Blog
"Dolphins crashed & burned at end of season"
Jan 03, 2010
There's the little story and the big story coming out of Sunday's 30-24 loss to Pittsburgh.
The little story was the game itself which was both typical and atypical of the way the Miami Dolphins finished the season: They started slow and got themselves terribly behind, and at one point were down 27-10, and down to their third quarterback.
With Chad Henne and Pat White out with injuries, the Dolphins put the game in the hands of Tyler Thigpen.
Everyone in the house is thinking "this game is over", but then the kid acquired in a trade from Kansas City this season shows remarkable resolve, making some brilliant plays.
First Brian Hartline scores on the reverse. Then Thigpen gives us a little scramble before hitting Davone Bess with the 34-yard touchdown pass. All of the sudden it's 'jackpot!' The Dolphins are only trailing 27-24. At that point, the game imploded. After recovering a fumble in scoring territory Thigpen throwing two straight interceptions ending two critical possessions.
The larger picture is the season. After 16 games you can draw some conclusions about this football team. The season was symmetrical in this regard: starting 0-3 and ending 0-3.
In the middle, you played some brilliant football that looked like it would be pretty redeeming, with the team coming together. But we're sitting here now with the Dolphins losing three straight games to close out the season, all in a similar and disturbing fashion.
I would say the mood and the feeling about this team right now is not a good one because the 2009 Dolphins crashed-and-burned at the end of the season, failing to rise to the occasion. When each of the last three games mattered in a big way the Dolphins came up short.
