The Dolphins’ playoff hopes are all but dead after being outscored 24-0 in the fourth quarter of a 31-14 loss to the Bills.
Dolphins CB Vontae Davis was beaten for a 51-yard touchdown by Bills WR Terrell Owens, but Davis complained after the game that Owens should have been penalized for offensive pass interference.
RB Ricky Williams was intercepted out of the Wildcat on a first-and-goal play to end the Dolphins’ opening drive.
Said Dolphins coach Tony Sparano, “We did the things that 3-7 teams do in the fourth quarter of the
game. Penalties, turnovers, letting them
run the ball, allow big plays. That’s not acceptable. I’ve got to take
responsibility for it.”
The Dolphins racked up six sacks on Sunday, but still might have lost their battle with the Bills’ undermanned offensive line.
Said Bills coach Perry Fewell of QB Ryan Fitzpatrick throwing deep, “Oh, I love it. I told him, ‘You have some big gonads.’ And I told him as
long as he keeps hitting them, keep throwing them.”
Fitzpatrick threw for 246 yards and ran for a 31-yard touchdown, the longest touchdown run by a quarterback in Bills history.
Bills RB Fred Jackson got the start at tailback and responded with 116 total yards and two touchdowns.
The fourth quarter comeback ran counter to the perception that the Bills are a team that folds late in games.
Bills K Rian Lindell made up for a miss by nailing a career-high 56-yard field goal to give the team a 17-14 lead in the fourth quarter.
the dolphins gave that one away. completely didn’t show up in the fourth quarter.
this team has the shittiest strength & conditioning coach ever, or at least a very bad head coach. you can’t routinely fall apart in the fourth quarter every week and blame it on anything other than the coaching.
sparano’s honeymoon is over, he has to earn his keep now and we’re fast learning he can’t handle it. parcells continues to get credit for “building” a team that has to resort to wildcat offense to make up for severe lack of talent. our defense continues to get gashed by bottom-of-the-league teams and we continue to point to the fact we have rookies back there.
the bottom line is the defense can’t stop ryan freakin fitzpatrick. we made fitzpatrick look like favre. we made an undrafted fred jackson look like adrian peterson. the bills out-played the fins and won deservedly so, but when they win under these circumstances, i blame the dolphins defense….. the dolphins defense couldn’t stop brady quinn or marc bulger either, i guarantee you.
Lucky for the dolphins every football game isn’t just fourth quarters, or else we’d have the first overall pick next year…. and if ted ginn isn’t cut from this team or traded in the offseason, i’m going to gouge my eyes out. again he was targeted yesterday and had two drops. the dude cannot catch the ball. why do they keep throwing to him?? jesus
Gotta give it up to Perry. And Freddy. And Ryan Freakin Fitzpatrick. Or Ryan Vickspatrick after that sprint for a TD. Dude isn’t exactly a prototypical NFL QB, but he is one hell of a football player. I’d love for him to be the back up for the next regime and heas making a good case for himself.
@ texasFinsfan:
Well put. You are absolutely right that it’s the coaching when these collapses keep rolling in. You are also right about Ted “Somebody is Paying Me Handsomely to Drop This Catch” Ginn. If he isn’t moved in the off season, I will be right there with you in our blindness. The dude is a total bust, and his two kick returns don’t do shit to change that in my eyes. He should have NEVER been allowed back in the starting line up.
As far as our roster goes, I say give Tuna and Ireland a minute. It is only their second season there, and we knew the schedule (not the Bills, obviously) was tougher this year. Really, you have to give them credit for what they’ve put together with a bunch of no names. They haven’t gone out and dropped an unreasonable amount of money on some big name free agent (ala Fat Albert Hey Hey Hey Hanynesworthless). This roster is being built with young talent that should provide us fans with plenty of thrilling seasons to come. We just have to remember that it’s only year 2 of a 3 or 4 year job. I think Parcells and Ireland have us on the right track.
Sparano might be a different story really. He might not be head coach material. Maybe he is best suited as a line coach or even a coordinator. I don’t know, but the one thing his team is doing most consistently is collapsing in the 4th quarter.
Get it fixed Miami. And get it fixed yesterday.
Wow, you guys are rough. The difference between last year and this year is the strength of schedule. We had a cakewalk last season. This season we played an incredibly tough schedule.
Remember one thing as well, Pennington is more accurrate than Henne, so that would have made a difference in a few games, I’m sure.
Has Sparano made mistakes, sure, but not more than most other coaches out there. Why do we keep giving up lots of points in the 4th quarter? Maybe we should ask the defensive coordinator that. Are we softening up coverages? Are our older players getting tired?
Look, this team still has holes. We need help in WR, LB, S and TE.
Our #1 wide receiver can’t even catch a cold. Out middle linebackers are below average. TEs have been dropping passes and Safety position has been exposed in several games.
This is year 2 of a rebuilding process. It takes a good 3-4 offseasons to address most of the needs on your team. Factor in that the bottom of our roster a few years ago wouldn’t make anyone’s roster. Have patience. It will come.
Also, give Buffalo and Fitzpatrick credit for making plays in the 4th quarter. They did, we didn’t so we lost. Plain and simple.
No one was complaining about our strength and conditioning coach last year. Some years you get the breaks. Low injuries while other years you struggle lot of injuries. This has been a bad season for us. Remember, we are playing without out starting QB, RB, TE, DT, CB.
No excuses though, backups need to perform.
WeMissYouDan – i’m right there with you. I’m not trying to send Sparano & Parcells down the river, but i do have them on watch. Parcells has done a good job of building the o-line and our new rookies in the secondary look promising. outside of that, there isn’t much to be optimistic about.
The fourth quarter collapse that happens in every game is 100% on Sparano. He needs to fix that immediately if not sooner. Parcells seems to get all the credit when things go right, but none of the blame when things go wrong – and i have a problem with that. Parcells isn’t infallible. When is the last time a team under his guidance in any capacity won a playoff game?
i see this team going through a regression. Up until Sunday, there were positives from this year even in the face of the injured on reserve and our .500 record. Now, back under .500 with any playoff chances fading away, it is hard to point any fingers toward progress. Our defense can’t stop some of the worse offenses in the league, and our offense struggles to put points up. Our rookie DB’s that show promise are giving up big plays every week. our safeties and linebackers can’t cover tight ends or anything in the middle to save their lives. Our WR’s drop balls, and the ones that can catch don’t get open. Our QB has talent, but has to overcome the serious lack of talent everywhere else on offense so he forces throws he shouldn’t.
ugh, this season is entirely frustrating. bring on the draft already – this team with this coaching staff is not making or winning the playoffs this year.
Hey Fins fans…don’t look now but it’s worse than you think. The Bills squad that beat you is lousy with 3rd stringers, scout team upgrades, a guy pulled in off the street with a bum Achilles tendon, a coach with two-week tenure and an offensive coordinator undergoing on-the-job training. Toss in a senile owner and a GM that doesn’t know a football from a golfball. That “we got rookies in the defensive backfield” excuse is pretty thin compared to the woefull Bills. I’m not rubbing it in…just sharing your pain.
I still cant believe this crap. This game had a HUGE season swing for us. Win and we play for first place in the division next week. Lose and the season is all but over. And what opponent do we get for this huge game…the Bills. And still we fail. I hate football. I wish I knew nothing of it! Well, we still are only one game back of the wild card. Go Dolphins.