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The Miami Dolphins and New York Jets Sunday Night Thriller has just concluded within the hour, and here are my initial thoughts on the game. I'll have a more in-depth look at the game tomorrow night.

• The Chad Henne-Brandon Marshall connection really looked prolific at times tonight, as well as our passing game as a whole. Marshall had 166 yards and a touchdown on 10 catches, and Davone Bess and Brian Hartline combined for 170 yards on 11 receptions. Henne was opening up the field, and looking more and more like an NFL quarterback with each completed pass. His accuracy still needs to improve though.
• The chief reason the Dolphins lost this game was an all around crappy night tackling the ball carrier. Jason Allen missed a tackle on Braylon Edwards that led to a Jets 67 yard touchdown, and the Fins kept missing tackles on the Jets running backs that allowed the Jets to keep moving the chains with the clock in the 4th quarter ticking down. They need to work on that this week or else we will be seeing more problems down the line.
• The defensive scheme was questionable to me. One, they did not get any sacks on Mark Sanchez, or really put any pressure on him at all. Cameron Wake, the Dolphins best pass rusher only had one tackle, and a pass deflection in the game. Meanwhile in the secondary there was coverage issues all night long. While Vontae Davis was busy shutting down the Jets #2 receiver, Jerricho Cotchery, Allen was getting owned by Edwards the whole second half. I often yelled at the television screen why the Fins would not switch Davis onto the Jets #! receiver!
• The Wildcat formation did little to help the Dolphins this week. The only contribution that it had was for the Jets. It seriously was called upon in the most inopportune times, and only disrupted the momentum that Henne and the offense had going. I think this season we will see less and less of the Wildcat as the season goes on. It just does not have enough momentum, or new wrinkles, to keep defenses guessing anymore. It does more damage than good at this point.
• The offensive playcalling as a whole irked me, especially in the red-zone. The Dolphins strength is running the ball, and pounding it into the end-zone. So why was all the Dolphins did when they were in the end-zone was pass? Sure, it resulted in both of the teams touchdowns, but it also very well could have been a different result if Miami chose to try and pound the ball into the end-zone, instead of airing our fade passes, or forcing balls into tightly covered spaces. Offensive coordinator Dan Henning is drawing more and more questions as each play that he calls comes in.

Overall the game was a tight one, but the bottomline is that the Dolphins shot themselves in the foot too many times for them to come away with the victory. Next week is a must win against the rival New England Patriots on Monday Night Football. Like I said, I'll have a more in-depth post up on the game tomorrow night.

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