| 1-0 Baby! |
One one hand, the Miami Dolphins were able to move the ball pretty well(except for the third quarter), and they were also able to shut down the Buffalo Bills offense for practically the whole game.
Most importantly, though, was that they were able to get a season opening win for the first time in forever. It is good to see a "0" in the losses column after the first game.
One the other hand, the Miami Dolphins special teams did not perform well at all. Yes, Kicker Dan Carpenter hit two field goals and Brandon Fields had an incredible punt to pin the Bills late in the fourth quarter, but that hardly makes up for the other problems with our special teams.
If you compare the points Carpenter earned, missed, and gave up, he ended up with 0 points. That probably does not make any sense, so let me explain:
Carpenter made two field goals, which is six points in his favor, but he also missed a field goal, which I count as a loss of 3 points. That puts his total at 3 points. Carpenter also kicked the ball out of bounds on the kickoff, which gave the Bills great field position on the 40 yard line. They used that position to get in field goal range and kick a field goal.
So, if Carpenter had not messed up on those two kicks then you would be looking at an 18-7 win (+3 to Miami for the missed field goal and -3 to Buffalo for the bad kickoff) for the Dolphins.
Another big problem was Punter Brandon Fields' punting on fourth downs. He had multiple punts that didn't go nearly as far as they should have and gave the Bills better field position. Thankfully, none of the punts hurt the Dolphins too much because of their strong defense.
Chad Henne, who is going to be the most scrutinized player until he starts doing extremely well, was pretty good in Buffalo. He was 21 for 34 with 182 yards and no touchdowns. He did good, but there were still a lot of incompletions because he was out of sync with the receivers. That will develop with time, though, and I am not worried about it. The running game will always be there to help in times of need.
Marshall was, as always, a reception machine with 8 receptions for 53 yards. He would have had over 100 yards receiving and a touchdown if Henne had not underthrown him on a deep pass.
Overall, it was a good game and I am glad that we could get the win under our belts. Let me know what you think about the game. I am interested to hear your thoughts.
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