DKphin
Club Member
OK, so Brandon Marshall’s first game in a Dolphins uniform wasn’t exactly spectacular.
The South Beach Beast, as he likes to call himself, had a nice performance in Sunday’s 15-10 win over Buffalo, catching eight of 13 passes headed his way for 53 yards, an average of 6.6 yards per catch, well below his career average of 12.16 per catch. He also dropped a would-be 40-yard pass from Chad Henne, letting the ball go right through his breadbasket.
But Henne knows that Marshall’s impact is felt beyond the stat sheet.
“There’s a lot of things out there that some of the guys don’t see,” Henne said, “when he makes blocks for our running game, makes big plays in the passing game.”
The Dolphins didn’t just get Marshall to catch touchdowns. They traded for him to make a key block on a Ricky Williams sweep, which he did Sunday. They traded for Marshall because he picks up first downs – four on Sunday. They traded for Marshall to help open up the middle of the field, like it did for Anthony Fasano on a 21-yard seam pass on the Dolphins’ only touchdown drive. They traded for Marshall to help their other receivers, like Davone Bess, who caught six passes for 51 yards and was wide open on several routes.
Marshall’s performance wasn’t exactly epic, but his eight catches were the most he’s ever had in a season-opener – he had four catches for 27 yards last year against Cincinnati, didn’t play in 2008 (but had 18 catches for 166 yards in week 2), caught five passes for 52 and a touchdown at Buffalo in 2007, and didn’t play in 2006.
“I thought he was really good today though, run after catch and catching the ball in some tight areas,” Tony Sparano said.
Marshall had as many catches Sunday (eight) as he did in the entire preseason. He and Henne didn’t click as well as they had hoped during training camp, but it didn’t matter much on Sunday.
“Like I said, I don’t believe in the whole chemistry thing,” Marshall said.
The Dolphins called one “green light special,” as Sparano calls his big plays designed for Marshall, and he dropped a fluttering pass that got caught up in the wind. Marshall didn’t catch it Sunday, but his coach has faith.
“It was a hard deal. It was a little bit underthrown, but we’ll make that play,” Sparano said.
One Buffalo player certainly noticed a difference with the Dolphins — safety Donte Whitner, who said Marshall was much more physical than the previous player who wore No. 19, Ted Ginn Jr.
“Ginn, last year, he was a guy that didn’t want to break those tackles across the middle on those short routes,” said Whitner, Ginn’s good friend and former Ohio State teammate. “Marshall’s a big guy. That’s his game – catch short routes, make people miss, get up field. That’s the only difference.”
http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/thed...-marshalls-impact-felt-beyond-the-stat-sheet/