Dolphins assessing damage
DAVIE (AP) – The enduring image from the Miami Dolphins’ opening game had 6-foot-7, 317-pound tackle Jake Long taking an opposing helmet in the chest and toppling to the turf on his backside.
Long and the Dolphins were back on their feet Monday and assessing the damage after being steamrolled at Atlanta, 19-7. There were no serious injuries but plenty of bruised egos, especially on offense.
Four turnovers doomed the Dolphins. Bad blocking hurt, too. The wildcat was no factor, Pat White’s debut was a dud and Miami barely avoided being shut out in an opener for the first time in franchise history.
Other than that, Sunday’s game was an encouraging start to the season.
“When you put a performance out there like that, you can’t wait for the next game to get here,” tight end Anthony Fasano said.
The Dolphins play their home opener Monday against Indianapolis (1-0), and they’ll likely need a big improvement on offense to keep up with Peyton Manning. Taking better care of the ball would help.
A year ago Miami tied an NFL record for the fewest turnovers with 13, averaging one every five quarters. At Atlanta, the pace was one per quarter.
Fasano lost two fumbles. Chad Pennington lost a fumble and threw an interception. Making matters worse, two of the Falcons’ takeaways included runbacks of 53 and 39 yards.
“Too many crucial errors,” Fasano said. “It’s definitely not our brand of football.”
That’s been the case for two consecutive games. The Dolphins committed five turnovers in their final game last season, a playoff loss to Baltimore.
One of Fasano’s fumbles resulted from a jarring tackle, but Miami coach Tony Sparano wasn’t in a mood for excuses.
“No turnover is forgivable in my mind,” Sparano grumbled.
The former offensive line coach also has issues to deal with up front. Pennington was sacked four times, twice by players who beat Long, the top overall pick in the 2008 draft and the cornerstone of the line. Miami’s other tackle, Vernon Carey, committed a holding penalty that negated a touchdown.
“I don’t feel like Atlanta beat us,” guard Justin Smiley said. “I feel like we beat ourselves. We shot ourselves in the foot too many times.”
The offensive line was expected to be improved thanks to the additions of center Jake Grove and guard Donald Thomas. But a lack of cohesion led to breakdowns, and Sparano said communication among the linemen and spacing up front must improve.
The problems may persist for another game or longer, Sparano said.
“They’re correctable,” he said. “I don’t think you will get them all ironed out in a week, but I think you will get some of them ironed out, and we are going to work hard to do it.”
Long’s performance was perhaps his worst since turning pro, and it came on the heels of a so-so preseason.
“He got beat a couple of times. There’s not much excuse for it,” Sparano said. “He probably learned a good lesson in this game.”
While the offense took a whipping toe to toe, trickery failed to work, either. Rookie quarterback White, activated as Pennington’s backup ahead of Chad Henne, joined the wildcat for three plays that netted only one yard.
The package fooled the Falcons when Ted Ginn Jr. got two steps behind the secondary, but White overthrew him by five yards. The Dolphins had to wait until 3:22 remained to score their only points.
Thanks to poor special teams play, Miami began possessions with an average field position of the 22-yard line, which compounded the offensive woes. And while the defense limited Atlanta’s potent ground game to an average of 2.5 yards per carry, it failed to come up with a takeaway.
As a result, the Dolphins lost their opener for the sixth time in the past seven seasons. Only once in that span (last year) has Miami gone on to the playoffs, which shows an 0-1 record can be an omen.
But Sparano noted that there were plenty of other slow starts in Week 1.
“Sixteen teams lost,” he said. “It doesn’t make it good, you know, by any stretch of the imagination. But I don’t think that anybody else is canceling their season right now.”