OVERALL SUMMARY:

The Dolphins faced off against the Titans on Sunday night in a battle for first place in the AFC - and for the respect of the rest of the league this season. Both teams came in at 6-1, both were coming off of big wins against tough opponents and both saw themselves as serious contenders for the SuperBowl.

At the end of the game, however, the Dolphins defense had taken the wind out of the Titans' sails, although not out of the air at Joe Robbie Stadium. In their first shutout of the year, the Dolphins used a dominating, opportunistic defense and a good-enough offense to beat the Titans 17-0 and end the first half of the season on a positive note.

The game began at 8:20 PM in Miami. The weather was warm, humid and clear, but the wind was swirling around and through the Stadium. For the Dolphins, Autry Denson, Dan Marino, Yatil Green, Antoine Simpson, Anthony Harris, Kantroy Barber and Grey Ruegamer were inactive, while Druckenmiller was the emergency quarterback.

When the game started, Kevin Donnalley was the starting right guard and Rob Konrad was the starting fullback although both Kevin Gogan and Stanley Pritchett both saw a lot of action.

The Dolphins started the game with the ball at their 20 and on first down, Huard passed to Tony Martin on a down and out for 16 yards. Then Cecil ripped off 12 yards, but after that, the Dolphins stumbled and after Huard was sacked on 3rd down, the Dolphins were forced to punt.

The punt carried 63 yards with some help from the wind and a good bounce and was downed at the Titan 2 yard line. A fired-up Dolphins defense held the Titans to 3 and out deep in their own end and they punted to their own 49. But the Dolphins could only gain 2 yards and punted back to the Titans, downing the ball at the Titan 14.

The Titans then put together a good drive, starting at their 14 and passing to Thigpen and Harris before running Eddie George for 16 yards and having McNair scramble for a 1st down. A 17 yard pass to Harris moved them to the Miami 15, but they got stuffed there and after McNair threw 2 incompletions, the Titans tried a field goal from the Dolphin 14. However, the ball was blown to the kicker's left and bounced off the left upright, leaving the score tied at 0.

The Dolphins started at their 23 and after some short runs by JJ Johnson, Huard passed to Pritchett to pick up the first down at the Miami 37. From there, Huard dropped back to pass on 1st down and the ball was tipped from behind as Huard tried to loft it deep. The ball went nearly straight up and fell back, almost like a punt, but Oronde Gadsden - seeing the ball go astray - cut off his route and ran back under it, catching it for a 29 yard gain to the Titan 34.

After 2 runs and a pass to McDuffie on 3rd down, the Dolphins faced 1st and 10 at the Titan 23 as the first quarter ended.

The second quarter opened with Huard dropping back to pass. He was hit from behind by Jevon Kearse and the ball popped out, but Huard managed to scoop it off the ground and, running to his right, he then tossed it downfield to an open OJ McDuffie at the Titans' 6 yard line. After two failed attempts left the Dolphins with 3rd and goal at the 6, Huard dropped back and found Pritchett slanting from the right across the middle. Huard fired into Pritchetts' arms at the 1 and Pritchett ran into the endzone for a touchdown and a 7-0 Miami lead.

After the kickoff was returned to the Titan 29, the Titans ran Eddie George twice in a row to their left and he gained 21 yards and then 15 yards on two carries to the Miami 35. Editors Note: The announcers were saying that this was because the Titans were running at Jason Taylor, but on both of these plays, Taylor was on the sideline getting a rest. Rich Owens was in at right defensive end as Kenny Mixon got some work on the left side.

However, at this point, the Titans were stuffed and after Gardener and Bowens sandwiched McNair on second down for a sack, the Titans faltered and punted on 4th and 11. The punt was downed at the Miami 12, but the Dolphins promptly went 3 and out on a 2 yard run and two incompletions and punted back.

The Titans took over at the Miami 41 after a nice punt return and after a quick pass on 1st down, faced 2nd and 2 at the Miami 33. After an incompletion and a takedown of Eddie George in the backfield, the Titans faced 4th and 5 at the Miami 36. Once more, the Titans ran to their left, but this time, Jason Taylor was in and the entire Miami defense swarmed over George after a short gain.

With the ball going over to the Dolphins on downs, they started at their 34 with a quick pass to Konrad for 8 yards, plus 15 yards on a facemask penalty against the Titans. Now with a 1st and 10 at the Titan 43, Huard dropped back in the pocket and then stepped up and threw the ball downfield to Tony Martin, who was running a deep slant-in. Martin cut back up the field and was first hit about the 5 yard line, but despite being hit by 3 Titans' defensive backs, Martin's momentum and drive (aided by a push from Oronde Gadsden) pushed him over the goal line for another touchdown that gave the Dolphins a 14-0 lead.

Starting at their 20 after the kickoff, the Titans used the short passing game to move from their 20 to the Dolphins' 44, but when McNair tried to throw to his left, Sam Madison was there to make his first interception of the night and return it back up the sideline 42 yards to the 33 of Tennessee.

The Dolphins, however, couldn't move forward at all on this series and aided by a penalty and 2 sacks, actually moved back to the Titan 49 and punted on 4th and 26. The ball went into the endzone and the Titans started at their 20 with 1:21 remaining in the first half. A couple of short passes moved it to their 41, but then McNair threw to his left again and again Sam Madison was there, picking the ball off and returning it to the Titan 28.

With just 14 seconds left in the first half, the Dolphins used a quarterback sneak on first down and then on 2nd and 7 at the 25, they attempted a field goal. Unfortunately, Mare's kick was low and partially deflected and it bounced short of the goal post to end the first half with the Dolphins up 14-0.

To open the 2nd half, the Titans started at their 35 after a decent kickoff return and after a couple of short passes, the Titans had moved to the Dolphins' 46. However, on third and 1, the Dolphins stuffed Eddie George for no gain and the Titans punted, downing the ball at the Miami 4.

The Dolphins started at their 4 and using Cecil Collins running and short passes to Martin, McDuffie and Gadsden, they slowly moved from their 4 to the Titan 46, where they stalled. The drive didn't result in any points, but it did run 6:46 off the clock in the 3rd quarter.

The Dolphins punted from the Titan 46 and after a fair catch at their 12, the Titans put together a short drive based mostly on one 21 yard completion to Yancy Thigpen. After that and some short passes, took them out to their 43, McNair once more tried to go to a medium route to his left and for the third time, Sam Madison was waiting for him and picked the pass off. He returned it 29 yards to the Titan 24.

Miami took over there and after a short run by JJ Johnson and an incomplete pass, Huard was sacked at the 29. However, this time Olindo Mare' had a good kick and it sailed through the uprights to increase Miami's lead to 17-0 as the 4th quarter began.

The Titans started at their 32 after the kickoff, but after 2 short passes and a scramble by McNair on 3rd down that netted only 1 yard, the Titans were forced to punt. After a decent return by Jacquet was nullified by a holding penalty, the Dolphins started at their 24. The did manage 1 first down in this series on a 22 yard pass to Tony Martin, but then they stalled again at the Titan 48 and punted.

The Titans made a fair catch at their 9 yard line, but after 3 incompletions by Steve McNair, they were forced to punt on 4th and 10. However, the punt was short and as OJ McDuffie raced forward and dove to field it, it slipped through his hands and the fumble was recovered by the Titans at their 42.

With 8:36 remaining in the game, the Titans went on offense from their 42, but on first down, Trace Armstrong came free and sacked McNair. Immediately after that, Jerry Wilson came on the cornerback blitz and also sacked McNair. McNair's pass on 3rd and 21 was very incomplete and the Titans now punted.

Miami started at their 19 after a holding penalty on special teams. Following a couple of runs by Collins and a pass to McDuffie, the Dolphins had a first down at their 30. However, 2 successive false start penalties put it back to the 18. Miami managed to run it out to their 31 before they ran out of downs, but they had to punt on 4th and 10 from their 30.

However, this drive caused the Titans to use up their last 2 timeouts and with 3:50 remaining and no timeouts, the Titans started at their 28. After 3 short passes and one scramble by McNair, the Titans had moved to the 50, but without timeouts the clock continued to run and the 2 minute warning sounded as the Titans reached midfield.

With time running down, the Titans got a 40 yard completion to Sanders down the sideline with turned out to be their longest completion of the night. That gave them a 1st and goal at the Dolphins' 9 with just 58 seconds remaining. McNair spiked the ball on first down and overthrew the receiver on 2nd down. He tried to the fool the Dolphins on third down and throw short, but Dyson was dragged down at the 3 yard line. Then, on 4th and goal from the 3, the Dolphins pressured McNair, but kept him in the pocket and he threw a wounded duck pass to the ground in the endzone.

After this final incompletion, the ball went over the Dolphins on downs and Huard just knelt, allowing time to run out and preserving the shutout.

GOOD STUFF:

The defense stuffed, stymied, stupified and stomped on the opposition again this week. They had 3 interceptions, provided excellent coverage, kept McNair in the pocket and limited his effectiveness as a scrambler.

The shutout was well earned and richly deserved. The only thing the defense had trouble with was early when Eddie George was running to the outside. But they made adjustments to stop that and George had only 10 yards on his last 8 carries.

On offense, it was the passing game that came alive this week as the Dolphins passed for 210 total yards and 2 touchdowns. Tony Martin, in particular, did a fine job working open and making the big plays when needed.

The Dolphins also converted 7 of 15 third downs for a 47% completion rate, which is excellent.

Overall, stupid penalties and mistakes were down this week, although one series late in the game where the Dolphins had 2 false start penalties in a row was disappointing.

THINGS TO WORK ON:

This week, the running game was fairly anemic. About the only thing that could be said about the running game was that it forced the Titans to defend it.

Also, pass protection seemed a little week. The offensive line seemed to have trouble maintaining their blocks.

Special teams also had an off week. The coverage was not as tight as it has been, especially on kickoffs and two punt returns by Nate Jacquet were nullified by holding penalties.

INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES:

Damon Huard started his third consecutive game in place of Dan Marino and he had his best game so far. He was poised, accurate and careful in completing 15 of 25 for 210 yards and 2 touchdowns. More importantly, though, he didn't throw any interceptions. He is still taking sacks instead of trying to throw the ball away, but he's not turning the ball over. Also, his recovery of his own fumble and subsequent completion was a very heads-up play.

Cecil Collins started the night at running back, but didn't have much luck. He ended up with 41 yards on 14 carries for a 2.9 ypc average.

But if Cecil Collins had a mediocre night, then JJ Johnson was just downright bad. He rushed 11 times for 9 and caught 1 pass for 4 yards. However, both running backs were the victims of a very tough stacked defense by the Titans.

Rob Konrad started the game at fullback and gained 8 yards on 1 pass play.

Stanley Pritchett was rotated in on third downs and in other special situations and while he only caught 2 passes for 15 yards, one of those passes was the first touchdown.

Tony Martin had the best night of all Dolphins' receivers, catching 5 passes for 95 yards and a 43 yard touchdown. He was open when needed the most.

OJ McDuffie was next with 4 catches for 41 yards. He didn't do anything spectacular, but made a couple of crucial 1st downs.

Oronde Gadsden had just 2 catches for 47 yards, but one of those was his very heads-up play to adjust for the ball when Huard had it tipped as it left his hand.

Hunter Goodwin and Troy Drayton both played, but neither caught a pass.

The offensive line did not have a particularly good night, for the most part, allowing lots of pressure on Huard and getting driven back on running plays. The Dolphins did have some success on third down, but that was almost always on passing plays.

On defense, Zach Thomas once again led all tacklers with 11 total stops and a pass knocked away. He played his usual ferocious game.

Brock Marion was second on the defense with 8 tackles and while he didn't have any picks or passes defensed, he also wasn't beaten deep that I saw.

Shawn Wooden, who played most of the game in place of the injured Calvin Jackson, ended with 6 tackles and 2 special teams tackles.

Sam Madison had 3 interceptions for a total of 101 return yards, stopping 3 Titan drives. His reading of the offense and of Steve McNair's intentions was flawless, with two of his picks coming from reading McNair and just positioning himself in the zone correctly. He also had 4 tackles and knocked down a pass.

Rich Owens led all defensive linemen with 4 tackles and a sack of Steve McNair.

Terrell Buckley had 3 tackles and didn't give up any big plays, blanketing his receiver all night.

Calvin Jackson started the game at strong safety and recorded 3 tackles, but suffered a left hamstring strain in the 1st quarter and didn't return.

Robert Jones had 3 total tackles also.

Darryl Gardener is credited with 3 tackles and half a sack, which he split with Tim Bowens. Two of Gardener's 3 tackles were for losses.

Derrick Rodgers also had 3 tackles.

Jerry Wilson had 2 tackles and sacked Steve McNair on a cornerback blitz for 4 yards.

Patrick Surtain took over for Sam Madison at right cornerback for a while in the 2nd half, when Madison was out for a few plays. Surtain ended the day with 2 tackles, one of which was a nice stop of Eddie George for no gain on 3rd and 1.

Tim Bowens had 2 tackles and shared a half sack of McNair with Darryl Gardener. He and Gardener continue to play extremely well in the middle.

Trace Armstrong only had one tackle, but it was a sack in the 4th quarter, just when Trace likes to make them.

Jason Taylor was only credited with 1 tackle, but it was on 4th down and it stopped the Titans from getting a first down.

Lorenzo Bromell and Kenny Mixon each had 1 tackle. Mixon returned to the lineup and played sparingly at left defensive end.

Dwight Hollier had 1 special teams tackle, as did Ed Perry.

Nate Jacquet continues to return punts, although this week he only averaged 8.5 yards per return instead of his customary 19.3.

Olindo Mare' did not have his best night, hitting a low kick that was partially blocked, but he did hit a 47 yard field goal later and put one of this 4 kickoffs in the endzone.

Punter Tom Hutton had his best game of the year, hitting a 63 yard punt and putting four of his punts down inside the Titans' 20 yard line.

INJURIES:

Safety Calvin Jackson strained a hamstring and left the game in the first quarter. It's not know when he'll return to practice.

My Comments:

Other than the opener against Denver, this was the most satisfying game that the Dolphins have played this year - for me, at least. Now I know that some might prefer the Colts game or the Patriots game, but I preferred this one. It was just exciting enough without being too exciting and the Dolphins were clearly the better team yesterday. They pretty much dominated the game from beginning to end.

Two things surprised me about the game - one good and one bad. The good thing was that the Dolphin defense was so dominating. I was worried about their passing game and McNair's scrambling ability, but the Dolphins defense didn't give them any breathing room all night.

And Sam Madison.... Well, what can I say...

The bad surprise about the game was the inability of the Dolphins to run on the Titans. I had thought that they'd be able to run on the Titans and I expected them to use Cecil Collins more than they did.

I also expected the Dolphins to run outside more. The biggest running gains the Dolphins have had this year have come to the outside. Yet, all night long, the Dolphins tried to run between the tackles, right at the point where the Titans were stacking the line. Perhaps that's part of Jimmy's plan, but it sure didn't seem to work and it doesn't really allow Cecil to use his speed or cutback ability.

Still, I was pleased with the passing game's progress and the overall play of the team, so I can't complain too much.

This game was good for the team in a lot of ways, but mostly it showed them just what they were capable of if they don't make too many stupid mistakes.

Related Info:

• NFL.com: Gamebook
• Sun-Sentinel: Game 8 wrapup
• Dolphins Endzone: Coaches Corner
• Palm Beach Post: Miami Dolphins vs. Tennessee Titans
• Sun-Sentinel: Don't Mess With This Defense
• Dolphins Endzone: Players' Postgame Audio
• Sun-Sentinel: Madison picks on McNair (3 times)
• Sun-Sentinel: Dolphins 17, Titans 0
• Sun-Sentinel: Dolphins' nickel hits the jackpot
• Palm Beach Post: This defense showing some serious Super Bowl swagger
• Palm Beach Post: Dolphins shuffle the deck at backup QB
• Palm Beach Post: Madison's three INTs help seal 7-1 start
• The Tennessean: Huard making a name for himself - Monday, 11/8/99
• The Tennessean: Titans' quest for respect suffers setback - Monday, 11/8/99
• The Tennessean: Fourth down run repeat of earlier failure - Monday, 11/8/99
• The Tennessean: Dolphins defense plays exactly as advertised - Monday, 11/8/99
• The Tennessean: McNair throws three interceptions - Monday, 11/8/99
• The Tennessean: First franchise shutout in 10 years - Monday, 11/8/99
• The Tennessean: Bests and worsts of Titans-Dolphins game - Monday, 11/8/99
• CBS SportsLine: Dolphins 17, Titans 0
• Dolphin Digest: Game Summary
• CBS SportsLine: Miami, Detroit Win Key Games