From: Ahn@pop.cis.yale.edu (Mos Eisley)
Subject: Mia vs SD comments
Followup-To: rec.sport.football.pro
Organization: Yale University
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 16:15:52 GMT

After watching the Hurricanes getting bashed by Alabama (sidenote: despite
being a fan of UM, I always felt Toretta should NOT have gotten the Heisman
Trophy), it was a great thing to see the usually timid Dolphins go out and
play with a lot of aggressiveness and enthusiasm, winning 31-0 (right
score? I left with three minutes to go). 

The eight man front Olivadatti used was an interesting decision. It seemed
to fall into perfection thanks to a lot of rainfall. As SD failed to
establish a running game (a more ideal offense in rain) and Humphries took
to the air, I recall lots of dropped passes, poor passes, and frustration
on the part of the SD offense. 

Troy Vincent deserves the game ball. He caught two INT which led to two
touchdowns in the second quarter.The best catch off Humphries in general
was not by a SD receiver (no candidates were even close) but Vincent
himself, a diving catch hauled in with one hand off a poorly thrown, then
deflected pass to a wide open SD reciever. Vincent also broke up a lot of
potential completions. It seemed like Miami had hands of glue and SD hands
of butter.

On the flip side, Junior Seau was amazing. I can't say much about him since
this is the first time I've seen him play, but players like Seau will
always grab your attention when they seem to be in on every tackle,
especially when they're outrunning running backs and weaving through blocks
like no other.

Another note. No flags! So many calls were missed by the officials! I hate
to see poor officiating. The NBC analysts suggested it was because the
officials didn't want to dictate the course of the game. That's not their
job! Their job is to not spoil the game and its fairness by poor
officiating! I was very peeved by this.

But lastly, Marino showed me he wants the Superbowl badly. And I mean bad.
Sure they had the ball at the 50 or so on three of the four touchdown
drives, but they were touchdowns, and that's not to be taken lightly. He
didn't get sacked in the entire game thanks to fabulous work by the
offensive line and a few dazzling last-second throws by Marino. My favorite
play took place during the third or fourth quarter. It was third down and
Marino dodged one SD lineman and got tackled by the next. As he fell, he
shuttled (we're talking NO arm motion) the ball about eight yards up to
Duper for a first down. He made several of these great turnaround plays
(loss of yardage on sacks becoming converted into completed passes). Marino
was playing like the Marino Rookie we know so well, without the showy
bombs. He converts high percentage completions and elapses more time on his
drives. And can strike in less than a minute if necessary. 

And in the post game show, the Dolphins, even rookies like Vincent, were
very controlled and tame in interviews and I'm convinced they know what's
ahead, and what they want. And that they're still two games away from it.
So go Dolphins! 

And on the Bills: Jim Kelly or Frank Reich (sp?) ? If anyone hears of news
on this, please post! Will Reich be what Hostetler was to the Giants who
had trouble winning it all before, but found their man in their backup QB?
Next week will be a GREAT game!

Till then...

--
Mos Eisley  
Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.pro