Dolphins Show They Can't Be Stopped

(c) NFL Video

The Dolphins O-line committed several penalties last night in their 31-27 dramatic win over the New York Jets, but when they weren't committing penalties, they seemed fundamentally as sound as they have been all year. Sure they've been able to move the ball on the ground, but this performance included impressive down-field blocking by Justin Smiley, absolute brick wall pass blocking, and Jake Long's best performance of the year, and the first time he looked to be back in his 2008 form.

It wasn't just that they held the Jets to zero sacks, it was the way in which they did it. They stopped the pressure altogether. And that gave Chad Henne a chance to show what he can do. To my memory Henne only had one poor-looking pass in the entire game, a rocket of an overthrow to Anthony Fasano. His other 5 incompletions included a terrible drop from Ronnie Brown on a check down pass that ricocheted off Brown's chest as he turned to look upfield before the ball arrived.

That was one of the few mistakes by Miami in the game. There were a couple of iffy pass interference calls on Miami that should never have been called, including one on Will Alllen late in the game that resulted in a 49 yard gain for the Jets, and a touchdown on the following play.

There was also the call against Gibril Wilson when he came up to hit the Jets tight end on a deep route. There was the holding penalty on Jake Grove that negated a big play. And of course there were TWO fake punts by the Jets that burned Miami.

So this game shouldn't have been so close, but it was, we got the win, and head into the Bye week looking like a significantly better team than our 0-3 start suggested.

We didn't come out unscathed, however, as both Patrick Cobbs (who got quite a few snaps) and Ricky Williams (138 yards from scrimmage) both left the game in the 4th quarter with injuries. Ricky came up hobbling on what was likely an ankle issue, but he was jogging to the sideline so it probably wasn't serious. Cobbs on the other hand looked to be in serious pain of the 'something just popped' kind. I wouldn't expect him to be back anytime soon if at all this season, but we have Lex Hilliard already active so there shouldn't be a huge drop off. In fact, this could be a blessing in disguise because being a man down and NOT needing to sign another running back, the injury leaves us a man down on the active roster, meaning either Chris Clemons or Patrick Turner could finally get a chance to dress for the game. More on that as information comes in.

We now have a week off, so I will be doing some fun stuff over the dry period to keep the blog going, including hosting a non-dolphins game (blasphemy!) on Thursday as my alma mater #23 South Florida hosts #8 Cincinnati in (play dramatic music here) THE BIGGEST GAME IN SCHOOL HISTORY (being a relatively young program, we get to say that at least twice a year).