OVERALL SUMMARY:

The Dolphins went into Buffalo today with the opportunity to establish themselves as a serious contender in the AFC by beating the Bills and moving to 6-2 on the season. And, for the first 3 quarters of the game, it looked like they would be able to do just that. They entered the 4th quarter with a 10 point lead on the Bills, but in the 4th quarter the Dolphins folded, surrendering 16 points on defense and doing absolutely nothing on offense.

As a result of this late game slide, the Dolphins lost 30-24 to the Bills and dropped into a 4 way tie for first place in the AFC East at 5-3. While the Dolphins were definitely competitive in this game, their late game performance was not characteristic of a team that has the right frame of mind to win the division, particularly on the offense.

The game began with the Bills receiving a short opening kickoff and returning it to their 31. From there, the Bills drove down the field in fits and starts, with passes to Thurman Thomas, some scrambling by Flutie and a 26 yard pass to Andre Reed that was poorly thrown under pressure, but Reed made a good adjustment coming back to the ball. However, the drive stalled at the Dolphins' 20, partly because the Bills couldn't run the ball and a holding call moved the Bills back to the 31, where they were forced to try a field goal which sailed wide left.

The Dolphins took over at their 40 and a series of decent runs by Karim Abdul-Jabbar, combined with some nice passes to McDuffie and Lamar Thomas moved the ball all the way to the Bills 12. Facing a 3rd and 9 from the Bills 12, Marino dropped back in the pocket and rifled the ball to Gadsden at the goal line on the slant in. Gadsden bulled over for a touchdown to give the Dolphins a 7-0 lead.

Following the kickoff, the Bills went 3 and out at their 30 after Antowain Smith couldn't run and pressure on Flutie forced several incompletions. The Bills punted back to the Dolphins, who started at their 26, but after a false start penalty and a 12 yard run by Karim, the Dolphins stalled and Parmalee was stopped just short of a first down on 3rd and 4. The Dolphins tried to go for it on 4th down and inches from the Bills 36, but Karim was stuffed in the backfield and the Bills took over on downs.

I wrote in my notes at the time that the attempt to convert on 4th down was a mistake because they wouldn't gain much if they made it, but would lose a lot of momentum if they didn't make it. In a game as emotional as this one, momentum would turn out to be crucial and the Dolphins couldn't afford to give the Bills any extra.

The Bills took over at the Dolphins' 34 and a couple of passes to Moulds and Reed moved the ball down to the Dolphins' 15 as the first quarter ended.

The second quarter opened with a couple of runs by the Bills that went nowhere, but a pass to Reed on the goal line on 3rd down gave the Bills a first and goal at the 1 inch line. On the next play, the Bills ran a play fake that allowed their backup tight end to get wide open in the endzone - an old play, but a good one - and Flutie rolled out and made the easy toss to Riemersma for a touchdown and a 7-7 tie.

On the kickoff, Avery returned the ball to the 26 and the Dolphins started there. They moved the ball down the field with a combination of passes to Drayton and runs by Avery, but the most important plays on this drive were to Oronde Gadsden, who made a leaping 29 yard sideline grab on 3rd down and 5 from the Miami 41 when Marino was flushed out of the pocket. Then, on third and 8 from the Buffalo 28, Marino went to Gadsden again straight down the field and Gadsden another great catch, this time over his shoulder despite good coverage and being hit immediately at the 1 yard line.

With a first and goal at the 1, the Dolphins ran twice and on the 2nd run, Karim followed Mark Dixon into the endzone for a touchdown and a 14-7 lead.

The kickoff was returned to the Buffalo 29 and after a short run by Thomas, Flutie tried to go deep to Reed, but T-Buck had Reed covered perfectly and the ball was just short enough that Buckley was able to catch it in stride for the interception. However, the Dolphins did nothing with the turnover and after 2 incompletions and a sack, the Dolphins punted from their 20. It was a poor punt and it went out of bounds at the Buffalo 44.

From there, Flutie drove the Bills down the field with passes to Lonnie Johnson, Eric Moulds and Kevin Williams down to the Dolphins 29, where a 13 yard run by Antowain Smith put the ball at the Dolphins 16. From there, on first down, Flutie fired down the middle to Riemersma, who had beaten Zach Thomas to the endzone and made a spectacular one-handed grab for a touchdown. This tied the score up at 14-14.

Now there was less than 1 minute remaining in the first half and after a 40 yard return by Avery on the kickoff, the Dolphins had 2 short plays to Parmalee, but then McDuffie dropped a pass on third down at the Buffalo 49. The Dolphins punted to the Bills who took the fair catch at their 23 and Flutie then knelt down to end the first half.

Both teams were playing well in the first half and as the second half opened, neither team had a clear advantage. The stats were almost even at the half, as was the score. There had only been one turnover, but that had turned out to have no effect on the game.

The second half opened with the Dolphins starting at their 29 after Avery returned the kickoff from the 10. The Dolphins then got their running game going, handing off to Karim Abdul-Jabbar and Avery and adding a couple of short passes to Drayton and Perry. They moved in 5 and 6 yard increments down to the Bills 38, where on 3rd and 1, Karim broke a long run when he burst through the line and cut back to the left, down to the Bills' 8.

From there, Avery ran for 7 yards on 1st down to the 1 and on 2nd down, he leaped over the line behind Mark Dixon for a touchdown, which put the Dolphins back on top, 21-14.

Following the kickoff, the Bills went 3 and out after an incompletion, a run for no gain and a sack on third down, when Shane Burton got through the line and dragged down Flutie for an 11 yard loss. The Bills punted and the Dolphins started at their 25 after an illegal block penalty moved them back from their 41.

A 2 yard run by Karim and an offensive pass interference penalty on McDuffie put the Dolphins back at their 17 and then Marino hit Lamar Thomas on a comeback route for 18 yards. At first, it looked like Thomas had fumbled as he was struggling for more yards, but the Dolphins caught a break when the referees said that his forward progress was stopped and they had blown the whistle, negating the fumble. That was a bad call, but it turned out to be irrelevant to the rest of the game.

The Dolphins then ran Karim 3 times in a row, but like so many other times in the past, Karim was stuffed for a loss on 3rd and 1 and the Dolphins punted. A penalty on the punt pushed the Bills back to their 7, but a 22 yard run by Antowain Smith on first down put them out to their 29. However, after a couple of incompletions and a batted pass on third down, the Bills punted back to the Dolphins.

The Dolphins took the ball at their 30, but after one first down on a 10 yard completion to McDuffie, the Dolphins stalled and after a Marino pass was almost intercepted on 3rd and 11 at their 45, the punted to the Bills, who made a fair catch at their 16. From there, on first down, Antowain Smith ran up the middle for 13 yards, but as he was struggling for yardage at the end of the run, Zach Thomas stripped the ball out and Miami recovered at the Buffalo 28.

Now was the moment when the Dolphins could have put the game away, but after Karim gained 9 yards on 2 carries, the Dolphins faced 3rd and 1 at the Bills 19. After having little or no success on short yardage runs throughout the game, the Dolphins nevertheless elected to run and were stuffed for a 2 yard loss, giving them a 4th and 3 at the 21. This would have been a perfect place for a play-fake, but the Dolphins were forced to settle for an Olindo Mare' field goal and a 24-14 lead.

It was now the beginning of the 4th quarter and on the kickoff, the Bills returned to their 30. From there, a pass to Reed for 11 and two runs by Thomas for 10 yards moved them to the Dolphins' 49. On first down, Flutie dropped back and threw a perfect strike to Eric Moulds who had beaten Sam Madison down the sideline. Brock Marion didn't get over to the sideline soon enough and Moulds raced untouched to the endzone for a touchdown and a 24-21 score.

The 3rd down stand by the Bills' defense at their 19 had stolen the momentum from the Dolphins and the touchdown by Moulds basically broke the Dolphins' back. Following the kickoff, the Dolphins started at their 27 and Karim apparently gained 6 yards on a first down run, but the run was negated by a false start on Richmond Webb. After an incompletion to Pritchett, Marino dropped back on 2nd down to pass, but the Bills' Ted Washtington forced his way to Marino and slammed into him, forcing a fumble, which the Bills recovered.

The Bills started at the Dolphins' 13 and after an incomplete pass, Smith ran for 7 yards and then for 2 more, but on 3rd down, the Dolphins stopped him short of the first down at the Dolphins 4 and the Bills elected to take the field goal and a 24-24 tie.

Following the kickoff, the Dolphins started at their 28, put a first down carry by Avery was stuffed for a loss and pressure on 2nd down forced Marino to throw the ball away. On third down, there was no one open and Marino tried to scramble. He actually got 10 yards right up the middle, but that left the Dolphins with 4th and 1 and they punted.

The ball was taken on a fair catch by Williams at the Bills' 38 with 8:17 left in the game. The Bills were then able to run the ball effectively for the first time in the game as they ran Antowain Smith for a series of runs. As the Dolphins stacked to stop the run, the Bills added in a couple of medium passes to Andre Reed and Sam Gash and moved to the Dolphins' 18 before the Dolphins stopped them on 3rd and 2. The Bills lined up for what looked like an attempt to run the ball on 4th and inches, but they were just trying to draw the Dolphins offsides and when that didn't work, they kicked the short field goal for a 27-24 lead.

Now, with 1:58 remaining in the game, the kickoff went 5 yards deep in the endzone and Avery took the touchback with a little encouragement from Brock Marion. The Dolphins had all 3 timeouts remaining, but on first and 10 from their 10, Marino was sacked by Phil Hanson on first down. This was a huge play and was effectively the end of the Dolphins last real chance. Hanson stunted between Donnalley and Ruddy and was pretty much untouched as he got to Marino.

Now facing a 2nd and 18 from their 12, Marino tried first to go to Perry, but that ball was knocked away at the catch and on 3rd and 18, Marino tried to hit Lamar Thomas who was running down the right sideline. The ball went over Thomas and he was hit immediately and sandwiched between the cornerback and the safety. During the replay, it looked like Lamar Thomas may have been hit from behind by the cornerback before the ball got there, but the refs didn't call pass interference and the Dolphins were charged with a timeout as Lamar Thomas had to be helped off the field.

Now facing 4th and 18 from their 12, Marino tried to go to OJ McDuffie, but the ball was knocked away by the Bills and they took over on downs at the Miami 12 with 1:23 left. They ran Antowain Smith 3 times for 5 yards which put them at the Miami 7, but forced the Dolphins to use all their timeouts and with 27 seconds remaining in the game, they kicked a field goal to put them ahead 30-24.

The Dolphins weren't finished yet, however. On the kickoff, Avery took the ball at the goal line and with his speed, broke it out all the way to the 50 yard line. The Bills were playing a couple of players in deep coverage and as Avery tried to pull up and run around them, he was caught from behind and dropped at the Bills 45. With 13 seconds remaining, Marino dropped back and lofted the ball deep in a hail mary pass and McDuffie leaped and caught the ball at the Buffalo 4. As he came down, he tried to lateral, but was dragged down at the 4 yard line as time ran out.

The resulting 30-24 loss to the Bills leaves the Dolphins in a tie for first place in the AFC East, with the Colts and Patriots coming up on their schedule. At the halfway point in the season, the Dolphins are 5-3 and just about where they were last year at this time. The game against the Colts needs to be a bounceback game for the Dolphins so that they can go into the Patriots' game in New England with some confidence and fire.

GOOD STUFF:

The Dolphins offense finally came alive early in the game, scoring a touchdown on their first drive for the first time this year. They scored 2 touchdowns and moved the ball well in the first half.

The running game totaled 137 yards and was pretty effective throughout most of the game.

The Dolphins won both the turnover battle and the time of possession contest. They got an interception by Buckley and a forced fumble by Zach Thomas. They also held the ball for 31:33 of the game.

There were no defensive penalties on the Dolphins in this game as they cleaned up their defensive coverages.

Special teams did a good job in coverage and Avery almost won the game for the Dolphins with his kickoff return at the end of the game.

THINGS TO WORK ON:

The offensive line was truly offensive in the 4th quarter. They played pretty well through 3 quarters and then fell completely apart late in the game, giving up 2 sacks and opening no holes for Karim or Avery. Throughout the game, they didn't get enough push on short yardage rushing attempts.

The 2 touchdowns by Riemersma were breakdowns in coverage, especially the first one, which the Dolphins should have been on guard against.

The receivers had a mixed game, but when Marino needed their help most at the end of the game, they weren't getting open.

The defense allowed the Bills to establish a running game in the 4th quarter and this resulted in the field goal that allowed the Bills to take the lead. More importantly, though, they allowed the Bills to run 6 minutes off the clock at the end of the game.

The play calling needs a lot of work. Even though the short yardage running plays weren't working, the Dolphins were still calling them late in the game. Also, the attempt to go for it on 4th down deep in the Dolphins end of the field early in the game was a mistake.

INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES:

Dan Marino had a pretty good game, going 15 of 27 for 196 yards with 1 touchdown to Gadsden and on interceptions. The only time he had problems was when the offensive line didn't block well enough.

Karim Abdul-Jabbar rushed for 97 yards on 22 carries, a 4.4 yard per carry average, scored a touchdown on a 1 yard run and caught 2 passes for 9 yards with no drops this week. He had a couple of nice runs, including a 31 yarder that set up a touchdown, but was stuffed several times on 3rd and 4th down short yardage plays.

John Avery did not have a great day running the ball, rushing 9 times for 17 yards - a 1.9 yard per carry average. However, he did score a touchdown leaping over the line and he almost won the game on his 55 yard kickoff return in the 4th quarter.

Bernie Parmalee was not as effective as he has been, rushing once for 4 yards and catching 2 passes for 7 yards.

Oronde Gadsden had an amazing first half, catching 3 passes for 68 yards and a touchdown. And he made an important downfield block on Karim's 31 yard run. However, he was shut out in the second half.

OJ McDuffie had 3 catches for 57 yards, but most of that was on the 41 yard completion at the end of the game. He also had one drop.

Lamar Thomas had 2 catches for 34 yards, but did fumble the ball, even though the referees gave him a break on that.

Troy Drayton only caught 2 passes for 13 yards and his counterpart Ed Perry only caught one pass for 8 yards. The did a pretty good job blocking on rushing plays, though.

The offensive line did a pretty good job until the 4th quarter, when they fell apart. The worst plays seemed to be on the right side of the line - both sacks in the 4th quarter were from that side. But even before the 4th quarter, they had real trouble with short yardage runs.

On defense, Zach Thomas had his usual game. He totaled 15 tackles and forced the fumble by Antowain Smith. He was beaten in coverage by Riemersma on the Bills second touchdown, but that is a very tough assignment.

Brock Marion was second in tackles with 6 total, but he seemed to be absent in pass coverage, especially on the touchdown pass to Moulds down the sideline, when he got there late.

Terrell Buckley had a good game, getting 5 total tackles, a pass defensed and an interception with perfect coverage of Andre Reed. He also didn't give up any big plays and didn't commit any holding penalties. He also returned all the punts, but only got about 11 yards on 3 returns.

Sam Madison also had 5 tackles and a pass defensed, including a nice tackle in the backfield for a loss. However, he was burned by Eric Moulds on the touchdown play.

Darryl Gardener led all the defensive linemen with 4 tackles and did a good job stuffing the middle.

Derrick Rodgers had 4 total tackles, but didn't stand out much.

Calvin Jackson and Robert Jones both had 2 tackles, but neither made any big plays. Jones especially seemed to be missing from this game, not contributing much to the defense.

Jason Taylor did not have a great game, getting only 2 tackles and no sacks, but he did bat down a 3rd down pass to stop a Buffalo drive.

Shane Burton had the only sack of the game for the Dolphins and it was a good play by him on a stunt.

Kenny Mixon had only one tackle, but again was smart in playing the play fake and did a good job in pursuit of Flutie.

Brian Walker and Jerry Wilson each had one tackle and did a pretty good job in coverage.

Olindo Mare' hit his only field goal attempt and all of his extra points. His kickoffs were not up to his usual standards, however, with several coming down between the 10 and the 20.

Klaus Wilmsmeyer had a 35 yard per punt average, had pretty good hand time and put 2 down inside the 20. He did shank one, however, that went out of bounds at the Bills 44

INJURIES:

Lamar Thomas was knocked out of the game in the 4th quarter, but the extent of his injury is unknown.

My Comments:

This game could have been - and almost was - a turning point for the Dolphins this year. A victory against a tough Buffalo team in Buffalo would have established the Dolphins as one of the best teams in the AFC. It would have put to rest the criticisms about the offense and doubts about the defense on the road.

In fact, with the way the offense was moving the ball in this game, I thought that maybe this would be the turning point. Last week, the Dolphins held on to beat the Patriots, but they didn't earn much respect for it. This week they could have established a place for themselves at the top of the AFC.

This week, though, I believe that they took a step backwards. By getting the 10 point lead and then blowing it in the 4th quarter, they have put themselves in a bad situation to enter the 2nd half of the season. It's one thing to lose when you're outplayed for a whole game, but it's quite another to blow a lead late in the game.

I don't know quite what to make of this team. I do know that they are lacking at the wide receiver position, but how does the offensive line dominate for 3 quarters and then fall apart? It's not about conditioning, because the Dolphins are among the best conditioned teams in the league.

It must be about attitude and emotion. The defense believes that they are unbeatable, so they play with fire all the time. Unfortunately, I don't think that the offense knows what they're about yet. Partly it's about talent, because they don't have the big playmakers on offense that they do on defense, but partly it's just about believing in themselves and fighting on every play.

Well, the Dolphins have to get ready for the Colts and while the Colts are not nearly as good a team as the Dolphins, they are dangerous. The Dolphins must play well next week to beat them and that means going back to Miami and putting this game behind them. Beating the Colts is almost a necessity if the Dolphins are to have any chance of beating the Patriots in New England in 2 weeks.

Related Info:

• ESPN.com: ESPN Game Recap
• NFL.com: Gamebook
• Dolphins Endzone: From the Game