Nothing Left to Spin, Dolphins lose number 3 of 3

The Miami Dolphins are not out of it yet..technically. Starting out 0 and 3 sure makes it harder to buy into. There is nothing left to spin, there is nothing left to hold out hope for, the Dolphins have had 3 chances to win and so far they have won none of them. Miami loses number 3 to the Jets.

Today the Dolphins gave up a ton of firsts this season. Firsts like, the Jets first, 1st quarter touchdown. The Jets first running touchdown. The Jets first return for a touchdown. The Jets first turnover for a touchdown. For Miami? Well, it was the first time that Chris Chambers caught more than 4 passes against the Jets and lost.  It was the first time that rookie Ted Ginn caught an NFL pass and it was also only the second time that Chambers has gone over the 100 yard mark against the Jets…in his career.

What does all that mean? Absolutely nothing. Cam Cameron in his post game conference said that he sees a team in the locker room that can be winners. That is nice. It might be a little bit better if those winners were seen on the playing field.

In the what can now only be described as the alternating “who’s to blame” game balls, it was once again the Dolphins defense who is staring at the question marks. The Dolphins just can’t seem to put a complete game together…oh wait, that is what this team has become…I forgot.

On this day, Ronnie Brown scored on the ground, he scored in the air, and basically just scored points on the board and with the fans. Did he score enough points with Cameron? I guess we find that out next week. Brown only rushed for 112 yards on 23 carries adding two of his 3 touchdowns, but on 6 receptions he gained 99 more.

Chris Chambers caught 6 for 101 but in his 3rd week has yet to make it into the end zone. Ted Ginn finally made a catch on the field a 15 yarder in the 4th. He averaged just under 27 yards per kick-off return…but on 2 punt returns he managed a whopping 6 yards. I guess it was a metaphor when Cameron said that Ginn would win us over with his return abilities…he has me, I feel so sorry for the kid that I am finally starting to like him…is that what he meant?

Still, like in game 1, game 2, and now in game 3, the day belonged to the defense. Trent Green cut his INT ratio from 4 last week to 1 this week. He put up 28 points onto the board, but it was the defense that let the team down.

It was not enough to pull close at the end of the first half, nope, it had to be electrifying. Which is why the Jets with just over a minute left managed to run the ball down the field and score a touchdown with no time left. The only thing that the defense was preventing was a hamstring pull.

It would be the squib kick that was called after Miami kicked the pull within one field goal that would allow the Jets to take that final drive down the first half field. The squib kick was done because, well, Leon Washington, the RB that single handedly beat Miami last year, returned the previous kick by the Dolphins 98 yards for a touchdown.

Miami has developed a very bad habit for scoring and then allowing the team to answer in full or better. The Defense held the Jets to 14 points in the first half, minus the Washington return as they were not responsible for that, and they only gave up 10 in the second half. However, it was the second half touchdown that sealed the Fins fate.

The Jets would rush for 141 yards and put up 115 through the air. The problem was the time that those numbers went up. At the start of the 2nd half, the Jets had yet to reach triple figures in combined yardage. Miami had dominated the time of possession and the Jets were lucky to be alive. Miami of course changed that in the 2nd half, not allowing them to work for the victory until the final minute of the game.

Miami sits at 0-3 with the now Daunte Culpepper led Oakland Raiders coming to town next week. Only a hand full of teams can say they recovered from an 0-3 deficit to make the playoffs that same year. Miami has a long way to go before they start talking about win number 1.