Dolphins Fall to Niners 27-13

The Miami Dolphins have shown a knack all season for hanging with good teams only to vomit into their own pants when the game is on the line. It happened last week against the Patriots and it happened again yesterday against the 49ers as the Dolphins lost 27-13, despite being a field goal away from tying the Niners for much of the game.

With over 4 minutes left and down 20-13, the Dolphins had the ball and a chance to tie the game late after a pass interference penalty put them in Niners territory. However, poorly thrown balls by Tannehill to Davone Bess and Marlon Moore (who had a chance to catch his throw but dropped it) on third and fourth down, respectively, ended any hopes for a comeback yesterday afternoon. When the fate of your team rests in the hands of any other team's fourth and fifth receiver, your chances aren't very good and that's where we are today with your Miami Dolphins. Living on moral victories since 1984!

Let's hit some of the highlights:

- Special teams -- as we cautioned in our preview -- again played too much of a role in this game. First, the Dolphins had a chance to pin the Niners at their own second yard line late in the second quarter after a Brandon Fields punt was seemingly downed by the Dolphins' Jonathan Freeny. However, Freeny held onto the ball and casually strolled near the goal line like he was out on Ocean Drive on a Sunday with a fresh Call A Cab in his hand. Instead, it was called a touchback since Freeny unknowingly grazed the goal line. D'oh! Then, a third quarter muffed punt return by Marcus Thigpen gave the Niners the ball at the Dolphins' 9-yard line, leading to an easy one-yard touchdown run by Miami's Frank Gore.

Yup!

- With a depleted (but previously shitty anyway) offensive line, Ryan Tannehill faced constant pressure all day en route to a middling 17-for-30, 150 yard and 1 TD performance. Tannehill's best drive of the day came on the Fasano TD drive but, again, the kid did not make plays at the end. It doesn't help when your wide receivers are garbage and you're counting on Davone Bess to go deep buuuuuut, you know, JEFF IRELAND.