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The Dolphins opened their pre-season against the Saints on Friday night with an annoying lack of intensity and execution that resulted in a 26-14 loss at Joe Robbie Stadium. The first team offense, in particular, played very sloppy football and couldn't get a single first down in the three series they were on the field. Much of what was wrong with the team was simply a lack of concentration and sense of importance about the game. It started at the top, as Dan Marino started off the game by fumbling on the first play from scrimmage and did nothing to help the sputtering offense. By the time he left the field after the Dolphins' third offensive series, he had completed just 1 pass out of 5 attempts for 9 yards. In continued on down as Karim Abdul-Jabbar ran 3 times for 8 yards and neither of the Dolphins' starting wide receivers (OJ McDuffie and Tony Martin) caught a pass. Marino was sacked once, but that was on a bizarre play where a blitzing New Orleans defender came straight up the middle, was flipped upside down by a Stanley Pritchett block and, as he came down on his head, kicked the ball out of Marino's hands with his leg. In other words, it was not a night where lady luck chose to smile on the Dolphins. The first team defense did better, holding the first team offense of New Orleans to a field goal, but they dropped at least two potential interceptions and even though they managed to stuff Ricky Williams short several times, they also gave up a couple of decent runs to Ricky. Of course, they did play without Zach Thomas and after the very first series (where they stopped New Orleans pretty quickly), they began to rotate other personnel into the lineup. Following the disappointing performances of the first string, the second string offense and defense got into the game and did much better, overall. Damon Huard did a good job directing the offense in two long touchdown drives, completing 12 of 23 for 91 yards and a touchdown pass to Rob Konrad. But the real star of the Dolphins second string (and, ultimately, the entire Dolphins offense) was RB Cecil Collins, who ended the night with 17 carries for 93 yards and a 9 yard touchdown run. While it was against the Saints' second and third string players, Collins averaged 5.5 yards per carry and showed the same ability he showed last week against the Tampa Bay starters in the scrimmage. Other players who had good nights on the second string offense were WR Larry Shannon, who led the team in catches with 4 for 29 yards, FB Rob Konrad, who had 2 catches for 15 yards (one of which was a touchdown) and ran for a first down in a short yardage situation and WR Yatil Green, who caught his first NFL pass in a real game for 10 yards. On defense, Jason Taylor had a typical Jason Taylor night, putting pressure on opposing quarterbacks, making tackles in the backfield and even knocking down a pass in pass coverage. Zach Thomas sat out the game, but LB Derrick Rodgers really distinguished himself this week, knocking Ricky Williams down in the backfield on a solo tackle early and generally playing all over the field. Elsewhere on the defensive line, the middle was generally shut down against the Saints, except on a 20 yard draw play early in the game. But Daryl Gardener was an impenetrable rock in the middle of the line and Bowens also did his share. Sam Madison and T-Buck look like they haven't lost a step, with T-Buck stripping the ball from the receiver on a deep pass on the first play of the game and Madison blanketing his men. Both Calvin Jackson and Brock Marion dropped potential interceptions in this game, while Patrick Surtain knocked away at least one deep ball. However, there were a couple of breakdowns on deep coverage, with tight ends and wide receivers getting open deep down the middle. Dolphins special teams had a miserable night with John Avery fumbling a kickoff that was recovered in the endzone by the Saints for their first touchdown. Brent Bartholemew had one great punt, but his second wasn't as good. Nick Gallery shanked one badly and his other wasn't particularly impressive, either. Overall, this was a very mistake-laden game by the Dolphins. They did show some good things and did nothing to dispel the idea that they have a lot of talent on this team, but before the season comes around, they're going to have to tighten up their execution. Dan Marino was poor, but Dan has had bad pre-seasons before and come out shining in the regular season. His backup, Damon Huard, ended up the evening with a QB rating of 76.5, which isn't very good, but he didn't turn the ball over and he did direct two touchdown drives. Karim Abdul-Jabbar looked just like the Karim Abdul-Jabbar we have had for the last 3 years. He doesn't look a bit different. Cecil Collins has clearly established himself as the man to beat in the running back derby. His style, strength, cutting ability and speed add up to a very talented running back. He's got more talent than any other runner on the team. Rob Konrad had two very nice pass catches, including the touchdown, and a good short yardage run. He also showed some blocking ability and blitz pickup. However, he pulled another rookie mistake by not getting his head around fast enough on one pattern, and he missed the incoming pass. Unfortunately, the worst plays of the night were provided by John Avery. He fumbled the ball on a kickoff return when he was barely touched and slipped. He continues to dance and refused to run straight ahead on a number of ocassions, allowing himself to be stuffed for no gain or a loss. WR Yatil Green had his first catch as a pro against an opposing team. It was on a quick out pattern from Damon Huard and he did a good job with it, cutting crisply to the outside, coming back to the ball and catching it. He was in on several other plays, but no passes came near him. While his performance was not instrumental in effecting the outcome of the game, his first catch as a Dolphin was a major milestone for him to overcome. WR Larry Shannon led the team in receptions with 4 and did a pretty good job, but he's rounding off his patterns instead of cutting crisply and while he looked decent, he wasn't as impressive as some of his teammates. On defense, Daryl Gardener was a wall through which no one could pass. Behind him, Derrick Rodgers was the most effective linebacker, blowing up a couple of plays by getting in the backfield quickly and being in the right place at the right time. He looks much better than he ever has. And Jason Taylor still has his fire and speed. He was all over the field, chasing down quarterbacks and receivers with equal ability, wreaking havoc wherever he played. Kenny Mixon also had some nice moments from the other side, refusing to bite on a play-fake in one instance and standing Ricky Williams straight up and driving him backwards in another. Also, Rich Owens showed some nice moves, getting pressure on the quarterback, filling the hole and drawing at least one holding penalty. Of the punters, Brent Bartholemew was the best, but he wasn't all that great. Lamar Thomas sprained his shoulder and should be out for a week or two. Oronde Gadsden suffered a severe back bruise and will also miss some time, but should be fine in a couple of weeks at the most. And Shawn Wooden had some discomfort in his knee, but it looks like he'll be fine to practice by Monday. Also, Robert Baker strained a hamstring late in the game. Some commentators will, no doubt, begin screaming, crying, wringing their hands and moaning about the imminent collapse of the Dolphins after only the first pre-season game. No doubt, some Jets fans will also do so. But I'm not worried at all. And the reason is that there is nothing about this game that is not fixable real quickly. Marino was the biggest problem the offense had and he'll be fine when the regular season start. Once Cecil Collins is promoted to starting running back, the running game will improve. So the offense will be much improved - as soon as JJ starts Cecil Collins. And the defense is just as good as last years', if not better. Now, I watched the game tape of the pre-season game .... Editorial Note: It turns out that DirecTV did allow the SportsChannel Florida broadcast of the game to go out nationwide without blacking it out. I saw the game on tape delay on SportsChannel Florida in New York and I presume that the rest of the country saw it also. ... and what I saw was a Dan Marino who was just not mentally in the game, resulted in an anemic passing attack over the first three series. Dan does not usually play all that well in the pre-season, but when the regular season rolls around, Dan will be fine and so will the passing game. The other reason the offense was anemic was that the Dolphins are still trying to have Karim Abdul-Jabbar run the ball and he hasn't changed a bit. He's still a serviceable back who hits the hole quickly but without a lot of speed or power. As long as he is the starter, the Dolphins running game will not be a power running attack. Don't get me wrong, I like Karim a lot. But he is not a game-breaking back and he never will be. After Friday, it's time to move Cecil up the depth chart to see what he can do behind the first string offensive line against a first string defense. I believe that JJ will do so next weekend against the Chargers. Also, it's time for John Avery to take a seat. I've always been a John Avery supporter, but he's shown absolutely nothing new and, in some ways, looks like he's taken a step backward. When running the ball on third down, he looked positively scared to make a decision about where to go. And then, of course, there was the disastrous fumble on the kickoff. On the track, Avery is faster than Cecil Collins or Karim Abdul-Jabbar, but on the field, he looks much slower. The reason for that is he takes more side-to-side steps than forward ones and won't make a definite cut. He reminds me a little bit of Jerris McPhail - great speed, but lousy instincts. If he doesn't do a lot better in a big hurry, he could very well get traded or cut by the end of the pre-season. He has been a big disappointment. On the defensive side of the ball, I saw everything I wanted to see, except for Zach Thomas - and I'm glad he didn't play. He doesn't need practice, he needs rest to heal his head. Bowens, Gardner, Mixon, Tanner, Burton, Owens and Jason Taylor are all just fine. They'll do just as well this year as last, if not better. Derrick Rodgers has dramatically improved and will be a much bigger factor this season. T-Buck, Madison and Surtain are also ready to go, as is Brock Marion. The only real concern in the secondary is at strong safety, where Wooden is not completely healed yet and Calvin Jackson is still settling in. And while I'm talking about the secondary, Brock Marion had 2 interceptions in the scrimmage last week and had one in his hands on Friday night (which he dropped). Dropped or not, it appears that Brock has settled more comfortably into his role this year and is already ahead of where he was at the end of last season. Let's hope it continues. He needs to have a big year if the Dolphins are going to prevent the kind big plays they gave up last year. In the punter's duel, Brent Bartholemew - while not great - kicked himself ahead of Nick Gallery, who looked bad. Overall, the team did not play that well in this game, but I don't have a bad feeling about them because of what they did. The impression I had after watching the tape was that the team was having fun and not taking the game too seriously. Of course, there are exceptions. Dan Marino takes every snap seriously and seemed pretty disgusted with himself. But I'm not worried about him. And John Avery had better take what happened seriously, or he'll be history by Labor day. Another guy who needs to watch out is WR Willie Green. He didn't catch a pass and on one ocassion, he let himself go out of bounds with the ball when he probably could have stayed in. For a rookie (Larry Shannon did it also), you can excuse that, but Willie Green is no rookie. Given the sloppy play of the team (they had 8 penalties in addition to their sloppy execution), I think that you can expect JJ to be a little more demanding this week. That's a nice way of saying that I wouldn't want to be in training camp with the Dolphins for the next few days. JJ will be venting his anger at the team and there are going to be some pretty tired players by Friday. But nothing that happened on Friday night was so bad that it can't (or won't) be fixed in the next few days. Win or lose, I liked the potential I saw on Friday and I'm sure I'll like their game play a lot more in the days to come. In other words - no worries, mate!
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[email protected] DOLFAN in New England |
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