Has there ever been a coach more angry at an undefeated team than Tony Sparano?  He had not one, but two “f-bomb” laden sessions during the rain delay and half time of last Thursday’s “win” against Tampa Bay- and they were well deserved.  Simply put- even though they won the game, the Dolphins played some of their worst football since getting thrashed in Arizona last year.  Now it is of course only the preseason;  the win didn’t count, and neither did any of the mistakes- HOWEVER, the third preseason game is usually the “dress rehearsal” for the regular season, with the starters playing even into the second half- and the Dolphins were none to impressive in their win.  Let’s do a quick rundown of the good and bad.

Since there is so little to go over here, let’s go over the good-

The pass rush: The defense overall was pretty shaky, but thing they did do was get to the QB.  With four sacks, 6 tackles for a loss, and 11 QB hits, Miami had no trouble breaking down Tampa’s pass protection.  The linbackers looked especially sharp with Jason Taylor, Channing Crowder, Quentin Moses, Eric Walden, and William Kershaw all making plays behind the line of scrimmage.

Chad Pennington: The offense as a whole was unimpressive, and Chad didn’t start out lighting the world on fire.  In fact, the first 4 possessions ended in punts.  After getting the ball back with only 1:49 left in the first half though, it all seemed to click.  Pennington is a master of the 2 minute drill, and he put on a clinic- marching the Fins down 53 yards for a field goal and their first points of the night.  Then, upon returning from a tongue lashing at half time, he marched the team 72 yards and threw a brilliant touchdown where he rolled out right then came back around to his left, and barely squeezed off the pass with a ton of pressure in his face to a wide open Anthony Fasano in the end zone.  He also looks to have worked on his arm strength, as he threw a 54 yard strike down the field early in the third quarter on his touchdown drive.  Pennington truly looks ready to roll.

Greg Camarillo and Brian Hartline: Rehabbing a torn ACL is not an easy thing to do.  The fact that Greg Camrillo is even walking without a limp right now is pretty impressive.  But when he took a short pass from Chad Henne, and turned it into a 52 yard gain he looked as good as new.  OK OK, so maybe the pre injury Camarillo would have taken it to the house instead of getting run down from behind, but it was a good sign.  Lucky for us, if God forbid he DOES have a set back, Brian Hartline looks like he has what it takes to make it at this level.  He was actually the second receiver taken by Miami, and he was a HIGHLY criticized choice among most Dolphins fans.  He only had a modest number of catches and touchdowns while at Ohio State, and was overshadowed by senior teammate Brian Robiskie.  Of course, this regime might have seen something that the average fan overlooks.  While Hartline didn’t have a flashy number of yards or touchdowns (maybe due to the fact that OSU doesn’t throw the ball much. . .?), he did have over 20 yards per reception.  Against Tampa- he flashed that knack for getting open, both down the field and a bit closer.  While he had an offensive interference penalty on an earlier drive, and one or two drops- he also got open for Pennington’s 54 yard bomb, and ended up leading the team in receptions with 3 catches for 79 yards (which is over 26 yards per catch).

Ok- so that is the good of the night- let’s take a look at the bad-

54 vs 74: What do those numbers mean exactly?  Well, it sums up the bad of the night almost entirely.  It is the number of plays the Dolphins ran as opposed to the number of plays the Bucs ran.  That’s right,  the Buccaneers held the ball for almost 9 minutes longer, and ran 20 more plays than the Dolphins.  So even though the Dolphins outgained the Bucs with 4.7 yards per play versus 3.9- the score was still way to close to comfort.  But if the Phins were out gaining the Bucs, how did they control the clock and get off so many more plays?

1. They stuffed the ball down our throats.  With the first team O and D lines in the game, the often injured Cadillac Williams and aging Earnest Graham looked like superstars- gaining 93 yards on only 13 plays, which equates to a ridiculous 7.2 yards per rush.  Meanwhile, the Dolphins were held to a total of only 79 yards for the entire night, with a horrible 3.2 YPC average.   The Dolphins starting offensive line once again was manhandled up front, and failed completely to open up any significant running lanes.  For a unit that is make such a ridiculous amount of money, this is simply unacceptable.
2. Third down conversions.  Miami seemed to play decently on first and second, only to cough up big gains on third down.  The pass defense in particular was awful, with both vet Will Allen and rookie Sean Smith combining to allow career bench warmer Maurice Stovall (who was only in the game due to injuries to the Bucs 2 starting WR’s) to catch 6 balls for 73 yards.  It would have been even worse too if Byron Leftwich could hit the broad side of a barn, but he repeatedly overthrew wide open receivers.  The Dolphins, on the other hand, punted on 4 of their first drives, and just couldn’t seem to come through with clutch plays.  Chad Henne was particularly terrible, with all of his drives ending in either a punt or a turnover.  When all was said and done, the Bucs had converted 6 third downs (of 18) versus only 3 (THREE!?! of 14) for Miami.
3. Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers.  The night started off bright. . . at least for a few seconds.  Patrick Cobbs broke through and blocked a punt- which normally is a very rare, and huge, opportunity in the NFL.  Of course, several milliseconds later- a D-lineman (who shall remain nameless)- actually tried to FIELD the blocked punt, fumbled it, and turned it back over to the Bucs.  Chad Pennington was his usual turnover free self.  When the second string came in, however, former Cinderella story  candidate Lex Hilliard had a bad fumble- and even worse, Chad Henne threw a pick.  It wasn’t just any pick though, it was a pick to a defensive lineman! It is one thing to get picked off by a wily corner, but a 300 pound lineman?  You HAVE to see that guy!  Worst of all th0ugh, it was down inside the opponents 20 yard line, and at the very least robbed the team of a field goal.  In fact, Henne’s play overall was terrible.  In addition to his pick, he took 4 sacks by holding onto the ball to long, and only completely 2 passes on 8 attempts.  Not a good way to prove you are the future of the franchise.
4. Finally, special teams was once again a disaster.  This team is simply not executing the fundamentals of tackling.  It showed in the run defense, and it is showing up in the special teams.  For what seems like the 20th game in a row, the Dolphins gave up a big play in the return game; this time on a 30 yard punt return by Clifton Smith.  Just like last year’s Raiders and Seahawks games, these are the types of plays that can make easy games too close for comfort, and turn normal games into blowouts.  The Dolphins HAVE to do a better job with their kick coverage units, because our defense is never going to look good when they only have twenty or thirty yards behind them to start every drive.

As you can see, there is still a lot of areas that need improvement.  And unfortunately, we will probably still be in the dark until the regular season starts in Atlanta.  There is still one preseason game in New Orleans, but it is less a game and more of an exhibition for players who are on the bubble of making the roster.  Some teams don’t even play their starters in the 4th game (though it is being reported that Pennington may play a series or two).  Look for Henne and White to take most of the snaps at Quarterback  and maybe some of the players who are fighting for starting jobs to be along with them for a while, but the majority of snaps will be taken by people merely trying to make the roster, or even just the practice squad.  Maybe the starting O-line will get a few extra reps to help them gel?  They certainly look like they need it. . .  Hopefully I’ll get a chance for a preview of the Saints game, other wise check back for a breakdown.