Game Thoughts: Week 14: Dolphins at Jets

The Dolphins lost a heartbreaker in New Jersey today, falling to the Jets 22-21 on a last-second FG.

The Dolphins trailed all game, but kept chipping away and took the lead late in the 4th quarter behind Jason Sanders’ team-record 7th FG of the day. Unfortunately, the Dolphin defense could not contain the Jets and they marched down field for the winning kick.

Surprisingly, the Dolphins ran the ball for 122 yards against the Jets’ top-ranked run defense, which had allowed just 75 rushing yards per game entering the day. Most of Miami’s running yards came from Ryan Fitzpatrick, who scrambled for 65 yards. Patrick Laird added 48 yards on the ground.

While Fitzpatrick did complete 21 passes and threw for 245 yards, the passing game struggled without receivers DeVante Parker and Albert Wilson, both of whom left the game in the first half with concussions. Isaiah Ford stepped up with 6 catches for 92 yards, and Allen Hurns had 5 catches for 68 yards. Despite a ton of red zone opportunities the Dolphins’ offense simply could not find the end zone.

The highlights on defense were an excellent INT by Steven Parker that he returned for 35 yards, and rookie Andrew Van Ginkel recording his first NFL sack on the Jets’ final drive. Vince Biegel had a big day with 9 tackles and 2 tackles for loss. Unfortunately, despite allowing just 6 points in the second half, the Miami defense didn’t make enough impact plays. The game was lost when Nik Needham committed pass interference on that last drive, on a Jets’ 3rd and 18 attempt while outside of FG range. The penalty put the Jets in range and the rest is history.

This was a really tough loss for the Dolphins. They never gave up and fought hard all game, but in the end the offense couldn’t get in the endzone and the defense just wasn’t good enough.

Hero of the Game: Jason Sanders, who successfully converted 7 of 8 FG attempts.

Goat of the Game: Nik Needham, who blew the game with the costly penalty at the end of the game.

Beer of the Game: Heineken

RIDICULOUS!!! PREPOSTEROUS!!! DOWNRIGHT LUDICROUS!!!

You forgot to add that the PI at the end wasn't called, but was overturned on review in a season where around 92% of PI reviews have NOT been overturned no matter how obvious it was

Oh well, at least the Falcons won to make that first pick a little higher and the Bills lost.

Bleh.

the pass interference review is so trash it not even funny. That is the worst concept on the planet right now

I will even make the argument that this is the single most absurdly ridiculous and lucky win by the Jets in the history of the series, and that covers a LOT of territory. Prove me wrong.

Well, on the positive side, if anyone says the Dolphins are tanking, you can point out that call.

Degarmo wrote:Well, on the positive side, if anyone says the Dolphins are tanking, you can point out that call.

Also, the NFL's sudden decision to suspend Walton after the Jets win when they'd been sitting on that info for months. I mean yeah, he wound up fully justifying it but at that time nobody had any way of knowing he'd go off the rails like he did.

But you can't count on the media to give a damn about piddly insignificant things like the truth these days...

DolFan 316 wrote:

You forgot to add that the PI at the end wasn't called, but was overturned on review in a season where around 92% of PI reviews have NOT been overturned no matter how obvious it was

I didn't mention it because I thought it was PI, and IMO the refs eventually made the correct call.

IDK JMP, he didn't twist him to the point where he could catch the ball and besides if you touch one of them in mid-air they have enough body control to turn themselves.

rightchea wrote:IDK JMP, he didn't twist him to the point where he could catch the ball and besides if you touch one of them in mid-air they have enough body control to turn themselves.

You can usually get away with an arm on the back, but to me it looked like Needham grabbed the shoulder. That made it PI in my view.

It was a close call either way, so I don't have a problem with it. I've pretty much given up on complaining about calls - it's just part of the game.

JMP wrote:...but in the end the offense couldn’t get in the endzone and the defense just wasn’t good enough.

that's it in a nut shell. the Phins couldn't sniff the endzone with 6 trips to the redzone. Gesicki was targeted 5 times but came away with only 1 reception for 6 yards. with Parker and Wilson out, it would've been nice if the TE could've some how stepped up, especially in the redzone. i was very impressed with the utility that Laird showed. and again, the OL shuffling seems to have really hurt the protection and run blocking schemes - can they not just pick the young guys (Dieter and Calhoun) and leave them in there and let them learn?

there was very little pass rush (why was Taco inactive?) and the patchwork secondary is what it is - and played like it. the defense just couldn't come up with a play when they needed it the most. well, actually, they did. Van Ginkel sacked Darnold on that final drive to seemingly put the next-to-final nail in the coffin. but of course, Needham did indeed turn the receiver with a hand tugging the shoulder. the way it was called (video review) may be controversial, but it was the correct call. but it probably should've never come down to all of this. the previous play on the drive in which the Jets' Smith went 37 yards down the sideline was the killer. Needham came on a corner blitz. Like the aggressiveness in the call, but... Parker then went for the pass breakup and whiffed. then Colbert took a horrible angle and completely missed on a tackle attempt. those two, especially Colbert, contributed to the failure on the final drive as much as Needham's PI.

mercury22nathan wrote:

JMP wrote:...but in the end the offense couldn’t get in the endzone and the defense just wasn’t good enough.

that's it in a nut shell.  the Phins couldn't sniff the endzone with 6 trips to the redzone.  Gesicki was targeted 5 times but came away with only 1 reception for 6 yards.  with Parker and Wilson out, it would've been nice if the TE could've some how stepped up, especially in the redzone.  i was very impressed with the utility that Laird showed.  and again, the OL shuffling seems to have really hurt the protection and run blocking schemes - can they not just pick the young guys (Dieter and Calhoun) and leave them in there and let them learn?

there was very little pass rush (why was Taco inactive?) and the patchwork secondary is what it is - and played like it.  the defense just couldn't come up with a play when they needed it the most.  well, actually, they did.  Van Ginkel sacked Darnold on that final drive to seemingly put the next-to-final nail in the coffin.  but of course, Needham did indeed turn the receiver with a hand tugging the shoulder.  the way it was called (video review) may be controversial, but it was the correct call.  but it probably should've never come down to all of this.  the previous play on the drive in which the Jets' Smith went 37 yards down the sideline was the killer.  Needham came on a corner blitz.  Like the aggressiveness in the call, but...  Parker then went for the pass breakup and whiffed.  then Colbert took a horrible angle and completely missed on a tackle attempt.  those two, especially Colbert, contributed to the failure on the final drive as much as Needham's PI.  

Great post, merc.

I'm really liking Laird - he is a 'do it all' back and just seems to play 100% every down. Once we have a legit starting RB in place, Laird will be an ideal complementary back/role player. I initially thought he would be a Rex Burkhead-type, but the more I see the more I think he could become our James White.

And you are correct - though I singled out Needham as the goat for the PI, the real backbreaker was that 37-yard completion. You just can't let that happen.

It sucks that we don't have any legit pass rushing DEs. It really limits what the D can do. We can only get pressure when we blitz, but the secondary isn't good enough to cover when the blitz doesn't get to the QB. Solving the 'pressure problem' on defense is right up there with fixing the OL as far as offseason priorities.

I'm also wondering what happened with Charlton / Deiter.

Guessing disciplinary, either they were late or failed on a quiz about the game plan or bad practice, something like that.

i think Charlton has been a decent pass rusher, but rather poor against the run. so i think the Phins gave his base run downs to Avery and Moss and the tried to cover his pass rush duties with Van Ginkel. with no significant role for Charlton, he was a luxury they didn't want to afford given that he doesn't play special teams - note Van Ginkel's significant contribution on special teams.

as for Dieter, i think he's hitting the rookie wall. 4 preseason plus 13 regular season games starts to take a toll on guys who have never played more that 10 or 11 games a year. guys start to lose muscle mass and fatigue begins to take a toll.

Deiter was a dominant run blocker at Wisconsin, one reason Miami drafted him. But Pro Football Focus rates his run-blocking 73rd among 80 qualifying guards this season.

“It’s not as good as it needs to be,” Deiter said. “I would say that about both the running game and pass protection. There’s been good plays and really bad plays. There needs to be way more really good plays and no really bad plays. Eliminate the bone-headed stuff.”

Overall, PFF ranks Deiter 74th among 80 guards. Listed at 6-6 and 310 pounds, Deiter said he will make changes to his body this offseason.

“Definitely, get stronger, get more fit,” he said. “Guge wants you to be as strong as possible and as athletic as possible so you can move people. They will probably want me around the weight I am now, but a different body content.”

https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/barry-jackson/article237836169.html

i doubt he forgot how to be dominant run blocker (unless the Phins somehow coached it out of him), i think he's dealing with the normal rookie struggles with the mental and physical rigors of being a pro. this will be a huge offseason for him. how seriously he takes his nutrition, studying and conditioning will be career defining.

and perhaps the Phins realized that maybe their decision to constantly tinker with the o-line is coming back to bite them.

PFF gave its worst grades to guard Micheal Deiter (who played only nine snaps off the bench), Evan Boehm (who replaced Shaq Calhoun as the starter at right guard) and Keaton Sutherland (who replaced Deiter in the starting lineup at left guard).

Sutherland allowed four pressures and one quarterback hit. Boehm allowed three pressures and three quarterback hits.

https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/barry-jackson/article237836269.html

just saying.

FYI most college teams play 13 games now (12 regular season plus a bowl) and 14 if they reach their conference title game, plus add one more on top of that if they're on Clemson and Alabama and go through 2 playoff games. So the rookie wall shouldn't be nearly as much of an issue as it used to be 20 years ago.

The apparent chasm between D1 level athletics and pro athletics in terms of conditioning and nutrition does astonish me, though.

With Dieter, I think strength/conditioning is a factor - but more importantly, playing next to a mediocre center and a revolving door at LT is clearly not helping him. Rookie interior linemen typically need help - and Dieter is not getting it.