Dolphins lose to Bucs: Inside the numbers

By Hugo Guzman  |   Monday, October 17, 2005  |  Comments( 0 )

Miami Dolphins
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There are many reasons why the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat up on the Miami Dolphins yesterday. Let's take a quick look at some of the key stats that contributed to the loss:

-The Dolphins converted only 3 of 14 third down attempts. It's very difficult to put points on the board when you can't make first down yardage on third down. Being stuck in third and long situations due to penalties doesn't help either.

-13 of 26 first down plays resulted in negative yardage. If you can't gain yardage on first down, converting on third down becomes that much harder. Once again, penalties were a major contributing factor.

-The Miami Dolphins ran the ball only 18 times on Sunday, and three of those carries went to Chris Chambers. Now I know that the Buccaneers have the best run defense in the NFL, but when you have Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams in the backfield they need to get at least 20 carries combined.

-Chris Chambers and Marty Booker had only four receptions combined for 62 yards. You aren't going to win many NFL games when your top two wide receivers can't even combine for a 100 yards.

-The Dolphins committed nine penalties for 60 yards. Woohoo! We got under 10 penalties for the first time this season, but we're still way too penalty prone.

-Gus Frerotte was sacked 4 times, causing two critical fumbles. Frerotte didn't throw the ball very well on Sunday, but the sacks were not his fault. Our offensive line looked very reminiscent of our '04 unit yesterday. They'd better get back to business next week or it could be a short season for Gus Frerotte.
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About Hugo Guzman

Trying to bring an objective approach to NFL analysis.
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