And they still took a clearly superior Miami team to overtime. And just as everything else in this three-games-old season, it wasn’t easy. The defense did do a good job of containing power back Jay Ajayi except for the game-winning touchdown in overtime.
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There was a packed house (65,176) for the regular-season debut of renovated and newly-named Hard Rock Stadium.
The Miami Dolphins will host the Cleveland Browns on Sunday as the two teams clash at the Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida today.
Nonetheless, the Dolphins wouldn’t have time to sit around and sulk for long. They’re at Cincinnati on Thursday. Gase also benched right tackle Ja’Wuan James in the fourth quarter. Linebacker Corey Lemonier had a great strip on Tannehill and recovered the ball in the final seconds of regulation.
“We did it, we pulled it off, a deep sigh of relief”, said Ajayi, who certainly was no workhorse, carrying the ball just seven times for 28 yards, when asked what went through his mind when he crossed the goal line.
Cleveland won the toss in overtime and elected to kick.
One thing was clear in Gase’s message to the team and during his meeting with reporters and that was his frustration level with the Dolphins’ inconsistent play.
Since the AFL-NFL merger, no player had as many throws, rushes and catches in the same game as Pryor did Sunday.
Pryor was a quarterback at Ohio State before making the transition to receiver in the NFL. They had two possessions but rather than run to work on the clock, they passed on every play but one and paid for it dearly. But Wake was flagged for an offside. Jarvis Landry led in receiving with 137 ayrds in 10 catches while Devante Parker had 106 yrds in eight receptions.
Players are particularly upset with some of Coyle’s technique instructions; at least one player believes he’s coaching them not to lose instead of coaching them to win.
The Cleveland Browns will be without their top two quarterbacks, turning their Week 3 hopes to rookie Cody Kessler.
“I know everybody will say it came down to the field goals but I’m not going to put that kind of pressure on Cody”, Browns coach Hue Jackson said.
Tannehill was trying to lead Miami on a game-winning field goal drive in the latter stages of the game.
Cleveland’s first offensive touchdown in its last 16 series came with 10:12 left, when Pryor scored on a 3-yard run. Dolphins punter Matt Darr made the Browns pay for that, flipping field position with a 47-yard punt that sailed out of bounds on the Cleveland 9. Missed! It was far left! He lined up in the shotgun and ran the read option, rolled out and threw the ball five times (completing three) and kept it himself, rushing four times for 21 yards and a touchdown that brought the Browns within a field goal of tying the game midway through the fourth quarter. Isaiah Crowell had a breakout game last week and now has 195 rushing yards on the season. The Dolphins have struggled this season putting points on their board and a huge result of that lies on the shoulder of their quarterback Ryan Tannehill. The Dolphins are 1-1 against the spread in the two games.
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Rookie Cody Kessler becomes the Browns’ 26th starter since 1999, replacing the injured Josh McCown, who replaced the injured Robert Griffin III.
