Game Thoughts: Week 11: Bills at Dolphins

The Dolphins entered the game on a 2-game winning streak, but reverted to form with a blowout loss at home to the Bills, 37-20.

The Dolphins played sloppy, undisciplined football for most of the first half, generating almost zero offense for the first quarter and a half and playing very poor D throughout. The Bills scored on their first 4 possessions. But the Phins gained some momentum by forcing a 3 and out on the Bills’ fifth possession, and following that up with a TD drive capped by a Kalen Ballage run. The TD was set up by a 50-yard catch and run by DeVante Parker and a 9-yard reception by Allen Hurns. On the subsequent kickoff, down 16-7, the Phins recovered a perfectly executed onsides kick. On the next play, Ryan Fitzpatrick hit Hurns for a long pass that saw the receiver get inside the Buffalo 30…before fumbling the ball away. That play killed all momentum and was really a back-breaker. The Bills marched downfield for a TD on the next drive, and the game seemed to be over at 23-7. But not so fast: Jakeem Grant showed his blazing speed on a 101-yard kickoff return to cut the score to 23-14 at the half. Grant also had a 50-yard kick return in the 4th quarter. Unfortunately, the Dolphins couldn’t do anything else for the remainder of the game.

The first half was lowlighted by an awful performance by the Miami OL, who were terrible in both run blocking and pass protection. Ballage did absolutely nothing other than the TD, displaying no ability to find holes or break tackles. It was a brutal performance by the OL and RB, and the Dolphins’ offensive output of just 112 total first half yards was pathetic.

The second half featured more of the same: continued Bills’ dominance and an embarrassing performance by the Dolphins. The offense did nothing, and the defense got pushed around. The OL continued to be brutal, allowing 7 sacks and leading the way to just 23 rushing yards. It doesn’t get much worse than that.

The only highlight of the second half was a TD drive that featured back to back wildcat plays, with Ballage lined up at QB. On the first play, Ballage rumbled straight ahead for 7 yards. On the next play, Grant took the handoff from Ballage and ran right for the TD. Other than that, the offense did nothing of note in the entire second half.

The Dolphin defense was just incredibly bad. They couldn’t stop WR John Brown, who rolled up 9 catches for 138 yards and 2 TDs. QB Josh Allen threw for over 250 yards and 3 TDs, and ran for almost 60 yards and a TD. The Bills rolled up over 165 yards on the ground. 0 sacks and just 1 tackle for loss by the Dolphins…it was just one of those days.

The offense was just as bad, not passing 200 yards till almost midway through the 4th quarter. The lone bright spot on offense was Parker, who rather quietly had a monster game with 7 catches for 135 yards. Patrick Laird saw extensive action, especially late, and racked up 6 catches.

And that was it. Another ugly, embarrassing loss for the 2-8 Dolphins.


Hero of the Game: Jakeem Grant, who scored two TDs – one on a 101-yard kick return, and one on a run out of a wildcat formation. Grant also contributed a 50-yard kick return and 3 catches.

Goat of the Game: Allen Hurns, who lost a fumble and dropped a pass a day after signing a contract extension. The fumble destroyed the Dolphins’ only chance to get back in the game. Dishonorable mention to Kalen Ballage, who did nothing as a runner and was piss-poor in pass protection.

Beer of the Game: Founders All Day IPA

Tua Watch: The Tua Watch is over, as Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa suffered a devastating season-ending hip injury yesterday that could threaten his football career.

Oh well. Winning was fun while it lasted. Maybe they can somehow find a way to nab Burrow after all.

It just really pisses me off though that the fucking BILLS are actually going to make the playoffs and win 10 games for the first time this century while not actually beating anybody worth a damn

DolFan 316 wrote:Oh well. Winning was fun while it lasted. Maybe they can somehow find a way to nab Burrow after all.

If I had to guess, I think the Phins will pick # 3 overall. The Bengals will pick a QB at 1 - Burrow or Herbert. The Skins will pick 2 and will take either Andrew Thomas or Chase Young. That means the Phins will be in position to get one of those 4 players...I'm OK with that.

BTW - Herbert has been looking better each week against pressure. I was very impressed with his performance last night. I think he may be the pick if the Bengals don't take him at 1. I was once very anti-Herbert, but I'm really starting to like him a lot and I see improvement from him every game.

If Herbert is 6'6" then he's going to be a bust because there's apparently a rule that all QBs that tall or more must be awful in the NFL. If he's 6'5" then maybe he'll be okay.

Herbert with our first pick or Fromm with one of the later ones is looking like our most likely scenario. I think a team could win with Fromm, but Herbert has better physical tools. And with four years as a starter under his belt, I could definitely see a personnel department that learned under Parcells taking him.

Hopefully he's turned the corner this year. I have never been that impressed. I'd love to be wrong.

Quick thought on the defense. McCain does not need to be a single Safety down field he can not tackle if it save his life. understand that he injured his shoulder, then come out of the game and let Parker take over. He no better but don't make it worse.

Disappointed in Hurns, two drops for first downs and a fumble. He need to be out there today doing all type of catching drills.

HalCHorn wrote:Herbert with our first pick or Fromm with one of the later ones is looking like our most likely scenario.  I think a team could win with Fromm, but Herbert has better physical tools.  And with four years as a starter under his belt, I could definitely see a personnel department that learned under Parcells taking him.

Hopefully he's turned the corner this year.  I have never been that impressed.  I'd love to be wrong.

I think the biggest knock on Herbert was his inability to deal with a pass rush. But I've been keeping an eye on him, and he seems to be really improving in that area. He's been making some great throws with guys in his face, and he has deadly accuracy. He's a bit hard to read because he plays in a very "safe" offense that relies almost entirely on high-percentage plays, but again, he does seem to be getting better at making positive plays when things break down around him. I'm still not entirely sold on him, but IMO he seems to be the best of the bunch.

Part of me really likes Fromm and I think he could be a very good fit for this offense. But I want a playmaker at QB - and Fromm seems to be "only" a game manager. You can win a lot of games with those types of QBs, but can you win it all?? Not sure.

rightchea wrote:Quick thought on the defense. McCain does not need to be a single Safety down field he can not tackle if it save his life. understand that he injured his shoulder, then come out of the game and let Parker take over. He no better but don't make it worse.

Disappointed in Hurns, two drops for first downs and a fumble. He need to be out there today doing all type of catching drills.

Safety is definitely a big area of need. McCain has played better than I expected, and he has taken on a leadership role, but he's really not a safety.

I think Hurns will be fine. He had a bad game, but he clearly knows how to get open and can be a key player for the Phins moving forward.

I saw Herbert play a couple of games as well and think that he would be a good fit for Miami. I also like Jalen Hurts because is a double threat but he needs to do better on his decision making.


Also I know that everyone is kinda disappointed in the way Miami played but Miami beat the Colts who just beat the Jags and the Jets who crushed the Redskins. So we not doing too bad just how things go sometimes

Fitz was sacked 7 times and hit/hurried 14 times. and the O-line allowed 9 tackles for a loss and paved the way for a whopping 23 yards with an average of 1.8 per carry. so tell me again why Prince and Calhoun are inactive healthy scratches? i'm not trying to say either of them are difference makers and i get that Flores wants to put the best 5 out there that give the team the best chance to win, but is the group he keeps sending out there really it? now that the Phins have re-established their losing ways, i see no reason not to get the young players playing time.

ok. so i'm just not letting this go.

And of the seven sacks the Bills collected, five were by interior linemen who have the shortest distance to the QB...

https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/armando-salguero/article237484124.html

cough, cough, Kilgore.

PFF’s three lowest-graded players on offense were Gaskin, Smythe and right guard Evan Boehm.

you mean the spot where Calhoun should've been playing? Boehm actually played his best games this year at center - and certainly played better than Kilgore has. i see no reason not to slide Boehm to center and insert Calhoun at RG. Jesse Davis is a nice journey-man back-up, but he not a better-than-average starting RT. i think its time to let Prince get some snaps.

you gotta realize that Kilgore gives Miami the best opportunity to tank

mercury22nathan wrote:Fitz was sacked 7 times and hit/hurried 14 times.  and the O-line allowed 9 tackles for a loss and paved the way for a whopping 23 yards with an average of 1.8 per carry.  so tell me again why Prince and Calhoun are inactive healthy scratches?  i'm not trying to say either of them are difference makers and i get that Flores wants to put the best 5 out there that give the team the best chance to win, but is the group he keeps sending out there really it?  now that the Phins have re-established their losing ways, i see no reason not to get the young players playing time.  

The only time the running game looked halfway decent this season was when Prince was used as a 6th lineman. Not sure why the coaches have gone away from that.

Also, Davis is really struggling at RT. Time for Prince to get a look IMO.

As for RG - we had some dude named Sutherland playing their Sunday when Boehm went out. Where did he come from??? I'd rather see if Calhoun can develop.

JMP wrote:As for RG - we had some dude named Sutherland playing their Sunday when Boehm went out.  Where did he come from???  I'd rather see if Calhoun can develop.

Sutherland is a rookie (undrafted) who believe it or not has now faced the Bills twice in one season for two different teams. No, I don't get the apparent coaching hate for Calhoun either. Either play the dude or cut him, this is not the time to be keeping young guys glued to the bench!

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/S/SuthKe00.htm

rightchea wrote:you gotta realize that Kilgore gives Miami the best opportunity to tank

Except that by winning 2 in a row the Fins have openly declared to the world that they *aren't* tanking.

My guess is that like so many other mediocre at best NFL players, Kilgore keeps getting playing time based on his "great attitude". Coaches love guys like that so much they'll literally keep forcing them onto the field no matter how awful they actually perform.

DolFan 316 wrote:

rightchea wrote:you gotta realize that Kilgore gives Miami the best opportunity to tank

Except that by winning 2 in a row the Fins have openly declared to the world that they *aren't* tanking.

My guess is that like so many other mediocre at best NFL players, Kilgore keeps getting playing time based on his "great attitude". Coaches love guys like that so much they'll literally keep forcing them onto the field no matter how awful they actually perform.

That's what it is. Kilgore is considered a leader on this team, just like Bobby McCain. So, they keep their jobs. That's how most teams operate.

Kilgore is due to make about $3 million next season, which is pretty cheap for an experienced OL...so unfortunately he might stay. Just have to hope whatever rookie we bring in can unseat him for a starting job.

McCain at $5.5 million could stay as well...

Too many holes to fill in one offseason, but if we can get better players around Kilgore and McCain it will certainly help.