New season, old problems for Miami

By Jim Gillis Sep 11, 2007, 20:40 GMT

- It could be another long season in Miami, after the Dolphins opened the 2007 campaign and the Cam Cameron era with a 16-13 overtime loss in Washington.

The battle of last-place teams from 2006 included numerous mistakes, many by the Dolphins, the most glaring of which came on the team's final possession of the fourth quarter.

After the Redskins had taken a 13-10 lead with 5 1/2 minutes to play, new quarterback Trent Green drove the Dolphins from their own 20 to the Washington eight in just over two minutes. A holding penalty against guard Rex Hadnot pushed them back 10 yards, and Green was whistled for intentional grounding.

Instead of two more plays from inside the 10 with an opportunity to take the lead, the Dolphins faced 2nd-and-goal from the 28. Without a realistic chance of reaching the end zone from there, Cameron settled on conservative play- calling -- a short pass to Ronnie Brown and a third-down carry by Brown -- to set up the tying field goal.

'Offensively, our execution was what got us,' said Cameron on Monday. 'We've got to improve on our execution in a number of areas and our players are aware of that. When you don't move the ball like you want to in football, it starts with mental mistakes and we've got to improve. We call then TIW's, Team Inflicted Wounds.'

In all, the Dolphins had eight penalties for 61 yards. They were also dismal on third down, converting only 4-of-13.

'In critical situations, we've got to improve our execution on third down,' Cameron added.

Miami struggled to establish a running game on Sunday, totaling a mere 66 yards on 20 attempts. Seven times last season the Dolphins failed to break 100 yards on the ground. The lack of a rushing attack forced Cameron into a short passing game.

Green, in his first start as a Dolphin, wasn't great, but he wasn't as bad as last year's triumvirate of Daunte Culpepper, Joey Harrington and Cleo Lemon. The former Pro Bowl star finished 24-of-38 for 219 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions. His only real poor decision was the intentional grounding.

Miami's defense was again strong, as it was for most of last season, but it did yield 400 yards of total offense and couldn't stop the Redskins when it counted most -- late in the fourth quarter on the go-ahead field goal and in overtime.

'The two most important drives of the game, we [stunk],' said defensive end Jason Taylor, last year's Defensive Player of the Year.

However, the defense is not this team's problem, and the offense will have to vastly improve if the Dolphins are to better their 6-10 mark from a year ago.

GAMBLIN' CAM OR BUMBLIN' CAM?

In his first game as an NFL head coach, Cameron faced a big decision at the close of the first half. With four seconds on the clock and the ball at the Washington one-yard line, Cameron could've taken the easy way out and kicked a field goal to tie the game at 3-3.

Instead, he decided to play for the touchdown, and the gamble paid off when Green hit tight end Justin Peelle in the end zone as time expired.

However, it appeared that bad time management played a part. With two timeouts and 42 seconds on the clock, a running play from the two-yard line was stopped. The Dolphins didn't snap the ball again until just over 10 seconds remained, and that run was also stopped short of the goal line before Miami used its second timeout.

INJURY BUG BITES EARLY

Week 1 of the NFL season featured numerous injuries, and the Dolphins were one of the many teams hit with a season-ending setback.

Starting safety Yeremiah Bell suffered a torn Achilles' tendon during the third quarter of Sunday's game, and, as is usually the case with that type of injury, it occurred without contact. Bell was backpedaling and tried to make a quick break toward a receiver when he went down.

The fourth-year pro out of Eastern Kentucky came into his own last year, finally cracking the starting lineup for the final 11 games. He notched 65 tackles with a pair of sacks, forced two fumbles and recovered two others.

Travares Tillman and Cameron Worrell could help fill the void. Tillman, a veteran in his seventh season, started 17 of his 30 games over the previous two seasons with the Dolphins and was also a starter with Buffalo early in his career. Worrell spent four years with Chicago before joining Miami as a free agent this season.

However, the Miami Herald reported Tuesday morning that veteran Donovin Darius was expected to work out for the club. Darius was released by Jacksonville in June after nine stellar seasons with the Jaguars.

NEWCOMERS & ROOKIES

In addition to Cameron and Green, the Dolphins had plenty of new faces in the aqua and orange on Sunday.

Linebacker Joey Porter, the big signing of the offseason, didn't play much after recovering from arthroscopic knee surgery. The former Pro Bowl star from Pittsburgh, who signed a five-year contract in March, managed just three tackles -- two of which went for losses. However, he was curiously not on the field during much of the overtime.

Jesse Chatman, a running back who sat out last season after playing three years in San Diego, split time in the backfield with Ronnie Brown and was somewhat productive. He had only 15 yards on seven carries and caught six passes out of the backfield for 48 yards, but had a fumble near midfield in the second quarter that thwarted a potential scoring drive.

Jay Feely was signed in the offseason to take over the kicking duties from Olindo Mare and was true on both of his field goal attempts. The former Falcon and Giant drilled kicks of 20 and 36 yards -- the last coming on the first play after the two-minute warning to help send the game to overtime. Three of his four kickoffs reached the end zone, two going for touchbacks.

David Martin started at tight end and caught one pass for seven yards. The former Green Bay Packer also dropped a key pass on third down with the score tied at 10-10 early in the fourth quarter.

First-round draft pick Ted Ginn Jr. had an unspectacular day returning kicks. The former Ohio State star, a somewhat surprising selection at No. 9 in April's draft, returned three kickoffs for 70 yards and added four punt returns for 20 yards. He also got one carry on an end around and picked up seven yards.

Punter Brandon Fields, a seventh-round pick this past April, averaged 36.6 yards on seven punts. The Michigan State product had a long of 50 and pinned one inside the 20.

Second-round draft pick Samson Satele got the start at center. A four-year starter at Hawaii, Satele became just the second rookie in team history to start at center, joining Jeff Uhlenhake in 1989.

Third-round pick Lorenzo Booker, a running back out of Florida State, was inactive.

NEWS & NOTES

The Dolphins played their 33rd overtime game and first in a season-opener. They fell to 13-19-1 in extra-session games. Their last OT contest was on November 16, 2003 -- a 9-6 triumph over Baltimore.

Miami fell to 24-17-1 in season-openers, including losses in two straight and four of its last five.

Jason Taylor recorded his first sack of the season Sunday and has 107 in his career, surpassing former Dolphin Trace Armstrong for 17th in NFL history. Pat Swilling is next at 107 1/2.

Zach Thomas led the Dolphins with 13 tackles, recording his 37th double-digit tackle total in his last 48 regular-season games.

UP NEXT

The Dolphins open their home schedule on Sunday with a visit from the Dallas Cowboys. Dallas opened its season with a 45-35 shootout victory over the New York Giants this past Sunday night.

Miami's defense will have to stop the big-play capability of the Cowboys' offense. Dallas quarterback Tony Romo threw for 345 yards on just 15 completions with four touchdowns against the Giants. Two of those TD tosses went for more than 40 yards.

The Dolphins lead the all-time series, 7-4, including a 24-3 loss in Super Bowl VI after the 1971 season. Miami won the last meeting, 40-21, on Thanksgiving Day in 2003 at Dallas.

This will be Dallas' first visit to Miami since the 1996 season when the Cowboys posted a 29-10 win in their lone game at Dolphin Stadium. The only two other meetings in Miami came at the Orange Bowl and ended in Dolphin victories -- 28-21 in 1984 and 23-16 in 1978.

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