Volume 2, Number 8

Good Comeback Effort, But Hole Was Just Too Big

Some random thoughts and observations on a day when somebody forgot to tell the Dolphins their game started at 1 p.m. and not 2:30 p.m.

• This now makes it 0-for-5 for the Dolphins against Houston, and by comparison with the other heartbreakers against the Texans, this one would qualify as a blowout.


• Not that this game wasn't painful, either, after the way the Dolphins battled back from a 27-0 hole and then ran out of time because they couldn't make enough quick stops on defense.


• Then again, had the Dolphins bothered to show up in the first half, they wouldn't have gotten themselves in that pickle in the first place. Really, what was that?


• There were so many things wrong with the way the Dolphins played in the first two quarters that we're not quite sure where to begin. OK, we'll start with the tackling. It was bad, and it wasn't just one player who was guilty, it was practically every one of them on defense.


• The game turned out to be painful in a lot of ways for the Dolphins. It seemed every few plays one of their guys would leave the field because of an injury. It started with Channing Crowder going out with a foot injury on the first possession of the game and continued with Ricky Williams, Vernon Carey, Justin Smiley and Jason Taylor. Why does it always seem that injuries pile up only in losses but not in wins?


• Houston's second drive came down to a fourth-and-1 from the Dolphins 10-yard line and the Texans - surprise, surprise - threw a quick pass down the middle to Andre Johnson. Clearly, this was the guy who should have been covered. By two guys, if need be.


• The way the game started, it looked like Johnson would catch the ball every two or three plays. In the end, though, the Dolphins did a respectable job against him. Didn't completely shut him down, but after he reached 190 yards each of the last two weeks, holding him to 71 has to be considered a success.


• Down 10-0, the Dolphins faced a third-and-1 at their own 29-yard line and decided against going with their money play - the handoff to Lousaka Polite. Instead, they had Chad Henne roll out and in the face of pressure he threw low to tight end Kory Sperry for an incomplete pass. Considering Polite has been perfect on third-and-1 and fourth-and-1 this season, we just hate to see the Dolphins go with something else.


• Of all the ugliness of the first half, nothing topped the six-play sequence when the score went from 10-0 to 24-0. It started with a 44-yard touchdown pass to Jacoby Jones and was followed shortly thereafter by a Houston interception on a pass that went off the hands of Ricky Williams and then three plays later by a 17-yard touchdown run by Arian Foster through a gaping hole up the middle. That prompted a chorus of boos at Land Shark Stadium.


• It wasn't just Williams who had problems catching passes, though. The normally sure-handed Davone Bess had a drop and Anthony Fasano also dropped a catchable pass. The problem even moved over to the defense, with Gibril Wilson dropping what should have been an easy pick after the ball was tipped by Sean Smith.


• Back to the offense, in fairness to the receivers, Henne has an awful lot of velocity on his passes, sometimes much more than needed. Learning to take something off his throws is one thing Henne definitely will have to work on before the start of next season.


• One of the few positive moments on defense in the first half came after Houston drove to the Miami 3-yard line looking to add to its 24-0 lead. On second down, the Texans had Matt Schaub run a quarterback draw, the same play on which he scored the game-winner in last year's meeting. This time, the Dolphins were right there to meet him and Reggie Torbor dropped him for a 1-yard loss. The Dolphins obviously did their homework.


• The opening drive of the second half featured a third-and-8 conversion when Henne scrambled 10 yards after facing some pressure. This is the type of play we'd like to see more often out of Henne, who sometimes keeps looking downfield until he runs out of options.


• The drive was capped by a 2-yard touchdown run by Lex Hilliard after Pat White came into the game at quarterback. It was the same play on which Ricky Williams had scored the previous week at Tennessee. Maybe it's the threat of White running, but this play has worked with regularity for the Dolphins.


• The Dolphins defense then came up with a big play on the next series, as Kendall Langford tipped a pass at the line of scrimmage, Yeremiah Bell picked off the deflection and returned the interception 29 yards. Just like that, the Dolphins were at the Houston 32 and in position to make it a 10-point game in a hurry. But Henne was sacked on first down and that set up a 54-yard field goal attempt that Dan Carpenter missed wide right. That could have been another deflating moment that could have KO'd the Dolphins, but there's too much fight in this team for that to happen.


• The next drive provided one more bit of evidence why instant replay needs to disappear. This one came on a short pass from Schaub to Chris Brown, who took about four steps before Vontae Davis tackled him and dislodged the ball, with the Dolphins recovering the fumble. An official from the opposite side of the field decided that it should be an incomplete pass, blew his whistle and the Dolphins then were told that incomplete passes cannot be challenged. If instant replay can't be used to fix an obvious mistake like that one, if instant replay is always going to take longer than it's supposed to, if instant replay is going to be used to overturn calls despite the lack of indisputable evidence, dump it. It kills the flow of the game, it can't be used consistently, and if we have to live the mistakes that humans are going to make, so be it.


• The horrible call, incidentally, didn't lead to any points, but it did hurt the Dolphins in terms of field position because Houston then punted and it also cost Miami some time on the clock. And the Dolphins needed all the time they could get as they worked on their comeback.


• Another officiating call proved much more costly, although that one wasn't an open-and-shut case of a bad call. The Dolphins got a 62-yard touchdown pass from Henne to Ted Ginn Jr. that would have made it 27-17 late in the third quarter, but it was nullified by a tripping penalty on Polite. That one hurt.


• The Dolphins did make it 27-17 on their next drive, thanks in part to a couple of spectacular catches by Ginn and Bess. Like the rest of the team, the receivers came on in the second half after a mediocre first half.


• The touchdown came on a pass to Hilliard, who did a stellar job after coming in for the injured Williams.


• The Dolphins eventually cut the deficit to seven with another field goal drive, and that one featured a beautiful throw by Henne to Greg Camarillo between defenders. It was his best pass among his 55 attempts. Then again, as Coach Tony Sparano mentioned after the game, 55 pass attempts is not a winning recipe for the Dolphins.


• The recipe normally has to involve a big day by Ricky Williams, but it just didn't happen on Sunday. Houston came into the game with a much better run defense than most gave the Texans credit for, and it showed.


• A big reason are the two stud linebackers the Texans have, DeMeco Ryans and Brian Cushing. Those two guys can play.


• In the end, the Dolphins fell short because they ran out of time, but also because they just weren't good enough on defense. They let rookie Arian Foster, an undrafted free agent, average more than 5 yards per carry. That was extremely disappointing, particularly coming one week after the Dolphins did a pretty good job against Chris Johnson.


• Overall, though, it's tough to complain about the Dolphins defense's effort in the second half. They did shut out the Texans over the last two quarters and held them to only 100 yards.


• It's just that the damage already was done.


• Yet, as we sit in the press box an hour or so after the game, we are being told the Dolphins still are NOT mathematically out of the playoff picture. Of course, it would take about six different things to happen next week, but, hey, any hope is better than no hope.


• Of course, beating Pittsburgh will be a must. Getting off to a good start next week also would be nice.