BY NICK ST. DENIS
Miami Dolphins coach Joe Philbin stressed the importance of finishing plays, and ultimately finishing the game, Sunday.
Against the San Diego Chargers, his team did just that.
Defensive end Cameron Wake recorded his second sack of the evening on the Chargers' late-game comeback-attempt drive, forcing San Diego to use its last timeout. From then on, Miami gave up a couple passes but ultimately held its own on the back quarter of the field.
"We talk about making plays in the fourth quarter. It’s something that we’ve preached, we’ve talked about," Philbin said after the game, via Dolphins.com. "Last night we talked about finishing, finishing, finishing, and finding a way, somehow, some way, whether it’s offense, defense, special teams, a combination thereof, to make plays when they count."
Olivier Vernon had a drive-ending sack earlier in the fourth quarter, as well. But it wasn't just the defense that finished. Tight end Charles Clay made that much obvious in the third quarter.
Clay scored what would be the eventual game-winner by catching a Ryan Tannehill pass in the flat, splitting two defenders as he turned upfield and running over cornerback Marcus Gilchrist en route to the end zone.
"One of the things was we have to break more tackles. We’ve got to break more tackles," Philbin said. "Whether it be the running backs or it be the receivers catching the ball, tight ends, we’ve got to make some things on our own. We’ve struggled – let’s put it on the table – to make real big, explosive plays and we need more of them.
"Sometimes you just have to have a player decide that he’s going to break some tackles and kind of make it on his own. I mean, that was probably what, a seven or eight yard completion, I don’t have the tape…it wasn’t a long pass, but he made it."
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