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| ATL at NE | CAR at DAL | CHI at SEA | CLE at BAL | DEN at OAK | GB at STL | IND at ARI | JAX at HOU |
| KC at PHI | MIA at SD | NO at BUF | NYG at TB | PIT at CIN | SF at MIN | TEN at NYJ | WAS at DET |
Week 3 Game Recap: Miami Dolphins 13, San Diego Chargers 23
Miami Dolphins
| QB Chad Henne, Pass: 10 - 19 - 92 - 0 TD / 1 INT, Rush: 1 - 2 - 0 |
Henne was listed as the third quarterback for this game, meaning if he played then Chad Pennington could not return if Henne played. Despite that, the Dolphins put Henne into the game immediately upon learning about Pennington's injury. He looked confident when he first went into the game, standing tall in the pocket despite being caught off guard early by a Kevin Burnett sack on his first dropback. However, things got ugly in a hurry. He was nearly intercepted on a deflection over the middle, and later threw an interception that was returned for a score by S Eric Weddle. He later threw another that was almost intercepted by Weddle and Quentin Jammer. He was a bit off on two consecutive passes to Ted Ginn, one going too high and one going too low. And when he finally did make a nice throw down the field to Brian Hartline, he was already beyond the line of scrimmage when he released the pass, negating the score. One other note is that the injury to Pennington looked serious enough that Henne will likely be Miami's quarterback moving forward. He'll need to perform a lot better in the coming weeks if the Dolphins have any hope of getting back into the playoff chase.
| QB Chad Pennington, Pass: 8 - 12 - 54 - 0 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 2 - 3 - 0 |
Putting aside any stats or any performance issues with Pennington in this game for a moment, clearly the most significant news on him was the shoulder injury he suffered. Pennington, who has a history of serious shoulder issues after two major surgeries, was hit hard and then landed on his shoulder following a pass, and immediately left the game. He left the field with his arm hanging limp by his side, and it was known very quickly that he was not going to return to action. When he was in there, he actually showed pretty good arm strength on a deep route to Ted Ginn on which he managed to overthrow the speedy wideout. Had the ball been on target it could've been a 95 yard score. For most of the game, he had all day to throw the ball and showed good pocket presence. As the game went along, however, he began getting a bit banged up. He tried diving into the end zone at the two yard line, but was stuffed a bit short. On the hit, his helmet was knocked into his face, causing a gash to open up on his nose. Later, as the Chargers began getting more and more pressure on him, was when he suffered the hit that eventually knocked him from the contest.
| RB Ronnie Brown, Rush: 18 - 75 - 0, Rec: 3 - 40 - 0 (3 targets) |
Early in the contest, it appeared as if Brown was picking up right where he left off a week ago. He tore up the interior of the San Diego rush defense to the tune of fifty yards on the team's opening drive. He refused to go down on first contact, picking up chunks of yardage both in the "Wildcat" formation and in standard set-ups. He was then given an opportunity to put a stamp on the drive with a goal line handoff, but fumbled the ball into the end zone for a touchback. Fortunately for him, the fumble was actually charged to QB Chad Pennington since Brown never had possession of the football (though in fairness to Pennington, there was nothing wrong with the handoff and it was in fact Brown's fault). He wasn't getting a ton of work in the second half, but then he picked it up a bit in the passing game late. He made a terrific catch along the sideline on a fade route. The ball was juggled a bit but was ruled a catch because he got his knee down before falling out of bounds, and it went for a team-high 27 yard gain.
| RB Ricky Williams, Rush: 8 - 55 - 1, Rec: 4 - 29 - 0 (5 targets) |
Williams again looked good running the fooball, and was also very active in the passing game with four receptions. While Ronnie Brown got the majority of the goal line work, it was Williams who came away with the score on this day. He punched one in almost untouched up the middle from 14 yards out on one of the easiest touchdown runs he'll ever have. He did see several other red zone carries as well, though nothing would suggest that either he or Brown is the official goal line back.
| WR Davone Bess, Rush: 1 - 11 - 0, Rec: 7 - 54 - 0 (9 targets) |
Bess was the Dolphins number one option in the passing game, but only because someone had to be. He caught seven balls, though only for a total of 54 yards. One of those receptions went for 14 yards, which means his other six grabs totaled just 40 yards (6.7 YPC). He was looked to mostly on quick hits and screens as the team tried getting him into space with the ball in his hands and pick up yardage after the catch, but he rarely made it beyond the first wall of tacklers.
| WR Greg Camarillo, Rec: 2 - 13 - 0 (2 targets) |
Camarillo caught just two passes on the entire afternoon, both for very minimal gains. Although one was a nice diving grab that ended up falling just short of the first down marker.
| WR Brian Hartline |
Hartline appeared to have caught a long touchdown from Chad Henne, but the officials correctly ruled that Henne was well beyond the line of scrimmage when he made the pass, which negated the score.
| WR Ted Ginn (6 targets) |
Ginn came away with a goose egg in a game where he probably should've had a breakout performance. Despite his crucial drop last week, he still had a big game reception-wise. So most felt coming into this week that he would be able to take advantage of the San Diego secondary at least somewhat. Instead, he was shut out. He was targeted on several near-misses, but was never able to connect. Early in the game, he was actually overthrown (not an easy accomplishment) on what could have been a 95 yard touchdown grab by Chad Pennington. With Pennington leaving the game with injury, Ginn finally had a strong-armed quarterback to find him down the field. Instead, what happened was that the passes Henne did throw to Ginn were woefully underthrown. He may have been able to catch one of them, but it was also a bit behind him.
| TE Anthony Fasano (1 targets) |
Fasano was about as quiet as one can be with his performance in this game. He didn't catch a single pass, with the only time his name being mentioned coming on an incompletion early on. There was miscommunication between Pennington and Fasano, as the big tight end failed to recognize the blitz coming from his side and didn't even turn around to see the ball heading his way.
San Diego Chargers
| QB Philip Rivers, Pass: 18 - 33 - 303 - 0 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 1 - 5 - 1 |
Rivers was up and down in the game, probably mostly due to the fact that they had zero success running the ball. Since Miami knew the Chargers couldn't run, they applied a ton of pressure on Rivers and beat him up repeatedly. That especially hurt San Diego in the red zone, as they had to settle for three short field goals (after four short ones a week ago). They'll need to do a better job of getting into the end zone in future weeks if they hope to establish any kind of offensive rhythm. Rivers appeared to be shaken up as he was hit on a deep ball incompletion to Chris Chambers, and late coming out of the locker room for the second half. Billy Volek warmed up, but Rivers was able to make it back out. Not only did he make it back out, but he made two perfect passes on deep balls, one to Malcom Floyd down the seam and one to Vincent Jackson to beat two defenders to a similar spot. About the only blemishes on his game were an early fumble inside his own 20 yard line, something he couldn't do much about because of how quick the pressure got there, and another late pass that was nearly intercepted by DE Jason Taylor for what would've been an easy pick-6 if he could have gotten his hands up sooner. But Rivers made up for those mistakes with some very quick recognition during a keeper run he took up the middle completely untouched for his first rushing touchdown of the season.
| RB Darren Sproles, Rush: 18 - 41 - 0, Rec: 2 - 14 - 0 (5 targets) |
The Chargers appeared to mis-use Sproles in this one, treating him almost as if he was LaDainian Tomlinson. SProles needs to get out and into open space to be effective, but the team was committed to pounding the run up the middle. The absence of Pro Bowl C Nick Hardwick, coupled with the fact that Sproles is about 150 pounds lighter than the average Miami defensive lineman, made that a recipe for disaster. There was never much room for him to run, and he often was taken down on first contact. In the passing game, most of San Diego's work was done down the field. He was targeted on a red zone pass that bounced dangerously off his hands, and was annihilated off of a spin move later in the game after moving to the middle of the field following a spin move. Still, he bounced back after each hit. He also did a nice job of throwing back across his body to Philip Rivers on a flea flicker that went for a modest gain to TE Antonio Gates, so maybe that will open him up for even more options in the offense.
| RB Michael Bennett, Rush: 8 - 18 - 0 (1 targets) |
Bennett fought hard for yardage, but there just wasn't much there to be had. He was slippery at times, bouncing off of would-be tacklers for a couple of solid gains and he nearly always seemed able to fall forward to pick up another yard or two. He didn't get into the open field to show that burst he's had in the past, but he looked stronger than usual in this one.
| WR Vincent Jackson, Rec: 5 - 120 - 0 (8 targets) |
Take nothing away from TE Antonio Gates, but it's pretty clear at this point that Jackson has supplanted him as the team's top option in the passing game. And just as we told you last week, Jackson is leaving no doubts as to the fact that he is a WR1 in fantasy circles. The threat he poses to the defense is unique. He's almost as big as a tight end, so he can usually maneuver himself in front of defenders to catch passes underneath. But he can also run right by you, as evidenced by yet another long grab in this game despite two defenders in the neighborhood. Defenses have to further respect his abilities on the deep balls because he's got a lot of Larry Fitzgerald to his game, in that he can jump through the roof and use his 6'5" frame to come down with jump balls. The fact that he is able to separate on deep passes so well, has great hands, and can jump so well means he also tends to get wide open on the shorter stuff as well. That's precisely what happened in this game. His performance could've been even more impressive had Rivers not overthrown him on what would have been a long touchdown. He was wide open by several steps, but the ball was well out of reach.
| WR Legedu Naanee, Rec: 4 - 40 - 0 (4 targets) |
Naanee caught a screen pass early on and picked up a first down on third and long, and from that play it was evident that he had learned from his mistake last week. Unlike a week ago, when his dancing around after the catch cost the team a first down and very possibly the game, this time he was quick and decisive with the ball in his hands. He also made a nice diving grab in traffic later in the game, and saw more and more playing time at the expense of veteran Chris Chambers. Expect that to continue as the Chargers prepare him for a more prominent role going forward and in 2010.
| WR Malcom Floyd, Rec: 2 - 65 - 0 (4 targets) |
Floyd made a great diving grab over the middle in the second quarter, yet that was only his second-best catch of the game. He made an incredible diving grab down the seam over two defenders in the second half, displaying powerful hands to come down with the ball in traffic as well as tremendous concentration to hang onto the ball all the way to the ground. He's showing the Chargers that he deserves to be a bigger part of the passing game moving forward. He was targeted in the end zone on a jump ball late in the game, but Rivers underthrew the pass and Floyd never really had much of a chance on it.
| WR Chris Chambers (3 targets) |
Chambers gained separation on a deep ball as the defensive back fell down, but Philip Rivers was hit as he threw and the ball fell short of its intended target. Chambers was later targeted on a fade pass in the corner of the end zone, and he got a hand on the ball, but it was broken up and fell incomplete. Chambers also gave up a lot of playing time to Legedu Naanee, a trend that we could see develop more prominently over the coming weeks.
| TE Antonio Gates, Rec: 5 - 64 - 0 (7 targets) |
Gates had a solid game, but he appears to be settling into his role as the number two option in the passing game for this team (with Vincent Jackson having ascended to number one status). He showed good hands on a catch over the middle and made a key third down grab over the middle with about ten minutes to play to keep the chains moving, but he never really came close to scoring or breaking any huge plays.