Saints 10 Dolphins 30 The Dolphins eventually distanced themselves from an anemic Saints squad. In the game's opening possession, the Saints netted 8 yds before Mark Royals boomed a punt to the Miami 11. The Dolphins made it as far as their 40 before punting; Eric Guliford (playing for the first time this season) returned the kick across midfield to the 43. Improvisational runs by Lamar Smith and Kerry Collins set up Doug Brien for a successful 43 yd FG attempt. With the Dolphins facing 3rd & 4 from their 48, pressure from Mark Fields forced an incompletion. Miami punted; the Saints managed a single 1st before booting the ball back. The home team's offense started to click- Marino hit Gadsden for 12 on 3rd & 6, then went to Drayton for 27 on the next play. Two Abdul-Jabbar runs yielded a 15 yd facemask and a 5 yd pickup. On 2nd & 5 from the 10, Pritchett dropped a throw that might've gone for a TD; on 3rd down, Drayton dropped a sure TD pass. Miami settled for 3. The ensuing possession began with a 19 yd Wilmont Perry run but ended with a sack and a punt. On 3rd & 13, Marino fumbled while scrambling past the line of scrimmage. The ball flew into the air; the D, apparently thinking a pass had been thrown, ignored the pigskin once it hit the turf. Miami recovered at its 40 and was happy to punt. For the second time in a row, the Saint O started promisingly (a 17 yd catch by Sean Dawkins on 1st down) but yielded a 3rd down sack. Buckley returned the punt to the NO 35. On 2nd & 12 from the 26, the umpire inadvertently picked Gadsden, who was running a crossing route. That bump allowed Rob Kelly to grab Marino's throw and return it 79 yds for a score. Despite a rather ineffective Saints offense, the visitors led 10-3 with 5:43 left before halftime. Miami moved into Saints territory with a 32 yd run by Abdul-Jabbar; an 11 yd Gadsden catch moved the sticks on 3rd & 7 from the NO 35. Two plays later, just after the 2-minute warning, McDuffie made a nice catch of a low one across the middle and ran in for a 22 yd TD. The PAT tied the score. The ball went back to the Dolphins on the next play from scrimmage- Dawkins and Madison had an equal shot at Collins' sideline throw; the Dolphin got more of the ball and thus notched an INT. Catches by McDuffie and Gadsden enabled Mare to kick a 32 yarder with 45 ticks left on the clock. Delay of game negated what looked like a half-ending 62 yd attempt by Brien (the kick was short anyway); instead the second quarter ended with an endzone INT of a Collins heave. Each team went 3 & punt to start the second half. The Dolphins added another FG after moving into position via a 10 yd Abdul-Jabbar run and a 23 yd Gadsden catch. Following another unproductive Saints drive, the Dolphins started to pull away. Avery ran for 11 (plus a 15 yd facemask was tacked on); Gadsen caught a ball for 15. On 3rd & 5, Jacquet made a 19 yd reception. Four runs put the ball at the 7; on the first play of the fourth quarter Marino chalked up his 400th career TD pass when McDuffie collected a throw and stretched the ball across the goal. The Saint O failed to move the chains; Royals' punt was returned to the NO 35. Marino hit Thomas for 15 on 3rd & 10; on 3rd & 1 designated sneaker Doxzon picked up the 1st. 3rd & goal from the 10 brought the third Marino-McDuffie TD connection of the game. With 7:34 remaining, the final score of 30-10 was in place. Collins threw an INT; Miami punted. Collins fumbled while being sacked; Miami punted. A 3 yd Perry run ended the game. stats & yardage histograms (from my "le Stat" system, not official) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ note: this stuff is meant to be read using a fixed-width font, like Courier note: the capital letters in the stats are used in the histograms and the drive chart to identify the players ..runnin'....../.......throwin' & catchin'........ 6-35 Kerry collins 7- 3 Lamar smith 1- 3 3-27 Aaron craver 2- 17 2-22 wilmont pErry Sean dawkins 2- 24 andre Hastings 2- 19 brett Bech 1- 16 cameron Cleeland 1- 29 incomplete 12 intercepted 3 18-87 9-24-108-0-3 A <--runs E K A K LLL L K KKLAL L K E ***************************************************************************** - 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 yards gained 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 <------ ***************************************************************************** L AS AH BS C H <--passes ..runnin'......./.......throwin' & catchin'................. 1- 1 dan Marino 1- 2 Todd doxzon 18- 71 karim Abdul-jabbar 2- 10 14- 36 John avery 2- 8 stanley Pritchett O.j. mcduffie 9-102-3 oronde Gadsden 4- 60 Lamar thomas 4- 38 Nate jacquet 1- 19 troy Drayton 2- 27 incomplete 17 0 intercepted 1 0 36-118 22-40-256-3-1 0-0-0-0-0 J JP M JP A JJ J A AAJ <--runs A JJA AAJ J J AJAAATAAAA AJ A ***************************************************************************** - 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 yards gained 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 <------ ***************************************************************************** DO L OOLOOG GLO N OG D A A O O L <--passes G comments ^^^^^^^^ * Keith Poole & Kevin Mitchell did not play due to injury; Ray Zellars was on the inactive list * the longest Saints possession lasted 3:01 * Collins has led the team in rushing in each of his 3 starts * the Saints have yielded 30 or 31 points in each of their 7 losses * TDs scored by Saints offense during the 3-0 start: 6 " " " " " " the 2-7 slide: 11 ******************************************************************************* Frank Serpas III serpas@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu