Game Thoughts: Week 3: Dolphins at Cowboys

The Josh Rosen era began today for the Dolphins, and it looked a lot like the Ryan Fitzpatrick era.

The Dolphins played very tough in the first half, but couldn’t score and ultimately fell apart after halftime. The score at the half was 10-6 Cowboys, and the final score was 31-6…so you can see just how bad things got.

Rosen began the game on a high note, completing his second pass on a long bomb to DeVante Parker, who made a beautiful one-handed catch. Unfortunately, Rosen spent most of the game running for his life behind the putrid Miami OL, and he was plagued by multiple drops from Parker, Preston Williams, Jakeem Grant and Kenyan Drake.

The first half was a series of blown opportunities. Drake lost a fumble inside the 10 as the Dolphins tried to score late in the half, and Williams couldn’t hang on to a would-be TD earlier. To add insult to injury, Jason Sanders missed a FG and the Phins recovered an onsides kick that was negated due to a completely bogus offsides penalty. On the OL - Jesse Davis went out early with an injury, forcing rookie Michael Dieter to move to LT and Evan Boehm stepped in at LG. The OL was surprisingly decent in the first half, allowing zero sacks. Unfortunately, they completely imploded in the 3rd quarter, allowing non-stop pressure and a bunch of sacks, and couldn’t run block at all.

Rosen’s numbers were absolutely dreadful, but in fairness it is really difficult to judge his performance due to the horrific OL and the absolutely garbage backs, receivers and TEs surrounding him. Rosen did an excellent job of avoiding pressure and moving around in the pocket, and he made some nice passes, but at the end of the day he couldn’t put any points on the board.

The defense turned in a great bend-but-don’t break performance in the first half, but absolutely sucked in the second half, getting destroyed by both the run and pass. This team has literally no pass rush whatsoever, and it makes things impossible for the DBs. And the run D is awful; the Cowboys rolled up over 230 rushing yards.

So, yeah, another ugly ass-kicking. On the plus side, the OL and secondary were both impressive early, and the offense had a bunch of scoring opportunities and actually ran 2 successful screen passes. But the second half was absolutely brutal in all phases of the game.

Hero of the Game: For the second week in a row, I could not identify a “hero”. All the players that did good things also did bad things, so no prize from me.

Goats of the Game: Kenyan Drake, for the brutal red zone fumble, and Jakeem Grant, for dropping multiple passes and muffing a punt.

Beer of the Game: Wave Chaser IPA (Montauk Brewing Company)

Tua Watch: Future Dolphins’ QB Tua Tagovailoa went 17 for 21 with 293 yards and 5 TDs in Alabama’s 49-7 win over Southern Mississippi.

BTW - Allen Hurns was knocked out of the game very early after a brutal hit by a Cowboys defender. It was absolutely an illegal helmet to helmet hit, but wasn't called. Hope he's OK...looked like an instant concussion.

that the second call the refs missed today in the NFL.

Ok, back from the game.

O-line did look better, at least in pass protection, but the running lanes weren't there even before Davis and Isidora went out with injuries. After they did, practically every pass that Rosen did get to attempt was being batted back in his face.

Drops notwithstanding, I think Preston Williams will be a big part of this team when it is winning again.

We actually had opportunities in the first half, but missing the FG and fumbling the ball away inside the 10 ended that.

As mentioned, hard to evaluate Rosen based on this. I saw some nice passes and some not-so-nice ones. Fitzpatrick did a nice job keeping a drive going during a brief absence.

And yes, the hit on Hurns should have been called. Cowboys had a lot of stupid penalties today outside of it.

Hey Hal - how is Jerry World? Is it as awesome as they say?

JMP wrote:Hey Hal - how is Jerry World?  Is it as awesome as they say?

Well, it's a nice stadium. Looks highly inspired by the Texans' home. Scoreboard is awesome and there isn't a bad seat in the place.

Also it wasn't nearly the hassle to get out that I thought it would be.

Everything is insanely overpriced, though.

i agree with your goats of the game. especially Drake. if you're going to let it out there that you're not happy with your role on the team, you can't then also be the guy to drop the ball inside the 10. and what the hell is with the drops on this team? Parker opens the game with an amazing one handed grab and then on the drive where Drake fumbled, he previously dropped an easy pass right in his mitts inside the redzone. and damn, how many TDs is Preston Williams gonna let slip through his hands? converting only 20% of 3rd downs and going 0 for 3 in the redzone is no way to run an offense.

i don't understand the Phins run defense, or lack thereof. the d-line gets rolled up so easy and there are absolutely no LBers filling the gaps. the Cowboys RBs were well into the secondary before anyone came close enough to sneeze in them. the Phins gave up 7 yards per rush. and i've been all about X. Howard, but lets be honest, he had a bad game. Cooper burned him for 2 TDs and caught 6 of his 7 targets with Howard shadowing him.

while its nice (i think) to know this team is trying to secure the chance to grab a future franchise QB, this team needs so much more. hopefully all them picks and FA cash will deliver.

mercury22nathan wrote:i agree with your goats of the game.  especially Drake.  if you're going to let it out there that you're not happy with your role on the team, you can't then also be the guy to drop the ball inside the 10.  and what the hell is with the drops on this team?  Parker opens the game with an amazing one handed grab and then on the drive where Drake fumbled, he previously dropped an easy pass right in his mitts inside the redzone.  and damn, how many TDs is Preston Williams gonna let slip through his hands?  converting only 20% of 3rd downs and going 0 for 3 in the redzone is no way to run an offense.  

i don't understand the Phins run defense, or lack thereof.  the d-line gets rolled up so easy and there are absolutely no LBers filling the gaps.  the Cowboys RBs were well into the secondary before anyone came close enough to sneeze in them.  the Phins gave up 7 yards per rush.  and i've been all about X. Howard, but lets be honest, he had a bad game.  Cooper burned him for 2 TDs and caught 6 of his 7 targets with Howard shadowing him.

while its nice (i think) to know this team is trying to secure the chance to grab a future franchise QB, this team needs so much more.  hopefully all them picks and FA cash will deliver.  

The drops are so frustrating, and I don't get it. Almost every drop this season has been on an easily catchable pass. It just makes no sense. Williams is the most frustrating of all, because he has SO much talent and it seems like he just can't finish the catch process. The Dolphins should order a bunch more jugs machines and have these players working overtime with them.

The run D is VERY concerning. The DL isn't strong at the point of attack and the LBs and DBs can't fill in the gaps. I've been lenient with the coaching staff so far because there's just no talent on this team, but they need to come up with something to at least slow the bleeding.

mercury22nathan wrote:i've been all about X. Howard, but lets be honest, he had a bad game.  Cooper burned him for 2 TDs and caught 6 of his 7 targets with Howard shadowing him.

hmmm...

The Cowboys beat them by repeating throwing at Xavien Howard, with rare success.

On Sunday, Cooper torched Howard for two touchdowns, finishing with 88 yards on six catches

The longest? A 37-yard catch on a double move that fooled Howard so badly, he wasn’t within 10 yards of the Cowboys wideout when the ball arrived. It came on Dallas’ first offensive snap.

“S---, they set me up good,” Howard said afterward. “[Hats] off to them.”

Howard added: “I didn’t have my best game this game. Very frustrated with everything that’s going on right now, so just got to keep moving.”

That frustration reached its boiling point with four minutes left in regulation, and it got him kicked out of the game. Howard and reserve Cowboys receiver Cedrick Wilson got into a shoving match and officials believed he crossed the line by slapping Wilson’s facemask.

https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/nfl/miami-dolphins/article235368642.html

he didn't say he was frustrated by the game, but rather by, "everything that’s going on right now." perhaps another player that is not happy with this new staff?

but the last person who needs to be yapping about X. Howard...

...said Dolphins running back Kenyan Drake. “X got thrown out of the game for whatever reason. Obviously, it was warranted for him to get thrown out of the game. He’s got to use his head a little bit better for that situation.”

hey Kenyan, maybe you need to hang on to the ball "a little better for that situation."

JMP wrote:

The drops are so frustrating, and I don't get it.  Almost every drop this season has been on an easily catchable pass.  It just makes no sense.  Williams is the most frustrating of all, because he has SO much talent and it seems like he just can't finish the catch process.  The Dolphins should order a bunch more jugs machines and have these players working overtime with them.

The run D is VERY concerning.  The DL isn't strong at the point of attack and the LBs and DBs can't fill in the gaps.  I've been lenient with the coaching staff so far because there's just no talent on this team, but they need to come up with something to at least slow the bleeding.

Make all receivers play one game without those gloves on. I've had a theory about that for years. I don't care how "tactile" they are, I believe they hurt more than they help.

We have nothing up front on the DL. This team is one of the worst in NFL history, with a rookie coach to boot. I have seen no positives that are worthy of mention, just some minor things that may or may not continue.