Dolphins not good enough, loses to Patriots

For a few seconds at the beginning of last Sunday’s game between the Miami Dolphins and the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium in Foxsborough, Massachusetts, it seemed that the Dolphins could pull of a magnificent victory.

In the Patriots’ first offensive drive, Dolphins cornerback Vontae Davis made an acrobatic interception of Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady as he made a long pass to wide receiver Randy Moss. But despite the effort, the Dolphins fell short, losing to the Patriots 17-27 to join Buffalo Bills at the bottom of the AFC East with a 3-5 record.

Davis’ play was a highlight of the Dolphins game, but it is now obvious that the Dolphins are not a serious contender to either reclaim the AFC East title or even make the playoffs this year. With Brady back from last year’s injury, the Patriots are again the boss of the AFC East.

The irony of the Dolphins is that they have proved to be a real threat to good teams like the Indianapolis Colts, the New Orleans Saints, and the Patriots, but are one or two plays from being a victorious team.

For example, as well as Davis played, Moss still made six catches for 147 yards and a lightening touchdown righter after Miami had scored to take a lead in the game.

After the game, Miami coach, Tony Sparano said, “We're a good football team. We're really close to being a really good football team. But we've got to get it to turn.”

Sparano again used the Wildcat, which was effective in beating the Patriots last year, and at times it seemed that they had the win. Sparano used rookie quarterback Pat White in several plays to lead a spread offense. This worked well in the second quarter, when White gained 33 yards and again when he option-pitched to running back Ricky Williams, who went 15 yards for a touchdown. However, these surprise plays, although initially creating problems for the Patriots, led them to make adjustments which snuffed out the Wildcat’s effectiveness.

After a 16-10 deficit at halftime, Miami rebounded with a one-point lead after it drove 66 yards on 16 plays during an impressive drive that featured a mix of spread, Wildcat and base offense. Quarterback Chad Henne (19 of 34 passes for 219 yards), completed all five of his passes on that touchdown drive, which culminated with Ronnie Brown's 1-yard TD pass to Joey Haynos.

One thing that really hurt the Dolphins was that the pass rush was not effective. Linebackers Joey Porter and Jason Taylor did not have any sacks, so Brady had enough time to pass and defeat the Dolphins.

Dolfans are waiting for the Dolphins to bring it. But, in the meantime, the Dolphins welcome the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, with their one victory this season, to Landshark Stadium on Sunday – a game the Dolphins should win handily.

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