Dolphins fumble their way through another loss

By Hugo Guzman  |   Sunday, August 21, 2005  |  Comments( 0 )

Miami Dolphins
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Fumbling seven times in a preseason contest is not a good way to endear yourself to your new coach and your fans. The Miami Dolphins found all sorts of creative ways to hand the ball over to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Fortunately, our defense was fairly stout and kept the game from becoming an embarrassing blowout.

On the offensive side of the ball Gus Frerotte looked like a career backup. He completed less than 50% of his passes and seemed to be off the mark on even the easiest of throws. The culmination of his sub par effort was a pass that he threw at the ankles of his right tackle Stockar McDougle. There was a little pressure on him, but he didn't even attempt to scramble or throw to an eligible receiver. It was really very pathetic.

A.J. Feeley was very efficient, connecting on 16 of 20 passes, but could not get into the endzone and didn't even eclipse the 100 yard mark. Sage Rosenfels threw and interception, but then led the team on a drive that came close to paying off with a touchdown. The Dolphins ended up settling for a field goal instead.

Ricky Williams was bottled up all night long. He had one nice eight yard run, but was stuffed at the line of scrimmage on every other carry. Ronnie Brown suited up but did not play.

One of the lone bright spots was the defensive effort of rookie linebacker Channing Crowder. The Miami Dolphins' third round pick made plays all over the field. He got a sack, made a crushing tackle in special teams, and just seemed to be around the ball all game long. The defense was able to get quite a bit of pressure, especially early on, but somehow allowed Ben Roethlisberger to sneak away from pressure and complete passes or take off running. Reggie Howard was able to pick off a Roethlisberger pass though, and the defense kept the Steelers in check for the most part, but in the end Pittsburgh's offense put enough points on the board (10) to win the game.

Like I said earlier, fumbling seven times is fairly pathetic. The Miami Dolphins will not win many football games if they can't hold on to the ball. In addition, I really don't feel that Gus Frerotte should be the starter for this team. A.J. Feeley, while erratic at times, does have a stronger arm and is more accurate. He will put our talented receivers in a better position to make plays.
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About Hugo Guzman

Trying to bring an objective approach to NFL analysis.
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