DOLPHINS RECAP
September 8, 2008 by Chris Lee
Filed under Dolphins, NFL Football
On a positive note the Miami Dolphins looked better than last season. However the Dolphins didn’t have enough at the end to beat the New York Jets losing a game that went down to the wire 20-14.
In a game with two stories, one being Brett Favre in a Jets uniform and the other being Chad Pennington against his former team. This game had its up and downs for the Dolphins. They showed there inexperience by making lots of mistakes whether it be penalties (Jake Long), dropped passes, or incosistency. I said my two keys to Miami winning this game was there running game, and special teams. Well neither of those things happened as the Dolphins rushed for only 49 yard and the special teams play was not nearly good enough. Tedd Ginn looked hesitant to fielding any punt returns as he did not want to get hit. This is the NFL Tedd, remember. One positive was the play of rookie Devone Bess out of Hawaii. This guy returned a kick for 25 yards and had one nice catch. This is someone the Dolphins need to play more often. According to Tony Saprano he was the biggest suprise at training camp and are expecting him to develop into something special. Bess reminds me of former Dolphins Wes Welker. Let’s hope he can be, because the wide receiver position has not looked good.
One play that stood out was the fourth down play by Favre in the second quarter. He threw up a lame duck and luckily Stuckey was there to pick up the garbage for a touchdown. That seemed to hurt the confidence on the Miami defense. The Dolphins did battle hard in the second half and Chad Pennington lead them on a nice drive to pull with 6 points in the fourth quarter. Unfortunalely on the final drive Pennington tried to force the ball in coverage and ended the game with an INT on the final play. Pennington should have trown the ball away and given his team another chance with one final play. Those type of mistakes cost the Dolphins the game.
All in all I saw glimpses of a Miami team that could be good. They showed there inexperience, but showed there toughness by play hard for a full game. The defense play very well as a unit and put lots of pressure on Brett Favre, which was a nice suprise. Still for the Dolphins to be successfull they need to establish a good run game. They should be able to do this with Ronnie Brown, and Rick Williams in the backfield.
Up next for the Dolphins is a visit to the Arizona Cardinals, who are a much better team than the Jets, and a good home team. Let hope the Dolphins can iron out lots of wrinkles before next Sunday.
Chris
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September 8th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Hey Chris,
What are your thoughts on the Dolphins running game after what we saw yesterday?
I thought Ronnie Brown was definitely the more effective of the two backs, both running the ball and catching passes out of the backfield. Plus, Williams seemed to have a hard time hanging on to the football.
Do you expect that we will see Ronnie Brown get a few more touches next week, or will Miami continue with the Ricky experiment for a little while longer?
September 8th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Good question! I think Brown needs to get the next start, especially considering what he proved he could do, even on a bad team, a year ago before getting hurt. Williams is still rusty, and he could easily spell Brown effectively enough to allow him the necessary time to rest.
September 9th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Brandon,
I definitely think Ronnie Brown will get more touches this week, but they are still gradually working him back into game shape and don’t want to take any chances with the knee. That being said if Ronnie gets into a rhythm he will get way more touches. The same goes for Ricky. Last week was hard to judge since the Dolphins fell behind and had to throw more in the second half. They need to establish the run better this week. I still think this will be a good combo, one to be reckoned with .
September 9th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
Miami and AZ this weekend will be a fun tilt to watch!