The Dolphins finally won a pre-season game Saturday evening at Joe Robbie Stadium with 27-13 victory over the Washington Redskins, but it may turn out to be a more costly game than either of the two losses with Jacksonville and Atlanta.

The Dolphins suffered several injuries during Saturday night's game, including a couple to some prominent players. The extent of those injuries, however, will not be known until late Sunday or sometime Monday.

Linebacker Bryan Cox, the one defensive player who the Dolphins can not afford to lose, went down in the first half with a knee injury. He was taken off the field on a cart, alongside Fullback Robert Wilson, who suffered a knee injury of his own.

The original diagnosis for Cox was sprained knee ligaments. Cox was expected to have an MRI Sunday. In the best case scenario, Cox will miss a couple of days of practice, but return for the season opener on Sept. 3. In the worst case scenario, Cox may have torn some ligaments.

Cox did show up on the sidelines during the second half, wearing civilian clothes and a knee brace on his right knee. From the naked eye, Wilson appeared to have suffered the more serious injury (a bruised quad) because he couldn't bend his leg at all as he was walking off the field after the game. Cox showed some mobility.

The Dolphins are not exactly loaded at the Fullback position. They are expecting the return of Keith Byars for the pre-season finale Friday night in Orlando against Tampa Bay.

Additional injuries included Cornerback Frankie Smith, who suffered a lower back contusion, Running Back Irving Spikes, who suffered a bruised left thigh and Cornerback Troy Vincent, who suffered a bruised right quadricep.

PRE-SEASON GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

Bernie Parmalee looked very impressive, carrying the ball 16 times for 69 yards. He had a nifty 13-yard run where the Dolphins were pinned back at their 1-yard line in the 3rd quarter. Parmalee started what became a 99-yard drive for the Dolphins.

Chris Gray also looked impressive all night. Overall, the Dolphins managed 139 yard on 36 carries -- not a great average at 3.9, but there were several good runs.

Brent Moss also had some good work even though his numbers weren't good -- 11 carries for 35 yards. Irving Spikes and Terry Kirby didn't do a whole lot carrying the ball.

The passing game didn't light anybody on fire, but it was much better than it has been. Dan Marino played into the 3rd quarter, completed 10 of 21 for 140 yards, 1 TD, 1 interception. His performance certainly wasn't vintage Marino. A couple of his throws were missed. At one point, Marino had Eric Green wide open and he overthrew. But keep in mind that Marino wasn't sharp in the pre-season last year and he came out smoking in the season.

Bernie Kosar did some good work -- 6 for 11 for 58 yards. Dan McGwire came into the game late, but all he did was hand off. He did not throw a pass.

In terms of receiving, nobody put up very big numbers. Only a couple of players had two catches. Randall Hill had 2 for 50 yards. O.J. McDuffie, Gary Clark, Terry Kirby and Brent Moss had 2 receptions.

In an impressive play, Clark had one TD pass from Marino in the first quarter. Clark took a big shot, running into a slam in the end zone but held onto the ball.

The offensive line performed pretty well. Marino was sacked twice. But overall, pass protection was pretty good.

DOTSON IMPRESSES COACHES

Dwayne Dotson, who replaced Cox, impressed his coaches on a goal line stand that perhaps proved a turning point of the game. The Dolphins were leading at 13-3. The Redskins got themselves a first and goal at the Miami 1 yard line.

On the first down play, Dotson stuffed the running back for no gain.

On the second down play, Shuler faked a hand-off but Jeff Cross stayed with him the whole time, pushing him out-of-bounds at the 1-yard line. Cross got credit for a sack on that play.

On the third down, Dotson shot through a hole on the offensive line, met the running back on the backfield, threw him for a 2-yard loss and that forced the Redskins to settle for a field goal.

Dotson also added another big play in the 4th quarter when Brooks took a hand-off and Dotson, on the blitz up the middle, dropped him for a 2 yard loss. Dotson would possibly be the guy to replace Cox.

In terms of a pass rush, the Dolphins had some pressure at times. There were no other sacks except the Cross sack. Armstrong and Emtman had a quiet evening. Dotson led the tackles with 6; Klingbeil had 5.

Of course, there was the 97 yard interception return by Louis Oliver for a TD. Oliver had a very subdued celebration in the end zone. (Ed note - has Oliver learned something???)

The other interception by the Dolphins was by Gene Atkins.

The Dolphins play against Tampa Bay at 8:00 p.m. Friday at the Orlando Citrus Bowl.

** End of Dolphin Digest Report**

MY ANALYSIS:

As of right now, it looks as if Cox has a sprained knee. According to Joe Sosa, who lives in South Florida, the local radios are saying that his injury was mild enough that local doctors don't even think he needs an MRI. Also, the Nando.Net sports server is reporting much the same thing.

I'm not a doctor, but it's pretty clear that Cox will only be out a couple of weeks at most.

Nobody else's injury in particularly worrisome, except perhaps Wilson's. We'll know more by the end of today.

**WHEW!**

There were a couple of notable performances in this game, both on defense, that deserve special mention: First of all, there was Dewayne Dotson, who more than filled in for Bryan Cox after Cox left. There had been a gap at middle linebacker behind Cox, because Hollier will be playing outside until Singleton is fully recovered. It looks as if Dotson may be the answer to that.

The other performance of note was that of Louis Oliver, who took an interception 97 yards for a touchdown, thus squashing the Redskin's last chance to come back and win the game. Those of us who like Oliver (I know, not everyone does), were overjoyed to seem him make such a dramatic comeback.

Perhaps even more notable than his interception was the subdued celebration he put on (or didn't put on) in the endzone. Perhaps his injuries and days with the Bengals have put a little humility in his soul - that would certainly be a welcome improvement.

Overall, I thought that the Dolphins did what they needed to do - they gave Marino a little more of a chance to work with his new receivers and they won the game. That was certainly enough for me.

On another note, how many of you DolFans remember Liffort Hobley, the promising safety who was cut down by injuries a couple of years ago? Well, he has apparently landed a job with the Dolphins organization as "Player Relations Director". I had always wondered what happened to him and it's good to see the Dolphins taking care of their own.