Some wins in the NFL are a thing of beauty. Some wins are ugly. Yesterday’s 17-16 Dolphins win over the Patriots was probably somewhere in between. But the important thing is that a win is a win! No need for apologies. Take the win and move on.
Some people probably feel the Fins were lucky to win this game as the Pats appeared to dominate the game. New England had 24 1 st downs to Miami’s 16. They outgained Miami 393 yards to 259 while also dominating the time of possession 36:43 to 23:17.
But do you know why Miami won this game? And it had nothing to do with luck. They held the Pats to 1 touchdown and forced the Patriots to settle for field goals 3 times. Miami only turned the ball over once while New England turned it over twice including the huge fumble by Damien Harris deep in Miami territory late in the game. And Miami only had 5 penalties for 28 yards while New England had 8 for 84 yards.
If you win the turnover battle, have fewer penalties and score touchdowns instead of kicking field goals, you will win a lot of games and that is what Miami did yesterday. It was a close game to be sure, but they won it. No one gave it to them.
Here are some other observations from the game:
- Winning is always the most important thing, but coming in a close 2 nd is injuries. Or I should say a lack thereof. Defensive tackle Raekwon Davis, perhaps the most important defender on the team not named Howard, left the game early with a knee injury. Based on the amount of time he laid on the field, everyone assumed it was a serious injury. But he was seen later wearing a brace while walking the sidelines with his helmet back on. He wanted back in the game, which was good to see. But not knowing the severity of the injury, Miami opted to sit him out the rest of the game. Hopefully the Fins receive good news after doing some tests this week and he won’t be out long, if at all. They need his size & strength in the middle of the D-line to shut down other teams running games.
- Miami’s offensive line was marginal at best, as both the pass protection and run blocking left something to be desired. It’s a young developing line, so fans & coaches will need to be patient.
2 nd round pick Liam Eichenberg started at left tackle in place of Austin Jackson, who missed all of practice this past week while sitting out due to Covid protocols. Offensive linemen tend to only get noticed when they do something wrong, which was the case with Eichenberg. He got bull rushed once resulting in a sack of QB Tua Tagovailoa. He also had a holding penalty that took away a nice run by Tua. Other than that, he was pretty solid in his 1 st NFL start. Too soon to tell who will start at left tackle this week vs. the Bills. Miami may also be considering Eichenberg at left guard, where Solomon Kindley had the worst grade of any of the Fin’s O-
linemen. - Miami needs to improve their 3 rd down efficiency on defense as they allowed the Pats to convert on 11 of their 16 3 rd down attempts. In 2020 the Fins had the best 3 rd down % in the NFL, so let’s hope they revert to last year’s form.
- Miami blitzed rookie QB Mac Jones a lot yesterday, but only had 1 sack to show for it. Jones had a quick release and did a good job of moving around in the pocket. The Dolphins need to put more pressure on the QB, preferably without blitzing so much. As an FYI, in yesterdays Steelers/Bills game, Pittsburgh put pressure on Josh Allen all game, but only blitzed on 2% of the plays meaning there was always 7-8 players back defending against the pass. I mention this because the Fins play Allen & the Bills this Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium. Rookie Linebacker/defensive end Jaelen Phillips needs to get more involved in providing pressure on the QB.
- If you are a fan of “Where’s Waldo?” then you must have had fun searching for Mike Gesicki and Albert Wilson yesterday. With wide receivers Will Fuller and Preston Williams not playing in the
game, it was assumed Gesicki & Wilson would play prominent roles, but they were invisible. They both only played about 40% of the snaps and neither one caught a pass. If the Fins offense is to improve, both of them need to be an integral part of the passing
game. - The Fins offense was conservative on Sunday. Was that because they were playing a tough Bill Belichick defense on the road? Was it because they were missing Fuller & Williams? Was it because they felt the O-line was inexperienced and might struggle? Was it because they didn’t want to put a lot on the shoulders of their young QB, Tua Tagovailoa? Probably a little bit of each. But going forward they need to unleash their playmakers. Fuller, Wilson & Jaylen Waddle (who had a strong 1 st game in the NFL with 4 catches and a TD) are as fast as any wideouts in the league, so they need to utilize that speed while also keeping DeVante Parker & Gesicki involved in the passing game.
Week 2 brings a tough matchup vs. the Buffalo Bills. Miami will need to play better than they did vs. the Patriots if they want to defeat last seasons AFC East champs. But as for week 1, a win is a win. No apologies necessary.
