From: chf0@harvey.gte.com (Curtis Fennell)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.pro
Subject: Dolphins vs Bills observations
Date: 8 Oct 92 15:12:04 GMT
Organization: GTE Laboratories

There are a few moments in Dolphin football history that I will
always remember:  Garo Yepremian's "pass" in Super Bowl VII;  Tony
Nathan's amazing hitch-and-go play at the end of the first half of
the playoff thriller with San Diego in 1981; Lorenzo Hampton's 54
yard romp against the NY Jets on the way to a 45-3 win in Miami in
1986; and...

On Oct 4, 1992 in Rich Stadium, in Buffalo, where the Dolphins hadn't
won since 1986, Louis Oliver breaking in front of a Jim Kelly pass in
the endzone, stealing the ball and racing 103 yards down the sideline
on the way to a touchdown, jumping over the diving Jim Kelly on the
way.

This single play, more than anything else the Dolphins did that day,
symbolized the victory as the Miami Dolphins stunned everyone by
soundly defeating the Buffalo Bills, 37-10 in a victory that has been
a long time coming for Dolphin fans everywhere.

The game started in a fairly familiar pattern, with one notable
exception. The familiar pattern was both teams moving the ball fairly
well and scoring early.  The Dolphins and Bills traded field goals on
the first two series and it was beginning to look like it was going
to be another shootout between Jim Kelly and Dan Marino.  

The notable exception was the shutdown of the Bill's running game.
The Miami Defense used a new defensive alignment of 2 down linemen, 4
linebackers and 5 defensive backs with a mixture of man-to-man and
zone pass coverage.  Now, ordinarily, playing a 4-2 would not be a
good way to shut down the run, but with Chuck Klingbeil and Jeff
Cross jamming up the middle, Griggs and Offerdahl backing them up and
Cox and Coleman controlling the outside, Thurman Thomas had no place
to go.  

Miami's defensive linemen and linebackers did an excellent job
standing their ground and jamming the middle.  They were not pushed
off the ball by Buffalo's offensive line and this set up the first
part of the run defense.  The second part was the pursuit of the DB's
and linebackers.  When Thurman would hit the line and find it blocked
off, he would then try to bounce outside or inside, only to be
swarmed on by Miami's linebackers and DB's.  Typically, it takes more
than one hit to bring down Thurman Thomas and Miami responded by
providing as many as it took.

Thurman was limited to 33 yards on 11 carries by Miami's defense.

Once Thurman was stopped, Kelly was forced to throw.  But here,
Miami's new defense showed it's usefulness once again.  Instead of
normally facing 4 DBs, now Kelly had to contend with 5 on every play.
And Miami mixed man-to-man and zone coverages in the same formation,
further compounding Kelly's problems. Add to this the outstanding
play of Troy Vincent, JB Brown, Louis Oliver, Lifort Hobley, Jarvis
Williams, and Vestee Jackson, and it turned out to be more than
Buffalo could handle on this day.

And there was one other weapon the Dolphins used on defense -
substitutions.  Tom Olivadotti kept rotating defensive players in and
out of the game, even against the no-huddle.  This year may be the
first year in recent memory where the Dolphins have enough depth to
rotate players like that.  Dwight Hollier (rookie linebacker) and
Vestee Jackson both made significant contributions rotating through
the defense and the defense didn't suffer for it at all.

But back to the game....

Early in the second quarter, the first of Miami's new defensive ideas
paid off.  A blitzing John Offerdahl hit Jim Kelly just as he
released a pass, causing the ball to arc into the hands of Louis
Oliver for his first interception.   Oliver ran the ball back 12
yards to the Buffalo 38, setting the stage for Keith Jackson's first
touchdown as a Dolphin.  

As Miami began moving the ball down the field, Marino saw Jackson and
Clayton crossing the field and threw the ball toward them.  Jackson
reached up, grabbed the ball and ran down the sideline, making a
beautiful dive into the endzone for the score.  We will never know
for sure if Marino was throwing the ball to Clayton or Jackson (Shula
and Clayton say the ball was intended for Clayton - Jackson and
Marino say it was intended for Jackson), but it doesn't matter. That
TD cemented Jackson's place on the team - even Ferrell Edmunds
congratulated him on the catch. 

My personal opinion is that Marino was throwing to Jackson - an
overhead instant replay showed that if the ball had continued on to
where Clayton was, it would have been well behind him.  And I take
back all of the stupid things I said about the Dolphins signing
Jackson - it's a damn good thing Don Shula doesn't ask me for advice.
;^)

On the following series, the Dolphin defense struck again, when JB
Brown stepped in front of another Kelly pass and returned it 48 yards
to the Buffalo 34 yard line.  This time it was Marino to Tony Paige
for the TD from 5 yards out.  And it was 17-3.

But then it began to look as if it would be deja-vu all over again,
as Kelly marched the Bills down the field with under 2 minutes
remaining in the half and made it 17-10 on a 16 yard pass from Kelly
to Andre Reed.  This was how the game went last year, I kept
reminding myself and the Bills are a second half team.  They've
outscored their opponents something like 95-10 in the second half
this year, I told myself. And I was very nervous when the third
quarter started.

Fortunately, the Dolphins got the ball first and marched down the
field in fits and starts, getting 4 penalties along the way, but
making the first downs, nonetheless.  And when Marino hit Bobby
Humphrey from 9 yards out for his third TD of the day, the Dolphins
were up 24-10.  But the Bills still weren't done and the game seemed
a long way from over. After all, they'd come back from bigger
deficits than this.

And it began to look as if they were on their way to another great
comeback attempt.  Kelly took the ball down the field pass after pass
until the Bills were threatening again.  And then came --- THE
INTERCEPTION.  Louis Oliver getting his second of the day and
slamming the door on the Bills.  And even though Kelly made a serious
mistake in trying to throw into what was triple coverage, you can't
take anything away from Louis Oliver who broke perfectly on the ball
and ran it back all 103 yards for the TD.

After that, it was all over but the shouting.  Miami would add 2
field goals and Louis Oliver would get one more interception, but the
game was really over on that fateful play.  It seemed to take all of
the fight out of the Bills and unlike past games, where the Bills'
defense had sparked a comeback, this time their defense just didn't
provide any fire.  Eventually all the first string players would sit
down and the second stringers for both teams would finish the game.

Now, I know that this game was not the SuperBowl, but it is difficult
to overestimate how important this game was for the Dolphins. Because
until the Dolphins could go into Rich Stadium and beat the Bills,
they could never go back to the Super Bowl.  

Having said that, it is important that the Dolphins now put this game
behind them.  It is a win, and perhaps, as Bill Parcels has said, the
most important win in the last 5 years.  But now they need to look
forward or the upcoming games will put them back in second place.
The Atlanta Falcons are a dangerous team that could come into Miami
and stun the Dolphins if they don't watch out.  Fortunately, Dan
Marino and Don Shula are two veterans at this and will do everything
they can to avoid a letdown, but the Dolphins must keep looking
forward, not back.

But the Dolphins are back, football fans!  And it is very fitting
that on the 20th anniversary of the perfect season, the Dolphins are
once again establishing themselves as one of the league's elite
teams.

GOOD THINGS FOR THE DOLPHINS:  There were too many good things in
this game to describe them all, but the play of Louis Oliver (3 ints
for 170 yards at 1 TD) Troy Vincent (9 tackles and 2+ Passes
defensed), Brian Cox (2 sacks), Keith Jackson (4-64, 1TD), Bobby
Humphrey and, of course, Dan Marino all stand out.  It was a complete
team effort in so many ways.  There were no sacks on Dan Marino,
Thurman Thomas was limited to 33 yards rushing, .. I could go on and
on but the score says it all....

BAD THINGS FOR THE DOLPHINS: On this day, there was only one thing
that I could have wished for - a better pass rush.  The Dolphin
coverage was so good that it was taking Kelly forever to throw the
ball on almost every down and if the Dolphins' pass rush was just a
little better, they probably could have had 6 or 7 sacks on Kelly.

So, after having said all that, I can only add:

YAH-HOO!!!

Curt

--
Curt "I always pick the Dolphins - even against Buffalo!"  Fennell
			DOLFAN in New England.             
'72 Dolphins - The perfect team in the perfect season - 17-0