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SUMMARY
By Andy Kent
Special for MiamiDolphins.com
Miami Dolphins rookie quarterback John Beck threw and ran for the first touchdowns of his career, but it was not enough as the Dolphins fell to the Cincinnati Bengals, 38-25, in the season finale for both teams at Dolphin Stadium.
Beck, who came on in relief of an injured Cleo Lemon, finished 13-of-21 for 135 yards and the one touchdown pass, a 22-yarder to Derek Hagan with 28 seconds left in the game. He then found Hagan again for the two-point conversion to account for the final Miami points.
"It was good to get the two scores. From my standpoint, I always look at a lot of things that I feel I can improve on," said the 26-year-old Beck, who was Miami's second-round pick and 40 th overall out of BYU in last April's NFL Draft. "It was good to get in the end zone because the previous games I was in we did not get there. But from this game we can take a lot of things and improve on. I want to go back and take all of my games and study them and improve."
After the Dolphins drove the ball efficiently down the field on their first drive of the game and took an early 3-0 lead on Jay Feely's 49-yard field goal, things quickly went downhill. Cincinnati (7-9) answered with a 13-play, 66-yard drive that ended with a 2-yard touchdown pass from Carson Palmer to Chad Johnson. Miami's last true signs of life came two possessions later with the game still in the balance.
Running back Jesse Chatman ran 4 yards to the 32 on first down after a Bengals punt and on 2 nd-and-6, Lemon threw behind Marty Booker incomplete, bringing up 3rd-and-6. Lemon connected with tight end David Martin over the middle for 19 yards and a first down at the Cincinnati 49 and then completed a 9-yard pass to Booker at the 40. On 2 nd-and-1, Lemon kept it over the left side for 3 yards to the 37 and a first down.
Lemon tried to go for it all to Derek Hagan but threw it too far, and on 2nd -and-10, Lemon found Martin again for 18 yards to the 19. Chatman ran for 3 yards to the 16 and on 2nd-and-7, the Bengals called timeout. Lemon threw a 9-yard pass to tight end Justin Peelle for a first down to the 7 and on 1 st-and-goal, Lorenzo Booker took the inside handoff and danced his way for 2 yards to the 5 , bringing up 2nd-and-5. Lemon rolled right and at the last second found rookie wide receiver Ted Ginn, Jr. in the end zone for a 5-yard score. Feely's kick made it 10-7 in favor of the Dolphins with 7:03 left in the first half. The scoring drive covered 72 yards on 11 plays in 5:46.
But two plays after the ensuing kickoff, Palmer connected with Johnson on a 70-yard touchdown pass as Johnson streaked into the open and outran safety Lance Schulters to the left pylon for the score. Graham's kick made it 14-10 in favor of Cincinnati with 6:27 remaining in the first half. It was the longest TD pass of the season for the Bengals, although it looked like Johnson might have stepped out at the 3. There was no challenge and the Bengals, now leading 14-10, never looked back.
"They ran exactly what we thought they would run. Once again, we just didn't make plays, and that's what it boils down to," Dolphins cornerback Will Allen said. "When you get into certain situations, you've got to make plays. Anticipation is key. When you see stuff on film and it actually comes up, you've got to anticipate it. If you don't anticipate it, you're going to be a step late."
The two teams traded punts and then Palmer drove Cincinnati 63 yards in just 58 seconds, capping it off with a 4-yard scoring pass to Antonio Chatman that allowed the Bengals to take a 21-10 lead into the locker room at the half. Even when Dolphins linebacker Derrick Pope made a nice interception on Palmer's first pass of the second half, giving Miami the ball at the Cincinnati 37, the Dolphins couldn't capitalize.
Lemon on first down handed off to Chatman for a 1-yard loss and on 2nd-and-11 Lemon ran out of time and had to scramble for 2 yards. He was injured on the play and had to be helped off the field with a hip injury. Beck entered the game for the Dolphins and on 3rd-and-9 out of the shotgun, Beck fumbled the snap. Chinedum Ndukwe scooped up the ball and returned it 54 yards for a touchdown to make it 28-10 in favor of the Bengals.
"I was trying to go on with the play before I got the football," Beck explained. "It's simply you've got to get the ball before you can make a play. I tried moving too quickly before I had the ball."
Dolphins veteran defensive tackle Vonnie Holliday talked about that play just signified how this entire season went, hence the 15 losses.
"It's very, very frustrating. I think today was another example," said Holliday, who finished with four tackles, three of them solo. "As much as you fight it and you hate to say it, we're just not a very good football team. We gave up too many big plays on defense and didn't make enough plays on offense. Cleo goes down and then the big fumble – all of these things that are examples of the season that we've gone through. It's been a very frustrating season. The one thing you can be proud of, if there's any type of moral victory, is the fact that our guys stuck together and we continued to fight, Other than that, there is not much lining to this cloud."
Jason Taylor, the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year who will be Miami's lone representative at the Pro Bowl in his 11 th season, echoed Holliday's sentiment when he was asked if there was anything that the fans or the media did not see from the outside this year that can be built on in terms of doing things the right way.
"Guys didn't stop playing," he said. "I know today was kind of ugly and I think there was a certain stress level associated with today's game that made guys a little nervous, but you can build on the effort and the commitment. Some people may not agree, but I think the leadership on this team did a pretty good job of keeping guys going. I know that's tough to say when you're 1-15 and you're constantly losing games, but I think there are a lot of teams around this league that if they were in our situation the last month, could have went another way. Guys that weren't even playing like Zach (Thomas) and Trent (Green), there were a lot of guys that really kept things going and brought that effort every week, and I think when you do that you at least have something to build on."
Beck did engineer an 86-yard scoring drive with the help of fellow rookie Lorenzo Booker, who had a 16-yard run, an 11-yard run and an 18-yard pass reception to get the ball into scoring position. Beck finished it off with a 2-yard quarterback sneak for his first NFL touchdown to cut the deficit to 28-17 early in the fourth quarter, but Palmer ended all suspense on the next drive with a 43-yard pass to Johnson that set up a 2-yard touchdown run by Kenny Watson. Shayne Graham's 30-yard field goal closed out the scoring for the Bengals.
Johnson finished the day with four catches for 131 yards and two touchdowns and T. J. Houshmanzadeh tied New England's Wes Welker for the most receptions on the season in the league with 112 as he caught nine passes for 90 yards on the day. Palmer was 23-of-32 for 316 yards and three touchdowns, with one interception.
Lemon finished 14-of-21 for 123 yards and the one touchdown pass and did not throw an interception for the third straight week. Booker led all Dolphins receivers with seven catches for 54 yards Ginn had seven receptions for 53 yards. Chatman had 12 carries for 42 yards to lead all Miami rushers, and after the game was over, first-year Head Coach Cam Cameron got to reflect on the long season and if he was disappointed with the results.
"I think that's the word. Discouraged? No. Disappointed? Yes," Cameron said. "Our guys have battled, it's been tough, it's been bizarre at times in the different things that have happened throughout the course of this year. You're disappointed. We're disappointed because of all of the effort that goes into this thing, but in no way am I discouraged. I can tell you that."
Cameron will meet with each player individually tomorrow to sum up the season and talk about what lies ahead, and he will also continue to try and prepare for the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., which will be played on Jan. 26 and coached by his staff. He also is scheduled to meet with new Executive Vice President of Football Operations Bill Parcells this week to discuss the future of the team.
HAPPY NEW YEAR: Locker room interviews and post-game analysis of Sunday's season finale between the Dolphins and Bengals will be among the featured items Monday, New Year's Eve, on Miami Dolphins.com All-Access. The Internet radio show, co-hosted by Barry Buetel and Andy Kent, will air at noon on MiamiDolphins.com, leading right into Cameron's season-ending press conference, and it also can be downloaded as a podcast.
STATS AND NOTES: Dolphins rookie quarterback John Beck scored his first career touchdown with a 2-yard run with 12:21 left in the fourth quarter to make to a 28-17 ballgame.
INJURY UPDATES: Dolphins quarterback Cleo Lemon injured his hip on a 2nd-down run during Miami's first drive of the second half and his return is questionable ... Defensive lineman Quentin Moses also suffered a hamstring injury and his return is questionable ... Dolphins left tackle Vernon Carey injured his back and his return is questionable.
PREGAME REPORT: Veteran nose tackle Keith Traylor is among the eight inactive players for today's season finale against the Cincinnati Bengals. Joining Traylor on that inactive list are running back Patrick Cobbs, left tackle Julius Wilson, right guard Ikechuku Ndukwe, right tackle Anthony Alabi, defensive end Rob Ninkovich, defensive tackle Paul Soliai and quarterback Casey Bramlet, with Bramlet acting as the emergency third quarterback.
Steve Fifita gets the start at nose tackle in place of Traylor and Chris Liwienski once again starts at left guard for Cory Lekkerker.
For the Bengals, safety Dexter Jackson (calf), running back Rudi Johnson (hamstring), linebacker Anthony Schlegel, right guard Nate Livings, tight end Nate Lawrie, defensive tackle Michael Myers and quarterback Jeff Rowe, with Rowe acting as the emergency third quarterback. Stacey Andrews starts at right tackle for Willie Anderson (hamstring), running back Kenny Watson starts for Johnson and Chinedum Ndukwe gets the start at strong safety for Dexter Jackson.
Former Dolphins safety Brock Marion is the honorary captain for today's game and joined defensive captains Jason Taylor and Joey Porter, offensive captains Cleo Lemon and Marty Booker and special teams captain Jay Feely at midfield for the coin toss, which was won by the Dolphins. Miami elected to receive.
SCORING SUMMARY
FIRST QUARTER
MIA - FG Feely 49
Drive: 9 plays, 37 yards in 3:44
CIN - C. Johnson, 2 yd pass from Palmer (Graham kick)
Drive: 13 plays, 66 yards in 7:23
SECOND QUARTER
MIA - Ginn, 5 pass from Lemon (Feely kick)
Drive: 11 plays, 72 yards in 5:46
CIN - C. Johnson, 70 pass from Palmer (Graham kick)
Drive: 2 plays, 82 yards in 0:36
CIN - Chatman, 4 pass from Palmer (Graham kick)Drive: 5 plays, 63 yards in 0:58
THIRD QUARTER
CIN - Ndukwe, 54 fumble return (Graham kick)
FOURTH QUARTER
MIA - Beck, 2 run (Feely kick)
Drive: 13 plays, 86 yards in 7:01
CIN - Watson, 2 run (Graham kick)
Drive: 4 plays, 65 yards in 2:18
CIN - Graham, 30 FG
Drive: 13 plays, 74 yards in 6:16
MIA - Hagan, 22 pass from Beck (Hagan pass from Beck)
Drive: 9 plays, 76 yards, 1:48
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
Miami: J. Chatman 12-42, L. Booker 7-33, C. Lemon 3-7, J. Beck 2-2, S. Gado 1-2.
Cincinnati: K. Watson 21-69, C. Johnson 1-9, C. Palmer 2-(-1), A. Stepanovich 1-(-2).
PASSING
Miami: J. Beck 13-21-0-135, C. Lemon 14-21-0-123.
Cincinnati: C. Palmer 23-32-1-316.
RECEIVING
Miami: L. Booker 7-54, T. Ginn 7-53, D. Martin 4-52, D. Hagan 2-44, G. Camarillo 2-23, A. Halterman 1-19, J. Peelle 2-15, M. Booker 1-9, J. Chatman 2-8.
Cincinnati: C. Johnson 4-131, T. Houshmandzadeh 9-90, D. Coats 3-38, C. Henry 2-23, A. Chatman 2-16, K. Watson 1-11, R. Kelly 2-7.
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