Record:
Week One: 4-1 [80%]
Thoughts from the STANDS: [Dolphins]
Key Observation:
The Dolphins can RUN THE BALL!
Fans:
Very Hot! I'm Red as a Lobster! Dispite the HEAT, the fans, including myself, were into every play, even with the big lead. We caused Detroit to have a couple false starts. We were a little worried and our return man on the opening kickoff let the ball go through his hands in the endzone. Then on the fist passing play Gadson couldn't hold on to the ball. But from there on the Dolphins were flawless.
Fiedler:
He looked very well. Smart thinking the whole game. No Interceptions, No Fumbles. He had to use 2 of our 3 time outs in both the first and second half early, but he used them because of smart thinking. The fans, including myself, at the time were a little disappointed that he was useing them so early, but he must have had reasons. If he didn't call the time outs, maybe there would have been an Interecption. There wern't any long passes, so I'm sure that helped with the no Interceptions. Dolphins ran the ball extremly well. They stuck with it and it paid off. Fiedler even scrambled for yards at times. Because of the big lead, he was taken out during the 4th Quater.
Ricky Williams:
Man, am I glad we picked him up. The DOLPHINS actually have a RUNNING GAME! The crowd chanting "Ricky, Ricky, Ricky" a number of times. I'm not sure what he averaged per carry, but he got at least 4 yards on just about every carry. Since we had the big lead, Ricky was taken out of the game during the 3rd Quarter.
Edwards:
Also had a great day running the ball.
Offensive line:
GREAT PROTECTION! I don't recall taking a sack once. But, we did run it alot, that helped. They did a great job for Ricky and Edward though.
Zack Thomas:
Surprisingly, he was only in on maybe 3 good plays.
Defense:
Well, they did allow 21 points. All points were off our defense, and on all 3 Touch Downs for Detroit, they had to go the whole field. I think they did ok though. But, for our defense to allow 3 TD's at home, they might not be the same as last year. However, I think every person on our defense made atleast one great play. Every down it seemed we were chanting a different name. I'm not saying that our Defense has gone terrible. They havn't. But maybe not as good as the last 2 years.
Turnovers:
I lost count, but Detroit must have turned it over 4 time I think. Twice fumbleing on the return (I think) (once I know for sure)giving us great field position, leading to TD's. And also two Interceptions giving great field position. If you take all of that into consideration, maybe the dolpins only win by 10 or 14 instead of 35.
My opinion after the game:
It looks like our Defense "might" struggle a bit this season. But, our running game will be spectacular. On 2nd and 8 or 9, we the fans, wanted them to run it. Thats not normal for us. We all have great confidense in Ricky. We know that Fiedler can make some bad calls at times and will throw interceptions. It was clear though, that Fiedler took his time on every play and made very smart decisions. Look for this team to win close games this year, dispite the 35 point win today. Remember, this was Detroit. And it is September, and we were at home. We always win these games like this. I hope our Defense will regroup and figure out how they allowed 3 TD's at home against Detroit, but if they can't, then it looks like teams are going to score 21-27 points on us every game. I personally don't think unders will be a good play this year. But, becuase of our running game now, we should be able to control the clock better and keep up with our opponants and hopfully win it by 3 - 7 points.
Note:
This is just my opinion "of my favorite team" after ONLY Week 1. Hopfully I have exciting news about or Defense next time. But, this week, it wasn't our Defense that won the game for us "this week" (I don't think anyway), it was the running game.
GO DOLPHINS!
