November 22, 2008
NFL Texans 29, Dolphins 28
Dolphins' defense falters in loss to Texans
Dolphins' D can't hold onto lead
HOUSTON - The Miami Dolphins didn't "eat the cheese," as Coach Tony Sparano likes to say, and take the winless Houston Texans lightly. But they did provide the whine.
Dolphins linebacker Joey Porter felt cheated by the officials, saying beleaguered referee Ed Hochuli and his staff "took it away."
Safeties Renaldo Hill and Yeremiah Bell bemoaned that they were unable to come up with three gift-wrapped interceptions that allowed a sure victory slip away in a 29-28 loss Sunday that sucked the momentum from the Dolphins' uplifting two-game winning streak.
Quarterback Chad Pennington said he experienced the gamut of emotions while watching his defense seemingly stop the Texans three separate times on their final 76-yard touchdown drive.
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"It was a roller-coaster of emotions. You go from the highest of highs in scoring and going up and down," Pennington said. "The last series was just like the game. And it hurts."
For the third time in the past three seasons they left Reliant Stadium in shock, and have now lost all four meetings to the Texans by a combined margin of seven points.
Although Porter abused Texans rookie left tackle Duane Brown all game, he neglected to mention that his defense was gashed for a Houston-record 485 yards, including a career-high 379 passing yards for Matt Schaub.
Leave it to the ever-honest Ricky Williams to sum up the state of a young, improving 2-3 team still learning how to put opponents away.
"There's good teams in this league and there's bad teams in this league and right now we're trying to decide if we want to be good," said Williams, who scored on a 5-yard run.
Pennington was efficient but not overly effective despite lofty statistics (122.8 rating) that were skewed by another wrinkle to the exciting Wildcat formation that resulted in a 53-yard flea-flicker touchdown pass to running back Patrick Cobbs. That was their sixth touchdown off the Wildcat in the past three games.
Cobbs later took a simple screen from Pennington and turned it into an 80-yard touchdown for a career-day and an early 14-3 lead.
The Dolphins were just 2-of-10 on third downs and were again betrayed by the league's lowest-ranked kick coverage unit as Jacoby Jones took back a punt for a 70-yard touchdown to help cut Houston's deficit to 21-20 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Dolphins had outscored opponents 24-0 in the fourth quarter but when Hill dropped a tipped pass for what should've been Miami's third interception of the game, it allowed Dolphins killer Kris Brown to kick a go-ahead 42-yard field goal with 6:04 left.
Pennington took advantage of a fumbled interception by Eugene Wilson to direct a no-frills 73-yard drive that was capped off by Ronnie Brown, who slithered past defensive end Mario Williams from 6 yards out to retake a 28-23 lead with 1:40 remaining.
Then the pain began. A Porter sack, strip and possible fumble was called an incomplete pass. An interception by Andr� Goodman was correctly reversed. And Andre Johnson snatched a fourth-and-10 catch for 23 yards that seemed to go through Bell's body.
Then after two batted down passes in the end zone and down to their final play with three ticks left, Schaub pranced into the end zone untouched from 3 yards out as the defense overplayed the pass.
"We come away frustrated, disappointed, but at the same time it's not the end of the world," defensive end Vonnie Holliday said. "But definitely an opportunity lost. We squandered it."
Harvey Fialkov can be reached at hfialkov@SunSentinel.com.
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