Well, the fantasy upset by the Miami Dolphins over the Houston Texans was clearly not achieved, but there was actually a ray of hope if phins fans looked close enough. This is going to be a long season for the Dolphins, however they will not give up and will improve as the season progresses.
With two minutes to go in the first half, the wheels fell off, and the Dolphins completely, skidded off the path of success, and crashed and burned into halftime. They turned the ball over 3 times in the last 2 minutes, and each mistake led to a touchdown, so a very tight 3-3 game turned into a 24-3 blowout. Ryan Tannehill, must either take a bigger drop back in the pocket or just be more aware of defensive hands in the air, so he can refrain from have his passes batted in the air. This was a problem that both Robo Henne and Matt Moore had, so is there a deeper issue going on here? Not only that but, you can bet your ass that every team that the Dolphins face this year are going to have their defenders throwing their hands in the air as if they were a room full of students eager to answer the teacher’s question. The Dolphins also had the same red zone problems of not being able to punch the ball in for a touchdown. However, I liked that Philbin had the balls to keep going for it on 4th down, because we all know that the fist pumping Sparano would have just kept kicking field goals, and be thrilled to lose 30-16.
Even though the Dolphins lost by 20, and football betting software fans got pounded if they picked them getting the points, the game was a lot closer than the score shows. First of all the Dolphins turned the ball over 4 times, and could not create one turnover of their own. You will never win a game when you commit that many turnovers, and 3 of them lead to 21 points.
The positive spin is that the Dolphins rush defense pretty much stone walled the Texans running attack, which is one of the best in the league, holding them to a 2.4 yards per carry. However, the Dolphins secondary had no answer for Andre Johnson, who lit them up like a flame thrower for 119 yards on 8 catches and a touchdown. Reggie Bush had a very solid game averaging 4.9 yards per rush and contributed 115 all purpose yards. For those football gambling fans that are playing fantasy football, Bush is going to be a stud. I was also impressed with Brian Hartline, who made 3 very nice catches.
The Dolphins are going to be a work in progress this season, and even though the end result may be a loss, the long term result will be a team that will become better. If they can make smart decisions this offseason, they may be back on track. I know this is sad, I am already mentioning “making wise offseason acquisitions.”