*** DOLPHINS NEWS ***
Oct 12, 1997: -- Dolphins Ground Jets 31-20 --
The Dolphins fought the Jets to a virtual standstill for 3 and
a half quarters today, taking a 17-14 lead into the middle of the 4th
quarter, but then scored 14 points in the last half of the 4th quarter
to pull out to a 31-14 lead. The Jets managed a late score against
the Dolphins prevent defense with just 1:10 left in the game, but it
was way too little, too late as the Dolphins recovered the onsides
kick and ran out the clock to collect a 31-20 victory.
The Dolphins started off sluggish, as they have all year. They
went 3 and out on their first possession and 6 and out on their 2nd
possession. The Jets, for their part, were moving the ball much
better. Neil O'Donnel found Wayne Chrebet for a 70 yard pass play
down the seam of the Miami zone to the one yard line on their 2nd
possession and they punched it in from the 1 yard line on the next
play for a 7-0 lead.
In the 2nd quarter, the Dolphins' offense exploded with Marino
first hitting a wide open Karim Abdul-Jabbar after a play fake for a
36 yard touchdown and a 7-7 tie. The Jets responded with a 12 play,
77 yard drive for a touchdown on a short pass that Keyshawn Johnson
grabbed out of the air with one hand in the endzone. This was a
strange play, because the pass was intended for Chrebet in the back of
the endzone and was taken by Johnson in the front of the endzone for a
14-7 lead.
On this drive, there was a controversial call where the Jets'
Richie Anderson fumbled at the end of a 20 yard run and the Dolphins'
Corey Harris picked up the ball and ran it back for an apparent
Dolphins' touchdown. However, the refs said that the ball was down by
contact with the ground. Replay seemed to indicated that Anderson did
fumble the ball, so the Dolphins should have had a touchdown.
Instead, the Jets continued their drive that would end in a touchdown.
The Dolphins came right back and engineered an 8 play, 75 yard
drive that ended with a 22 yard pass to Lamar Thomas down the right
sideline for a 14-14 tie. After the Dolphins stopped the Jets, the
Dolphins engineered a drive which stalled on the 6 after Marino and
John Bock fumbled a snap and the Dolphins kicked a field goal for a
17-14 lead at the end of the 1st half.
In the 2nd half, the Dolphins took the kickoff and drove the
length of the field, but stalled at the Jets' 13 and Mare' missed a 30
yard field goal just barely wide right. Neither offense was effective
for the rest of the 3rd quarter and the 4th quarter opened with the
Dolphins holding a slim 17-14 lead.
The Jets drove down the field to open the 4th quarter, but
like the Dolphins at the beginning of the 3rd, they couldn't get in
the endzone and when they tried a 30 yard field goal, the ball went
just barely wide right.
Both teams then had short drives that ended in punts and the
Dolphins got the ball back with 8:26 remaining in the game. Marino
took them down the field and on 3rd and 14 from the Jets' 26, Marino
hit a wide open Jordan across the middle. Jordan was hit hard and
fumbled, but an alert McDuffie picked up the ball and ran it in for a
touchdown to give the Dolphins a 24-14 lead with 4:09 remaining in the
game.
The Jets started at their 22 and moved the ball to their 45
before Derrick Rodgers stripped O'Donnel on a blitz and Trace
Armstrong recovered the fumble to give the Dolphins a first down at
the Jets' 36. From there, the Dolphins moved down to the Jets' 8,
where Irving Spikes went around the right guard for a touchdown to
give the Dolphins a 31-14 lead with under 2 minutes to play.
The Jets went to the hurryup offense and managed to score one
more touchdown against the Dolphins' prevent defense, but Shawn Wooden
recovered the onsides kick with about a minute remaining and Marino
knelt down twice to give the Dolphins a 31-20 victory.
Some relevant statistics: Marino was 27 of 38 for 372 yards,
with 2 touchdowns, no interceptions and he was not sacked. Parmalee
lead the Dolphins' receiving with 6 catches for 91 yards and Zach
Thomas lead the defense with 11 total tackles, but Derrick Rodgers was
right behind with 8 tackles and 2 sacks.
The Dolphins held Adrian Murrell to 13 carries for 29 yards
and 2 catches for 6 yards. They got one turnover on the recovered
fumble and didn't have a turnover on their own. They also sacked
O'Donnel 5 times. And the Dolphins converted 50% of their 3rd downs.
My Comments:
I've said it before and I'll say it again - this team is
improving a little bit each week. They're still not where they'd
like to be - they gave up too many big plays and they had too many
crucial penalties that killed drives.
Lamar Thomas did have a good game in replacement of Fred
Barnett, catching 5 passes for 75 yards and a touchdown, but he also
dropped a pass that should have been an easy catch.
The passing game is improving as the Dolphins make adjustments
to spread the ball around. Parmalee has really emerged as a threat
out of the backfield and Troy Drayton continues to impress, making
difficult catches in traffic. And the total number of drops seems to
have diminished.
The defense did completely shut down Adrian Murrell and took
him out of the game. Zach Thomas looks like he may be almost
completely healed and the new defensive alignment seems to have helped
the pass rush where Derrick Rodgers is allowed to blitz the passer
more. Also, Bowens and Gardener are playing much better since the bye
week and were instrumental in stopping the running game and putting
pressure on O'Donnel.
Overall, this was a tense game until the 4th quarter, when the
Dolphins took control and made the plays necessary to win the game.
With the Bills losing to the Patriots, this game puts the Dolphins in
sole possession of 2nd place in the AFC East with a 4-2 record and a
2-0 mark against the AFC East. It was an important victory for the
Dolphins to have and it puts them in an excellent position to continue
the rest of the year.
Related Info:
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Curt Fennell,
curt@phins.com, DOLFAN in New Rochelle (almost)
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