Yes, it's true that the Dolphins didn't look particularly sharp on Saturday night, but after I saw the game and looked closely at the stats of the team, I was not really unhappy with the outcome. Oh, sure, it always hurts to lose a game, but I think that if the Dolphins' most important players had been more focused on the game, especially Dan Marino, the game would never have been close. To me, it was pretty clear which was the better team and it wasn't the guys in the new red uniforms.
The game started well enough, with Olindo Mare' booming one deep and the Bucs taking it out from deep in their end. After 3 nice plays by the Bucs, Anthony Harris knocked the ball lose from Mike Alstott and the Dolphins recovered deep in Bucs territory. The Dolphins couldn't punch it over, however, and had to settle for a Mare' field goal and a 3-0 lead.
The next few series were pretty boring, with neither team showing much, but a questionable interference call on Buckley on a deep pass, followed by a Trent Dilfer naked bootleg on 4th and goal from the 2 gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead.
On the next series, the Dolphins had a decent drive, which ended when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ran 35 yards off left tackle for a touchdown and a 10-7 Miami lead. Unfortunately, that was the last scoring of the night for Miami.
The rest of the first half was pretty dull, but a 35 yard scramble by Dilfer put the Bucs in position to get their second touchdown of the night, on a pass to Karl Williams. On the play, safety Corey Harris as in perfect position to make an interception, but Williams reach in front of Harris and stole the ball.
The second half was about as dull a half of football as I have ever seen, with the exception of the blocked punt by former Dolphin LaCurtis Jones, which gave the Bucs their last touchdown.
Overall, the Dolphins were very flat. As an example, Marino was 6 of 18 for 57 yards and 1 interception. I don't even want to think what that QB rating works out to. Craig Erickson, who was the NFL leader in QB ratings this preseason, was also bad, completing just 9 of 20 for 104 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions.
So why am I not too upset by this game? Well, there are a number of reasons. First of all, I don't think we need to worry about Marino posting numbers like that during the regular season. Dan always has a couple of bad preseason games and they never reflect how he is going to perform in the regular season.
Secondly, the Dolphins really had a running game Saturday. Personally, I don't think they used it as much as they might have, but when it was all over, the Dolphins runners amassed 93 yards on 13 carries for a 7.2 yard per carry average, with 1 touchdown. But even if we take away Abdul-Jabbar's nice 35 yard run, Dolphins' running backs gained 58 yards on 12 carries, with is a 4.8 yard per carry average.
Also, Dolphins receivers averaged almost 11 yards per catch, which is basically a 1st down for each reception. They also had separate 4 receivers catch passes over 20 yards long each.
And neither quarterback was sacked. There were a couple of moments when Marino and Erickson threw the ball away to avoid a sack, but I was pretty comfortable with the protection by the offensive line.
On defense, the Dolphins were very good at stuffing the run, putting pressure on Dilfer and covering the receivers. Dilfer was sacked 3 times in the first half and constantly being run out of the pocket and pressured by the Dolphins defensive line. Tim Bowens, Derrick Rodgers and Calvin Jackson all had sacks and Jason Taylor had Dilfer in his arms but couldn't hold on in the second quarter.
The deep ball just didn't work for Tampa Bay, partially because of good coverage by the Miami secondary. The Bucs only completed one pass longer than 20 yards and that was a 22 yarder. Their next longest completion was 12 yards and on average, the Bucs only had 6.9 yards per reception.
In running, the Bucs did get 141 yards total, but 59 of those yards were on the Trent Dilfer 35 yard scramble and the Reidel Anthony 24 yard reverse. If you take those two out (neither of which was by a running back), the Bucs only had 82 yards on 33 carries, for an average of about 2.5 yards per carry by their running backs.
On special teams, the Dolphins did stink and I think we see where the team is going to miss Kirby Dar Dar and Larry Izzo this year. But Clayton Holmes had 2 kickoff returns over 40 yards (even though one was called back by a penalty) and I think that he will be a very dangerous return man this season.
Individually, none of the Dolphins' rookies distinguished themselves on Saturday. Jason Taylor continues to be a force at defensive end, but allowed Dilfer to wrestle out of his grasp on the only sack he almost had. Brian Manning did have one reception for 21 yards, but missed a couple of others, although to be fair about it, there was excellent coverage on him most of the night.
Derrick Rodgers played pretty well, getting 5 tackles and a sack and Sam Madison was evident later in the game, playing close coverage and being involved in a number of tackles.
As the starting lineups get closer to being determined, several players were obviously present - or obviously missing. Most notable to me was on the defensive line where Barron Tanner and Dunstan Anderson both got lots of playing time in rotation with the starters in the first half. Tanner, in particular, seemed to have a real ability to stuff the middle and appeared practically imobile when the Bucs tried to move him out of the way.
There were no surprises in the linebacking corps or in the secondary. Shawn Wooden played pretty well and seems to have solidified his starting position at safety over George Teague. Both saw a lot of action last night.
On offense, there were no surprises with the starters and Fred Barnett was in evidence with two nice receptions in the first half. Unfortunately, Troy Drayton had a bad night, not being able to hook up with Marino despite numerous attempts.
The entire Dolphins offensive line was replaced in the second half with backups and this may give us some clue as to who will make the roster on Tuesday. The full second string offensive line was LT - Brent Smith, LG - John Elmore, C - John Bock, RG - Mike Sheldon, RT - Jeff Buckey. I was disappointed not to see Jerome Daniels play at all, especially after the positive training camp report I got on him last week.
So, I guess the bottom line of this game is that it seemed like the team came together in a number of fundamental areas, both on offense and on defense, but had a few lapses that cost them the game. However, I'd rather have them give up a 35 yard scramble by Trent Dilfer than a 35 yard pass play to a wide receiver and I'd rather have them let Reidel Anthony scamper around end on a reverse for 24 yards than have them give up a 24 yard run up the middle.
Ultimately, it wasn't a good game for the Dolphins, but I really think that it did show improvement in several key areas and the areas that they need to fix aren't that hard to address. Of course, that's just me. I think I will enjoy the regular season game against the Bucs.
Going off on a tangent for a moment - was anyone else as impressed with Warrick Dunn last night as I was? He really got my attention and (although it's hindsight), I found myself wishing that the Dolphins had been able to land him in the draft this year. That kid was one of the most elusive, slippery runners that I have ever seen.
Oh, and I'm back from vacation - feeling rested and ready for the season. Go Dolphins!