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| BUF at NYJ | CLE at PHI | DEN at CAR | DET at IND | GB at JAX | MIN at ARI | NE at OAK | NO at CHI |
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Week 15 Game Recap: San Francisco 49ers 9, Miami Dolphins 14
What you need to know
| San Francisco 49ers |
Shaun Hill did a good job of moving the San Francisco offense against a tough Dolphins defense during the game. Hill threw for an efficient 233 yards for the game. Hill was not able to find the end zone and had many of his long drives stalled in Dolphin's territory and had to settle for field goals instead of touch downs.
DeShaun Foster was the starter for the injured Frank Gore who was nursing a tender ankle. Foster was solid in relief and mustered over 100 yards of total offense.
Kicker Joe Nedney was the entire offense scoring for San Francisco and contributed nine points of three field goals.
| Miami Dolphins |
Chad Pennington had a decent game as he was able to hit big plays for two touchdowns to his tight ends. He accounted for only 156 yards passing as the 49ers dominated the time of possession stat and kept the Dolphins off of the field.
The time of possession also affected running back Ronnie Brown as he only had ten carries and 67 yards. The 6.7 average per carry was impressive but he didn't see enough carries to make for a huge day yardage wise by any means. The Dolphin's appeared to be focusing on the pass with some drives that displayed a hurry-up style offense.
The biggest play of the game went to tight end David Martin who ended up scoring a 61 yard touchdown as he ripped the ball away from the San Francisco defender who was in good position to defend to the play.
What you ought to know
| QB Shaun Hill, Pass: 30 - 46 - 233 - 0 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 3 - 17 - 0 |
Hill's recent string of strong fantasy outings came to an end with this game. He moved the team well and positioned the team to be in scoring positions. However, Hill and the offense were not able to capitalize with anything other then field goals. Also of note, the winds were gusting at close to 20 MPH and this played a factor in the passing game. Hill did struggle with accuracy at times as he under threw or over threw receivers depending on which direction the wind was. Hill was under pressure all game and was dropped five times for Miami sacks. The rapport and timing with veteran receiver Isaac Bruce continued in this game. It is obvious that Bruce represents Hill's go to guy.
| RB DeShaun Foster, Rush: 18 - 76 - 0, Rec: 5 - 25 - 0 (7 targets) |
Foster had a steady game and got the yards that were there from his blockers. Rarely was Foster stopped for a loss or no gain. He ran reasonably well between the tackles and chipped in with five catches for 25 yards on top of the 76 rushing yards. Foster ran a play out of the Wildcat formation and kept the ball for a solid gain.
| RB Michael Robinson, Rush: 5 - 8 - 0, Rec: 4 - 33 - 0 (4 targets) |
Robinson was not able to find much running room and only amassed eight yards on five carries. He was used more successfully in the passing game and had 33 receiving yards including a couple of plays that converted third down situations for his club.
| WR Isaac Bruce, Pass: 0 - 1 - 0 - 0 TD / 0 INT, Rec: 7 - 71 - 0 (12 targets) |
Bruce was San Francisco's top receiver on the day as he caught seven balls for 71 yards. His strong rapport with Hill continued and he often made clutch catches and helped his quarterback out by coming back for the ball when Hill faced pressure. Great route running more then made up for any speed issues the aging receiver has.
| WR Bryant Johnson, Rec: 5 - 41 - 0 (9 targets) |
Many of the receptions and targets for Johnson were of the short variety. They appear to be using his size to run slant and out routes. Johnson also had a drop on the day.
| WR Jason Hill, Rec: 2 - 14 - 0 (4 targets) |
Hill was used in three wide sets and did not see the field very much in this game. He was able to catch two balls 19 yards.
| WR Josh Morgan (1 targets) |
Morgan was not able to catch his lone target.
| TE Vernon Davis, Rush: 1 - 11 - 0, Rec: 5 - 31 - 0 (8 targets) |
Davis is still being used relatively close to the line of scrimmage and rarely being used to stretch the field. He had five receptions on the day, one was a nice crossing route that he took up the field and unsuccessfully tried to hurdle a Miami defender. The other interesting play was Davis getting a carry while lined up in the backfield. The carry went for positive but modest yardage. If Davis wants to be a bigger part of the offense he needs to eliminate his drops. He had a drop while he was wide open which negated a potentially big gain.
| TE Sean Ryan, Rec: 1 - 8 - 0 (1 targets) |
Ryan caught his only target of the game for eight yards.
| TE Delanie Walker, Rec: 1 - 10 - 0 (2 targets) |
Walker runs very nice routes for a larger guy and appeared to be giving his defenders a challenge. Walker made a single catch for ten yards and was also targeted on a deeper pattern later in the game.
| PK Joe Nedney 3 - 3 FG, 0 - 0 XP, 9 points |
Nedney was the entire offense for the 49ers. Nedney was able to hit from 38, 23 and 28 yards respectively.
| SF Rush Defense |
They were able to keep the Dolphins to 93 yards and relatively quiet especially early in the game. Most of the yards came late in the fourth quarter with the Dolphins trying to bleed the clock.
| SF Pass Defense |
The difference in this game was big plays. The Dolphins were able to come up with two big plays that resulted in touchdowns. They gave up the two scores on only a 150 total passing yards.
| QB Chad Pennington, Pass: 12 - 19 - 156 - 2 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 3 - 4 - 0 |
Pennington and the Dolphins were intent on running a fair amount of the hurry-up offense to dictate the early tempo and it paid fast dividends with a 61 touchdown to tight end David Martin. Pennington did a masterful job of looking off the secondary and threw a long pass to a Martin who was ale to score. Pennington had no turnovers and took very few chances or anything that resembled a risky play. Most of Pennington's completions were within ten yards of the line of scrimmage. With his accuracy and lack of arm strength, this formula is working well for Miami.
| RB Ronnie Brown, Rush: 10 - 67 - 0, Rec: 1 - 9 - 0 (3 targets) |
Brown had a tough first three quarters of this game. Late in the fourth quarter the Dolphins started to find running lanes when they tried to run out the clock. Brown only used the Wildcat formation one time in the game and it led to a decent gain. It was followed up by a misdirection back side toss that Brown hit for 18 yards. The Dolphins were not in the red zone, so there were not scoring opportunities for the Miami running backs.
| RB Ricky Williams, Rush: 7 - 23 - 0, Rec: 1 - 11 - 0 (2 targets) |
Williams was utilized in the run game to attack the 49ers edges of their defense. He had sweeps, tosses and a couple of other runs that went off tackle. His biggest play went for eight yards on an end around. Williams saw a couple of balls in the air, but wasn't able to make much of those opportunities. He also had a drop.
| RB Lousaka Polite, Rush: 2 - 4 - 0 |
Saw short yardage situations and had four yards on the game.
| WR Davone Bess, Rec: 3 - 25 - 0 (3 targets) |
The rookie Bess made the most of his three targets by catching them all for 25 yards. He caught a very quick hitch on a one step drop. With his good speed he was able to make a defender miss on the way to a nice gain for a first down.
| WR Ted Ginn, Rec: 2 - 6 - 0 (4 targets) |
Ginn was not a factor in this game. He was targeted deep once and also had a drop. He had one reception for six yards and another reception for no gain on a crossing route.
| TE David Martin, Rec: 2 - 66 - 1 (3 targets) |
Martin scored a 61 yard touchdown to open the scoring. On the play, he was well covered but made a determined effort to steal the ball away from the defender at its highest point. He plucked the ball away from the defensive back and ran uncontested the rest of the way to the end zone.
| TE Anthony Fasano, Rec: 2 - 20 - 0 (3 targets) |
Fasano had the first catch of the game but other then that was a non factor.
| TE Joey Haynos, Rec: 1 - 19 - 1 (1 targets) |
His lone target was the winning touchdown for the Dolphins. Haynos was able to score from 19 yards out when linebacker Patrick Willis dropped his coverage of Haynos. Willis decided to chase another receiver who he followed on a corner route. Haynos simply ran a seam route straight up the field uncovered and made an easy catch for the winning score.
| PK Dan Carpenter 0 - 1 FG, 2 - 2 XP, 2 points |
Carpenter score two points on extra points. He also missed a 49 yard attempt that he clanged off of the cross bar. The miss gave San Francisco an opportunity for one more drive to try and take the lead.
| MIA Rush Defense |
The defense won the game for the Dolphins. They held the 49ers and their running backs to 79 yards. San Francisco was able to drive the ball and dominant the time of possession, but convert any of these drives into touchdowns. This was the difference in the game.
| MIA Pass Defense |
The Dolphins were able to put up five sacks including the game clinching sack by Joey Porter who dropped Shaun Hill on fourth down to end the game. This group had a great game. Nate Jones was able to get two sacks from blitzing out of the slot. Shaun Hill was only able to pass for 233 yards.