Dolphins-Cowboys Overview

For the Cowboys game I am going to start with a relatively brief overview of what went on, and then move on to some themes and story lines in my next post. Remember, I'm still just experimenting with different formats, so bear with me.

The Dolphins started the game pretty well actually, and believe it or not it was Trent Green who was leading them early. The line started poorly, not opening up any holes for Ronnie. 2 fifteen yard penalties hurt the Dolphins, but after the first quarter the score was 3-3. Even though it didn't work, I liked the decision to call a time out to make the Cowboys kick off of the dirt.

The Dolphins missed a lot of tackles and a few opportunities for turnovers in the 2nd quarter. The pass rush was also nonexistent, and nobody seemed to want to cover T.O. on 3rd downs. Marion Barber ran through a couple of arm tackles (how apropos) to open up a 10-3 lead for the 'Boys.

Green continued to carry the Dolphins offense squarely on his shoulders en route to a field goal before halftime, 10-6. There seemed to be a lot of openings when the Dolphins went to the hurry up. However, Green missed high on a few throws, a problem which would haunt him in the second half.

Although the score was only 10-6 at halftime, the game was well on its way to being lost. The line could not open up any holes for Ronnie, and the receivers were not getting open with any degree of consistency. It was clear that Trent was going to have to do quite a bit on his own if the Dolphins were going to stay in the game. On defense, although only 10 points were allowed, they allowed the Cowboys to hold the ball for 19 minutes. They weren't tackling and there was no pass rush. To be blunt, they were getting beaten.

The first drive of the second half was a thing of beauty. The line got a good push, and Ronnie always seems to make the best out of any holes he's given. Play action opened up, and Chambers made a great catch. The real catalyst for Miami on the drive was Green, who went 4-4 if my memory serves me right, including a beautiful touchdown to Booker. I wrote a note to myself that said simply, "Trent Green is a QB." 13-10 Dolphins.

When all the momentum seemed to be in Miami's favor, a TERRIBLE penalty forced the Dolphins to re-kick. The penalty ended up costing the Dolphins 55 yards, and I'm pretty sure the culprit was Jason Allen, everybody's favorite. Momentum: Cowboys. A couple of plays later, Travis Daniels had an atrocious pass interference penalty, leading to a Cowboys touchdown and the lead for good. 17-13 Cowboys.

The next 2 Dolphins drives ended with physical (more on the importance of this distinction later) mistakes by Trent Green. He overthrew Chambers by a long shot for a pick, and later he fumbled a snap. The Cowboys converted field goals after both of these, 23-13. These are the types of mistakes which will happen to all quarterbacks from time to time, but unfortunately the Cowboys are too good and Green had to do too much to overcome them, and he never recovered.

The defense bended without breaking for a while, but throughout the rest of the game they continued with poor tackling, poor pass rush, allowing long drives, and not covering anybody on 3rd down. The end result was 37 points allowed.

The offense and particularly Trent Green showed today that it could play well when executing. However, they are not good enough yet to play from behind, and even though Green is more of a quarterback than the Dolphins have seen in a while, he is not Peyton Manning or Tom Brady and cannot win games on his own, as he was forced to try to today. I will elaborate more on him later, because I believe his 4 interceptions today are a bit misleading when analyzing how well he played.