OVERALL SUMMARY:

The Dolphins scored only their second victory of the year on the road today, when they beat the Carolina Panthers in Charlotte by the score of 13-9. The story of this game for the Dolphins was the defense, which played the best game that they've played on the road this year and the running game, which gained 184 yards against the Panthers' defense.

The defense kept the Panthers out of the endzone, sacked Steve Beuerlein four times and came up with 2 interceptions, both by safety Brian Walker. Unlike previous road games, the Dolphins did not give up any big plays and unlike last week, the defense stepped it up in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, the offense is still suffering from problems in the 4th quarter, although two big pass plays by Dan Marino on the Dolphins' last drive allowed the Dolphins to run out the clock, which they had not been able to do recently.

The game conditions at kickoff were good, with a clear sky and a temperature of 66 degrees Fahrenheit. The wind was not a factor, blowing steadily at around 7 mph. The Dolphins had Ed Perry inactive once again, along with Ron Moore, Richmond Webb, Danny Stubbs, Anthony Harris, Danny Stubbs and Damon Huard. Uwaezuoke was active today, but did not make any plays.

The Panthers kicked the ball off to the Dolphins to begin the game and Avery took it at the 7, but he ran into traffic at the 18 and was taken down. Unfortunately, an illegal block call on Larry Izzo moved the ball back to their 8, where the Dolphins started by running Karim behind Dixon for 8 yards. Then, on 2nd and 2 from the 16, Karim carried again, going inside and then bouncing outside and getting 22 yards to the 38.

From their 38, Marino hit Karim with a dump pass, but he was dropped immediately after 2 yards. On 2nd and 8 from the 40, Marino threw to Gadsden for 7 yards, but that left a 3rd and 1. On the next play, Marino handed off to Avery, who bounced around the right end for 7 yards and a first down at the Panthers' 46.

Marino tried to pass to Pritchett, but pressure up the middle caused by a missed block on Ruddy's part forced a bad throw. However, on 2nd and 10 from the 46, Marino found Lamar Thomas on the left side for 14 yards to the 32. Now, on 1st and 10, Marino handed to Karim who got through a nice hole behind Donnalley and cut back and forth all the way down to the Panther's 9 yard line.

Now, with a first and goal at the 9, the Dolphins ran the end around play, with Hendrick Lusk getting the call and taking the ball from Marino around the right side for 7 yards down to the 2. On 2nd and goal, Karim tried to go up the middle, but was stuffed after a yard. However, on 3rd and goal from the 1, Karim took Marino's handoff and ran behind James Brown, getting the 1 yard and a touchdown to give the Dolphins a 7-0 lead.

On this first drive, Karim had 6 carries for 55 yards as the Dolphins scored the only touchdown by either team in the game.

The kickoff from Mare' was taken by Mario Bates at the Carolina 2 and Bates had a great return all the way to the Panthers' 41. From there, on 1st and 10, Beuerlein dropped back to pass, but couldn't find anyone open and eventually, Robert Jones came off his block and sacked Beuerlein for a 4 yard loss. After a 2 yard run on 2nd and 14, Beuerlein found Raghib Ismail for 14 yards to the Dolphins' 44 on 3rd down.

A quick pass to Wesley Walls on first down for 4 yards was followed by a 7 yard run by Fred Lane for a first down at the Dolphins' 33. From there, the Panthers ran Williams Floyd up the middle for 5 yards and then passed quickly to Ismail for 10 more yards to the Dolphins' 18.

On 1st and 10 from the 18, Beuerlein tried to hit Ismail for the quick score, but the ball was overthrown. On 2nd and 10, Fred Lane carried 4 yards to the 14 before Zach Thomas dragged him down and on 3rd and 6 from the 14, Beuerlein tried to go to Ismail again, but Ismail was well covered and the ball didn't quite get there, falling incomplete. Facing a 4th and 6 from the Dolphins' 14, the Panthers were forced to take the field goal and cut the Dolphins lead to 7-3.

On the kickoff, Avery returned 21 yards to the 31, but a holding penalty on Miami negated the run and the Dolphins started at their 20. From there, Avery got 5 yards on 1st down and Drayton caught a quick pass for 7 yards on 2nd down. Then Marino overthrew McDuffie on first and 10 from their 32 and even though Avery picked up 8 yards on 2nd and 10 to give the Dolphins a 3rd and 2 at the 40, Marino's pass to McDuffie on 3rd down was either dropped or knocked away and the Dolphins punted on 4th down.

The Panthers returned the ball from their 16 to their 30 and on 1st down from their 30, Beuerlein threw a perfect pass to Wesley Walls for a 30 yard pickup on a straight route through the defense. Now at the Dolphins' 40, Fred Lane was stuffed for no gain on first down and Beuerlein's pass to Muhammad on 2nd down only got 2 yards as the first quarter ended.

To open the 2nd quarter, Beuerlein tried to hit Mark Carrier deep, but the ball fell incomplete, forcing the Panthers to punt from the Dolphins' 38. The ball was downed by the Panthers at the Dolphins' 2 and Karim ran from there twice, for a total of 6 yards before Marino found McDuffie over the middle for 13 yards on 3rd and 4 from the 8. Karim then ran for 4 yards on 1st down from the 21, but on 2nd and 6 from the 25, Marino tried to hit Avery on a slant pass from the right. The ball was thrown high and hard and Avery leaped, but couldn't hang on as the ball bounced out of his hands, up into the air and came down in the hands of the Panthers' Kevin Greene, who returned the ball up the sidelines to the Dolphins' 15.

With a 1st and 10 at the Dolphins' 15, Fred Lane carried for 2 yards on 1st down, but the Panthers were hit with an offensive holding penalty and that moved them back to a 1st and 18 at the 23. On 1st down from there, Beuerlein dropped back to pass but Jason Taylor got in his face and batted the ball down. On 2nd and 18, Fred Lane tried to run, but was dropped in the backfield for a loss of 1 and on 3rd and 19, Beuerlein completed a 15 yard pass to Wesley Walls, but that left them facing a 4th and 4 at the Miami 9, so they decided to settle for a field goal that cut the Dolphins lead down to 1 point and made the score 7-6.

On the kickoff, Avery took the ball at the 5 and returned to the 20 before running into one of this own blockers and getting dropped by the Panthers. From there, Avery carried for 2 yards on first down and Marino's pass on 2nd down was batted down at the line of scrimmage. However, on third down and 8, Marino had all kinds of time to pass and found OJ McDuffie downfield for a 25 yard gain to the 47. Avery carried again twice for 3 yards, but on 3rd and 7, Marino was pressured by Kevin Greene and threw the ball away.

The Dolphins punted from the 50 and the ball bounced into the endzone for a touchback. The Panthers started at their 20, with Tim Biakabatuka in at running back. Beuerlein completed two short passes to the 31 and on first down there, Biakabatuka carried for 7 yards to the 38. There, on 2nd and 3, Beuerlein was flushed from the pocket and as Jason Taylor was tackling him, the ball came loose, but an alert offensive lineman for the Panthers fell on the ball about 2 yards downfield and the Panthers ended up with a net gain of 2 yards on the play.

Now, on 3rd and 1 at their 40, the Panthers tried to run Biakabatuka up the middle, but Tim Bowens got penetration and even though he didn't make the tackle, Biakabatuka was forced back and then dropped by several Dolphins at the line of scrimmage for almost no gain. This left the Panthers with a 4th and inches situation at their 40 and they elected to punt.

On the punt, the ball was not kicked well and went out of bounds at the Dolphins' 36, but there was a fight after the play on the field and eventually the Panthers' number 43 was penalized for unnecessary roughness on the play, adding 15 yards to the Dolphins' field position to the Panthers' 49.

From the Panthers' 49, with 3:54 remaining in the first half, Karim carried for 5 yards, but his run was called back with an illegal block penalty on Gadsden, giving the Dolphins a 1st and 15 at their 46. Karim carried again, this time for 11 yards to the Panthers' 43 with a nice outside move. Karim then carried for 4 more yards and a 1st down at the Panthers' 39. After a 1 yard run to the 38, where Karim was tripped up, the 2 minute warning sounded.

Now, on 2nd and 9 from the 38, Karim carried again, but this time, after breaking through the line behind Dixon and Brent Smith, his blockers had gotten downfield and Karim cut back and forth behind them for 30 yards all the way to the Carolina 8. On first and goal from the 8, Karim tried to go behind Brent Smith again, but Greg Lloyd beat Smith's block and took Karim down for a 2 yard loss to the 10.

With 30 seconds remaining in the half, Marino hit Lamar Thomas on a crossing route and Thomas cut in to the endzone for an apparent touchdown, but Oronde Gadsden was called for offensive pass interference as he threw a block before the pass got to Thomas and that put the Dolphins back to the Panthers' 20, with a 2nd and goal. From there, Marino threw the wide receiver screen to his right to OJ McDuffie and McDuffie ran up the field, cut to the middle and was dragged down at the 1 foot line as he was reaching for the goal line.

The Dolphins now faced a third and goal from the 1 foot line and Avery tried to vault over the top, but was hit in the air and as he plunged into the line, the ball popped back up into the air and was grabbed by Frank Wainwright at the 4, where he was tackled. With just 1 second on the clock, the Dolphins managed to call a timeout after this play, but now facing 4th and goal, they elected to kick a field goal and take a 10-6 lead at the end of the first half.

In the first half, Miami had rushed for 143 yards and had held the Panthers to 111 yards of total offense. Karim Abdul-Jabbar had 114 yards on the ground in the first half by himself and a touchdown for an 8.1 yard per carry average.

The second half opened with the Panthers returning the Dolphins' kickoff 23 yards to their 24, but a holding penalty on the Panthers pushed the ball back to the 14. From there, Beuerlein passed to Walls for 4 yards and Biakabatuka carried for 4 more, then Beuerlein tossed a little dump pass to Johnson for 5 yards and a 1st down at the Panthers' 27. On the next play, Biakabatuka got around the left side of the Dolphins defense for 16 yards to the 43. From there, on 1st down, Gardener put pressure on Beuerlein who was forced to throw the ball away and William Floyd could only pick up 2 yards on 2nd down.

Then, on third and 8, Beuerlein tried to hit Muhammad, but it was a poor throw and the Panthers punted. However, on the punt, Larry Izzo was penalized 15 yards for roughing the kicker. Replay showed that Izzo was blocked in such a way that he couldn't stop his forward motion, so the penalty should have been running into the kicker, which is a 5 yard penalty and would have forced the Panthers to punt again, but the referees gave the Panthers the big penalty and a 1st and 10 at the Miami 40.

On first down, Biakabatuka ran for 9 yards to the Miami 31 and on 2nd and 1, Beuerlein tried to go deep to Ismail, but Brock Marion was there and knocked the ball out of Ismail's hands at the goal line to prevent a touchdown. This left the Panthers with a 3rd and 1 at the Miami 31, but a quick pass to Walls picked up 5 yards and a 1st down at the 26.

From there, Biakabatuka ran for 1 yard and then Beuerlein found Walls again for 8 yards to the Miami 17. On 3rd and 1, the Panthers tried to run William Floyd up the middle, but Jason Taylor was there and stopped Floyd after half a yard. Now facing a 4th and about a half yard for a first down, the Panthers decided to go for it, but when they handed off to Biakabatuka, Bowens got great penetration and Zach Thomas, Robert Jones and Jason Taylor all swarmed into the backfield, stopping Biakabatuka for a 1 yard loss on the play.

The Dolphins took over at their 18 on downs and ran Karim twice for 7 yards. However, on third down, they tried the wide receiver screen to Lamar Thomas, but the Panthers were ready for it and dragged Lamar down for no gain and the Dolphins were forced to punt. The punt then fell out of bounds at the Panthers' 23.

On first down, Beuerlein passed to Ismail for 17 yards to the Panthers' 40, but after Biakabatuka's 1 yard run on first down, Beuerlein was pressured by the Dolphins and threw a poor pass to Ismail who was hit by Zach Thomas the catch and dropped the ball. Then, facing a third and 9, the Dolphins pass rush closed the pocket on Beuerlein just as he let the ball go, causing the pass to go high and it bounced off the hands of a leaping Wesley Walls into the hands of Brian Walker, who had deep coverage on the play.

Walker returned the interception to the Miami 47, where Miami started their next drive by trying to hit McDuffie on the down and out, but the ball was wide as Marino was under pressure. On the next play, Avery tried to go inside, but bounced out to the right for 12 yards and a first down at the Panthers' 41. Avery carried again for 3 yards and then Marino found Gadsden on the sideline for 9 more as Gadsden shook off the first tackle and stretched for the first down.

Now at the 29, Avery carried for 7 yards and then for 9 more to the 13. With a 1st and 10 at the Carolina 13, Marino hit McDuffie for 5 yards to the 8 and Karim carried for 3 yards to the 5 as the third quarter ended.

To open the 4th quarter, the Dolphins faced a 3rd and 2 at the Panthers' 5, but Avery was stuffed as he carried the ball and the Dolphins, facing a 4th and 2 at the 5, elected to take the field goal and a 13-6 lead. The official stats say that Avery fumbled on the play, but I didn't see it on the broadcast.

The Dolphins kicked off to the Panthers, who started at their 23 after Mario Bates returned 25 yards from 2 yards deep in the endzone. On first down, Beuerlein dropped back to pass, but was forced to scramble because of pressure and Jason Taylor dropped him after a short gain. On 2nd down, Trace Armstrong came right around the Panthers' tackle and took Beuerlein down for a 3 yard sack and on 3rd and 11, Armstrong got pressure again, hitting Beuerlein right as he threw and the ball fell incomplete.

The Panthers punted to Terrell Buckley at the Miami 27, but T-Buck ran into his own man on the return and was dropped at the 32. Karim carried twice for 3 yards and then Brent Smith was penalized for a false start on 3rd and 7, forcing the Dolphins into a 3rd and 12. On the next play, Brent Smith allowed the Panthers' defensive end to get around him and Marino was sacked from the backside for the first and only time during the game. The Dolphins punted on 4th and 21 from their 21 and Wilmsmeyer had a poor punt of only 34 yards, which was well returned by the Panthers to the Miami 39.

Now, with 10:49 remaining and the Panthers behind by one touchdown, they had a 1st and 10 at the Miami 39. On first down, Beuerlein completed a quick strike to Wesley Walls for 12 yards to the Miami 27, but on 1st down there, a blitzing Robert Jones caught Beuerlein and dropped him for a 5 yard sack. Now, on 2nd and 15, Beuerlein completed a 7 yard pass to Muhammad to the Dolphins' 25, but on 3rd and 8, Beuerlein's pass to Ismail fell incomplete when Ismail was hit at the catch by 2 Dolphins.

With a 4th and 8 at the Miami 25, the Panthers kicked a 43 yard field goal to close the score to 13-9. The ensuing kickoff went 4 yards deep into the endzone and Avery took a knee for a touchback.

The Dolphins started at their 20 by running Karim for 2 yards and then passing to McDuffie for 6 more. However, on 3rd and 2 from the 28, JJ inserted Todd Doxzon at quarterback. Doxzon then ran the same option play that they ran last week, but the Panthers were ready and as Doxzon was hit behind the line of scrimmage, he lateraled to Karim, but the Panthers had position on Karim also and dropped Karim for a 1 yard loss. This forced the Dolphins to punt from their 27 to the Panthers' 30.

Now, with 6:29 remaining in the game, Beuerlein started by completing a 12 yard strike to Muhammad to the 42. On 1st and 10 from the 42, Beuerlein hit Ismail for just 3 yards and as T-Buck was tackling Ismail, the ball popped loose. A mad scramble for the ball ensued, but the Panthers eventually ended up with it at the 44. Now facing 2nd and 8, Beuerlein tried to go deep to Muhammad down the left sideline, but Madison had Muhammad blanketed and the ball was wisely overthrown. On this play, Jason Taylor got into a bit of a tussle and traded words with the Carolina guard, who then shoved Taylor after the play. Unfortunately for the Panthers, the referees saw this and penalized the Panthers 15 yards for unnecessary roughness.

Because the penalty was after the play, the Panthers also lost the down and now faced 3rd and 23 from their 29. Beuerlein dropped back and lofted the ball downfield, but either Mark Carrier ran the wrong route or Beuerlein just overestimated the throw, because the ball sailed over the head of Carrier to Brian Walker, who picked it off for his second interception of the day.

After a 5 yard return, the Dolphins started at their 40 with 5:09 remaining in the game. Naturally, the Dolphins tried to run Karim on 1st down and only gained a yard. On 2nd down, Karim carried again for no gain, but on 3rd and 9, Marino hit McDuffie with a perfect strike over the middle for 19 yards to the Panthers' 40. From there, Karim carried for no gain on 1st down and then Marino threw to McDuffie for 9 yards on 2nd down. At this point, the 2 minute warning was called.

Now facing 3rd and 1 from the Panthers' 31 with 2 minutes remaining, Marino handed off to Karim, who dodged behind Donnalley and wrestled for 2 yards and an apparent first down. However, as he was struggling for the last yard, Greg Lloyd hit Karim, putting his helmet right on the ball and forcing it to pop loose. The ball bounced back to Stanley Pritchett, who recovered at the 33 for the Dolphins, but the fumble left the Dolphins facing a 4th and 3 at the 33.

The Panthers were trailing by 4 and had used up all their timeouts. The Dolphins decided to go for it on 4th and 3 at the 33, and Marino lined up under center, with Gadsden wide left. Marino dropped back and Gadsden ran up the field about 7 yards, then turned and came back and Marino hit him in the gut at the 28 and Gadsden wisely fell down on the ball, getting the first down and effectively ending the game. After that, the Panthers had no timeouts and Marino only had to kneel down twice to preserve the victory.

The bottom line of the game was the Dolphins' defense finally putting together the kind of effort on the road that they had been giving at home. The pretty much shut down a very dangerous Panthers' offense and didn't allow a touchdown. The running game was also very effective early, but unfortunately, was not as effective in the 4th quarter. Nevertheless, the offense did come up with ways to keep the ball at the end of the game that allowed them to run out the clock and preserve the victory.

GOOD STUFF:

The defense had it's best game on the road this year. This was the first time they had not allowed a touchdown in a road game and they did it against an offense that is capable of the big play that had burned the Dolphins earlier this year on the road. That was nice to see.

The pass coverage was very good against a pretty good bunch of receivers and although Ismail caught some passes, the big plays were denied him.

The pass rush returned, and was at it's best late in the game when it was needed most. Even though Trace Armstrong only had one sack, he was a demon from that left end spot for most of the game. And Robert Jones came through on the blitz, getting 2 sacks.

The run defense was good and while I was impressed with the power of Tim Biakabatuka, he didn't make that much difference in the game and was stopped on 4th and 1 late in the game.

The offense did not have as good a game as I would have liked, but the running game had it's best day of the year, picking up 184 yards and averaging 4.6 yards per carry.

The passing game was not impressive, but delivered at the end of the game and in a number of key situations when needed most.

I thought that the play calling was better this week, especially at the end of the game. Kippy Brown stopped calling three runs in a row and started allowing Dan to pass in those crucial situations.

THINGS TO WORK ON:

The running game in the 4th quarter is still pretty poor. The Dolphins have to be able to develop a way to run the ball, even when the line is stacked against them. Of course, the absence of Webb may have something to do with that lack of performance, but until they can get those 6+ yard runs going late in the game, they will have problems moving the ball at the end.

The special teams did not have a particularly good day. Punt and kickoff coverage were not as good as we have been expecting and they almost allowed the Panthers back in the game with that poor punt and good return in the 4th quarter.

The deep passing game did not materialize this game, with Dan's longest throw being 25 yards. I don't know if the Dolphins have given up on the deep ball, but I thought that one of the aspects of the running game was to allow the deep ball to be effective once in a while.

INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES:

Dan Marino completed 14 of 21 for 140 yards with no touchdowns and 1 interception. He had a good day, although his quarterback rating will not reflect that because of the touchdown to interception ratio. But he was on target and didn't make any bad decisions.

Karim Abdul-Jabbar had an excellent day, gaining 127 yards on 25 carries for a 5.1 ypc average. He was almost all of the touchdown drive by himself. He caught only one pass for 2 yards, but at least he didn't drop any.

John Avery did not have a particularly good day, although he had a couple of nice runs. He ended up with 12 carries for 53 yards and a 4.4 ypc average, but his kickoff returns only averaged 14 yards per return and his longest was just 20 yards. He also had 2 fumbles and most critically, he fumbled on his dive at the goal line. Plus, he didn't catch any passes.

Tight end Hendrick Lusk, who is playing in place of Ed Perry, who was inactive again, had one carry on the "end around" play for 7 yards and otherwise didn't touch the ball. But his blocking looked pretty good from my view.

Stanley Pritchett didn't carry or catch a pass, but he did recover Karim's fumble in the 4th quarter, which was important and he should be credited with providing good blocking on the running plays.

OJ McDuffie was the receiving leader again this week, catching 7 passes for 96 yards. He also did have any gross drops that I saw.

Oronde Gadsden had a mixed day, getting called for 2 penalties, one of which negated Lamar Thomas' touchdown catch. He only had 3 receptions, 2 of which were for 1st downs, the last one coming in the 4th quarter on 4th down which allowed the Dolphins to run out the clock.

Lamar Thomas was third in receptions with just 2 catches for 14 yards, but his touchdown catch was called back.

Troy Drayton caught one pass for 7 yards and helped with the blocking that was such a big factor in the running game.

Overall, the offensive line had a good game, holding the Panthers to just one sack and opening holes for the running backs for most of the game. Brent Smith made a couple of rookie mistakes, giving up the only sack, but also had some nice plays.

On defense, Zach Thomas led the team in tackles with 7 and a pass defensed and he was his usual self, flying all over the field, making big plays and leading the defense.

Robert Jones was second with 5 tackles, two of which were sacks. Jones had a very good game.

Jason Taylor broke his sackless streak, getting 1 today, along with 5 tackles. He had pressure on Beuerlein several times and managed to goad the Panthers' offensive guard into a penalty. He also batted down a pass at the line of scrimmage.

Terrell Buckley was next in the tackle department with 4 and a forced fumble. He also didn't appear to give up any big plays today. He also had one punt return, which didn't go for much.

Sam Madison and Calvin Jackson each had 4 total tackles and each had some nice plays and good coverage.

Brock Marion, although having a relatively low (for him) 4 tackles, saved a touchdown with his best pass defense play of the year by knocking the ball away from Ismail in the endzone.

Shane Burton and Derrick Rodgers each had 2 tackles and one of Rodgers' tackles was for an important loss on 3rd and 1.

Trace Armstrong only had one tackle - his sack of Beuerlein - but he put pressure on Beuerlein constantly, especially in the 4th quarter when it was most important. I was impressed with how Armstrong picked up his effort in the 4th quarter today.

Tim Bowens and Darryl Gardener each had only one tackle, but don't let that fool you. Both played outstanding games today, with Gardener getting pressure on Beuerlein and Bowens knifing into the backfield and blowing up blocking schemes on short yardage rushing attempts.

Kenny Mixon was pretty quiet today, also with one tackle, but he played solidly.

Patrick Surtain is credited with one tackle today and didn't stand out much in either a good way or a bad way.

Lorenzo Bromell was in the game today after being inactive last week. He provided some pressure on Beuerlein, but did record any sacks or tackles.

Olindo Mare' hit the 3 field goals he was called upon to kick and put one kickoff into the endzone, but it was returned anyway.

Klaus Wilmsmeyer continues to be a bit erratic. Today, he averaged 45.4 yards per kick and had a couple of beauties, but he shanked that 34 yard kick in the 4th quarter that almost set the Panthers up to score.

INJURIES:

There appeared to be no serious injuries for the Dolphins today, although both Brock Marion and OJ McDuffie limped off the field at two points in the game. Both came back later, however, to play more.

My Comments:

Well, I have mixed feelings about this game, because I had hoped that the Dolphins would crush the Panthers as befitting the way a championship team deals with a 1-8 team. The Dolphins did not crush the Panthers today, but they did improve their play on the road and that was the primary goal coming into this game.

Again, the big disappointment was the lack of offensive production at the end of the game, although I have to give Kippy Brown credit for coming up with ways around the lack of a running game against a defense that is stacked against the run. The play calling, in general, seemed to be better today and more varied. I would still like to see more deep passes, but that will come when they have the players to run the speed routes deep.

Speaking of players who can run the speed routes, Uwaezuoke was active today, although he did not do anything to get noticed. If he played at all, it was only on one or two plays. I would expect to see more of him next week in the Monday night game against the Patriots.

The Dolphins now have a long week to get ready for their biggest game of the season. They go to New England to face a faltering Patriots team that has dropped 4 of it's last 5 games. The Dolphins won't have a better opportunity this year to take control of their destiny.

Related Info:

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