Parmalee in the flat and Bernie raced up the field to the Oiler 29 after a 16 yard gain.

With a 1st and 10 from the Oiler 29, the Dolphins tried to run Abdul-Jabbar to the right, but he was caught in the backfield for a 3 yard loss. However, on 2nd and 13, Marino hit Barnett in the right flat for a 10 yard gain and when Barnett was tackled by Tomur Barnes of the Oilers, for some reason Barnes was so frustrated that he first ripped the ball out of Barnett's hands while Barnett was lying on the ground and then he stepped on Fred and kicked him.

The refs called him for a personal foul and that moved the ball down to the Oiler 12 yard line and gave the Dolphins a first down. Rather than waste any more time, JJ sent in the field goal team and after the Oilers called both their remaining timeouts to try and rattle him, Mare hit the winning field goal with 12:49 remaining in overtime to give the Dolphins a 16-13 victory.