No team or player is perfect. Heck, even Tom Brady makes the occasional bad decision or throw. But the Dolphins are so far from perfect they can’t even see perfect. After Sunday’s 30-28 loss to the Atlanta Falcons, Miami is now 1-6, one of only 5 teams in the NFL with one or zero losses. And the multitude of mistakes they made vs. Atlanta showed why they are a 1-win team.
Some of the mistakes are simple, but impactive none-the-less. Such as defensive tackle Adam Butler busting through the line on 3rd & 3 but failing to wrap up the running back for a 2 yard loss allowing him to get a 1st down, which led to a field goal. On a game decided by a field goal, it turned out to be a huge, missed tackle.
Speaking of field goals, Miami decided to kick a field goal on 4th & 3 from Atlanta’s 31-yard line. First, I’m not sure why head coach Brian Flores opted to kick the field goal instead of going for it. It’s not like a 49-yard field goal is a chip shot. It just continued Flores conservative approach when it comes to going for it on 4th down. And to make matters worse, the field goal was blocked when Miami’s interior line allowed penetration. Two mistakes for the price of one that cost Miami 3 or possibly 7 points.
Perhaps the biggest mistake of the game was when Miami was in the red zone late in the 2nd quarter and QB Tua Tagovailoa inexplicably threw a pass into the endzone when receiver Jaylen Waddle was surrounded by multiple Falcons’ defenders which resulted in an interception. Despite there being less than a minute remaining in the half, Atlanta QB Matt Ryan marched them down the field for a field goal. What could have been 3 or 7 points for the Dolphins resulted in 3 points for the Falcons.
In case you haven’t been keeping track, that is 3 mistakes that potentially had a 20-point effect in the 1st half alone.
But the mistakes weren’t limited to the 1st half. A 1st down run by Myles Gaskin was negated by a holding call on guard Austin Jackson. Instead of it being 1st & 10 on the Fins 25-yard line, it was 3rd & 11 from the 11-yard line and Miami ended up having to punt. This was one of Miami’s 6 penalties in the game whereas Atlanta only had 3.
Tagovailoa also threw another terrible interception in the 2nd half. One play after cornerback Xavien Howard made an incredible interception of a Matt Ryan pass giving Miami excellent field position, Tua made the inexplicable decision to flip the ball forward as he was being tackled. The pass went right to Falcons defender Foyesade Oloukun who returned it 56 yards to the Miami 14-yard line. Atlanta scored a touchdown 3 plays later. What was another opportunity for Miami to score points turned into a TD for Atlanta.
Despite all these mistakes, Tua’s 4th touchdown pass of the game gave Miami a 28-27 lead with 2:27 left in the game. A Dolphins win was in sight, but the same defense that allowed Atlanta to march down the field at the end of the 1st half to get a field goal allowed them to do it again. Following the kickoff, the Falcons used up the entire clock and kicker Younghoe Koo kicked a game winning 36-yard field goal.
Oh well, there is always next week. Oops, next week takes the Fins to Buffalo, so a 7th straight loss is likely.
Other takeaways from today’s game were:
- Miami won the time of possession 34:38 to 25:22.
- Miami had 27 1st downs vs. 21 for Atlanta. They also converted 7 off 11 3rd downs while holding Atlanta to 6 of 13.
- The Dolphins had their best rushing game of the year garnering 132 yards on 29 carries for a 4.6 yard per carry average. Gaskin led Miami with 67 yards on 15 carries. And for the 2nd week in a row, they held their opponent to under 100 yards rushing as Atlanta only had 72 yards on 22 carries for a 3.3 per yard carry.
- In addition to opening holes for the running game, the offensive line only allowed 1 sack of Tua. This was a week after allowing no sacks vs. Jacksonville, so hopefully this means the O-line is getting its act together. That said, keep in mind that the Jaguars & Falcons have only won 4 games combined with 2 of those wins coming against Miami. The Bills defense will provide a different kind of challenge next Sunday in Buffalo.
- Other than the 2 interceptions, which were HUGE mistakes, Tua had a strong game going 32-40 for 291 yards and 4 TDs. He also ran 4 times for 29 yards including one run where he ran over/alluded the Falcons defender to pick up a key 1st down as part of a 90-yard touchdown drive. The one downside to Tua’s 4 TD passes is that only covered 27 yards. Big plays still aren’t a part of Miami’s offense.
- Tight-end Mike Gesicki had another strong game with 7 receptions for 85 yards and a touchdown. Waddle chipped in with 7 catches for 83 yards. The other TD receptions were by Isaiah Ford, Mack Hollins and Gaskin.
- Matt Ryan had a big day for Atlanta going 25-40 for 336 yards, 2 TDs and 1 interception. He also had 1 fumble, which was a result of a great play by Miami defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah, who stripped him of the ball from behind as he was running downfield.
- Miami’s pass rush left much to be desired as Ryan was rarely under pressure and was sacked only once.
- Miami’s defense continues to be porous. During their 6-game losing streak they have given up an average 31.8 points per game. Through week 7 they have given up 207 points, 2nd worst in the NFL behind only Washington.
- Falcons rookie tight-end Kyle Pitts had a big game with 7 receptions for 163 yards including several long plays.
- Once again, the Miami play calling leaned toward the conservative until they again found themselves behind late in the game. With around 12:30 left in the game and trailing 27-14, Miami took the shackles off Tua and he almost immediately completed two long passes to tight-ends Durham Smythe and Gesicki as part of a long touchdown drive. Why they always wait so long to open up the offense is another coaching decision I just don’t get.
- Miami has now lost three games on game ending field goals. With a little luck they could have a few more wins, but sometimes you need to make your own luck. But unfortunately, Miami is an unlucky, or some people would say, a bad football team.
- Punter Michael Palardy had probably his best game of the season averaging 51.3 yards per punt on 3 punts.
- Miami’s point differential is a minus 80 through the 1st seven games, which is the 3rd worst in the league behind only Houston and the New York Jets.
- Linebacker Jerome Baker (knee), RB Malcom Brown (quad) and defensive back Jason McCourty (foot) all left the game with injuries and didn’t return. No updates available yet on the extent of the injuries.
- WR Preston Williams had a disappointing game. Given an opportunity with the injuries to Will Fuller and DeVante Parker, he caught only 1 pass for 5 yards and had a couple of drops.
With the 2021 season basically over at least in regard to making the playoffs, Miami now needs to focus on making incremental improvements each week. Both for individual players and position groups. The entire defense needs to improve and the improvements for Tua and the offensive line needs to continue.
Week 8 against Buffalo will be a huge challenge and what, if anything, Miami management decides to do in the next 9 days with the November 2nd trade deadline looming will be very interesting. There will be a lot of rumors to be sure and not all will involve Deshaun Watson. Stay tuned Dolfans!
