Odds and Ends

-The Cardinals elected to differ to start the game. I wonder how often we can expect to see teams differ this year.

-Bess is still the kick returner, and he really hasn't done much there. While he has impressed at times this year, he has not shown great ability returning kickoffs. Last year, Ginn masked the weaknesses of one of the worst special teams units in NFL history with his god-given speed and return ability and had a solid year back there. With the explosiveness he showed (especially if you take away those two penalties) combined with his preseason punt return touchdown, I'm not sure if you can justify him not being in there.

-Credit Warner for getting rid of the ball quickly when Miami blitzed, but you've got to question the coaches for not coming after him more throughout the game. It became clear pretty early that the Dolphins were not going to win by covering these receivers and shutting them down. Getting after Warner and forcing him to drop the ball (as he has been prone to do) should have been the strategy that Miami stuck with.

-I have always respected Pennington, even when he used to kill us, and a large reason for that is because he has always carried out such fantastic fakes. He makes every run, boot, and play action play work so much better because he focuses on such a simple part of the game, takes pride in it, and trusts the design. I was so excited to have him on this team for that reason, especially because I hoped it would rub off on Henne. However, I have been sorely disappointed this year because he seems to have forgotten a part of his game which made him so great. I hope he can fix it.

-Randy Starks had quietly played very well so far this year.

-Instead of having the ball on their own 37 after a missed field goal, the Dolphins gave the Cardinals the ball back for having 12 men on the field. A questionable interference call on Goodman later, the Cardinals had first and goal on the one. Still, the Dolphins had a chance at holding the Cards to three with a sack on 3rd and goal, but Langford brought Warner down by his facemask. The Dolphins literally gave the Cardinals seven points.

-Facemask aside, that was Langford's second sack in as many games into his career. He is a terror and a freak, and he seems to only be scratching the surface on his potential. He and Merling are something to be excited about.

-Back to the negatives: why is it that we always seem to come out so flat? We almost never score first, and it took a 24 point deficit against the Cardinals for there to be any sense of urgency.

-The Dolphins didn't tackle anybody all day long. We are simply a bad tackling team right now.

-On that topic, the Dolphins really aren't doing much of anything that I expected them to be doing coming into the year. I expected, if nothing else, a young, strong, hard-hitting team. Even if we lost, I expected teams to go home feeling the effects and knowing that the Dolphins will be a force to be reckoned with in the years to come. Unfortunately, right now we are not a strong team at all, and we are not hitting anybody in the mouth. Very poor, and very frustrating. As a fan, it's actually quite miserable. Looking over Jim Mandich's article for the Week 1 Dolphin Digest entitled "Dolphins are fun again" makes me long for the days when everything looked like it was falling into place in the preseason.