QB Culpepper was the only player on the team that showed improvement from a game ago. He actually looked good in the 4th quarter and avoided the rush a few times. He was sacked 5 times but at least 3 of them were certainly not his fault. He finished 23 of 39 for 249 yards and a Td with no INTs. The WRs dropped a few balls.B-
RB Ronnie is running hard, no doubt, but the running game is not working. He had 49 yards on 12 carries but if you take out the 19 yard run he ran 11 times for only 30 yards. The Dolphins did play catch-up in the 4th quarter. He caught 8 balls for 62 yards but that has a lot more to do with the WRs not getting open. D+
WR I don't agree with most people that put Miami's bad passing game entirely on Culpepper's shoulders. At times, they were just not open. Booker dropped an easy short pass that could have been a 50 yard TD easily, Chambers stats going into the 4th quarter - 1 reception 11 yards (he had 14 yards rushing on a reverse). Thge top 2 WR combined for 6 catches. When the RB is doing all of the receiving you've got a problem. D-
OL When Culpepper has time to throw he is very accurate but those occurences are rare and far between. The unit looks as though it can't block at all. McIntosh started at RG, he "contributed" on back to back offside-holding penalties. Texans DE had his first 1.5 sacks of his career. Alabi entered the game for 1 snap and gave up half a sack. 5 sacks and no running room with countless knock downs and pressures on Culpepper was the production. Just very ugly all around. F
LB The Dolphins just could not get off the field on 3rd downs. We are talking Houston Texans here. D-
DL The D-line did a decent job at times, although they should have pressured Carr more. Dayne had 58 yards on 22 carries. Holiday and Taylor had 2 sacks each. C
Secondary They made Carr look loke Marino. I mean 22 of 29 that's 76!!! completion rate for 230 yards and a TD plus a rushing TD. Will Allen had an INT but that was it for good plays. Johnson had 101 yards on 9 catches one went for 30 against double coverage on a poorly thrown under throw. He scored from 3 yards out 3 plays later. F
Special teams Good game for the special teams. Jones continues to look fine and Mare connected from 52 yards. B
Coaching What the hell was that ? Starting the game on a long developing fake reverse when you O-line can't block anyone and you they blitz you every time ? (it ended with a 10 yard sack) and that ridicolous RB throw on the 2 pt. conversion to tie the game when your QB is hot. There is a reason why RBs run - if they could throw they will all be playing QB - it pays much better. With the game on the line the Dolphins had to get in from the two and instead of running with Brown or throwing (by Culpepper) they ran a trick play letting RB Brown throw ?! Are you kidding me ?!?!? I may not know much about football but Mr. Saban, I'm sorry I disagree. F
