MVN: Most Valuable Network

Once again, Miami won the toss, deferred to the second half, and the other team scored.  I still say we should maybe try this crazy idea of actually TAKING the ball first, but that's just me.  The Rams mainly ran a complicated offensive set called "Stephen Jackson is back, let's try that."  It got them down the field all the way to 1st and goal at the Miami 7.  But the defense held fast there, and the Rams hit a 23 yard field goal to take the early lead.

The only thing that happened on the Dolphins first drive was an injury to Justin Smiley.  The Rams took the punt at their own 23 and had another long drive, though not as successful.  They needed a 51 yard field goal to add points to the score, 6-0.

Down 6-0 after 1 quarter to a team that was 2-9 coming into this game finally woke the offense up.  They used a variation of the Rams offense, a scheme called "Chad Pennington is a good QB, let's go with that."  The drive started with 5 straight first downs.  Miami scored on the 12th play of a 91 yard drive, a 3 yard TD plunge by Ronnie Brown.  7-6 Dolphins.

The Rams scored next, proving from my point from last year that bad teams answer touchdowns with field goals.  The Rams held the ball for 6:22 and 14 plays, but could only move 51 yards and could not break into the endzone.  A 33 yard field goal gave the Rams a 9-7 lead.

Miami would answer, but not as strongly as they wanted.  It only took them 5 plays to get down to the Rams 14 yard line, and they thought they had a touchdown when Ricky Williams ran it in.  But the Dolphins were called for holding and it came back.  A few plays later, they had to settle for a 37 yard field goal as the first half ended.  10-9 Miami.

Miami would increase their lead after the teams traded some scoreless drives to start the second half.  Starting at their 12, the Dolphins quickly advanced into Rams territory but didn't do much more.  Miami added another field goal to lead 13-9.

The Single Fin actually hurt Miami on one play.  Ronnie Brown took the direct snap and passed to David Martin to gain 23 yards.  But Martin fumbled the ball, and the Rams recovered.  10 plays later, they tacked on their 4th field goal, but were still close at 13-12.

The Dolphins went 3 and out, but on the first play of the Rams next drive, QB Mark Bulger was picked off by Renaldo Hill.  The Dolphins took over at the Rams 40 but...you guessed it...didn't do a lot with the ball.  Miami kicked their 3rd field goal of the game to go up 16-12.  

The Rams managed the clock well and got a few more shots, but the defense held and that was the final score.

It's like taking a look from heads to feet, three times!  It's THREE UP, THREE DOWN!

1) Defense - Won the game, especially the secondary.  After the Patriots ripped them apart, they killed the Rams.  Mark Bulger was picked off 3 times by 3 different Dolphins, and was just 16/35 for 149 yards.

2) Running game - Neither backs numbers look definitively impressive.  Williams had 12 carries for 54 yards, Brown 15 carries for 48 yards.  But since they split carries, you have to look at them as almost one back.  27 carries for 102 yards?  Not a bad day.  Polite and Cobbs contributed some strong runs, and even Pennington averaged 5 yards a carry on 3 scrambles.

3) Dan Carpenter - Ronnie Brown was responsible for 6 of Miami's points.  Carpenter was responsible for the other 10 (3 field goals, 1 point after).  Kudos to Carpenter for hitting kicks in a game where every point counted.

Honorable Mention to Davone Bess.  Stepped in admirably for Greg Camarillo, with 6 catches for 84 yards.

1) Offense - 28 points vs the Patriots.  16 points vs. the Rams?  The Patriots defense is 12th overall.  The Rams is 30th!  We mainly saw what happens to this offense when Pennington has a bad day.  13/23 for 166 yards.  One of his worst games as a Dolphin.  

2) Kickoff defense - The punt defense actually looked better, as the Rams only averaged 4.5 yards a return.  But the Rams averaged a crazy 23.5 yards per return on Dolphin kickoffs.  When you have a kicker that just doesn't kick touchbacks, that can't happen.  If the ball comes down at the goal line, that's still starting the other team at about the 24.  

3) Mousetraps - Yes, we're beating the bad teams on our schedule.  But Miami has played 3 teams with 2 wins at the time (only one of those teams, Oakland, has since won a game), and only beat those teams by a COMBINED 8 points.  The same team that has beaten the Patriots by 25, the Chargers by 7, and the Bills and Broncos by 9 each.  These are teams that the Dolphins should be beating by 2-4 touchdowns, not 2-4 points.  Coach Sparano still needs to work harder on motivating the troops for weak teams.  Tell them you overheard an assistant on his cell phone, telling a friend he was glad they were playing a terrible team like Miami so they could "get right".  Do whatever.  And the players need to realize they still aren't all that far from 1-15.  They haven't come close to earning the right to be complacent against teams that they used to BE.

Division note: The AFC East was VERY good to us today.  The Jets celebrated their defeat of the vaunted Titans by promptly losing to Denver.  The Patriots got destroyed by the Steelers. And the Bills even lost to the 49ers.  Miami has once again tied the Pats for second place at 7-5, one game back of the 8-4 first place Jets. 

And the Dolphins can help themselves in the division once again.  Dust off those passports, Dolphins, it's time to leave the country again.  After facing the Giants in London last year, the Dolphins are headed north to Canada.  The Bills are awaiting in Toronto.  Unlike London, across the Atlantic and basically a neutral site (actually, more Dolphins fans since they are one of the biggest teams over there), Toronto is not even 2 hours drive from Buffalo.  The Dolphins should expect a cold and hostile environment.  The current forecast is 30 degrees and SNOW.  Yay.

Rams fans must be frustrated, to play a pretty darn good game from their end but once again come up short.  See how they feel over at RAMblings. Then get a preview over our Canadian Contest by heading over to Circling the Wagons.