The Miami Dolphins battled all season to get back in the playoff mix after an 0-3 start, finally evening their record at 5-5 with two wins in a five day stretch.
On Sunday, they undid nearly all their good work with an unseemly fourth quarter in Buffalo.
The Bills outscored Miami 24-0 in the final frame to win 31-14 and put a major dent into any playoff hopes for the Dolphins. The outcome gave the cagey Perry Fewell his first win as Buffalo’s interim head coach.
Rian Lindell hit a 56-yard field goal to take the lead with just under four minutes left, then the Bills tacked on two quick touchdowns when Chad Henne did his best Jake Delhomme impression. (Henne threw three picks in the final four minutes after a nice game before then.)
The Dolphins ran the ball down Buffalo’s throats most of the day, but never led by more than a touchdown. Ricky Williams rushed for 115 yards and a touchdown, but he also threw an interception on a first-and-goal from the three-yard line early in the game. Might not want to get so fancy next time.
Give Fewell credit for making the decision to start Ryan Fitzpatrick two weeks ago. The Harvard grad has been more willing to throw deep balls to allow Terrell Owens and Lee Evans to make plays. (Owens caught a 51-yard touchdown.) Fitzpatrick also rushed for a 31-yard score. Really.
The Bills moved to 4-7 on the season. The Dolphins are at 5-6, and will host the Patriots next week with their season on the brink.
Notice how, now that Buffalo has QB who isn’t a total wuss, and T.O. actually gets passes thrown his way, Florio won’t write anything about “The Player”?
At least Rosenthal will do it.
300 yards in two games since Trent Edwards got benched. What about it, Florio?
Fins got exploited. Period.
what a terrible 4th quarter for miami. jesus h christ they played like shit.
the miami o-c is a braindead moron. you don’t give away 7 points to start the game driving the ball down buffalos gut until you get to the 6 yardline ONLY to then have ricky williams attempt a girly like throw to the endzone for an interception.
then when at 14 late in the 4th quarter and buffalos punter successfully pinned you down on your own 2 yard line. you do not throw a 60 yard pass on the very first play wasting one of the downs to just save you some field position at worst, then williams gains 2 on the ground and now you have 1 down to make 9 yards or you are in serious trouble.
a complete moron like many of these o-cs who jump from team to team after finally being fired.
Season in Miami is OVER.
Welcome to the 2010 Preseason.
Fire Dan Henning.
Cut Ted Ginn.
Cut Gibril Wilson.
Cut Joey Porter.
learn to throw the ball.
learn to cover people.
Learn how to not get scored on in the 4th quarter.
Championship.
10 days to prepare for this? Coach, take 1000% blame for having your team unprepared for a horriable Jills team,period. This was and is a disgrace, your team can not tackle my 92 yo grandmother, you were caught looking ahead to the Pats and thinking the Jills would just lay down. You made a glorified high school team look like a super bowl contender. 3rd string offiensive line, one rb, rookie qb and they destroyed you, this is as discusting as it gets.
In the past 3 weeks the Dolphins barely beat the Bucs and the Panthers and now imploded in the 4th quarter against a 3-7 (now 4-7) team.
The Dolphins defense has given up more points in the 4th quarter than any other team in the NFL.
If I were Coach Sparano I would no longer be Mr. nice guy. I would keep the defense practicing late every night to light a fire under their a** and get them to stop blowing games.
Since Chad Henne threw two pics in the 4th quarter he should also stay late after practice as well.
# BillsFan27 says: November 29, 2009 4:37 PM
Fins got exploited. Period.
Relax dude… The game was MUCH closer than the final score indicates. There was no exploiting, just a Dolphins team that unraveled in the final 4 minutes… Not like when we beat you earlier in the year, when the Bills were dominated from jump street.
The Bills didn’t make their usual self-destructive penalties in this game, either. Nice to see the other team implode for a change.
hayward, if you’re reading this, this is why the Pats- Fins game got flexed out. The Brown-less Fins got blown out by Buffalo, imagine what the Pats will do to them.
That O-C is Dan Henning ANOTHER OLD GREYBEARD LOSER COACH AT MANY TEAMS JUST LIKE GILBRIDE!
And using the EXACT OLD 1960s THINKING THAT OLDE COUGHLIN AND GILBRIDE FIRMLY BELIEVE IN.
These 2 plays i watched today are exactly the plays gilbride/coughlin would have called in the same situations.
For the record: Fitzpatrick re-gained the start at QB before Jauron was fired. I guess you could give Fewell credit for not reversing that. But it wasn’t likely his idea.
All the Toronto Dolphins fans now have a good reason to cry. Go root for the last place Leafs.
Go Bills.
This is interesting:
chris says:
November 29, 2009 4:48 PM
10 days to prepare for this? Coach, take 1000% blame for having your team unprepared for a horriable Jills team,period. This was and is a disgrace, your team can not tackle my 92 yo grandmother, you were caught looking ahead to the Pats and thinking the Jills would just lay down. You made a glorified high school team look like a super bowl contender. 3rd string offiensive line, one rb, rookie qb and they destroyed you, this is as discusting as it gets.
—-
1. The Bills aren’t horrible. For having some injuries and a lame-brain for a head coach most of the season, they were in all but one game entering the fourth quarter.
2. They had both RB’s, Jackson saw more time than Lynch due to his shoulder, Fitzpatrick is not a rookie, and the line (as awful as they looked for most of the day) is not 3rd string. A few youngins, but a few vets too. They just need a line to play together for more than one week at a time. Not saying it would get them over the hump, but it’d get them a semi-productive run game.
this game was embarassing.
the dolphins checked out before the 4th quarter. all credit goes to the bills for playing great football yesterday, but the dolphins lost this more than the bills won it, with how bad the team fell apart in the 4th.
fewell seems to have the bills on a great path though. this guy might be a solid answer for them as HC. sparano on the other hand *should* be on the hot seat after this. he had 10 days to prepare his team to play a 3-7 (at the time) buffalo team that statistically, he should have dominated.
give credit to buffalo, and blame sparano.
You can’t let a team hang around. More times than not, they end up making plays to beat you.
Hats off to Buffalo, they made plays when they needed to in the 4th quarter.
I had a bad feeling when Lindell made that 56 yard field goal. It was like an omen of bad things to come for the Fins the rest of that game.