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The Dolphins closed out a 4-0 preseason on Friday night with apretty impressive 21-7 win over the Green Bay Packers in Miami. Whilethe game was essentially meaningless to both teams, and the Packerswere coming off a Monday night game in Denver (who schedules thesethings, anyway?), it was still a nice way to finish up the overture tothe 1998 season.
While the game was marred by injuries to Lorenzo Bromell andJason Taylor, the Dolphins' first string offense and defense performedalmost exactly as you would hope they would perform against a classteam like the Packers. The Dolphins' offense took the opening kickoff,drove straight down the field and scored a touchdown on a one yard runby Karim Abdul-Jabbar to give the Dolphins the early lead. TheDolphins' defense smothered the Packers' running game and did wellenough against the pass to hold the Packers to less than 100 yardspassing in the first half and no scores.
The game started with John Avery returning the opening kickofffor 41 yards to the Dolphins' 45. From there, Dan Marino and Karimtook 12 plays and 7:11 to carry the team down to the Packers' 1 yardline, where Karim punched it in for a touchdown. On the openingdrive, Karim had 8 carries and Stanley Pritchett had one for a total of28 yards. While that isn't a good yard-per-carry average overall, theonly time they were stopped from running was down near the goalline,where it took 3 attempts from the 1 to punch it in.
On the first drive, they converted two third and shortsituations by running the ball. Also, from the Dolphins' 45 to thePacker 1 yard line, they ran 6 times for 27 yards, which is a 4.5 ypcaverage.
The resulting kickoff was well returned by Green Bay to theDolphins' 50 where Olindo Mare' made the touchdown saving tackle. Onthe tackle, however, Mare' was penalized 15 yards for unnecessaryroughness, because he tackled Green Bay kick returner Roell Preston bygrabbing him on the collar and flinging him to the ground. I doubtthat JJ was disappointed, however.
The Packers completed one pass to Chmura and had one short runon this series before Favre and Packers' running back Travis Jerveyfumbled the handoff and Tim Bowens recovered, ending the Packers' firstdrive.
On the next drive, the Dolphins tried a couple of times to hitthe big play to Oronde Gadsden and even though Gadsden did get open acouple of times, Marino and he were not on the same page and the ballnever quite got to Gadsden. Dan overthrew him down the sideline oncewhen he was open deep. Dan and Oronde need to work to get in sync.Once that happens, however, Gadsden should be a formidable threat.
The rest of the half was pretty much a see-saw game, withneither team really threatening and no big plays, with the expect-ion ofa Jason Taylor interception, which I'll get to in a paragraph or two.The Dolphins ran one more series with Marino in there (for 3 total) andthen Damon Huard took over. Craig Erickson sat out the game complainingof a sore elbow, so Huard played 3 quarters and did a respectable, ifnot spectacular job.
The Packers also let Brett Favre sit down after the firstquarter and Doug Pederson, who played in Miami for a while, took over.Neither Favre nor Pederson really got anything going and the Packerswere scoreless at the end of the first half. Their closest penetrationwas when John Avery fumbled at the Dolphins' 10 yard line and thePackers recovered. However, the Packers couldn't gain any yardagefrom the Dolphins' 10 and their kicker shanked the field goal attemptwide right.
Towards the end of the first half, on a 3rd and 12 from theDolphins' 41, Pederson tried to hit Bill Schroeder across the middle,but Jason Taylor, who had dropped back into coverage on a zone blitz byZach Thomas, used his size to pick off the Pederson pass and then puton a nice 38 yard return to the Packer 26 yard line. From there, ittook Karim Abdul-Jabbar 5 carries to put the ball into the endzone fora touchdown and a Dolphin 14-0 lead.
The second half was pretty similar to the second quarter, withboth teams playing backups and not looking too sharp. Damon Huardstayed in for Miami, but Matt Hasselbeck came in to play for thePackers. The Dolphins did put together one halfway decent drive in thethird quarter that ended in a touchdown, that was fueled by a 31 yardpass from Huard to Gadsden and a 4th and 1 run by John Avery thatnetted 2 yards.
The touchdown on this drive was scored on 4th down and goalfrom the Packer 4 yard line when Huard dropped back in the pocket andwaited patiently for newcomer Hendrick Lusk to work his way open.Huard then hit Lusk with a low pass that gave the Dolphins a 21-0 lead.
The rest of the game was pretty sloppy for both teams, althoughthere were some decent plays on both sides. The Packers finally got onthe board in the 4th quarter on a 31 yard pass from Matt Hasselbeck toRon Anderson, which completed the game's scoring. And the Dolphins' RayNealy had a 35 yard run from scrimmage, but couldn't complete thatseries and the Dolphins stalled on the Packers' 4 yard line.
Overall, the game was a clear victory for the Dolphins andtheir first string in particular. The offense looked powerful and dida good job running the ball. The defense did a much better job againstthe pass than they did against the 49ers and the pass rush and thecoverage were a lot better.
Of course, the worst part of the game for the Dolphins was whenLorenzo Bromell and Jason Taylor both went down with injuries. In the2nd quarter, Bromell sprained a knee and in the 4th quarter, JasonTaylor tore a tendon in his leg. The good news about both of theseinjuries is that they'll keep each player out for only a week each.
The running game produced 154 yards rushing on 47 carries. They also converted 11 first downs by running the ball and the firststring converted 3 third and short situations by running the ball.
Using the running game, the Dolphins controlled the time ofpossession, 35:48 to 24:12 for the Packers.
The passing game was not as effective, only racking up 105yards on 20 attempts, but Marino was not pressured and if he hadmanaged to work out the timing with Oronde Gadsden, he would have hadat least one and possible two big plays to Gadsden.
The defense again smothered the rushing attack of the opponent,holding the Packers to 39 yards on 20 carries and limiting TravisJervey, the Packers starting running back, to 10 yards on 9 carries. Incontrast, by the way, Travis Jervey ran 5 times for 76 yards againstthe Dolphins last summer in the preseason.
The passing defense was improved from last week, getting 3sacks, 2 interceptions and holding the Packers to a completion rate of41%.
On special teams, the Dolphins only returned one kickoff, butthat went for 41 yards.
The kickoff coverage was poor again and that has to be an areaof concern for Mike Westhoff and the special teams. Kick coverage hasnot been as good as it might have been this summer and the Dolphinscan't afford to have a breakdown in this area in the regular season.
Marino and Gadsden need to work on their timing for the future.As Gadsden improves, using his hands and size to become a betterreceiver, Marino must get him the ball when he gets open. That's justa matter of timing, but it must be worked out.
Dan did not have that great a night, although he has had worse.He completed just 3 of 7 for 27 yards, with no interceptions and notouchdowns. He did have Gadsden open a couple of times and overthrewhim, but whether this was Dan's fault or Gadsden's route running, wedon't know.
Karim Abdul-Jabbar showed why he is still the starter. Herushed 16 times for 56 yards and got a 3.5 ypc average with 2touchdowns. He also converted the 3 third and short situations theDolphins found themselves in in the first half.
Stanley Pritchett, while having had a quiet preseason, caught apass for 6 yards and had a 5 yard run.
John Avery had a great kickoff return for 41 yards, butotherwise had a mediocre night. He had 14 carries for 33 yards andfumbled the handoff from Damon Huard in the 2nd quarter. He showedflashes, but never broke one. He did have one 4th down and short runthat gained a first down.
Ray Nealy broke a 35 yard run in the 3rd quarter that wasimpressive and ended the night with 10 carries for 49 yards. However,he wasn't able to punch the ball into the endzone on 4 tries inside the10, although to be fair, he did get down to the one.
With Charles Jordan out, Gadsden started opposite OJ McDuffie.He led all receivers with 4 catches for 67 yards, including a 31 yardcatch and a 26 yard catch, both from Damon Huard. He caught just onepass from Marino for 5 yards, but was very open on a couple of others asthe ball never quite got to him On his 26 yard reception, he caught theball about 6 yards downfield and broke a tackle to gain the next 20.
OJ McDuffie was quiet, catching 1 pass for 16 yards. BrianManning caught 2 for 15 yards, which was 2 more than Lamar Thomas, whodidn't catch a pass all night.
No tight ends had any catches, except for Hendrick Lusk, whowas claimed off waivers on Wednesday. He had one catch for 4 yards anda touchdown.
The offensive line kept doing their jobs, keeping Dan frombeing sacked and opening holes for the running backs to get through.Damon Huard was sacked twice, but the running game was still powerfulin the second half behind the backups.
On defense, Robert Jones led the team in tackles for the secondweek in a row, getting a total of 5 (2 solo and 3 assists). Thebiggest gain on any of these plays was 3 yards. Clearly, Jones isplaying very well.
Behind Jones, Jason Taylor, Shawn Wooden and Dwight Hollier allhad 4 tackles each. Jason Taylor, while not getting a sack this week,did pick off a pass and return it 38 yards. One of those tackles byTaylor was for a 4 yard loss.
Elsewhere on the defensive line, Tim Bowens didn't have atackle and neither did Darryl Gardener, but Bowens did recover thefumble that stopped the Packers' first drive.
Kenny Mixon had 3 tackles on the night, including a tackle ofRaymont Harris for a 1 yard loss.
Trace Armstrong had a single tackle - fortunately, it was asack for the Dolphins, one of three on the night.
Lorenzo Bromell had 3 assisted tackles and shared a sack ofDoug Pederson with Shane Burton in the 2nd quarter.
And speaking of Burton, he led the team in sacks, getting 1.5for the game. He also had a batted pass that fell incomplete.
Danny Stubbs had 2 total tackles and Barron Tanner had onetackle and he also knocked down a pass.
OJ Brigance and Zach Thomas each had 3 tackles and DerrickRodgers had one on the night.
Terrell Buckley had 1 interception and 4 passes knocked down onthe night, but did draw a bogus pass interference call for a 31 yardgain. He also returned 1 punt for 16 yards and called for a fair catchon 2 others.
On the other side, Sam Madison was credited with 2 tackles, butno passes defensed.
Patrick Surtain played again and again had some problems, butdid knock one pass away.
Safety Shawn Wooden had a good night, getting 4 tackles andknocking a pass away.
His counterpart Brock Marion was credited with only oneassisted tackle.
Calvin Jackson, playing backup strong safety this week andnickel back, recorded 2 solo tackles.
On special teams, Nate Jacquet returned two punts for 14 totalyards, T-Buck returned one punt for 16 yards and John Avery had 1kickoff return for 41 yards. Also, Kirby Dar Dar led all special teamstacklers with 2.
Klaus Wilmsmeyer handled the punting duties, averaging 40.9yards per punt.
And Olindo Mare' kicked off 4 times, putting all 4 in theendzone, 2 of which were returned. He also drew what may be the firstever unnecessary roughness penalty on a kicker, when he tackled RoellPreston by grabbing him by the collar and flinging him down.
There were two injuries of note. First of all, Lorenzo Bromellsprained knee ligaments in the 2nd quarter and will probably be out forthe first game against the Colts.
Also, Jason Taylor suffered a slight tear in a tendon behindhis knee in the 4th quarter. He, too, will probably miss the firstgame against the Colts, but shouldn't be out more than one game.
This game was a very scary affair.
Oh, it was not because of the way the Dolphins played. Whatmade it scary was the injuries to the two best pass rushers that theDolphins have, Jason Taylor and Lorenzo Bromell.
It's unusual for 2 players at the same position to get hurt inthe same game, but's what's ironic about these injuries is that ifBromell hadn't gotten hurt in the first half, then Taylor wouldprobably not have even been on the field in the second half andwouldn't have gotten hurt then.
With JJ's defensive line rotation, Bromell and Stubbs wouldhave played the second half at right defensive end and Jason Taylorwould have been sitting it out.
Life is funny that way.
Still, I'm just thankful that the injuries weren't worse. Theycould have been a lot worse and the prognosis of only one missed gameis just fine with me.
In their place, Danny Stubbs will get a lot of playing timeand, of course, Shane Burton has experience on the right end in anemergency. Burton is not the preferred player there by any means, buthe has played there and even started several games there last year.
As to this last game, well, it's really hard to read much intoit, except that I think it's clear that the Dolphins are ready to startthe regular season. The team looks significantly improved from thispoint last year and I think that we're looking at a much better, muchdeeper team.
- HeraldLink: Don't 2nd-guess on Taylor
- HeraldLink: Taylor (knee) likely out only for opener
- HeraldLink: `I'm ready to handle the load'
- HeraldLink: Living on the edge
- HeraldLink: A rout, but DE in doubt
- HeraldLink: DOLPHINS NOTEBOOK
- HeraldLink: DOLPHINS SALARIES
- Palm Beach Post: Article
- Palm Beach Post: Article
- Palm Beach Post: Article
- Sun-Sentinel: Taylor, Bromell out 1 game as J.J. fumes
- The Sporting News: NFL - Injuries aren't major for Dolphins
- Sun-Sentinel: Slump, injury land backup in doghouse
- Sun-Sentinel: Dolphins win 1, but lose 2
- Sun-Sentinel: Defensive ends Taylor, Bromell may miss only one game
- ESPN SportsZone: Good news on injury front for Dolphins
- HeraldLink: J.J. pays for mistake with Taylor
- HeraldLink: QB Erickson sits but is still No. 2
- HeraldLink: Gadsden again shows big-play potential
- HeraldLink: J.J. pays for mistake with Taylor
- HeraldLink: A rout, but DE in doubt
- HeraldLink: Tired Packers playing on empty
- Palm Beach Post: Article
- Palm Beach Post: Article
- Palm Beach Post: Article
- Palm Beach Post: Article
- Sun-Sentinel: Dolphins 21, Packers 7
- Sun-Sentinel: Gadsden a catch - Pro rookie snags four passes
- Sun-Sentinel: Five things to review
- Sun-Sentinel: Dolphins interested in Blake
- Sun-Sentinel: Sore elbow sidelines struggling Erickson
- Sun-Sentinel: Win may have cost Dolphins too much
- ESPNet Sportszone: Miami/Green Bay Recap
- Sun-Sentinel: Bowens sharp as Dolphins defeat Packers
