I know that this is coming a bit late as the game was four days ago but I have been indisposed since then.

I was at the "ground breaking" event in Toronto and had previously promised that I would post "My Account" of the game.

Obviously, there has already been a lot of posts about the game and my points,  perspectives and breakdowns, so I will make this shorter then I originally might have.

1) The Tailgate:
Due to Canadian law, there are restrictions on tailgating in public and this is a sore spot for many people here within the country and definitely for an American fans travelling north to come see a game.

As much as I hate the Bills (as a team), I absolutely love going to games there and go almost every year for the annual Phins in Buffalo contest. The atmosphere is great, you can drink in public in their massive parking lots that have 30,000+ fans in attendance several hours before the game and it's just all around a "complete NFL football game experience", that everyone has to try.

Unfortunately, this is not the case in Canada. You can't party/drink in public or in the parking lots, etc...and the tailgate party is setup seperately in a designated area by a corporate sponsor that you have to stay within and pay for their beer and food. It's certainly not the same and the few Buffalo Bills fans that made the trek up here were baffled and upset by this policy.

Anyways, as for the tailgate, it was surprising not bad and turned out to be a lot more entertaining then I had anticipated. Although the temperature was very cold and windy. It was something like -20 with windchill...which (in Fahrenheit for the Americans) is around 0! So yes, it was damn cold...but the atmosphere was pretty good and there were several hundred people who braved the elements to be a part of the pregame party. My friends and myself were there for about 4-5 hours before the game.
Buffalo greats like Jim Kelly, Andre Reid and Doug Flutie were a part of the festivities and we got to me a few of them and they tried there best to get the Bills fans rallied up for the game, although there were more of us (Dolphins fans) around.

So the pregame was fun and was a better then expected lead up to the game, of which my friends and I went into the dome about 45 minutes before kickoff.

2)The Climate/Conditions:
As I had mentioned above, the weather on Sunday was freezing and the conditions in Buffalo were almost the same. Close to 0 fahrenheit windchill with 20+ mile/hr winds, some light snow and just all around terrible weather for a team like Miami. For this I am greatful because having this game in a dome was definitely a HUGE advantage for Miami as opposed to this being played in the harsh confines of "The Ralph" in Buffalo. I still am surprised about this game being the one chosen for the Canadian experiment and if I was a Bills fan, I would be very upset! It should have never been a divisional game and definitely not one that is a warm weather team. But Miami fans say "Thanks!" Believe it or not, I probably would have still preferred to have the game in Buffalo but I can't deny the advantage and bonus that gave us to play in a dome and for that I was thankful. Poor Bills fans and they have let their feelings be known about this game being played up north.

3) The "Home Field Advantage":
This statement is somewhat of a joke because there was almost no advantage at all! I knew going in that there was going to be a good number of Phins fans in attendance because we simply have a lot of us here and I figured that it might be 25-40% but when I got there I was pleasantly surprised that we were basically at even strength with the Bills fans, if not more! It was absolutely incredible! There was also a lot of neutral fans who were wearing Jets, Steelers, Packers jerseys, etc that helped out but the overall amount of Bills fans was at best 50% but likely lower then that and that helped our team out in a big way.

The atmosphere was no where near as intense as it usually is in Buffalo and no where near as loud as it gets down in Buffalo or any American NFL stadium for that matter and with the normal fan base that Buffalo plays with, this was a rather big loss for them because they heavily rely on the "12 Man" to help them out and it was no where to be found on Sunday. Overall, it was fairly docile and at many times it was hard to determine how the plays/calls went because of the crowd reaction was confusing as to which team was being cheered for. Third downs for Miami, which would normally be deafening in Buffalo were almost quiet and made a huge difference for cadence, reads and audibles because it was much easier to deal with.

Overall up here in Canada, fans in general just aren't as loud and crazy when it comes to sporting events and that was quite evident here on Sunday. The atmosphere was still good but definitely far from what it would have been in Buffalo and far from what it is in most NFL stadiums, so with that being said, this played into Miami's hands beautifully and many of the players even stated that they were surprised at how many Phins fans and jersey's they saw and that it was almost like a home game for them! That's very sad for Buffalo but great for us!

On a side note, I did have signs made up for this game and was really hoping that they would get air time on tv to finally help promote THIS SITE on a network wide scale but unfortunately, that did not happen. They got a bit of play outside during the tailgate party and picked up by a local tv network that was doing some footage of the partying, so that was ok but I was a bit letdown that it never happened during the game.
Actually, after having watched the game afterwards (I recorded it), it was quite evident that it was televised differently and there wasn't as many cameras and scans of the crowd, etc and this is likely why I didn't make it on.. I was one of very few who had signs...maybe 2 or 3 other people and my signs were clean and were promoting CBS.
BTW this signs were:
1.PTR Pound The Rock with a big Dolphins logo on it.
2. miami fans say - the Conditions are Beautiful, thankS (using the CBS for the big letters) and then www.thephinsider.com at the bottom.
3. riCky williams and ronnie Brown, Scoring touchdowns, and then the site again at the bottom..
once again, it's too bad they didn't make it

4)The Game:
As for the game itself, I had to like the fact that we got the W and it was a rather dominating effort all around. Yes, I would have liked to have gotten more points and the Ricky Williams touchdown that got called back was rather disheartening but we won the game and almost all facets of the game were played very well.

For this being the first game in Canada and all the promotion and money that was put into it, I'm sure everyone would have liked to see more of a contest with more scoring,etc...I actually almost wanted to see Buffalo score more and make it more of a game and then have us blow 'em out of the water with more points but that didn't happen. Either way, we dominated them thoroughly and took care of business. The running game was effective, Chad was on the money, the defense was stellar and the special teams played pretty good. What else could we ask for!

Here's a few of my takes from the game and please note that a few of them are from my secondary viewing of the game afterwards when I watched my recorded take at home.

Ronnie Brown on 3rd downs: I don't know what it is about this but if there is one thing that kind of bothers me about Sparano (or Henning) and it's rare that there is anything to complain about, it's this. Why do we almost always take our best player out of the game on 3rd downs? If I counted correctly, Ronnie Brown was only left in for three 3rd downs (maybe four..at most) and basically, every other time, it was Ricky that was in. We all know that we want to see Ronnie more and I don't really care if it takes having both of them in together more often (and I think that should happen) but we have to keep Brown in a lot more on 3rd downs then we are presently doing! He is our best player and repeatedly taking him out in this crucial situations is detrimental to this team, especially when he could be used out of the backfield, in the slot due to his great catching abilities.
This game was no different then most; Brown came out on most 3rd downs and it baffled most who watched. It's not like we have an amazing 3rd down conversion rate or anything, so that can be used in defense and it's not like he's getting 25-30 carries a game either, so what's the deal? I hope that changes.

Quick note on the announcers and particularily "Kevin Harlin" or whatever his name is. I know this has been mentioned a few times already on several posts but hearing him repeatedly say "Ricky Brown" time after time was just ridiculous. As Keyshawn Johnson like to say, "C'Mon Man..!" get your act together and get the names right..and if that wasn't enough, I couldn't even count the number of times that he made mistakes on calls for yardage, downs, players, penalties, etc.. I was quite the pathetic play-by-play for someone who should be able to do a better job.

How 'bout our main man, big game, Mr. Clutch.... Ernest Wilford! Hahaha. What can you say but...he finally saw some action and made the smallest amount of impact? It was nice (at most) to see him get involved in the slightest bit and he ended up with two receptions for 10 yards and more importantly he actually made one semi-significant first down. That's about it. However, it did appear that when they used him or went to him (I should say), it seemed as if it was a bit forced. Almost like, "we have him on the roster and we're paying him a ton, he's in the game, let's make a couple of plays directly for him whether or not it's called for or makes sense to do so at that time". That's how I see it. I've basically given up on the "EW Project". He'll be around until the end of the season and maybe make another 5 catches and have little contribution but if he's called upon and has to make a play, I just hope that he does.

Not much more can be said for Devone Bess, other then WOW! Great game and way to go kid! He's fit in like a natural and has stepped into the #2 spot perfectly and I couldn't feel better about it. He's matured fast and put up a great game on Sunday with numbers that I didn't really expect at all, well at least not to that level, in terms of leading the team so heavily in receptions. Nice receptions for 74 yards with some timely plays and just all around good play, route running, phsical presense and good hands, it was very nice to see and I think he's going to be a vital part in our quest for the playoffs down the stretch. It really is amazing how a guy like him can step into that spot after Greg goes down and with little experience and playing time, make it seem like he was there all along. Once again, "way to go kid!" Keep it up.

Chad was awesome on Sunday and I agree with Nicky's #1 game ball for him. Even though his numbers weren't "mind blowing", like they seldom ever are; he was a field general out there and had complete command of the game and his team mates. Being perfect in the second half (11-11 66yrds) was beautiful. He did what he had to in the first half and pretty much coasted in the second half. Beautiful throws that were perfectly placed and made them look easy and what I really liked about his game this time was his rolling out of the pocket! Where did that come from? It was incredible. He was utilized in this way about 4-5 times and did it beautifully everytime and I don't see why that can't be done more often because I think that could really open some more options up for this offense. Overall he was an "A" for this week's performance.

The defense was stellar although I think was partly attributed to the down right pathetic level of play by the Bills offense. Before the game, I was a little nervous about J.P. but this game just re-solidified his position as a below average first round bust and I think that we may never see him again in the league after this season. His legs (which worried me a bit) did create some plays and he got some big first downs and over 50 yards but in the end it didn't matter much. Their run game was practically non existant (other then the bit by JP) and their passing was just as useless. We've all got to be happy about how little Lee Evans was utilized and that he didn't go off on us for a huge game like he usually does and on the field turf at the Skydome, it should have been a track meet for him. Great job D and nice game on getting back on the "Sack Track"! Porter likely should have had three sacks because he just missed one on the play before his second but two puts him back in the lead and I'm happy with that. The interception by Allen was amazing and right down in the corner where I was sitting, so that was rather sweet to see in person. That was about the only threatening drive/play that Buffalo had on us all day and you just knew that J.P. was due for something like that but great play by Will.

Tedd Ginn unfortunately didn't get into the game very much at all but as you could see, it wasn't needed. He was covered quite well a lot of the game and that opened things up for the likes of Bess and Fasano (who it was nice to see get some decent numbers and another TD this week). Ginn may have only had one catch for 18 yards but his presense and play was more "intangible" in this one and that was just fine with me. Can you believe that Fasano leads the team in receiving TD's with four!

The last stat that I would believe was the most astounding and most tell-tale of the game and the dominance by Miami on Sunday was the Time of Posession! 37:31 to 22:29 with a 15 minute difference is crazy! and was quite the site to see! That is utter domination and shows how well we controlled the game on both sides of the ball. Incredible and that's about all I can say. We typically win almost every time when we control the ball more but to see a number this far in our favour, is amazing.

Once again, we won the turnover battle, 3-0. That is one of the most amazing stats of this season and probably the second biggest reason for our success this year (outside of the signing of Pennington). We still have only given up the ball 10 times which tied the record for 12 games (last week) and are three games away from the all time record! 14 turnovers in a 16 week season is the record and I truly believe that we will beat it. Our discipline in this manner and Chad's control of the ball and smarts not to make many mistakes is amazing and is huge in the success of this team. I believe it will continue and if it does, look out!. Just think of those things, all together, how can anyone beat a team with production and discipline in areas like that? Great time of possession, winning the turnover battle, a great running game, a smart error free quarterback, a tough bend but don't break defense who stops the run well and gets after the quarterback and the discipline to make few stupid penalties (most of the season anyways). If that isn't a recipe for ultimate success then I don't know what it!

I should probably wrap this up by now. I'm rambling on quite a bit hear and I know that much of this has be re-hashed over and over in the past few days but I just wanted to say my part for this game and for our play up to this season, taking us towards the post season. This next game is going to be huge, well, they all are. The last home game of the (regular) season, against a team that is playing much better lately but thankfully has their star running back likely out. It's the next step before the two "cold weather" games come 'a callin'. K.C. might be tougher then we think and that final game of the year in New York is going to be a thriller. I just can't wait! This season has been a dream come true and keeps getting better.

Lets keep up the faith and speak the best over this team because they truly have what it takes to make it happen and I believe they will. Lookin forward to Sunday, so I'll wrap this up now. Take er easy and GO PHINS!!