OVERALL SUMMARY:

The Dolphins recorded their first shutout since 1993 as they beat the Steelers 21-0 in Miami today. The short tory of this game was another day of stifling defense for the Dolphins, with just enough offense to win the game. The Dolphins' defense came up with 3 interceptions today, one of which was returned for a touchdown by Zach Thomas, who also had a great day stopping Jerome Bettis, who ended the day with just 48 yards rushing.

There were not a lot of sacks by the Dolphins, but they were in Stewart's face all day long. And the coverage by the defensive backs was excellent as the Steelers ended the first half with just 3 yards passing. That's right - just 3 yards. By the end of the game, the Steelers would have just 78 total passing yards. It was an outstanding performance.

The game started with both teams trying to cross up their opponents by going against the tendencies of their offenses and passing the ball. The first 3 plays by the Dolphins and the first two by the Steelers were passes. None of these passes did what they were supposed to do and the experiment by both teams was a failure.

The games started with the Dolphins taking the opening kickoff after a 28 yard return by John Avery at their own 29. On the first play from scrimmage for the Dolphins, Marino tried to go deep to Gadsden down the left sideline and even though Gadsden had a step on the defensive back, the ball was just slightly underthrown and was knocked away from Gadsden just has he got his arms under the pass. The second play was a deep pass to Jordan down the right sideline, but this ball was well overthrown and on third down, a pass to an open Lamar Thomas was again overthrown and the Dolphins had to punt.

The Steelers started at their 37, with Stewart throwing a dump pass to Bettis, but Robert Jones was there and dropped Bettis after a 2 yard gain. On 2nd and 8, Stewart threw a hard pass towards Johnson, but the ball didn't quite get there. Now facing a third and 8, Kordell Stewart started from the shotgun and not finding anyone open, he tried to scramble. However, Jason Taylor chased Stewart down *from behind* and dropped him after a 4 yard gain, forcing the Steelers to punt.

The Dolphins took over at their 20 after a touchback on the punt and on first down, Joel Steed pushed Tim Ruddy on his ass and got into the backfield to drop Karim for a 4 yard loss. However, on 2nd and 16, Karim broke loose for 10 yards up the middle and on 3rd and 4, Marino hit Gadsden for 6 more yards to give the Dolphins a first and 10 at their 32. After Drayton caught a pass over the middle for 9 yards, Karim took the ball behind Kevin Donnalley on 2nd and 1 and gained 20 yards down to the Steeler 40 before he had the ball stripped by Darren Perry. The Steelers recovered the bouncing ball at their 26, ending the Dolphins' best drive of the first quarter.

After the Steelers went 3 and out on 2 short runs and an incomplete pass, where Terrell Buckley knocked the ball away from Charles Johnson, the Steelers punted to the Dolphins' 11 yard line. However, due to a face mask penalty on the Steelers, they punted again, only this time Jordan returned the punt to the 16. However, a penalty on OJ Brigance moved the ball back to the Dolphins' 4, where they promptly went 3 and out on a short run and two incompletions to OJ McDuffie by Marino. The Dolphins then kicked back to the Steelers, who returned the ball to their 46.

The Steelers went 3 and out on their next series as Robert Jones dropped Courtney Hawkins in the backfield for a 3 yard loss after Bettis had a short 3 yard gain. On an all-out blitz on 3rd down, Stewart hurried the throw to Johnson and it fell incomplete. Following the punt to Miami, the Dolphins started at their 7, but went 3 and out as Tim Ruddy was penalized for holding after Karim appeared to have a 9 yard gain. Two short passes and a short run only gained 9 yards and the Dolphins punted back to the Steelers from their 15, who started at their 45.

With 3:29 remaining in the first quarter, the Steelers finally got some running going, with Bettis getting 21 yards on 2 runs to move down to a first down at the Dolphins' 31. However, after Sam Madison defended a pass to Courtney Hawkins on first down and Bettis was stuffed for no gain on 2nd down by Kenny Mixon, Fuamatu-Ma'Afala tried a draw on 3rd down that was stuff by Zach and Patrick Surtain. This left the Steelers with a 4th and 8 at the Dolphins' 29 as the first quarter ended.

The 2nd quarter opened with the Steelers attempting a 47 yard field goal, but Kenny Mixon got a hand up and deflected the ball at the line of scrimmage enough to cause it to go short and wide left. The Dolphins then took over at their 37, but 3 runs by Karim only gained 9 yards and the Dolphins punted back to the Steelers.

The Steelers returned the favor by going 3 and out from their 20 on 3 incomplete passes, including one batted down by Jason Taylor at the line of scrimmage and one knocked down by Sam Madison. The Steelers punted to the Dolphins' 36, where Jordan made a fair catch.

The Dolphins finally put together a decent drive at this point in the game, starting with a 13 yard pass to Gadsden. Two 14 yard passes to OJ McDuffie, two poor runs by Avery and a pass to Lamar Thomas moved the ball down to the Steeler 17, but a false start on Kevin Donnalley moved the Dolphins back to a first and 15 at the Steeler 22.

From there, Karim ran for 7 yards and Gadsden added a reception for 6 more down to the Steelers' 9. Now facing a 3rd and 2, Karim took the handoff and ran through the hole left by Mark Dixons' block down to the Steelers' 4. With a first and goal, Karim gained one yard on first down, but on 2nd and goal, Karim took the ball right up the middle for 3 yards and a touchdown. That gave the Dolphins a 7-0 lead.

Mare's kickoff went five yards deep into the endzone for a touchback and the Steelers started at their 20. However, with 5:12 remaining in the first half, Stewart tried to hit Courtney Hawkins with a pass on first down. Sam Madison was there and picked off the pass, returning it 13 yards to the 24.

Marino started this series with a dump pass to Karim for 7 yards and after he couldn't get the ball to Stanley Pritchett on 2nd down, Marino hit Gadsden on a down and out for 9 yards down to the 8 and a first down. Karim was stuffed on first down and a fade route to Gadsden in the corner of the endzone fell incomplete after Gadsden couldn't get around the Steelers' defensive back to get to the ball. But on third down, Marino rifled the ball to Lamar Thomas who was in the front left side of the endzone. The Steelers' Dewayne Washington had perfect position on the pass in front of Thomas, and leaped to get his hands on the ball. However, Washington couldn't hold on to the bullet from Marino and the ball went through his hands into the waiting arms of Lamar Thomas behind him. Thomas did hold on to the ball and the Dolphins got their second touchdown of the game for a 14-0 lead.

Following the kickoff, the Steelers started at their 19 with 2:39 remaining and got one first down before being stopped at their 39 on 3 consecutive incompletions. They punted to the Dolphins, who ran Karim 3 times in a row, getting one first down on a 3rd and 7 run from Karim and then had Marino kneel down to end the first half.

At the half, the Steelers had a total of 3 yards passing and had thrown one interception. They did have 61 yards rushing, but less than half of that was from Bettis, who had 28 yards on 6 carries, but 21 of those yards were on 2 carries and the other 4 times he ran the balls, he got 7 total yards.

The Dolphins had 56 yards rushing and 106 yards passing in the first half and they had 2 touchdowns. During the first half, the Dolphins ran 19 pass plays and 18 running plays.

The second half opened with the Dolphins kicking off to the Steelers, who started at their 20 after Mare's kick went 9 yards deep into the endzone. They got out to their 47, mostly on an 18 yard pass on 3rd down, before Sam Madison knocked the ball out of the receivers' hands to 3rd and 5 and the Steelers' kicked away.

Charles Jordan got a good running start on the return from the Dolphins' 19 and despite bobbling the ball in mid-stride, he had a nice return for 24 yards up to the Dolphins' 43. However, after the Dolphins got 1 first down on a short pass to Jordan and a short run by Karim, the Dolphins' bogged down again and the drive ended when Marino was sacked on a blitz by Levon Kirkland on third down.

Wilmsmeyer's punt was taken on a fair catch at the Steeler 15 yard line. On the next two plays, Zach Thomas made his name known to the Steelers. On first down, Bettis tried to run around his right end, but Zach got to Bettis a yard behind the line of scrimmage and took him down for no gain with a perfect solo tackle.

Then, on 2nd and 10 from the 15, Stewart tried to pass to his receiver on a crossing pattern, but Zach Thomas moved forward from his pass coverage position, got in front of the receiver and intercepted the pass. From there, it was an easy run to his left for 17 yards and a touchdown to put the Dolphins ahead 21-0.

There would be no scoring the rest of the game and at some point in the third quarter, right around the time of Zach's interception, one of those soaking south Florida rains began at Joe Robbie Stadium, turning the baseball infield into a mud pit and soaking everyone and everything.

On the kickoff, Blackwell returned the ball only to the 18 before Parmalee took him down. On the first play from the 18, Stewart hit Charles Johnson for 36 yards to the Miami 46 after he beat Calvin Jackson. The Dolphins appeared to have held when Brian Walker knocked away a pass, but Walker was penalized for pass interference and the Steelers got a first down at the Dolphins' 36. Bettis then had an 11 yard run up the middle to the Dolphins' 25 and it looked like the Steelers would come right back and perhaps get a score of their own.

However, after Bettis was stuffed on 1st and 10 from the Dolphins' 25, the Dolphins blitzed on 2nd down and as Zach was dragging Stewart to the ground, Kordell threw the ball away. However, the refs ruled it intentional grounding and that left the Steelers with a 3rd and 22 from the Dolphins' 27. Kordell dropped back on this play and tried to throw deep down the middle into triple coverage by the Dolphins, who batted the ball down.

Then, on 4th and 22 from the Dolphins' 37, Stewart looked like he was lining up in the shotgun to try and go for it on 4th down. However, when he got the ball, he kicked it and the ball was downed by the Dolphins at their 2 yard line.

The Dolphins ran the ball 3 times from their 2 and although they had a nice pickup on first down, they got stuffed on 2nd and 3rd down and punted back to the Steelers. The Steelers, starting at their 44, completed one pass for 2 yards and had two incompletions before punting back to the Dolphins. The Dolphins started at their 20 and doing nothing but running, got one first down to carry them into the 4th quarter, still up 21-0.

The Dolphins opened the 4th quarter with a first and 10 at their 31 in a driving rain. They ran Karim twice for 4 yards, but on third down, Marino tried to pass to Lamar Thomas and he was hit as he threw and the ball flew away, deep down the field. The Dolphins punted to the Steelers, who started at their 21.

Now the Steelers ran the ball with Fred McAfee and got some respectable gains, as the Dolphins were in a pass defense and not worrying about the run. The Steelers moved the ball to the Dolphins' 43, but were penalized for holding when Brendan Stai tackled Shane Burton and after an incomplete pass on 2nd down, Lorenzo Bromell got the only sack of the game for the Dolphins on 3rd down as he chased the fleeing Stewart all the way across the field. The Steelers then punted back to the Dolphins.

Once again, starting at their 20, the Dolphins went 3 and out on 3 Karim runs and the Dolphins punted back to the Steelers who started at their 41, now with 8:41 remaining in the game. At this point, the Steelers abandoned the run completely and helped by a couple of penalties on the Dolphins, including a questionable roughing the passer call on Armstrong, they moved to the Dolphins' 39. However, at that point they began moving backwards and after Stewart drew a delay of game penalty at the Dolphins' 41, his third down pass fell incomplete and they punted again.

The Dolphins started at their 16 and ran Karim 3 times in a row, but could not get a first down and punted back to the Steelers, who started at their 23. A short pass and a pass interference call on T-Buck moved the ball to the 36, but as Stewart tried to force the ball to Hawkins, Sam Madison made a leaping interception at the 46 and ran back and forth across the field for what looked like 2 minutes, until he was finally brought down at the Steeler 38.

Now, with 4:17 remaining, the Dolphins ran the ball with Karim 3 times, but an illegal block penalty on Drayton moved the ball back 10 yards and even though Karim broke a 12 yard run, that still left the Dolphins with a 3rd and 3 at the Steelers' 31. It appeared that Avery made the first down, but Ruddy was penalized for holding and the Dolphins lost another 10 yards, ending up with a 4th and 10 at the 38 as the 2 minute warning sounded.

The Dolphins punted to the Steelers and after a touchback, the Steelers started at their 20, with Mike Tomczak subbing for Stewart. They ran 4 running plays, gaining 18 yards to just run out the clock and end the game.

At the end of the game, the Steelers would have just 82 total yards passing and even though their 122 yards rushing looked impressive at first glance, Jerome Bettis was held to 48 total yards and was largely ineffective. Much of the Steelers' running was done late in the game against the Dolphins' pass defense.

On the offense, the Dolphins had only 109 total yards passing, but that was because they gave up the pass in the second half almost completely. Marino was 2 of 3 in the second half as the Dolphins made sure that they held on to the ball in the soaking rain.

This game was the proof that the Dolphins had been wanting since the beginning of the year that they had toughened up and that they had really changed the character of this team. They out muscled a tough Steeler team in Miami and won the battle in the trenches where it counted. As the Dolphins head into the bye week, they have plenty to work on, but toughness isn't one of the things that they have to worry about.

GOOD STUFF:

The defense was superb in this game. I don't know how they could have played much better. While they didn't have a lot of sacks, they did pressure and harass Kordell Stewart all day long. They maintained their pass rushing lanes and contained Stewart when he scrambled so that he ended the day with just 17 yards rushing.

The pass coverage was excellent and there was only one pass play longer than 20 yards by the Steelers. All the defensive backs had good days.

The stats on the running game are misleading. They say that the Steelers gained 122 yards and had a 5.1 yard per carry average. What they don't say is that Jerome Bettis had 48 total yards and averaged 3.7 ypc. The stats also don't say that the middle was totally stuffed most of the game and that the best Steeler runs came in the 3rd and 4th quarter against the Dolphins' pass defense.

For the offense, the running game didn't work as well as I would have liked, but it worked pretty well in some key situations. Karim Abdul-Jabbar showed why he's still the starter with a number of nice cutback runs. Against a tough Steeler defense, it was not a great showing, but it was enough to make the Steelers respect the Dolphins' ability to run.

On special teams, kick coverage was very good, especially by Bernie Parmalee and newcomer Nate Jacquet. And Mare' put all four of his kickoffs deep, including 2 for touchbacks. And, of course, let's not forget Mixon's partially blocked field goal.

THINGS TO WORK ON:

Probably the biggest disappointment of the day was the number of penalties, especially on the running plays. Several decent runs were called back on holding or illegal block penalties late in the game. All together, the Dolphins had 10 penalties in this game for 70 yards. That's unacceptable.

Also, the passing game disappeared completely in the second half as the Dolphins played not to lose. The only long ball plays that were called were the first two plays of the game and Kippy Brown needs to figure out when to call those in the course of the game.

The running game would have been better without some of the penalties, but the team still needs to be able to run the ball even when the opponent knows the Dolphins are going to run it.

And John Avery needs to get more carries in the game.

INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES:

While Dan Marino only completed 14 of 22 for 114 yards, with 1 touchdown and no interceptions, he got a gift on the touchdown pass. He was lucky that Dewayne Washington of the Steelers couldn't handle his pass or it would have been 1 interception and no touchdowns. Dan played well, although his first three passes could have been thrown better. Still, he completed 64% of his passes and his quarterback rating is 91.7

Karim Abdul-Jabbar had 33 carries on the day for 108 yards, an average of 3.3 yards per carry. He also had a nice 3 yard touchdown run. Mostly, though, he forced the Steelers to respect the Dolphins' running game. On the bad side, however, he fumbled on that long run in the first quarter. He also caught 2 passes for 7 yards and didn't drop one today.

John Avery did not have a very good day. He had a decent 28 yard kickoff return, but otherwise had 4 carries for 4 yards and didn't catch a pass.

Stanley Pritchett didn't catch a pass. He spent most of the day blocking or being run over by blitzing Steelers.

Oronde Gadsden led receivers in receptions with 4 for 34 yards. His catches were important, but he didn't do anything spectacular today.

OJ McDuffie had a better day than last week, catching 3 passes for 36 yards and not dropping any. He had two important catches on the touchdown drive in the second quarter.

Lamar Thomas also caught 3 passes for 30 yards, including the gift touchdown catch from Marino via Dewayne Washington.

Troy Drayton and Charles Jordan miraculously appeared, each catching one pass for short yardage. But Ed Perry was noticeable for his absence today. Jordan also returned 2 punts for a total of 24 yards, but had trouble holding on to the ball.

The offensive line got quite a workout today and generally did a pretty good job. Dan was only sacked once and was only hurried a handful of times. They also did a pretty good job run blocking against a tough Steeler defense, but let blitzing Steeler linebackers into the backfield too many times. They also had a number of penalties.

On defense, Zach Thomas - again - led the team in total tackles with 8, but only 3 of them were solo tackles today. However, Zach came up with at least 2 big plays, including the 17 yard interception return for a touchdown.

Sam Madison was the other obvious star on defense, making two interceptions and knocking down three other passes. He only got in on 2 tackles, but I think we can excuse that.

Brock Marion and Calvin Jackson each had 4 solo tackles from the safety spots and Marion came within inches of blocking a punt early in the game.

Robert Jones tied Zach with 3 solo tackles and added an assist. Two of his solo tackles were on Bettis for short gains and one of his tackles was for a 3 yard loss on Courtney Hawkins.

Jason Taylor had 3 solo tackles and an assist and batted down a pass at the line of scrimmage. He also chased down Kordell Stewart from behind and tackled him after a short gain. However, he did have two illegal-hands-to-the-face penalties late in the game which sustained two Steeler drives.

Kenny Mixon had his best game so far, with 2 solo tackles and an assist and blocking the field goal attempt. He stopped Bettis at the line of scrimmage on one play and grabbed Fred McAfee for a two yard loss on another.

Derrick Rodgers and Patrick Surtain both had good games, each getting 2 solo tackles and one assist.

Tim Bowens had one solo tackle and one assist, while Darryl Gardener had no tackles. However, both contributed enormously by plugging the middle of the line successfully and keep the Steelers from opening those holes for Bettis. And the both helped in collapsing the pocket around Stewart.

Lorenzo Bromell played a lot later in the game and had just one tackle, but it was a sack based on persistence as he chased Kordell Stewart halfway across the field.

Terrell Buckley had one tackle and one pass defensed.

Baron Tanner, Brian Walker and Shane Burton each had one tackle or were in on one and Brian Walker also knocked away a pass.

Klaus Wilmsmeyer punted 10 times for a 45.8 yard per punt average. He is very inconsistent, however and only one of his punts was downed inside the 20.

Olindo Mare' put 2 kickoffs into the endzone for touchbacks and the other two were returned for just short gains.

And newcomer Nate Jacquet, who was picked up from the Colts off waivers, made three very good special teams tackles on punt coverage, stopping returns for little or no yardage in each case.

INJURIES:

There were no serious injuries today to the Dolphins. At one point, Sam Madison was shaken up briefly after an interception, but he returned later.

My Comments:

As enjoyable as this game was for me - and it was enjoyable - I would have enjoyed it more if the Dolphins had mounted a little more offense than they did.

Oh, I'm not saying that I would rather have seen a shootout with a final points total in the 80s, but a more steady offensive output, especially from the passing game, would have been very nice indeed.

I applaud the effort made on the first two plays to go deep, but what I don't understand is why they didn't go deep later in the game, after Dan had had the chance to warm up a little? I think that the plays might have been there if they'd looked for them.

The defense does look like all the draft picks and work have paid off. Today, while I enjoyed the great play of Sam Madison, Jason Taylor, Robert Jones and Zach Thomas, the guy who caught my eye later in the game was Kenny Mixon. He's been pretty quiet in the first two games, but he stood out today. He was pushing the Steelers' right tackle back into the quarterback and had several nice plays today against the Steelers' running game.

This defense resembles the '72 Dolphin Defense in more ways than just the fact that they have no big stars and no Pro-Bowl players. They also looked like the famous "No-Names" in that they play the game as a unit. If it's not T-Buck making the picks, it's Sam Madison. If Robert Jones is not in the backfield, it's Zach or Rodgers or Jason Taylor or Bowens or now - Kenny Mixon or Lorenzo Bromell. There might not be any big stars yet - but almost every player on defense is capable of making big plays and they take turns making them.

That ability of every player on defense to make big plays is something that really distinguished the '72 No-Name defense. And it's something that is starting to show up in the '98 defense.

On offense, I would still like to see more big plays, but as long as they continue to produce and not make any more big mistakes, I'm happy with what they're doing. I think that Kippy Brown needs to grow into the position he's in also, just as the new players do. His play calling still needs some work, although I found myself nodding in agreement more times than not today.

But the bottom line is this - with the Jets coming up as the next big test, the Dolphins appear to be in very good shape to compete for the leadership of the AFC East.

Related Info:

• NFL.com: Gamebook
• Sun-Sentinel: DOLPHINS 21, STEELERS 0
• Sun-Sentinel: Miami defense dulls Slash, stops the Bus
• Dolphins Endzone: From the Game