Game thoughts: Week 8 Dolphins at Bills

I expected the Dolphins to get blown out in Buffalo today, predicting that they’d allow 50+ points and just get destroyed.  Well, they didn’t give up 50, but they did get destroyed.
 
The game was close for a long time, and the only reason the Dolphins were still in this game till late in the 4^th quarter was the defense.  The Miami defense had been the league’s worst through the first 7 games, but today they responded with a brilliant effort for about 2 ½ quarters, until they inevitably fell apart after getting no help from their own non-existent offense.
 
Today, the defense was creative, they brought pressure, they covered well, they played tough – until they didn’t.  But they did more than enough to win this game, at least when it was still a game.
 
Unfortunately, the Miami offense did nothing.  They scored just 3 points in the first half and 8 in the second, blowing two golden opportunities for more points with a missed FG and an embarrassing red zone umble that saw the snap hit an in-motion Mike Gesicki.  The offense was a mess of miscommunication, penalties, horrific OL play, and receivers that couldn’t get open.
 
Tua, for his part, just tried to survive as he was under constant pressure.  He did nothing of note much of the day, but came alive on the Dolphins only TD drive, about 5 ½ minutes into the 4^th quarter. Under tremendous pressure, he stepped up and hit a wide-open Gesicki for 40 yards on a 4^th and 6.  Then, on an RPO, Tua ran and got inside the 1, and scored on a QB sneak on the next play.  He then hit Gesicki for the 2-point conversion.  And that was it for the Dolphins’ scoring. 
 
No one on the planet expected a Dolphins’ win in Buffalo, but at least the defense kept it interesting for awhile.  Regardless of the effort, the Dolphins’ coaching staff is now officially on life support, and it seems inevitable that everything will be blown up this offseason on a team that just can’t do anything right.
 
Hero of the Game: No one for the Dolphins, but a game ball goes to the Bills’ Cole Beasley, who absolutely destroyed the Dolphins today. He was wide open all day, mostly against Nik Needham but also against anyone else that attempted to cover him.
 
Goat of the Game: The Miami OL, for putting forth arguably the worst OL performance I’ve ever seen.  They did nothing in the run game, and gave up constant pressures to the D.  The Bills blitzed all day, and the OL never figured out how to deal with it.  An absolutely pathetic, gutless display by the OL.

I found this little tidbit I had to share.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/recap?gameId=401326438

Bills co-owner Terry Pegula was spotted on the sideline during pre-game warmups, five days after leaving NFL meetings in New York after being deemed to have had close contact with a person who tested positive for COVID-19 at his daughter's wedding.

Yet another case of the so-called rules not applying to certain people. But he's been vaxxed so it's perfectly okay, right?

DolFan 316 wrote:I found this little tidbit I had to share.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/recap?gameId=401326438

Bills co-owner Terry Pegula was spotted on the sideline during pre-game warmups, five days after leaving NFL meetings in New York after being deemed to have had close contact with a person who tested positive for COVID-19 at his daughter's wedding.

Yet another case of the so-called rules not applying to certain people. But he's been vaxxed so it's perfectly okay, right?

So many vaxed coaches and players out this week. I don't want to put cloned fetal tissue in my body. My body my choice or is it?

CarsonChris wrote:So many vaxed coaches and players out this week. I don't want to put cloned fetal tissue in my body. My body my choice or is it?

It must've been those darn evil unvaxxed players who infected them all!

BTW just checked PFT to see if they had this and...nope. Crickets. Sad part is I'm not even surprised.

This whole thing's one big long unfunny joke. The people making the rules just sauntering around doing whatever without masks or anything while they demand the rest of us wear double masks, get vaccine passports and booster shots every 2-3 months. But somehow they don't have to do any of this because they're better than us, or something.

DolFan 316 wrote:

CarsonChris wrote:So many vaxed coaches and players out this week. I don't want to put cloned fetal tissue in my body. My body my choice or is it?

It must've been those darn evil unvaxxed players who infected them all!

BTW just checked PFT to see if they had this and...nope. Crickets. Sad part is I'm not even surprised.

This whole thing's one big long unfunny joke. The people making the rules just sauntering around doing whatever without masks or anything while they demand the rest of us wear double masks, get vaccine passports and booster shots every 2-3 months. But somehow they don't have to do any of this because they're better than us, or something.

The west wing of the White House has it. How could it be?

CarsonChris wrote:The west wing of the White House has it. How could it be?

Members of Congress don't have to be vaxxed. I'm sure there's a good reason for that, just like I'm sure there's a good reason for postal workers, illegal immigrants and most NBA players to be exempt too.

Anybody who thinks people like Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, etc. have taken the jab have no grasp of reality and probably never did.

Again, an NFL owner was casually strolling the sidelines and attending meetings after coming in close contact with an infected person during a wedding. This should be major news, but instead it's a single small blurb in an espn.com game story that I guarantee won't be discussed any further by the media because it doesn't fit their narrative that the jab is a golden ticket to a "normal" life and complete immunity to the virus forever.

The Dolphins are pathetic. After all the draft resources, the tepid free agent signings, getting the QB they wanted (he’s not the problem), installing their culture, their schemes…this regime got everything they wanted, got to do everything their way and this is what we are left with – a pathetic team that is worse than the day they started “rebuilding” this team.

The ineptitude was on full display in Buffalo. I’m not a numerologist, but this game was about 3s. After the defense held Buffalo to 3 plays and punt, the offense produced a drive that got 3 first downs and the kicker blew a chance to get 3 points. And despite facing a superior opponent, the Phins clung to life 3 to 3 at halftime. But in the 3rd quarter, the offense could muster only 3 drives each of only 3 plays and out while the defense finally cracked allowing 3 second half TDs – and 3 points on another FG just for good measure. The Phins’ putrid running game averaged a pitiful 3 yards per carry.

Tua targeted Waddle twelve times, yet they only connected on four passes which, wouldn’t you know it, is only 33%. They previously enjoyed a pretty productive relationship. What happened?

“I think we could’ve did a lot more with that, with incorporating DeVante and then [tight end] Mike [Gesicki], some of our other guys,” quarterback Tua Tagovailoa said. “But this is a good defense. They know where the problems are. They know who our playmakers are as well.”

https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/nfl/miami-dolphins/article255259771.html

Buffalo knew that Miami’s offense is built around the Tue to Waddle connection and once they made that difficult, the Phins had no other answers. I know everyone was worried about the two offensive coordinators, but I fear 3 chefs (as in too many in the kitchen – and in the disjointed gameplan) have spoiled this meal: Godsey, Frye and Studesville (although I’ll be honest, I have no idea what his contribution is cause there is no running game). And what’s with Waddle not even knowing where to lineup on the play that resulted in the fumbled snap? I suspect Tua will very soon be on his 3rd offensive coodinateor in 3 years (whether its in Miami or somewhere else).

The defense surprisingly hung in there until the 3rd quarter and played better without one of their supposed better players (Jerome Baker) – coincidence? But the defensive was eventually skewered by Buffalo’s 3rd receiver Beasley (behind Diggs and Sanders) against Miami’s 3rd corner in Needham. Wait, isn’t that exactly who Buffalo exposed in last year’s blowout? Did Miami learn nothing? And why can’t the Dolphins’ offense find and expose matchups like this?

Amid rumors of all kind swirling including questions about job security, 3 men met following this loss.

He (Flores) met with team owner Stephen Ross and general manager Chris Grier after the game, which he said he always does, but declined to comment on what was discussed.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/32521602/dolphins-coach-brian-flores-says-not-worried-job-security-miami-loses-seventh-straight

Lets just hope they weren’t discussing departing with 3 first round picks for a certain unnamed QB.

And to think 3 is supposed to be my lucky number

Brilliant write up Merc. I read that three times!

I got to watch up into the 3rd because we had a Devil's game.
Parker looks so good but if he only plays half the games because of injury who cares.
RBs suck. They don't even fall forward for yards.
OL and coaching is pathetic. They look lost and confused.
D is so inconsistent.
Honestly at a loss on this team right now. It's just numbing that after last season this year we are back to one of the worst teams in the NFL.

The one thing that was working two years ago was the kicking game. Now even Sanders is missing kicks here and there.

oh yea, and lost in all of this was...

Dolphins wide receiver Preston Williams did not play in the team’s 26-11 loss to the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium on Sunday because of disciplinary reasons, coach Brian Flores confirmed after the game.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/playing-not-miami-dolphins-face-154210099.html

wonder what he did?

Asked for further comment on the situation, Flores said: “For disciplinary reasons he wasn’t on the trip. Obviously, we will revisit that in the morning and talk through it.”

these are the cracks that begin to show on bad teams.

I'd forgotten about that myself!

Not that I ever thought he should've made this team to begin with, mind you...

merc wrote:why can’t the Dolphins’ offense find and expose matchups

I watch parts of every NFL game each week, including 3-5 full games a week. On a lot of teams, I'd probably say almost all teams, I see a QB having a clean pocket and open receivers. But when I watch the Dolphins, I see a QB under heavy pressure and receivers that aren't getting open.

The biggest problem on offense is, of course, the OL. The amount of pressure these guys allow is mind-blowing, and they can't run block at all. And then you add in the coaching. These coaches have no idea how to scheme receivers open. There is no rhyme or reason to their routes, there is no creativity, there is no effort to do anything different in the passing game. As a result, the majority of passes Tua throws are to receivers that are covered. Again, the OL really limits what we can do...but damn, at least try to do something different. No NFL offense should be this bad in the year 2021 - there's just no excuse for it with the way the game is played now.

After the game, Tua said he's doing what the coaches tell him and going with the plays that are called, taking what the defense gives him. If you read between the lines, what he's really saying is that the coaches are afraid to open up the offense. They don't want lower-percentage deep passes and they don't want to attack the opposing defense - they just want to play it safe. That, of course, is losing football. If you watched Tua at Alabama, you know that is not his game at all. His game was all attack, all the time. This coaching staff has basically neutered him and taken away everything he's good at. Of course, with this OL I really can't blame them - but the QB we're seeing is not the real Tua. Hopefully we can get some competent, legitimate coaches next season (and a real GM) so we can finally evaluate Tua in a meaningful way. Because what we're seeing now just isn't fair to any young QB - this is not how you develop a QB, at all.

Even if this isn't the real Tua... man he is throwing the ball into some tight windows and connecting with his receivers.  Some of the throws he made were literally threaded between 3 defenders.  His accuracy is unreal. Quick release too.

Now if they give him some time to stretch the field and complete some long throws.

white1 wrote:Even if this isn't the real Tua... man he is throwing the ball into some tight windows and connecting with his receivers.  Some of the throws he made were literally threaded between 3 defenders.  His accuracy is unreal. Quick release too.

Yep - as JEG points out, if he ever gets time to throw and the coordinators have the receivers running legit routes, Tua can get closer to the playmaker he was in college. I remember one Alabama game announcer calling Tua a "big game hunter", because he always looked to make the big play. The Dolphins coaches have totally taken that killer instinct away from him, and are trying to make him a conservative game manager.