Frankie Fins Fan Week 1 Wrap Up
Blame it on the rain and the lighting but the Miami Dolphins season began with the longest game time-wise in NFL history as fans at Hard Rock Stadium had to endure a pair of two-hour-plus delays due to lightning near the stadium. It was easy to be pessimistic about the Dolphins as they began their 53rd season. During the off-season they traded their top playmaker Jarvis Landry lost their most intimidating defender Ndamukong Suh and traded away a key lineman in Mike Pouncey.
The Dolphins opened the season against the Tennessee Titans, a playoff team in 2017 that actually won a game and lost to the New England Patriots in the Divisional Round. The Titans despite their success made a coaching change, hiring Mike Vrabel. Things did not look good early for Miami who was beginning their third season with Adam Gase as the Titans drove down the field on their first drive and took a 3-0 lead. The Dolphins did not do much with the ball their first series as Tennessee got the ball and again drove down the field with ease. However, the Dolphins defense stiffened and made a key goal-line stand with rookie, Minkah Fitzpatrick making the big stop on fourth down at the two-yard line with a great tackle on Corey Davis.
The tackle by Fitzpatrick, the rookie out of Alabama was a huge momentum swing as it got the crowd back in the game, as the Dolphins went 98 yards in 12 plays in a drive that carried over into the second quarter, taking a 7-3 lead on ten-yard pass from Ryan Tannehill to Kenny Stills. After the Titans were turned away on their next possession the Dolphins drove the field and themselves were turned away on a fourth down play. Then the rains came delaying the game for more than two hours. When play resumed, Titans offense continued to struggle as they did nothing with the ball, with the score 7-3 at the end of two quarters.
Instead of having a traditional halftime, due to delay the teams remained on the sideline and had a short break, before beginning the third quarter. The teams coming back from the delay were not sharp, as three consecutive drives ended in interceptions, with Kiko Alonso making the big play to set the Dolphins up at the Tennessee 28, with 6:42 left in the third quarter. However, Ryan Tannehill and the Dolphins offense would have to wait through another long weather delay. When play finally resumed the remaining fans were all invited to sit in the lower sections of the stadium as a worry of more lightning strikes caused several cameras positions to be abandoned. The Dolphins were not able to do much with the ball, upon the resumption of play as Jason Sanders hit a 27-yard field goal to make it 10-3.
When the game resumed, the Titans were without Marcus Mariota, who had injured his elbow. The Titans, however, looked no worse for it as Blaine Gabbert led a nine-play 75-yard drive that carried over into the fourth quarter. The drive ended with a four-yard touchdown run by Dion Lewis to even the score. The game would not be tied long, as Jakeem Grant returned the ensuing kickoff 102 yards to keep Miami in front. With the ball back in the hands of Ryan Tannehill, the Dolphins extended the lead to two touchdowns as the Miami quarterback hit Still on a 75-yard connection to make it 24-10. However, like Grant did moments earlier the Titans Darius Jennings went 94 yards to keep Tennessee in the game. With momentum swung towards the Titans, Kenny Vaccaro picked off Tannehill and had Tennessee in position to tie the game. Reshad Jones would, however, save the day picking off Gabbert, for his second interception of the game and returning the ball deep into Titans territory to preserve the lead. Miami would get a 30-yard field goal by Sanders and went on to win 27-20 as the Titans got a late meaningless field goal from Ryan Succop.
Now it is off to New Jersey for a showdown with the God Damn Jets #Finsup
Overall it was a great day from Miami, though they had to dodge the lightning to get the season started with a win. Ryan Tannehill was solid in his first game after missing all of 2017 after knee surgery. Tannehill completed 20 of 28 passes for 230 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. The Dolphins defense came up huge when needed, with three picks, while Minkah Fitzpatrick the 11th pick in the NFL was good as good as advertised making perhaps the biggest play of the game when he stopped the Titans early momentum. The Frankie Fins Fan MVP of the game was Kenny Stills, who had 106 yards on four catches with two touchdowns, including a 75-yard reception.
