Losing a “winnable” game

By Hugo Guzman  |   Monday, September 19, 2005  |  Comments( 0 )

Miami Dolphins
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The Miami Dolphins fell back down to earth yesterday. They made the same kind of critical mistakes that doomed them to failure last year. Penalties, dropped passes, special teams miscues, and uninspired defense at key junctures made losers out of a team that was in a position to beat the New York Jets.

Let's start with the penalties. On the Jets very first possession the Miami Dolphins had Chad Pennington backed up into a third and fifteen situation. Pennington was forced to throw under pressure, flinging a pass that was behind Wayne Chrebet and looked to be well on its way to being an incompletion. That's when Lance Schulters bailed the Jets out by committing an unnecessary pass interference penalty. The infraction gave the Jets a first down and new life. The Jets would eventually score a touchdown on that drive. This would not be the only time that a Dolphins penalty put the Jets in an advantageous position. The Miami Dolphins committed 12 penalties on the day. It was the second week in a row that the team committed double-digit penalties (a franchise record).

Now let's talk about the dropped passes. Chambers had the most obvious one, but both Sammy Morris and Heath Evans also had key drops on third down plays. Those are the kind of miscues that kill drives and keep points off the board. In addition, it seems like someone needs to tell Chambers and David Boston to stop waiting for the ball to land in their chest, and instead, reach out for the ball and catch it with their hands at its highest point. The Jets broke up several passes because are receivers did not battle for the ball and instead waited for it to land in their bosom.

As for special teams miscues, that one is easy. You can't botch chip shot field goals. The botched kick in the first quarter was the difference between being down one score late the in fourth quarter and the 17-7 predicament that we the Dolphins found themselves up against.

Lackluster defense is a combination of tactical miscues, lack of effort (which is somewhat hard to gauge), and most importantly lack of talent. I don't want to name names, but there are several positions, especially, in our defensive secondary that leave something to be desired. Reggie Howard had such a poor outing that Nick Saban felt the need to replace him in the starting lineup with rookie Travis Daniels. Saban did the same thing with left tackle Damion McIntosh.

The Miami Dolphins will need to return to their week 1 form if they expect to win football games this year. Otherwise, it could be another long season for Dolphins fans. Next up for the Dolphins are the Carolina Panthers who are coming off a big home win against the New England Patriots.
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About Hugo Guzman

Trying to bring an objective approach to NFL analysis.
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