Here's a little more in-depth from the Miami Herald: . 'Practice' makes imperfect Pregame joke backfires as Carr, Texans prevail It began with a Dolphins player joking that he would visit with a Houston counterpart after Sunday's three-hour ''practice.'' But the practice unexpectedly turned into an embarrassing, humbling defeat that already has this season pointed in the wrong direction. After Miami's 21-20 season-opening loss to the Texans, the sellout crowd at Pro Player Stadium showered the home team with a chorus of boos so loud, some Houston players left the field covering their ears. It might have been wise for Dave Wannstedt to cover his ears as he walked off the field also because a guy wearing Dolphins colors yelled, ''Hey, Dave, don't forget to retire,'' as the coach walked dejectedly to the locker room. Defensive tackle Larry Chester was still sitting on the Miami bench while all this was happening. Alone. He later said he was replaying every sour moment of the game. ''This isn't the same Dolphins team that was in the locker room only yesterday,'' Chester said as he scanned a room where everyone spoke in whispers. ``There's no rhyme or reason for what happened to us today.'' Actually, there is, according to Wannstedt. Everyone stunk. ''I wish I could stand here and pinpoint one area of our team, but that wasn't the case,'' he said. ``We did not get it done in any area today. You fumble, you throw a pick, you jump offside. You don't win doing those things in the NFL, college or high school. Even junior high school.'' The litany of Dolphins failures was long and disheartening, but perhaps the most disturbing flaw was how a team that is supposed to be loaded with playmakers didn't have anyone step forward to make a game-defining play. ''Everybody,'' linebacker Zach Thomas said, ``was sitting around waiting for somebody else to make a play.'' The winning play instead was delivered by Houston's Kris Brown, who kicked a 35-yard field goal with 25 seconds to play, his fifth three-pointer of the afternoon. The loss left the Dolphins, a team that struggles in December, wondering why they showed so little interest winning a game in September. ''The energy was there at times but at other times we looked and played flat,'' defensive end Jason Taylor admitted. Taylor, who led the NFL with 18 ½ sacks last season, did not have a sack Sunday. He wasn't even credited with a tackle -- the first time since the 2000 season Taylor played a game without bringing someone, anyone, to the ground. ''It's a slap in the face what happened out there,'' he said. ``A couple of times I got close, but when he's dropping back only six or seven steps and getting rid of the ball, you can't do much.'' The Texans made certain their pass protections kept Taylor away from quarterback David Carr. They slid their protection toward Taylor's side and had running backs hit Taylor as they went out on pass patterns. That strategy leaves other defensive linemen and blitzing linebackers in one-on-one situations against Carr's protection. Problem is no one on the Miami defense was able to beat the one-on-one matchups. So Carr, who was sacked an NFL-record 76 times in 2002, was wearing a clean uniform when the game was over. ''I have to give the game ball to our offensive line,'' Houston receiver Corey Bradford said. 'Junior Seau and Jason Taylor were going to come in and rip right through them. They held their own. We just told them, `You're a man, they're a man. Nobody is superhuman.' '' The Dolphins might have been feeling a little superhuman prior to the game. According to Houston receiver Jabar Gaffney, at least one Miami player joked during warm-ups that the game between the Super Bowl-contending Dolphins and the team merely hoping to improve on last season's 4-12 record was a mismatch. ``One of their players said, `I'll see you after today's practice, Gaffney said. ``That was their thinking -- they were looking at us like it was a practice.'' Instead, the Dolphins played like they need more practice. The defense missed an inordinate amount of tackles, and the offense turned the ball over three times. The Texans converted two of the miscues into two field goals, including the game-winner. The Miami offense managed three touchdown passes of 57 and 21 yards to Chris Chambers and of 35 yards to Williams. But it overshadowed those rays of clarity with clouds that rained mistakes. Holding a 14-6 lead in the third quarter, Williams broke free for a 48-yard run to the Houston 2-yard line. The Dolphins seemed only moments from taking a 21-6 lead but instead were left lamenting a holding call against tight end Randy McMichael. Four minutes later, Carr connected with Bradford on a 78-yard TD pass to cut Miami's lead to 14-12. ''I didn't hold him, I know that much,'' McMichael said of the penalty. ``It was a bad call.'' It was typical of Miami's day. The Dolphins had more penalties than the Texans, gave up turnovers while taking none back, and in the end could not move 25 yards or so in the final 18 seconds for a possible winning field goal. One reason the Dolphins couldn't make the dramatic field goal march is they had no timeouts. Why? Two of the three allowed were wasted for no good reasons. ''On one we had a guy who couldn't get his shoe on so we have to call a timeout,'' Wannstedt said, ``and the other one . . . '' The other timeout was wasted with five minutes to play when the Dolphins defense didn't have the right players on the field
Sorry, I had to post this too...just great to be a Texans fan! http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/football/6718633.htm Upset proves Texans' point Ever since the NFL released the 2003 schedule, most figured Miami's home season opener against second-year Houston would be little more than a fifth exhibition game. ''All week, all you see is Miami all over the place,'' said Texans cornerback Marcus Coleman, who had two interceptions. ``It's really a slap in the face, because we get paid to play ball, too.'' That lack of respect provided plenty of incentive for the 21-20 upset at Pro Player Stadium on Sunday. ''No one in the world gave us a chance,'' said receiver Corey Bradford, who scored on a 78-yard reception. 'We were 14-point underdogs. We just came out last week and practiced hard every day and just kept telling each other `How you all think it's going to feel when we go out there and upset them?' We just believed in it and came out and played hard.'' ''It was a big motivation,'' said rookie receiver Andre Johnson, a standout at the University of Miami. ``It doesn't surprise none of the guys on this team. We knew we had to come in and play hard, and it was going to come down to the last minute.'' It did as Kris Brown kicked his fifth field goal, this one from 35 yards, to give the Texans a 21-20 lead with 25 seconds remaining. ''That's my job -- to go out there and put points on the board,'' Brown said. ``You've just got to love it. That's just exciting. To have a chance to go out there and win a game that not many people gave us a chance to win is exciting.'' It was the first time Miami had lost its season opener since 1991. ''We pride ourselves on winning those home games, going out there and being strong early on and being ready to come out and start the season strong,'' Miami quarterback Jay Fiedler said. Many pundits have predicted Miami, which added several quality players to an already talented roster, would be a Super Bowl contender. The Texans were not impressed. ''Once we came in, all the experts and newspapers thought their defense was going to come in and rip through us, and their offense didn't even need to go on the field. Their defense was going to score,'' said Bradford. 'It was a challenge to us and really a slap in our face, saying, `You all are going to come down here, and we're going to slap you around.' We took that as a challenge and just came out and executed.''
Mclain's not near as bad as this bum... I for one, BLAME them for the WIN!!! Rich, yer an official jerk... move to Dallas where there's something to complain about. He's been such a killjoy his whole broadcasting career... who pee'd in his cheerios?
What's hilarious is that, had we just barely lost this game, say by a field goal or less, Dolphins players and writers would have praised the Texans up and down, talking about how much better we are than any of them thought. But since we won, and they are supremely embarassed, none of them are going to give us any credit. It was all the Dolphins playing badly. That stat one of the writers mentioned about how Miami only got into Houston territory THREE freaking times is great. Interesting to know that 12 of their 20 points might have been stopped or reduced had Matt Stevens been able to tackle even a little bit. This game was actually much closer to a Texans blowout than a Dolphins win. That makes me very, very happy.
You're right Raven. The Texans didn't just win the football game, they dominated it from start to finish. And those a-holes to the south-east can't stand it. Go Texans!!
recently a caller told rich and charlie they were too negative about the astros. they were like, "what are we supposed to do, be homers?? be a pep squad?" no..you're not...but yesterday was a perfect example of why people feel that way...they were talking about the division standings and they said, "the cubs are up by half a game, but it really feels like a lot more than that now with the way the cubs are playing." excuse me, the cubs and 'stros and cards have traded first place on a daily basis...it doesn't appear to me that any team is running off to hide...but you clowns have being saying since the all star break that the cubs would. they haven't. in fact...just a day after your comment, the 'stros find themselves back in a first place tie with the cubs. lance and john are houston fans...i know john isn't from houston, but it's clear he's rooting for them...that's kinda nice on a local show...the sense that the guys running the show actually care about the hometown teams. i think that's a good thing. when i was in boston, the local sports radio hosts were clearly red sox fans...that's great...they weren't unobjective homers...but they were clearly pulling for the sox...you could hear it in their comments. rich reminds us on almost a daily basis that he's not an astros fan...i don't know about charlie...but i think that's less than my first choice if i'm the programming director.
Roc- I give all the credit to the Texans for coming to Miami and beating the Fins, but to say they dominated the game from start to finish is not realistic. There are 3 major newspapers in the Miami Area and believe me not one article that I read said anything good about the Fins. I was glad to see that you could resort to name calling though
Oh gee.. Imagine that. Miami newspapers blaming the Phins for the loss and not acknowledging the great play of the Texans? Who would've thought? The Texans could have comeout playing like the Steel Curtain Steelers and it still would have been "The Dolphins just didnt try" instead of "the Texans have really improved since last year" Please....face it guys...the Texans have gotten better...they will not be the NFL's whipping boy this year.
Actually quite a few articles said the Texans played excellent. Of course alot of Dolfans and journalists will think the Dolphins stunk up the field on Sunday becuase they did and the Texans capitilized on that, which is what a good team does. What do you think the hometown sentiment is going to be? Like I said earlier, I think the Texans have improved quite a bit from last year, but it`s a long season so lets see how things shake out .
Sorry to offend you so much Mr. Clever. But my a-hole comment wasn't was intended for the Miami journalists or the people of Miami for that matter. It was said for a-holes like this: "We could have played a peewee team, and we still would have lost." - Sam Madison
