Tag: Miami Dolphins (Page 16 of 32)

Ronnie Brown leaves on crutches after Dolphins’ win

Ronnie Brown left Land Shark Stadium on Sunday on crutches after injuring his right ankle in the Dolphins’ 25-23 win over the Buccaneers. He was unable to re-enter the game after injuring the ankle and it’s unclear at this point whether or not he’ll miss any time.

The game itself was absolutely wild, or at least the finish was. Miami had a win all but locked up after they forced Josh Freeman to throw an incomplete pass on a 4th and 6 from the Dolphins’ 22-yard line with just over two minutes remaining. But Quincy Black intercepted Chad Henne on a 3rd and 7 (why the Dolphins were throwing in that spot I don’t know) and Tampa capitalized with a Cadillac Williams 1-yard touchdown run to give the Bucs a 23-22 lead. (And the only reason the game wasn’t tied at 23-23 is because Miami missed an extra point earlier in the game.)

But the Dolphins then marched up the field under a 1:15 to play and capped the drive off with a Dan Carpenter 25-yard field goal to win the game.

Not exactly how you want to finish a game, but a win is a win and Miami will certainly take it.

Hey, there’s Ted Ginn Jr.!

For much of his short career, Dolphins’ receiver Ted Ginn Jr. has been a ghost. While he remains a threat to take it to the house every time he gets his hands on the ball, the problem is that he can’t get open. He can’t beat jams off the line, he doesn’t have good enough technique to shake defenders and despite his speed, he’s slow getting in and out of his routes.

But for at least one game, Ginn found a way to be useful.

Ginn failed to record a single reception and was targeted just once, but he returned two kickoffs for touchdowns to spark the Dolphins in their 30-25 win over the Jets in Week 8. His 299 total kickoff return yards rank him second behind Tyrone Hughes (who compiled 304 yards in a 1994 game for the Saints) for the most return yards in a single game in NFL history.

Ginn’s first touchdown came after the Jets had taken a 6-3 lead early in the third quarter and the second came after Mark Sanchez had cut Miami’s lead to 17-13 with a 1-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter. He set the Dolphins up with great field position as Miami went on to score 27 points in the second half.

As for the Jets, I think this is the team many expected them to be with a rookie quarterback and a first year head coach. There’s a lot of season left, but this is probably a .500 team at best and there’s nothing wrong with that. Under Ryan, they’ve played with more of a swagger and the defense has been more aggressive. Sanchez has a long way to go in his development, but he has flashed promise in his rookie year and has proven on some levels that he can handle being a franchise quarterback.

Both the Dolphins and Jets will remain competitive throughout the year, but the playoffs seem unlikely for both teams. They just don’t have enough overall depth to challenge the top teams in the AFC.

But hey, at least Miami found where Ted Ginn has been hiding. He remains a massive bust, but a bust that has electrifying return abilities.

NFL Week 7 COY Power Rankings

Sean Payton has climbed into the top spot this week after his team had a riveting come-from-behind win in Miami, and by come-from-behind we mean they were trailing 24-3 late in the second half and won the game 46-34. That means for the rest of the game, they score was 43-10 New Orleans. Just sick.

1. Sean Payton, New Orleans Saints—Sorry Josh McDaniels, but while you were on bye Payton’s team had a remarkable comeback against the Dolphins on the road. They appear to be the 2007 Patriots, and for that we have to give the coach top props.

2. Josh McDaniels, Denver Broncos—We know the Broncos upset the Cowboys and Patriots, but the next two weeks they face Baltimore and Pittsburgh. We’ll see if the boy wonder is still sitting pretty after that.

3. Jim Caldwell, Indianapolis Colts—The rookie coach is still waiting for his first loss. Good for him.

4. Brad Childress, Minnesota Vikings—Okay, so the Vikings are human. However, I think Childress’ investment will pay off this weekend in Green Bay.

5. Marvin Lewis, Cincinnati Bengals—Regained confidence by thrashing the Bears and remained tied for first with the Steelers in the tough AFC North.

Honorable mention: Bill Belichick, Patriots; Mike Smith, Falcons; Gary Kubiak, Texans; Ken Whisenhunt, Cardinals

NFL Week 7 MVP Power Rankings

A few changes in the works…we’ve eliminated all New York Giants now from contention until they get their act together again. Well, IF they get their act together again. Drew Brees is an animal, and Cedric Benson and Matt Schaub have also entered the Top 5…..

1. Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints—Now Brees has a thrilling comeback to add to his 2009 resume, and coming back from down by 21 on the road was enough to vault him into first here over Peyton Manning, who was good but not great in beating the Rams.

2. Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts—Can Manning do what Brees did? We’re not sure, and that’s the only reason we have him sitting a notch below the Saints’ QB this week.

3. Cedric Benson, Cincinnati Bengals—He climbed over Adrian Peterson again, this time stunning his former team with a career high 189 yards. And let’s not forget his former team is the defense-minded Bears.

4. Matt Schaub, Houston Texans—He leads the league in TD passes with 16, and he has the Texans playing out of their minds at the moment. If the team had a few more wins, he’d be ranked even higher here.

5. Jared Allen, Minnesota Vikings—Allen was mostly held in check by the Steelers, but we’ll let that slide. I’d hate to be Aaron Rodgers this weekend.

Honorable Mention–Elvis Dumervil, Broncos; Andre Johnson, Texans, Tom Brady, Patriots; Brett Favre, Vikings; Adrian Peterson, Vikings; Vernon Davis, 49ers

Saints mount wild comeback, beat Dolphins

In one of the wildest games of the season, the Saints beat the Dolphins 46-34 on Sunday as Drew Brees completed 22-of-38 passes for 298 yards and one touchdown. He also rushed for two scores as New Orleans outscored Miami 43-10 starting late in the second quarter.

The final score would suggest otherwise, but both defenses actually played well until the fourth quarter. Miami repeatedly harassed Brees while racking up five sacks and forcing three interceptions and two fumbles. At one point, the Dolphins led 24-3 but Sean Payton never abandoned the run and Brees slowly started to strike for big plays. He repeatedly attacked the middle of the field while finding Jeremy Shockey (four catches, 105 yards) for a couple of big plays in the second half.

For the third time this season, Darren Sharper intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown. He now has five interceptions on the year and is making a case for being the best offseason acquisition in the NFL, which is amazing considering how several teams thought he was done at 33 years old.

The Dolphins learned a lot about themselves today. While they blew a 21-point second quarter lead, they are the only team that has put the Saints on their heels this season. They may have given the rest of the league a blueprint on how to slow the Saints down. (Or at least, slow the Saints down for two quarters.)

It’s unfortunate that they couldn’t find a way to pull out the win, but by no means are the Dolphins out of contention at 2-4. Chad Henne made a couple of mistakes today, but the youngster will learn and continue to develop.

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