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Dolphins fall just short against Skins

The Dolphins and their fans were very excited about the start of the 2007 NFL season, heading to FedEx Field in Washington to face the Redskins.

The fans may have been excited, but the quality of football was nothing to be excited about.  Even after the team’s settled past the start of season jitters, it was a grudge match.  Hard to tell if it was two good teams or two bad teams, but it was two evenly matched teams that just couldn’t sustain anything against the other.  Miami was running something very familiar; a short-field offense based on runs and short yardage, while the Skins were doing nearly the opposite; longer passes followed by mid-range runs.

It was the Skins who broke through first, finishing a 1st quarter drive with a 2nd quarter 31 yard field goal, for a 3-0 lead.  Then, once again, the 2nd quarter was a lot of nothing.  Miami spent most of the quarter running checkdowns, screens, and little dinky plays that don’t get much done.

Until they got the ball back with about 2 minutes left in the first half.  All of sudden, it’s like Cameron called over his offense and said “Okay, boys, I think they bought it.  Let’s go!”  Suddenly, Miami started to actually attack with mid-long range passes and drove straight down the field.  Where Coach Cameron, an NFL HC rookie, faced a coach that gives multi-year veteran coaches pause.  Down 3-0, Miami faced 4th down and goal from Washington’s 1 yard line, with 4 seconds remaining.  The Fins could have kicked and been very happy with that, tied at 3.  But Coach Cameron decided to go for it, and Green hit TE Justin Peele on play action. 7-3 Miami at the half.

The Redskins took the ball in the second half and had their lighbulb drive.  8 players later, Clinton Portis scampered into the endzone from 19 yards, giving the Redskins the lead back at 10-7.  The Dolphins fought back just enough to get the game tied, but with Cameron choosing the opposite of his previous decision.  He found his team 4th and goal, ball on the 2, down 10-7.  This time, he had Jay feely kick a 20 yarder to tie the game at 10 with 3:40 left in the 3rd.

The teams traded field goals (Washington 44 yards at 5:35, Miami 36 yards at 2:00), and after that both teams just decided to let the coin flip assist the final saying, taking the game to OT.  The Skins won the toss, and what followed was one of the most embarassing examples of lack of run D and conditioning I’ve ever seen.  Miami didn’t just let the Skins down the field, they were PUSHED AROUND.  In the 10 play drive, Miami allowed runs of 26, 14, 10, and 9 yards.  Coach Joe Gibbs decided, once the Skins got the ball onto the 25 yard line, that a 40 yard field goal would suffice.  It was right down the middle, and the Skins pulled out the victory.

THREE UP
1) Trent Green - Green was not amazing, but he was effective.   24/38, 219 yards and 1 TD.  Though, he almost threw a pick six to Fred Smoot with about a minute left, Smoot dropped it.  Green never forced the action, calmly taking what the Skins were giving him, which wasn’t much.
2) Defense -  Those guys fought their hearts out, but the offense just wasn’t giving them enough.  Points, or time.  OT found them exhausted and unable to handle the rushing attack of the Redskins.
3) Joey Porter - Porter had a few big hits, showing he is healthy and will be a big part of this D.

THREE DOWN
1) Vanilla offense - Finally Miami has an offensive mind at head coach!  So what do we get?  A ton of checkdowns, screens, and rushes.  I’m almost positive Miami didn’t even TRY a pass over 50 yards.
2) Conditioning -  I know I said the offense didn’t help any.  But seeing Miami’s D too exhausted to get a stop?  Embarassing.
3) Ronnie Brown -  32 yards on 11 carries.  Forget split carries…he may be the straight backup next week.

The Dolphins (0-1) will have their home opener next Sunday against Dallas at 4:05PM EST.  Dallas plays the Giants tonight at 8:15PM.

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 9th, 2007 at 4:17 pm and is filed under Miami Dolphins. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.