Dolphins 24 Panthers 17

The Thursday night matchup between 2 teams fighting for their playoff lives. Both teams had injuries, but both teams came out, played hard and produced a good game. All the talk before the game was about Ronnie Browns injury, and how the Dolphins would run the wildcat. The answer was they wouldn’t run it much (just 3 times), but Ricky Williams did score a TD from the formation. Williams stepped up big in Browns absence, he ran for 119 yards and 2 TD’s behind the huge blocking from FB Lousaka Polite. QB Chad Henne had a decent game throwing for 172 yards and a TD. He also came up big with many conversions on 3rd down. The Panthers played well in this game also, and kept it close until the end. Delhomme threw for 227 yards and a TD (also 1 INT), and the RB’s had a combined 165 yards. Steve Smith also had a big game, and looks to be getting back to his best, which is a big plus for the Panthers. Smith had 7 catches for 87 yards and a TD. The difference on the night was the performance of the Dolphins defence. They got to Delhomme with 4 sacks, (to Carolina’s 0) and forced the INT by Nate Jones. These misfires by the Panthers cost them in a very even game. The Dolphins now will believe they can make a push towards the playoffs. They have the Bills this week, followed by the Patriots. After these 2 games, we should know where they stand. The Panthers aren’t completely out of the playoff picture in the weaker NFC. But they now cannot afford another slip up. Their next game is in New York, against the Jets, a game the Phins will want them to win no doubt.