The Dolphins did beat the 49ers 21-20 today, but the first string team actually lost to the 49ers 20-7 during the first 2 and a half quarters of play and while there were some things to be happy about, overall my impression of the team was disappointing.

The offense played fairly well in the first half, but turnovers and minor injuries kept them from performing as well as I would have liked. Karim and the Dolphins did a pretty good job running the ball on the first two series, except for the fact that Karim had 2 fumbles that killed both drives. The first was recovered by the Dolphins, but the ball went back 8 yards, pinning the Dolphins deep on 3rd down.

The second fumble was even more costly, because with the Dolphins driving towards the 49ers end of the field, Karim fumbled at the San Francisco 11 and the 49ers recovered, killing the Dolphins' best drive of the game. On this drive, Karim had about 22 yards on 5 carries and looked pretty good - except for the fumble, of course.

The running game didn't do much else in the first half, but the passing game was going pretty well. Charles Jordan in particular looked good, catching 5 passes for 65 yards,including a 38 yard touchdown before he sat down with a groin strain. The offensive line provided superb pass protection and for the third game in a row, Marino was not sacked or even seriously pressured.

The defense completely crushed the 49er running attack, holding it to 50 yards on 24 carries for the entire game and basically shutting down Garrison Hearst completely. However, they could not find a way to stop Steve Young and the 49er passing attack, which riddled the Dolphins' defense for 232 yards and 3 touchdowns. The principle problem seemed to be that they couldn't get enough pressure on Young. The defense seemed to be limiting the blitzes in this game, possibly to contain him and it didn't work at all.

Pass coverage was not as good as it might have been, but with the lack of pressure on Young, it was hard to tell. Jason Taylor was the only player who seemed to be able to get close to Young and he did get one sack and a couple of pressures, but overall Young had most of the day to throw the ball.

In terms of individual performances, Oronde Gadsden did play some, but they only threw to him twice and although he dropped a low pass, he also made a decent grab for 16 yards during the 2 minute drill. I don't know if he was covered too well or if they weren't calling his number or if Dan doesn't trust him yet, but they didn't try to go to him.

John Avery got off to a slow start and was slipping all over the place early in the second half, but finally found his feet and ended the afternoon with a 71 yard touchdown run on third and one. I counted 5 carries where Avery went to plant his feet and then slipped and fell down. But after changing his cleats at least twice, he got on track. He ended the day with 13 carries for 99 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Overall, it was a disappointing performance for the first string, but I think that there are a few good things to take away from this game.

On the injury front, Calvin Jackson, OJ McDuffie and Charles Jordan all had minor injuries, but none were serious. Jackson and McDuffied bruised their knees and Jordan strained a groin muscle, but the word is that if it had been a regular season game, they all probably could have finished the game.

Related Info:

• NFL.Com: Gamebook