The Dolphins collapsed on Monday. As I said all along the defense can not play that good for so long and when they did collapse it looked exactly like the Jaguar collapse of last season.
They looked really really bad in the 4th quarter, allowing 30 points. The overtime was no diiferent, the Dolphins could not stop the Jets. NY moved the ball freely and would have scored on any given possesion.
The play calling had a lot to do with the loss also. As I said last week, this ultra conservative play calling will return to hunt the Dolphins and the coaching staff finally paid the price. They went very conservative in the begining of the 3rd quarter and it didn't
look as if they even wanted to get a first down running on every down to no surprise. By the time it was a close game they started throwing on every down, so it might end pretty even (pass-run) but essentially they were very predictable.
There was no need to run only in the begining
of the third and there was no need to go pass only afterward.
After the Jets tied it at 30, the Dolphins had the ball at the Jet 46, they went for the bomb and the big TD with over 3 minutes to play. I think it was a mistake. They counted on their defense to stop New York. I just don't see the sense in doing that. The
defense at that time gave up 23 points in the 4th quarter (!), they couldn't stop the Jets even if the Jets had only 2 downs to get a first down. I though they should try to go for a first down or two and take the clock down till the very last seconds of the game (NY had only 1 timeout and the 2 minute warning) and kick a FG. Again,
I just don't like the play calling, and I have said it right here last week and the week before, the ultra conservative play calling came back to hunt the Dolphins. It was so bad at the begining of the 2nd half they were helpless and made Pat Buchanan look liberal compared to their conservative game plan.
QB -I disagree with most analysts on this one. Fiedler played very well in the first quarter, but that made most people forget the rest, he had OK stats going into the 4th quarter because of his very good numbers in the 1st half,
but he really played bad in the next 3 quarters. He finished with under 50% completion rate after starting 7 of 8. He threw 3 INTs (remember, a QB who doesn't have to win just not lose.. 3 INTs IS losing). The most important thing is when it counted the most at the end of the game when everything collapsed the team
needed him to rally them back, (remember, it was tied at 30 and 37 the Jets never led in the game), he was awful throwing 2 INTs in one possesion in the overtime period. Fiedler gave the game away when he threw an INT when the team was in Jets' territory. And it was on first down ! he really should have gone for a sure throw and leave the chances to 2nd and 3rd down.
The Jets were moving the ball at will and it was obvious that if Miami doesn't score the Jets will. He did show flashes of good football but as always he was inconsistent and 3 INTs are way too much especially when it comes without the Marino late game heroeics.
Having said that, I don't think Fielder is the reason Miami lost. It was the defense, 40 points is way too much, even the 84' Dolphins and the 2000 Rams can't beat that. D-
RB -Great game. Smith was huge. We finally saw a long run (68 yard TD), it's too bad he wasn't given a chance at the end of the game, When tied at 30 and afterwards I thought he could have ran out the clock and give Miami a chance to win it with a FG, but Miami passed on every down. They should have given him a few more chances, not in the predictable downs but in downs that could have gone either way (pass-run). Smith had 155 yards on 23 carries and 2 TDs on Monday. A
WR -Overall a good game. OJ played but didn't catch a pass. Gadsden had 7 receptions for 119 yards and Shepherd had 3 receptions for 94 yards and 2 TDs. A-
OL -They played very well. Fiedler had time to throw and they blocked well too. They were called for a costly holding penalty at the 4th quarter (Wade) that essentially stopped their drive (drive ? 3 plays and out is a drive too ?). B+
DL -Bad, very bad. Vinny had all day to throw, he just sat there, everybody knew he was going to throw and the DL couldn't do anything. Bowens ? Taylor ? Mixon ? Owens ? Haley ? anybody see them ? Their name wansn't called the entire game. And Armstrong, well he gave up a TD to a TE that didn't have a TD in his entire career. F
LB -Zach, Rogers and Jones were playing, yes, that's what they say. We'll have to believe them , because I didn't see them on Monday, and it was the longest game in Monday night football's history...(more than 4 hours) F
Secondary -Why in the world is Jerry Wilson covering Cherbet ? Explain me this. You have a probowl CB and he's covering a rookie 3rd rounder and Dedric Ward ? p-l-e-a-s-e. And Surtain had some good plays but why didn't he stick with Cherbet ? The Jets' best reciever didn't even realize Wilson was trying to cover him. Coles got a gift TD form Madison, and worst of all Madison was laughing after that play (and he's getting paid 50+ million dollars), it was NY's first TD of the 4th quater, 24 points were to come later in the quarter. I bet Madison isn't laughing now...
they did get 3 INTs but that was in the first Jets game (the first 3 quarters) F
Special teams - Two huge returns by Marion in the last two kickoffs. He almost put Miami in a scoring position. Fiedler and co. couldn't get the extra 20 yards needed to score a FG. Mare scored 3 FGs but when he missed an easy 36 yarder I thought to myself "I hope it doesn't come back to hurt Miami" and it looked it wouldn't but it did. C
Coaching - If you have read so far it's obvious you know what I think about the pathetic play calling. What were they thinking ? And that Thurman Thomas attempt to pass, let's get real. they needed 20 yards in any one of their last drives after the Marion returns. Their predictable play calling was strange and weird, to put it in nice words. They were so predictable that it hurt Fiedler and Smith. This year's Dolphins can not be that predictable. The Dolphins don't have Marino out there, gone are the days of
"everybody knows they are going to throw but they'll complete it anyway". And Gadsden-Shepherd and Emanuel don't remind anyone of Clayton-Duper-Moore. (although Gadsden and Shepherd played very well).
They had a great first half, but the only thing that counts is the score and it wasn't good on Monday.F
