Game Thoughts: Week 4: Chargers at Dolphins

Another week, another blowout loss. This game was similar to last week’s loss to the Cowboys, in that the Dolphins played pretty good and kept the score close in the first half, but couldn’t do anything right in the second half.

Josh Rosen looked good early, connecting on a beautiful 34-yard TD pass to DeVante Parker to give the Dolphins their first and only lead of the season. Rosen moved well and made some nice decisions and passes in the first half, but was awful in the second half. He continues to hold the ball too long, and on one play nearly took a sack for a safety because he chose not to throw it away. He is still slow to read coverage and identify blitzes.

The new-look OL , featuring J’Marcus Webb at LT, Evan Boehm at RG and rookie Isaiah Prince at RT, was excellent in the first half, giving Rosen a clean pocket and opening holes in the running game. They weren’t nearly as good in the second half, but overall I was pleasantly surprised.

The running game came to life a bit, with Kenyan Drake averaging 5 yards a carry and Mark Walton having a couple of nice runs. Kalen Ballage dropped ANOTHER pass and was benched.

The WRs were mostly quiet, though DeVante Parker did catch 4 passes for 70 yards and the excellent TD mentioned earlier. Preston Williams didn’t do much, and Isaiah Ford caught a pass in his first game this season. The TEs were nearly invisible, and Mike Gesicki was a complete non-factor.

The defense was excellent against the run, holding the Chargers to under 80 yards and allowing just 3.3 yards a carry to starting RB Austin Ekeler. Unfortunately, Phillip Rivers carved up the defense to the tune of 310 yards, 2 TDs and an 80% completion rate. There was almost no pass rush at all the entire game, and Rivers was able to find open receivers with ease. Frustratingly, the Phins were great on first and second down, but just couldn’t get a stop on 3rd down - especially 3rd and long. Phins’ CB Eric Rowe was a frequent victim. I think this D could actually be very good if they could generate any pass rush at all, but they just don’t have the horses.

Adding insult to injury, kicker Jason Sanders missed two 50+ yard field goals.

Overall, despite the loss, I did see some progress today. Early on, the offense actually looked like a legitimate NFL offense, with a decent running game and strong OL effort, and efficient third down conversions. The run defense was great for the entire game. The Phins entered the game as the second least penalized team in the NFL, and only had 5 today. I also thought the coaches called a good game, especially on offense. So, yeah, even in another ugly loss I did see some positives. Something to build on as we head to a bye week.



Hero of the Game: I guess I’ll give it to DeVante Parker. Honorable mention to Taco Charlton, who had a sack and played a pretty good game, and Isaiah Prince, who really held his own in his first NFL game.

Goat of the Game: Jason Sanders, for missing two long but makeable FGs that could have kept the Dolphins in the game. Unacceptable.

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

Tua Watch: Future Dolphins’ QB Tua Tagovailoa went 26 for 36 for 418 yards and 6 TDs, along with a rushing TD, in Alabama’s 59-31 win over Ole Miss.

Forgot to mention that Raekwon McMillan had a very strong game in run defense, including one huge hit on Ekeler for no gain.

Other stat line, 163-26. It can't stay that bad. Maybe.

the problem is there are no adjustments in the second half. Miami have to find a way to change things up in the second half to keep the game close

I don't think it's lack of adjustments. I just think other teams are now sleeping on the Dolphins, and when they remember it's still professional football and they could lose, even to an historically shitty team, they wake up and bury them.

Degarmo wrote:I don't think it's lack of adjustments.  I just think other teams are now sleeping on the Dolphins, and when they remember it's still professional football and they could lose, even to an historically shitty team, they wake up and bury them.

Yeah, that does seem to be the case. Clearly, the other teams are adjusting at halftime and our adjustments don't match up. Both Dallas and San Diego's defenses didn't send much pressure early but blitzed the hell out of us in the second half. We did adjust by going to max protect in both games, but even with the extra blockers we just couldn't keep the pcoket clean. So you have only 2-3 receivers running routes with Rosen under pressure...it's a recipe for failure.

I don't know the answer...it's hard to blame the coaches in this case, because they DID adjust. It's just a total breakdown in pass protection on one side of the ball and pass defense on the other. And in these last two games, the problem was made worse by the fact that the Miami offense hardly had the ball at all in the second half, and the score got out of hand - so we had to abandon the running game and become one-dimensional. It becomes a vicious circle, where the defense can't get off the feld and the offense can't stay on the field, and we don't have the talent to stop it.

Honorable mentions for Goats of the Game:

Reshad Jones for leaving his man in coverage on a River's scramble resulting in a TD. when asked what he was thinking on that play, Reshad responded with, "I thought he had passed the line of scrimmage." umm, ok, dude was 3 yards short of the line when he threw it. and then on a the poor angle and lack of effort (as in no effort) on Ekeler's catch and run down the sideline to the endzone, Jones clearly made a "business decision" in the fake whiff tackle attempt. i get that his was a little rusty, but come on man, you're the highest paid player on the team.

and can the Phins just admit that the Ballage experiment is a failure or at the very least, stop throwing him passes - or even putting him in on passing downs.

and finally, good thing this front office had the foresight to lock up Grant to a 4 year/$6M per extension. i'm just not sure where else they might be able to find the negative rushing yards and couple of 5 yard passes this 5'6" speedster provides the offense.

and X Howard, that's two less than stellar games in a row now. remind me again, how many interceptions has he got since signing that big deal?

mercury22nathan wrote:Honorable mentions for Goats of the Game:

Reshad Jones for leaving his man in coverage on a River's scramble resulting in a TD.  when asked what he was thinking on that play, Reshad responded with, "I thought he had passed the line of scrimmage."  umm, ok, dude was 3 yards short of the line when he threw it.  and then on a the poor angle and lack of effort (as in no effort) on Ekeler's catch and run down the sideline to the endzone, Jones clearly made a "business decision" in the fake whiff tackle attempt.  i get that his was a little rusty, but come on man, you're the highest paid player on the team.

and can the Phins just admit that the Ballage experiment is a failure or at the very least, stop throwing him passes - or even putting him in on passing downs.

and finally, good thing this front office had the foresight to lock up Grant to a 4 year/$6M per extension.  i'm just not sure where else they might be able to find the negative rushing yards and couple of 5 yard passes this 5'6" speedster provides the offense.

and X Howard, that's two less than stellar games in a row now.  remind me again, how many interceptions has he got since signing that big deal?

Jones had an up and down game, some good and some bad...I'll chalk it up to rust, but really he's been inconsistent for some time now.

Ballage just looks like a disaster.  He got benched, and Walton played decent...so unless something changes during the bye, I think Walton could overtake him permanently.

Grant flat out sucks.  I never liked him, and he has simply not gotten any better (maybe worse) over the course of his career.  Fortunately, his contract makes him easy to cut.

X wasn't perfect, but he covered Keenan Allen all day and Allen ended up with less than 50 yards receiving and no TDs. And Allen was only targeted 6 times. So I consider that a big win for X.

I would start TE Nick O'Leary. Is he still on the team?

When does Mike Gesicki start getting labeled BUST?

finfanatic wrote:I would start TE Nick O'Leary. Is he still on the team?

If I had to guess just from watching on TV, I would say that O'Leary got more snaps than any other TE...but I could be wrong. He definitely plays a good amount.

JEGnj wrote:When does Mike Gesicki start getting labeled BUST?

He's on his way!  At least against the Cowboys, I saw him open a couple of times and Rosen didn't throw to him...so who knows.  But part of the problem this year is that we have to go to maximum protection so often, so that means Gesicki isn't on the field...or if he is, he's not going out for passes.

JMP wrote:Jason Sanders, for missing two long but makeable FGs that could have kept the Dolphins in the game.  Unacceptable.

hmmm...

Sanders had a poor field goal percentage in college but former special teams coach Darren Rizzi straightened that out in 2018 and Sanders was excellent as a rookie, connecting on 18 of 20 kicks (90 percent). Rizzi moved on to New Orleans. And now Sanders is 4 of 7 ( 57 percent) and 0-for-4 on kicks of 40 yards and beyond.

https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/armando-salguero/article235624237.html

coincidence?

JEGnj wrote:When does Mike Gesicki start getting labeled BUST?

well...

Mike Gesicki played 26 (and was PFF’s lowest-graded Dolphin on offense) and O’Leary played 24 and was PFF’s highest-graded player on offense...

https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/barry-jackson/article235560607.html

just saying.

mercury22nathan wrote:

JMP wrote:Jason Sanders, for missing two long but makeable FGs that could have kept the Dolphins in the game.  Unacceptable.

hmmm...

Sanders had a poor field goal percentage in college but former special teams coach Darren Rizzi straightened that out in 2018 and Sanders was excellent as a rookie, connecting on 18 of 20 kicks (90 percent). Rizzi moved on to New Orleans. And now Sanders is 4 of 7 ( 57 percent) and 0-for-4 on kicks of 40 yards and beyond.

https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/armando-salguero/article235624237.html

coincidence?

Very interesting. I thought Sanders was a wasted pick when he was drafted, because he wasn't particularly good in college. He did have a solid rookie season, but has now apparently regressed to form. Losing Rizzi could definitely be a factor.

mercury22nathan wrote:

JEGnj wrote:When does Mike Gesicki start getting labeled BUST?

well...

Mike Gesicki played 26 (and was PFF’s lowest-graded Dolphin on offense) and O’Leary played 24 and was PFF’s highest-graded player on offense...

https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/barry-jackson/article235560607.html

just saying.

Yeah, not a good look for Gesicki when he barely has more snaps than O'Leary. Again, I think part of it is that we have to use max protect so often...so that takes Gesicki out of the gameplan. But it's pretty sad to have a big muscular, athletic TE that can't block at all. It really limits his usage in this Patriots-style offense. Gronk was one of the best receiving TEs ever - and was also one of the best blocking TEs of his era. That's what this offense needs.