juicifer1269
Starter
I went to my first Dolphins home game yesterday and I saw a few key reasons the game ended up like it did.
First and most apparent was the turnovers. All of the turnovers came in crucial times in the game. The worst of the turnovers came in the late 3rd quarter when the Dolphins started the drive inside of their own 5 yard line. They converted on key 3rd downs and it seemed that they finally opened up their play calling. Ginn had 3 key catches on the drive and they actually gained yardage on some of the runs. Then Pennington forced a pass when we were in FG range that was picked. Even if we just got a FG it makes it 20-6, but the way we moved the ball on that drive, a TD was very possible. On the next drive the fins scored in less than 2 minutes to make it 20-9 with 12 mins left.
The next reason was both line plays. The defensive line got almost no pressure on Flacco and was pushed back 2-3 yards on almost every run play. The offensive line was overmatched throughout the whole game. Every time Pennington dropped back he had to move around to avoid defenders in the backfield. One small side note on this, on the reverse where Ginn bobbled the ball and lost 18 yards, Ray Lewis was in the backfield and was hanging off of Pennington. Instead of being able to hand the ball directly into Ginn's stomach, he had to toss the ball about a foot and that very well may be the reason that Ginn bobbled it. To blame the bobble only on Ginn would be and is a mistake. It was a perfect play call and a perfect time to call that play.
Lastly, the Dolphins only had 3 active WRs for the game and when Bess was injured in the 2nd quarter, it really made an already conservative Dolphins offense even more conservative. I know Bess came back shortly after he left, but they didn’t have enough receivers to spread the field and the defense out.
Although the Ravens overmatched us yesterday, if the Fins played a mistake free game, they could easily have won this game. I think it was a great and memorable year and it exceeded most of our expectations.
First and most apparent was the turnovers. All of the turnovers came in crucial times in the game. The worst of the turnovers came in the late 3rd quarter when the Dolphins started the drive inside of their own 5 yard line. They converted on key 3rd downs and it seemed that they finally opened up their play calling. Ginn had 3 key catches on the drive and they actually gained yardage on some of the runs. Then Pennington forced a pass when we were in FG range that was picked. Even if we just got a FG it makes it 20-6, but the way we moved the ball on that drive, a TD was very possible. On the next drive the fins scored in less than 2 minutes to make it 20-9 with 12 mins left.
The next reason was both line plays. The defensive line got almost no pressure on Flacco and was pushed back 2-3 yards on almost every run play. The offensive line was overmatched throughout the whole game. Every time Pennington dropped back he had to move around to avoid defenders in the backfield. One small side note on this, on the reverse where Ginn bobbled the ball and lost 18 yards, Ray Lewis was in the backfield and was hanging off of Pennington. Instead of being able to hand the ball directly into Ginn's stomach, he had to toss the ball about a foot and that very well may be the reason that Ginn bobbled it. To blame the bobble only on Ginn would be and is a mistake. It was a perfect play call and a perfect time to call that play.
Lastly, the Dolphins only had 3 active WRs for the game and when Bess was injured in the 2nd quarter, it really made an already conservative Dolphins offense even more conservative. I know Bess came back shortly after he left, but they didn’t have enough receivers to spread the field and the defense out.
Although the Ravens overmatched us yesterday, if the Fins played a mistake free game, they could easily have won this game. I think it was a great and memorable year and it exceeded most of our expectations.