| | MIAMI -- Dan Marino had no more answers for the media than
he did for the Buffalo Bills defense.
| |  | | | Marino |
Marino, still wearing his grass-stained Miami uniform, quietly
answered questions with short, curt responses Monday night.
It was easy to tell that Marino was frustrated by the futility
of the Dolphins offense after a 23-18 loss to the Buffalo Bills.
"They played pretty good, but we were the ones who made the
turnovers that cost us the game," the quarterback said, barely
raising his voice above a whisper.
Marino completed 22 of 44 passes for 251 yards and a touchdown,
but he threw two interceptions and fumbled twice. One of the
fumbles, caused when linebacker John Holecek hit Marino from the
blind side, was scooped up by Gabe Northern and returned 59 yards
for a touchdown, giving the Bills a 13-6 lead.
"He held the ball a little bit longer than he should have,"
Dolphins coach Jimmy Johnson said. "On the blitz, he's got to get
rid of it. He held it a second too long."
The Bills also turned Marino's second interception into points.
Holecek stepped in front of a pass intended for tight end Troy
Drayton, picked it off and ran 35 yards to set up Steve Christie's
31-yard field goal. The score extended the Bills' lead to 23-12 and
seemingly put the game out of reach.
But Marino, one of the best at running the 2-minute offense, got
one final chance. After he threw his only touchdown pass of the
night and the Dolphins missed a two-point conversion, Marino could
have driven the team downfield for a go-ahead touchdown. Instead,
he tossed four consecutive incompletions.
"I'll put the ball in Dan's hands every time with that much
time on the clock," Drayton said, adding that blame shouldn't fall
solely on Marino's shoulders for the offensive woes. "We need to
get open and catch the ball. That will take the pressure off Dan.
We realize Dan can't win it by himself. We have to go out and make
plays for him."
Especially on third down.
On third downs, Marino was 3-for-13 passing for 18 yards. He
faced only one third down with less than 4 yards to go, a good sign
of the running game is struggling.
Starter Karim Abdul-Jabbar carried just three times for 2 yards,
and though rookie Cecil Collins got the majority of the carries
(16), he averaged just 2.9 yards. And the Dolphins fell to 0-19
since 1996 when running less than 25 times.
"It's just not a good enough performance by our offense,"
guard Kevin Gogan said. "We've got to pick it up; we've got to
find a way to get better. We have to get an attitude and we have to
get a sense of urgency."
None of the Dolphins could explain the ineptitude of the
offense, which was just 1-of-14 on third downs.
"It's a combination of a lot of things," said receiver Tony
Martin, who caught two passes for 38 yards. "We need to pick up
the intensity. We need to match the intensity of the defense. We
came out flat and lacked a bounce in our step. I have no idea why
we came out flat. This was a big division game. There's no excuse.
We just didn't execute."
Though Marino set season-highs in completions, attempts and
yards, he said he assesses his performance solely on wins and
losses.
"If you lose, it's bad," he said. "If you win, it's good. You
can probably tell I'm not real happy." | |
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