Game 9 thoughts: Chargers at Dolphins

The Dolphins continued their resurgence today with a convincing victory over the Chargers, once again showcasing dominance in all three phases of the game. The Phins now sit at 6-3, trailing the 7-3 Bills by just a half game.

The game began with a perfect example of complimentary football: the defense forced a 3 and out, Andrew Van Ginkel blocked a punt, and Salvon Ahmed scored a TD on the ensuing short drive.

It was all Dolphins from there, though the Chargers did keep it close.

Speaking of Ahmed, the rookie was unbelievable today, igniting a Miami running game that was all but non-existent prior to today. Ahmed finished with 85 yards at 4 yards per carry. He was actually almost at 100 yards before the Chargers keyed on the run late as the Phins ran out the clock. Patrick Laird had a key 17 yard run to help Miami run out the clock.

Tua continued to play well, making some amazing passes and throwing 2 TDs. Tua didn’t need to do much as the running game was working, but he did what he needed to do and played mistake free, winning football.

Jakeem Grant had a monster game, with several great punt returns and scoring Miami’s second TD on a laser from Tua to cap an 88-yard drive.

Tua’s second TD came on a beautiful play design that saw Tua look one way and then come back to hit a wide open Durham Smythe for the score.

The defense struggled at times, particularly against the run, but overall this was another dominant effort. They pressured rookie phenom Justin Herbert all day, picking up a couple of sacks and a key 4th quarter INT by Xavien Howard. Herbert finished with under 200 yards for the first time in his young career, with a season-low QBR of 86.3. Former Dolphin Kalen Ballage looked unstoppable running the ball at times, but in the end he totaled just 68 rushing yards and under 4 yards a carry, with a long of just 11. Rookie DT Raekwon Davis played his best game of the season, leading the team with 7 tackles. Nik Needham had a big first quarter, with a sack and a pass breakup.

Special teams again looked great, with the aforementioned blocked punt and Grant’s returns. Matt Haack did great as usual, and Jason Sanders nailed three field goals of 50, 35 and 49 yards. Sanders did miss one FG, snapping his consecutive FG streak.

Another total team effort, and the Phins are now officially in the hunt for the AFC East crown. Take it one day at a time…just keep winning!

GO PHINS!!!

Hero of the Day: Have to give it to Salvon Ahmed. A very impressive performance, and he looks like he could be the answer to the running game woes.

Goat of the Day: Center Ted Karras had two bad snaps…the second one when the Phins were in the red zone, looking to break the game wide open. The bad snap was recovered by the Chargers and returned into Miami territory, leading to a TD. Instead of being up 17-0 or 21-0, the Phins led just 14-7 at that point.

Beer of the Day: A couple more Montauk Wave Chasers

Ahmed kicked some ass. Took away the single dimension

Ted Karras owning up for his mistake:

@KylieRWang
·
1h
Karras on the fumbled snap: "I take a lot of precautions with moisture management but it slipped out of my hand. I took the arm-sleeves off. It's devastating. It hurts you in the deepest part of your being when you let people down. That was 100% on me. It was a tough one."

Ted Karras on Tua making the tackle on the Chargers defender at the end of the fumble return:

Travis Wingfield
@WingfieldNFL
Ted Karras on Tua chasing down Vigil after the bad snap.

"It’s a privilege of a lifetime to play with guys that play with effort like that."

In summary, I like Ted Karras.

Another fine effort.

Flores' turnaround here is very reminiscient of what Dungy did in Tampa Bay in 1996-1997. That team looked embarrassing the first few games of 1996, getting outscored 136-45 in the first 5 games and stumbling out 0-5 and then 1-8.

Then they won 5 of the last 7 to close it out 6-10 and surprisingly won 10 games and advanced to the second round of the playoffs in 1997.

Not sure we're headed that far, but this is still very encouraging.

HalCHorn wrote:Another fine effort.

Flores' turnaround here is very reminiscient of what Dungy did in Tampa Bay in 1996-1997.  That team looked embarrassing the first few games of 1996, getting outscored 136-45 in the first 5 games and stumbling out 0-5 and then 1-8.

Then they won 5 of the last 7 to close it out 6-10 and surprisingly won 10 games and advanced to the second round of the playoffs in 1997.

Not sure we're headed that far, but this is still very encouraging.  

And then Dungy failed to win or reach a Super Bowl to the point that another coach was brought in, who did just that. In fact from '97-01 the Dungy Bucs were slightly worse than the JJ/Wanny Fins (despite beating them twice) both during the regular season and playoffs. So I'd rather Flores not be the next Dungy, if you don't mind

BTW reading these Game Thoughts is one of my few saving graces from the impending demise of humanity, currently in progress.

It's funny, while watching the game I thought the Chargers had 400+ yards of offense. It seemed likes they were moving the ball well and then just fizzling out. Turns out, they had just 280 (edit: seems like it is actually 273) yards!  That's the Chargers' lowest yardage of the season.

Great performance by the defense.  Keenan Allen did score, but finished with just 3 catches for 39 yards.  Mike Williams had only 2 catches for 38 yards.  Damn good job by Howard and Jones to shut down those two receivers!  

BTW - if you watched the game you saw at least two examples of the "throws to nowhere" that I have mentioned with Herbert.  One was the 4th quarter end zone pass, where he had a guy wide open in the back corner and literally just threw it away for no apparent reason.  Herbert is a really good QB and will likely only get better, but he has some bad habits that need to be fixed.

Apparently, there's a lot of talk on the internet that Tua didn't do enough yesterday, he almost threw a pick, the offense is too conservative, etc.

I guess people just need things to complain about?

It is true that the Phins played somewhat conservatively yesterday after jumping out to an early lead, and it is frustrating in the heat of the moment. But if you think about it, we had a rookie QB in his third game (after missing a year due to injury), two rookie OL starting, a rookie RB and a rookie WR. And we were winning big. So what's the problem? Tua and the offense did exactly what they needed to do. I think Gailey is just trying to ease Tua in as much as possible without putting too much on his plate right away. Of course, some weeks Tua will need to do more - as he did against the Cards. But if the game flow allows us to win by throwing the ball just 25 times...hell yeah, I'll take that every time.

Tua has 5 TDs and 0 INTs, with a QBR of 104.8. And Gailey has done a masterful job with this offense, scoring more points that Gase the Guru could even dream of, on a team with no starpower at all. And people are complaining???

its hard to argue with 3-0. i think people need to manage their expectations as far as the offense as a whole. it is not designed to be a 300 yards passing week in and week out offense. there may be some games where that will be required, but it will not be the norm. if i were to nitpick some things about the Phins win over the Chargers, Tua's performance would not be one of them. truth is, he's not getting a ton of help. the Phins' receivers (including Parker and Gesicki) are not gaining a lot of separation. many of Tua's throws are into exceedingly tight windows, not because Tua likes to throw into tight coverage, but because that is all he's got on many plays. i would argue that the successes Miami does have in the passing game are because of Tua and not in spite of him.

and, non-Tua related... while he may not be an every down, base LB, does anyone else have as much of a knack for game changing plays as Van Ginkel.

DolFan 316 wrote:

HalCHorn wrote:Another fine effort.

Flores' turnaround here is very reminiscient of what Dungy did in Tampa Bay in 1996-1997.  That team looked embarrassing the first few games of 1996, getting outscored 136-45 in the first 5 games and stumbling out 0-5 and then 1-8.

Then they won 5 of the last 7 to close it out 6-10 and surprisingly won 10 games and advanced to the second round of the playoffs in 1997.

Not sure we're headed that far, but this is still very encouraging.  

And then Dungy failed to win or reach a Super Bowl to the point that another coach was brought in, who did just that. In fact from '97-01 the Dungy Bucs were slightly worse than the JJ/Wanny Fins (despite beating them twice) both during the regular season and playoffs. So I'd rather Flores not be the next Dungy, if you don't mind

BTW reading these Game Thoughts is one of my few saving graces from the impending demise of humanity, currently in progress.

Not where I was headed, re: the coaching comparison. Dungy had Trent Dilfer and Shaun King for most of that run; Tua is going to be a lot better. Just saying that the awful opening but dramatic improvement after that first half-season is similar. Particularly the improvement on defense.

Given Flores' age along with the dramatic improvement, you could also compare him to Shula. I'm sure no one would mind that.

Tua and Fitzpatrick are different QB’s. It reflects in Parker’s numbers. Tua throws to who he believes is open. Fitzpatrick would use Parker as a jump ball receiver. Throwing the ball to Parker even if he’s covered knowing Parker can high point and out physical a db.

I hope Tua gains the trust in Parker or learns how to get Parker involved in the passing game.

mercury22nathan wrote:its hard to argue with 3-0.  i think people need to manage their expectations as far as the offense as a whole.  it is not designed to be a 300 yards passing week in and week out offense.  there may be some games where that will be required, but it will not be the norm.  if i were to nitpick some things about the Phins win over the Chargers, Tua's performance would not be one of them.  truth is, he's not getting a ton of help.  the Phins' receivers (including Parker and Gesicki) are not gaining a lot of separation.  many of Tua's throws are into exceedingly tight windows, not because Tua likes to throw into tight coverage, but because that is all he's got on many plays.  i would argue that the successes Miami does have in the passing game are because of Tua and not in spite of him.

and, non-Tua related...  while he may not be an every down, base LB, does anyone else have as much of a knack for game changing plays as Van Ginkel.  

Great points all around. We simply don't have the talent to be great passing team at this stage, and it's amazing that Tua and Gailey are having a pretty high level of success with this cast.

As much as I think Grier/Flores and the front office really don't want to draft a receiver early, it is becoming more and more of a must-have. Right now, Grant looks like our best receiver - and that's not good enough. Nothing against Parker, but I'm not convinced he's 100%, and he draws the opposition's top CB every week. I'd say we need to add two top-line receivers in the offseason. We need to give Tua some help.

As for Van Ginkel - he is quickly becoming one of my favorite players. The guy is relentless and he's always near the ball. He's been great on special teams, he's been great on defense...he's just a high-motor, do-it-all player that fits exactly what the Phins are doing. He was an absolute steal in the 5th round.

CarsonChris wrote:Tua and Fitzpatrick are different QB’s. It reflects in Parker’s numbers. Tua throws to who he believes is open. Fitzpatrick would use Parker as a jump ball receiver.  Throwing the ball to Parker even if he’s covered knowing Parker can high point and out physical a db.

I hope Tua gains the trust in Parker or learns how to get Parker involved in the passing game.

Parker is having trouble getting separation this season. Like I said, I think he's still playing hurt despite not being on the injury report. Looks like he's lost a step from last season. I think Tua will have to rely on him down the stretch because he can and should be the go-to guy, so hopefully they can figure it out soon.

I'm still holding out hope that we can get something out of Callaway, but this offseason we need to stockpile some offensive weapons.

JMP wrote:It's funny, while watching the game I thought the Chargers had 400+ yards of offense. It seemed likes they were moving the ball well and then just fizzling out. Turns out, they had just 280 yards!  That's the Chargers' lowest yardage of the season.

What's weird is, according to PFR the Chargers had 273 yards (it was the Fins with 280) but when I looked at their drive chart and added up the total of all 11 of their listed possessions, it only came out to 259

At any rate one of those possessions was a meaningless kneeldown to end the half, and three others were 3 and outs, including two drives of -4 and -7 yards Another drive ended on downs and gained just 9 yards. So that's 5 of 11 drives without a first down. Their three scoring drives added up to 174 yards, and on the other three drives they did get at least one first down before giving it up (twice on punts and an INT).

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/202011150mia.htm

HalCHorn wrote:Not where I was headed, re: the coaching comparison.  Dungy had Trent Dilfer and Shaun King for most of that run; Tua is going to be a lot better.  Just saying that the awful opening but dramatic improvement after that first half-season is similar.  Particularly the improvement on defense.

Given Flores' age along with the dramatic improvement, you could also compare him to Shula.  I'm sure no one would mind that.

I wasn't calling you out, although it might have seemed that way. I could see where you were going with it, but I'm just saying I hope Flores can get this team over the hump without having to be replaced. I knew he was the right guy when he wrung 5 wins out of what should've been one of the worst teams of the past 60 years. It's Grier I still have doubts about but not Flores.

This may be the most fun as a Fins fan I've ever had. I was too young to understand what was really going on with the 80's Super Bowl teams. The 90's were up and down but always ended in disappointment. With Marino I always felt we had a chance but in retrospect, even if those teams got past Buffalo they probably weren't beating those NFC juggernauts. We had a good team early in the 2000's but had a bad head coach and a limited QB. Since then, well I don't need to tell you all how ugly it's been.

To watch the team grow from where it was at the beginning of last year to where they are now has been an amazing ride. It's too early to tell whether it will eventually end with a Super Bowl win in the next few years but it's exciting. Everyone is doing their part, making plays. All three phases are good. When is the last time we could say that? The best part is there is a lot of room for improvement and we have the draft capital to add some more good, young players. Maybe I will look back on this post in 5 years and wonder what the hell happened? But regardless of the outcome what we're seeing now, and hopefully the team continues to get better, is just a fun time.

DolFan 316 wrote:

JMP wrote:It's funny, while watching the game I thought the Chargers had 400+ yards of offense. It seemed likes they were moving the ball well and then just fizzling out. Turns out, they had just 280 yards!  That's the Chargers' lowest yardage of the season.

What's weird is, according to PFR the Chargers had 273 yards (it was the Fins with 280) but when I looked at their drive chart and added up the total of all 11 of their listed possessions, it only came out to 259

At any rate one of those possessions was a meaningless kneeldown to end the half, and three others were 3 and outs, including two drives of -4 and -7 yards Another drive ended on downs and gained just 9 yards. So that's 5 of 11 drives without a first down. Their three scoring drives added up to 174 yards, and on the other three drives they did get at least one first down before giving it up (twice on punts and an INT).

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/202011150mia.htm

I thought I saw 280 on PFR, but may have mixed it up with the Phins. ESPN and NFL.com both have the Chargers at 273 yards as well, so let's go with that!

For all impressive things that are said about Tua the one thing that we forget is his 'reads'!

Parkers production is going down because Tua reads the defense and takes whats given. Everyone in the league knows Parker is the WR1. Tua spreads the ball. Since he has come on Grants, Williams, Shaheen, Smythe, Gesicki, and Ahmeds production has all gone up.

Remember when Tua was at Alabama? He had, at one point, 4! Yes 4 first rounders in Smith, Waddle, Ruggs, and Ridley. Again, as a freshmen in the natioanl title game after taking a sack, throws a dime to freshmen Smith. "he read" cover 2 "he looked" the safety off and then the dime.

I was encouraged to see Perry make a few plays. Seems like he could be a dynamic player, definitely some speed and shiftiness he knows how to move with the ball in his hands.

Overall, I was thrilled our defense rose to the task and essentially shut down a highly-ranked offense. They scored 14 points while the game was in doubt. The last touchdown was a trade timeouts and time for yardage exercise and it worked perfectly. Grab the onside kick, SD had burned all timeouts - game over.

Let's also remember this: If Karras doesn't botch that snap this game turns into a rout quickly. You're looking at 17-0 or 21-0 with the home field advantage. It was nice to see that bad play followed by a Chargers TD did not fluster the team. We just kept making plays and the scoreboard began to reflect that fact more and more.

DolFan 316 wrote:

HalCHorn wrote:Not where I was headed, re: the coaching comparison.  Dungy had Trent Dilfer and Shaun King for most of that run; Tua is going to be a lot better.  Just saying that the awful opening but dramatic improvement after that first half-season is similar.  Particularly the improvement on defense.

Given Flores' age along with the dramatic improvement, you could also compare him to Shula.  I'm sure no one would mind that.

I wasn't calling you out, although it might have seemed that way. I could see where you were going with it, but I'm just saying I hope Flores can get this team over the hump without having to be replaced. I knew he was the right guy when he wrung 5 wins out of what should've been one of the worst teams of the past 60 years. It's Grier I still have doubts about but not Flores.

Didn't take it as a call-out.

Regarding Grier, there's reason for concern since he was a part of the equation during the Tannenbaum/Gase years, but I do think he picked the right year to stockpile ammo for a QB: Tua, Burrow and Herbert have all shown great potential. So far, it also looks like he picked the right guy (fingers crossed) and other picks have worked out nicely so here's reason to hope we have the right guys making the picks.

Grier doesn't have to work alone, and I think that has made all the difference. He has a strong team to work with, with Marvin Allen, Reggie McKenzie and of course Flores. They all seem to be on the same page, following the same blueprint. Every pick fits the plan, and there are no more head-scratching WTF-type picks.

It seems unlikely that we'll be able to keep Allen and McKenzie for long, but for now, this group is doing a helluva job.

It seems unlikely that we'll be able to keep Allen and McKenzie for long, but for now, this group is doing a helluva job.

Hopefully we can fly under the radar for at least a couple more years. McKenzie would seem to be the more visible name, but we need Allen for his talent scouting ability. He's critical. I'd give him a raise whatever it takes to keep him here while building the foundation.

Would it be too much to ask to promise him the job after Grier? Just thinking about Ozzie Newsome in Baltimore and that highly sought after front office prospect that no one could pry away. I would love to see that happen with this front office!

white1 wrote:

It seems unlikely that we'll be able to keep Allen and McKenzie for long, but for now, this group is doing a helluva job.

Hopefully we can fly under the radar for at least a couple more years.  McKenzie would seem to be the more visible name, but we need Allen for his talent scouting ability.  He's critical.  I'd give him a raise whatever it takes to keep him here while building the foundation.

Would it be too much to ask to promise him the job after Grier? Just thinking about Ozzie Newsome in Baltimore and that highly sought after front office prospect that no one could pry away.  I would love to see that happen with this front office!

Yes - keep this group together as long as possible!