Falcons 19
Dolphins 7
Miami turned the ball over 4 times after tying a league record last year with only 13 for the season. The offensive line was manhandled for 3 hours. The Falcons from four looked quicker, stronger, smarter, hungrier and more athletic. It really was embarrassing and two years in 1st overall selection Jake Long looked worse than he ever has, which is a horrible signing considering Dwight Feeney will be coming to town Monday night. Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams combined for 17 carries for 82 yards. Chad Pennington had pressure in his face all day including being sacked 4 times. Really not much to say other than Miami’s highly paid line was completely dominated. Ted Ginn was a non-factor again but it’s actually hard to blame him, he appeared to be wide open a few times with poorly thrown balls by both CP10 and Pat White on a Wildcat play that should have resulting in a 60 yard touchdown. How do you overthrow the fastest guy in the NFL by 10 yards? Miami never really posed a threat offensively due to the combination of play calling and Pennington’s unwillingness or inability to throw the ball downfield. This was truly one of the worst offensive performances I can remember from the Dolphins ever, and there have been some poor days.
The bright side of things, if there even were any, would be the defense that played fairly well for the majority of the game. Michael Turner only had 65 yards on 22 carries with his longest run being only 12 yards. Tony Gonzales was every bit the matchup problem we expected hauling in 5 grabs for 73 yards and a score. Atlanta really only had 281 yards which considering the minimal help the offense gave them is pretty good and Atlanta only converted on 6 of 15 3rd downs. Once again the defense stiffened in the red zone allowing only 1 touchdown in 4 opportunities. Rookies Sean Smith and Vontae Davis played very well all day not allowing the big play despite being picked on which says a lot moving forward. Miami didn’t force any turnovers though and they will need to in order to move to the next echelon.
At the end of the day it’s only one loss so it’s not time to panic entirely but there are clearly issues that need to be addressed in the film room and practice field and hopefully they will be but how many wrinkles can be ironed out before the Colts bring their high powered offense into town Monday night is the question. We shall see.
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