Everyone had the Miami Dolphins going into Minnesota and getting their asses handed to them by Brett Favre and the Vikings. But when it came down to it, the Fins executed a simple two-part game plan against the supposed Super Bowl contenders to perfection. For the offense: No screw ups by Chad Henne. For the defense: Catch any and every ball thrown to them by Old Man Interceptions. Mission accomplished! Miami now stands alone atop the AFC East at 2-0.
What Went Right: The Dolphins defense went all kinds of right. They forced a Favre fumble in his own end zone that was recovered by rookie Koa Misi for Miami's second TD of the game. They intercepted Favre three times -- twice at the goal line -- and stonewalled Adrian Peterson on a fourth-and-goal from the one. Brett Favre throws a lot of interceptions. But with the Dolphins defense all up in his old man face, he was made that much more intercepty. Favre ended the game with a 44.3 quarterback rating. For those of you wondering, that isn't a very good rating.
What Went Wrong: Once again the offense started off hot, and then sputtered, and then completely collapsed until it was just a steaming pile of mediocrity. It's hard to put a finger on it. It's not that the offense is bad. It's just that it's bad at sustaining drives and coming through with the crucial first down to keep the game moving. The offensive line played tremendously, opening gaping holes for Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams. It also gave Chad Henne plenty of pass protection. But Williams and Brown both fumbled away the ball at crucial moments in the game (both fumbles came right after the Dolphins D intercepted Favre). Williams' fumble was particularly shove-your-junk-into-a-waffle-iron inducing, because it was at the Miami one yard line, which Minnesota capitalized by scoring and coming within a touchdown of tying things up.
Henne, meanwhile, continues to play well enough. But he also continues his bad habit of holding on to the ball way too long. He forgets that in the NFL you have about four seconds to find your target and fire away before a linebacker spears you in the sternum with his helmet. It's like Henne forgets that he has a big arm and a guy like Brandon Marshall to throw to. He should really just write down a reminder of this on his forearm in permanent ink or something.
Player(s) of the Game: Vontae Davis is turning out to be a star corner in this league. He was all over the field on Sunday with six tackles. He intercepted Favre on a hustle play at the goal line, and played the run like Adrian Peterson stole his baby. The ten points that Minnesota managed to score all came with Davis out of the game. And the only reason Davis was out of the game was because he hurt himself celebrating a tackle, which is dumb. But he recovered, came back, and kept kicking ass without doing too much celebrating. Afterward, Brett Favre called Davis the best corner in the league no one has heard of. Davis happily tweeted this. And then probably cracked his clavicle celebrating in his living room.
Cornerback Jason Allen finished the day with seven tackles and two interceptions. Remember when Jason Allen used to suck? The hell has gotten into this guy all of a sudden?
Next Up: The Jets come into town next week for a Sunday Night Football showdown at Sun Life Stadium. The Jets defeated the Patriots yesterday. So while they're coming to town with a 1-1 record, facing a Dolphins team that is 2-0 and standing alone in first place, and also beat New York the last three times the two teams faced off, their troglodytic fanbase is still going to act like they're undefeated and destined to win the next ten Super Bowls. Ah, Jets fans. They're truly just a heaping bag of vacuous, bovine insufferableness. Local sports talk radio should be a delight this week.
