Game Thoughts: Week 6: Redskins at Dolphins

The tank continues, as the Dolphins fell to the Redskins in a battle of winless teams. Despite a late push, the Phins lost 17-16 on a failed 2-point conversion.

The Redskins set the tone early, with a defensive gameplan designed to pressure Miami QB Josh Rosen early and often. The plan worked, as Rosen and the Dolphins’ OL had no answers. Rosen made poor decisions (2 INTs) and every lineman gave up multiple pressures. Rookie LG Michael Dieter was particularly awful, especially early. The end result was just 85 passing yards for Rosen, including 0 in the first quarter. Absolutely pathetic. The run game was inconsistent, but did show life at times.

Rosen was so bad, and took such a beating, that the coaches pulled him and inserted Ryan Fitzpatrick at QB. Fitz immediately injected the team and the crowd with energy, and led a TD drive on his first drive. (Those were the first points Miami has scored in the second half this season.) Compared to Rosen, Fitz clearly has a better command of the huddle, reads the D better, and displays more energy and leadership. The biggest difference between the two in my opinion: Rosen plays like a scared rabbit, and Fitz has a fearless never-say-die attitude and competes every single down. As I said in a text to my brother today, Rosen’s demeanor and body language just scream “loser”. We got to see some “Fitzmagic” late in the game, but ultimately it wasn’t enough.

RB Mark Walton played a lot of snaps and got a lot of touches both as a runner and receiver, resulting in a solid if unspectacular day, gaining 75 total yards. Kenyan Drake added 70 total yards, but did drop a pass on the Phins’ final play, the 2-point conversion attempt, which probably wouldn’t have been a score anyway. Kalen Ballage scored the lone Dolphins TD, with a 1-yard run on that first Fitzpatrick drive. The Phins experimented with using tackle Isaiah Prince as a big TE, which did provide a little extra push in the run game.

TE Mike Gesicki had an excellent 30-yard catch on a pass thrown behind him with a defender in his face on the final drive. DeVante Parker was quiet, but did get a TD at the end to put the Phins in position to win.

The defense played stout run D on the first 2 drives, before allowing Adrian Peterson to run wild for the rest of the game. The pass D, missing CB Xavien Howard, was exploited by Case Keenum and rookie sensation WR Terry McLaurin. McLaurin finished with 100 yards and 2 TDs. The Phins blitzed more in an attempt to wake up the anemic pass rush, with mixed success. LB Vince Biegel did get a couple of nice pressures, though. DB Nik Needham, just called up from the practice squad, had a nice pass defensed on a third down play in the 2nd quarter. CB Jomal Wiltz made a couple of nice plays.

The most exciting play in the game came on a 4th down late in 1st quarter. The Phins lined up for a punt, then got out of the formation and lined up with Haack at QB. Ballage went in motion in front of Haack, took the snap and ran for a first down. The play featured a great block by Deon Lacey. But of course, this is the Dolphins we’re talking about…so that drive ended in a punt.

Preston Williams had a great 20-yard punt return late in the game, but again, the ensuing drive ended in a punt after a bad snap by center Daniel Kilgore on a 3rd down play.

Special teams was strong, with some excellent punting by Matt Haack, great coverage, and a FG by Jason Sanders.

Quick note on coaching…I was impressed with the Dolphins’ clock management and use of timeouts, as well as timing with the fake punt and a couple of onsides kicks, and I definitely liked the 2-point attempt to try to win the game. The team never quit, and really showed a lot of heart in the 4th quarter. The Phins continue to do a good job with penalties, with just 5 today.

Overall, despite gaining less than 300 yards of offense and allowing 145 rushing yards on defense, I thought the Phins played a decent game. I definitely saw some development and positives from the young players, and the team displayed some fight.

Hero of the Game: Ryan Fitzpatrick. Coming off the bench, Fitz led the team to 2 TD drives and injected the team with energy.

Goat of the Game: Josh Rosen. Just a pitiful performance all around.

Beer of the Game: Moosehead, an old favorite that I haven’t had in a long time. The Moose is loose on Long Island!!

Tua Watch: Future Dolphins’ QB Tua Tagovailoa went 21 for 34 for 293 yards and 4 TDs and his first INT of the year in Alabama’s 47-28 win over Texas A & M.

Two plays I forgot to mention on that final drive: great catch by Hurns for a first down, and a very nice run for a first by Fitz.

Yeah, Rosen looked like he would rather be anywhere else than playing football yesterday. It really was amazing to see how the entire stadium changed when Fitz came in - the crowd got into it, the players looked like they had woken up from a trance, the coaches got more aggressive. Judging by that, I'd say that no one has any confidence in Rosen right now...not even Rosen himself.

And yes, Gesicki is the most awkward-looking football player I've seen...just seems completely non-athletic...even though he's an athlete. Still, it was great to see him get involved in the passing game.

That 2-point play was disastrous, but I definitely wanted to go for it. I would have tried the old play-action, hit the TE in the back of the endzone play - or even throw a jump ball (NOT a fade...) to Williams.

Now that Albert Wilson is back, OC Chad O'Shea needs to call some quick slants. We didn't really have a slant runner without Wilson, so now that he's back I think slants need to be a big part of the offense. That can really help when your OL is struggling.