Chargers 27 – Dolphins 17: Quarter by Quarter Breakdown
By Ernie Padaon
The game was blacked out, but people were able to enjoy the awesomeness of Josh Lewin on the radio broadcast. Some people were able to sneak by with the illegal websites. I went onto Direct TV and was able to catch a quarter and a half before they remembered the game was blacked out! Then I enjoyed Lewin on the radio!
Here is a quick quarter by quarter breakdown of the ballgame:
First Quarter:The Chargers won the toss and started out the game with their usual give to Ryan Mathews up the middle for a couple of yards. It is the same play that Norv has used to start every game. The drive ended with a 3-and-out.
It was time for the Chargers defense to step up and make a play with Miami taking over. On Miami’s fourth play of the drive, Donald Butler AKA D.Booty blitzed up the middle and hit QB Chad Henne and forced an errant thrown that was intercepted by rookie Marcus Gilchrist.
After another Chargers 3-and-out, Miami took over and we knocked their starting QB Henne out of the game. On a broken play, Henne went to scramble and dove forward and hurt his shoulder after the hit by Shaun Phillips. Backup QB Matt Moore took over and drove the Fins down the field. The Fins put the ball in the end zone with a Lex Hilliard dive over the top of the pile. The play looked as if he didn’t score when Takeo Spikes met Hilliard at the top of the pile, but the refs gave them the score and their was no evidence to overturn it.
Chargers took over and needed to answer back and they did on 3 quick plays. The scoring play was a 55-yard bomb to Vincent Jackson from Philip Rivers. VJ had to dive for the catch and then was able to get up and run the extra 10 yards in. Chargers 7 – Dolphins 7
Second QuarterThe second quarter was not as eventful as the first. The Bolts hit a pair of field goals and the Fins hit one. The quarter did have a Larry English sighting. He picked up his first sack of the season. Vincent Brown made his first catch of the season for 6 yards also.Chargers 13 – Dolphins 10
Third QuarterAfter forcing the Fins to a 3-and-out, the Chargers took over looking to extend the lead. The drive looked troublesome to start with Ryan Mathews being driven backward on a couple of plays and they forced him to fumble for the first time this season, but we were able to recover it. Philip then found rookie Vincent Brown for his second catch of the day for 20 yards and the first. Ryan Mathews added a 42 yards on a screen play to set-up Mike Tolbert with the superman score.
The Chargers and Fins then exchanged field goals to end the quarter.Chargers 23 – Dolphins 13
Fourth QuarterDolphins looked to stay in the game and were able to put another field goal on the board. The Chargers took over and chewed up 7 minutes off of the clock by pounding the ball with Mathews and Tolbert and were able to counter with a field goal.
The Fins then had to air it out in order to get back in the game, but the drive ended with Eric Weddle intercepting a terrible pass by Matt Moore. The Chargers kneeled and ended the game.
Chargers 26 – Dolphins 16