RE-CAP: Miami @ Carolina

Well we've FINALLY gotten to a .500 season, completing a double-win-week with a 24-17 victory over Carolina.  

Once again we had the game wrapped up and a play-calling decision offered the game up on a platter to the opposition.  That's two games in a row that Miami tried to lose but failed.  The first one was in the Tampa Bay game, deciding to throw late in the game, which resulted in an interception and put Tampa back in the game.  

The second occurred last night.  With a 7 point lead and 44 seconds to go from their own 28 yard line, they faced a 4th and 3.  Anyone with a brain would kick the field goal there.  A ten point lead would be almost insurmountable with about 39 seconds left on the clock (even less considering there would be an ensuing kickoff).  If you missed the kick, it would still make Carolina have to go 70+ yards in less than 40 seconds with ZERO timeouts.  But instead the Dolphins elected to go for it, and failed to get a first down, and since the clock stops on a turnover, the Panthers were handed the ball back with 39 seconds left on the clock.  They proceeded to move the ball quickly down the field but ultimately came up short.

You could see Sparano getting visibly flustered as his players went down one by one to injury in the second half.  First Jason Ferguson hurt his knee (and you know it's serious as in season-ending by the way he reacted with frustration on the sidelines), then Jake Grove looked to have suffered a possible concussion but the reports were that it was an ankle injury (to me it looked more like he was spinning than limping), then his replacement Joe Berger got one of those high ankle sprains. that tends to nag someone for weeks.  It didn't get any better as Nate Garner, who started in place of Justin Smiley, had to play Left Guard, Right Tackle (Vernon Carey was shaken up and sat out two plays in the first half), and ultimately Center, also suffered a knee injury.  Joe Berger would return to finish the game at Center.  On two occasions I saw Justin Smiley wincing in pain in between plays as he rotated/stretched his right shoulder.

Bottom line is that the offensive line is banged the f*** up.  Still, I thought they did an incredible job last night.  It was probably the best pass-blocking the Dolphins have had all season, and the running game was respectable as well.  

The wind caused some havoc in the passing game, and Carolina somehow managed to go 3 and a half quarters without a penalty (despite a player grabbing Chad Henne by the facemask and pulling him to the ground in the first half - there was no flag) - otherwise the game could have been much more skewed in Miami's favor.  There were several passes by both teams that seemed to be lifted up or knocked down by the wind, and Carolina's last field goal was the ugliest looking successful kick you can imagine - like a drunken knuckleball.

Still, a fine performance by Ricky Williams and Company brought us out of having a losing record and puts us in the beneficial position of having ten days off and the Buffalo Bills on the other side of the mini-Bye.  It also put Chad Henne's starting record at 5-2.  That's a 71.4% win rate which is actually slightly better than Matt Ryan's and Joe Flacco's winning rate last year.

Your thoughts on the game?  

P.S. Yes, I do have a massive hangover.