Instant analysis: Miami 19, Jacksonville 14

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Instant analysis: Miami 19, Jacksonville 14

By Ben Volin | Saturday, August 16, 2008, 10:21 PM

Instant analysis and observations from the Dolphins’ 19-14 victory over Jacksonville …

Winning the turnover battle: The Dolphins were minus-7 in turnover differential in last year’s 1-15 season. And Saturday night was a perfect example of the importance of winning the turnover battle. The Dolphins didn’t commit a turnover for the second consecutive preseason game, and came up with two big ones to halt Jacksonville scoring drives. First Paul Soliai stripped Maurice Jones-Drew at the goal line, turning a sure touchdown into a touchback for Miami. Then Joey Thomas intercepted Cleo Lemon in the third quarter, stopping the Jags in the Red Zone. Not surprisingly, the Dolphins also held onto the ball for a whopping 37 minutes.

Defense shuts it down: Though Jacksonville scored in the fourth quarter, the First and Second Team defenses dominated Jacksonville’s offense. The Dolphins held Jacksonville’s starting offense to 87 yards in the first half on 3.5 yards per play, and held the Jags’ vaunted combo of Jones-Drew and Fred Taylor to 19 yards on nine carries. The defense was aided by a missed field goal and Jones-Drew’s fumble in the end zone, but it was a positive sign that the Jags only held the ball for 23 minutes, after Tampa Bay held the ball for 36 minutes in last week’s game.

Chads shine: Chad Pennington got off on the right foot with his new Dolphins teammates, completing 5-of-6 passes for 55 yards and a 104.9 quarterback rating while playing into the second quarter. After missing on his first throw, Pennington completed his final five and led the Dolphins to their first touchdown drive of the exhibition season. Chad Henne took over from there, and played the final two-plus quarters. Henne finished 17-of-26 for 133 yards, and while the 5 yards per attempt isn’t fantastic, he led the Dolphins to three field goals. Meanwhile, Josh McCown and John Beck, battling for the third quarterback spot, didn’t see the field. They participated in quarterbacks meetings after each offensive possession, but Beck mostly stood by himself on the sidelines. Also, Ted Ginn had a nice game, catching four balls for 58 yards. The Dolphins will need more performances like that out of him this season.

Penalties and special teams: Despite the strong play by the offense and defense, the Dolphins once again hurt themselves with penalties and shaky coverage on special teams. A week after committing nine penalties for 60 yards, the Dolphins committed seven on Saturday for 75 yards. The starters committed six of those penalties for 60 yards, including two by Davone Bess. And the kickoff coverage unit didn’t do much better this week, either, after being chewed out by Tony Sparano after last week’s performance. Brian Witherspoon gained 71 yards on his first two kickoff returns, and the Jags averaged 32 yards on four kickoff returns. The one positive one special teams was Dan Carpenter, who nailed all four field goals and kicked two of his five kickoffs into the end zone.

Victory: Hey, it’s only preseason. But so what? After last year’s 1-15 debacle, and last week’s 17-6 loss to Tampa, it’s nice to go into a winning locker room for a change.

Next up: Kansas City, Aug. 23 at Dolphin Stadium.