Game thoughts: Week 4, Dolphins at Bengals

What a brutal 3 hours.
8:15 we were 3-0 and on the highest of highs and now we lost our QB, back up QB sucks, Kicker sucks, D sucks, and our rookie HC is going to be faced with adversity.

and someone needs to tell Boyer the field is 100 yards not 2.

The last INT looked like a route miscommunication between Gesicki and Bridgewater. Worst timing for it, but those little details just went the other way this week.

Tua should be fine, though I would not expect him back until the Steelers game. I guess it's possible he could be back for Minnesota, but I'd expect extreme caution due to the backlash. Ten days' rest, we should be fine for the Jets with Teddy. He will be perfectly capable of beating the Jets. If he isn't, then we just might see what we have with Skylar under the bright lights.

Obviously the first and foremost concern is for Tua’s health, not as a football player but as a human being. That really looked awful.

The game was about missed opportunities. Dropped passes (especially Edmunds in the endzone), blocked FG, interceptions, unconverted short yardage plays and inability to punch in TDs in the redzone. The Dolphins could very well have won this game, but like we’ve all become too accustom to in the past, they didn’t. The Dolphins were the beneficiaries of some of these bad bounces and took advantage of slim opportunities over the first three games and perhaps in this game it finally caught up with them. However, there were things that are clear and obvious and were present even in the winning streak. These things will need to be fixed in order for this team to take the next step.

No pass rush. Burrow is one of, if not the most, sacked QB behind a pathetic o-line – and Miami could do nothing to make him uncomfortable. How does Ogbah play the most snaps of any DE on the roster and not even appear on the defensive stat sheet for the game – not one tackle, not one pressure, much less a sack (didn’t he get paid in the offseason). I guess there is a reason why Boyer must always send those cover-zero exotic blitzes…cause Miami is unable to mount any pressure with just the standard pass rush. So once those blitzes get decoded and defeated with quick passes, the Phins D is toothless.

OT weakness. Now compare this lack of Phins base pass rush to the constant bullrush of Cincy DEs Hendrickson and Hubbard. How many times did we see them powering their way through both Armstead and Little.

Inconsistent run game. Quite often Miami would reel of a nice long run only to follow it up with the inability to gain a yard or two on the ground (especially in the redzone). Odd how their LBers were moving to the exact gap even before the RB had the ball. Its almost as if Cincy knew the Phins short yardage packages…hmm, which is exactly the plays that were filmed in the walk-through at UofCinn before McDaniel realized they were being watched and resorted to fake plays. But the real plays were already filmed – there is a reason why the Dolphins asked that website to take down the videos (even though they refused). You know, this all happened at the UofCinn – the very same university where Bengals HC Zac Taylor was a coach in 2016. But sure NFL, the Bengals had nothing to do with it and would’ve never used connections in the video department to secretly film the Dolphins.

X Howard. Once again, another team targeted the former-shutdown, oft-injured CB. Its hard to blame Howard. Afterall, Father Time is undefeated. Howard is still a very good player when healthy, but I fear his elite years are behind him (and groins tend to linger for a while). Just another position to add to the wish list. Too bad the Phins didn’t draft his replacement…oh wait, Iggy…nevermind.

Positives. Mostert did have some runs. Edmunds gave great effort on the shovel pass TD. Bridgewater’s long ball to Tyreek was amazing (lets hope to see more). Tua put an incredible ball on Gesicki and otherwise made some really nice throws (the long duck interception nothwithstanding). The D was fairly solid against the run. And despite all the shooting themselves in the foot and very leaky pass defense, the Dolphins were still within reach of winning this game until about 2 to 3 minutes left.

I said earlier in the week to take this thing one game at a time and I’m not going to change that now. I am not going to speculate on Tua or how the rest of the season might go. Yes, I’m worried and concerned, but all this time we’ve been saying there is something different and confident about McDaniel. I don’t believe he’ll wilt and shit, they still got Tyreek!! The Phins are 3-1 and play the Jets next – the perfect team against which to cure all those above ills.

Goat of the Game: The pass defense – no pass rush, no coverage. Just awful.

The wins and red zone stops had me glossing over but I'll say it again now: I HATE this defense. Too many wide open receivers and zero pass rush without a blitz, which is now getting easily beaten by QBs who will simply throw to the man behind the blitz.

We've actually kind of "solved" the problem we had last season stopping the run, but that's little solace when we're on pace to give up about 28 points per game.

Clearly, Flores was the mind behind "scheme rush", and now that that's gone Boyer is overmatched. It's not that he's "bad" per se, but the offensive coordinator on the other team is outwitting him for the most part. And we have too much talent on that side of the ball to let that happen.

The running game is "kind of" coming... in fits and starts. McDaniel needs to turn that into a big strength, because we will desperately need it with Teddy starting for at least a few weeks. Armstead played just awful. Little not much better.

I would have been thrilled if you told me before the season we would get through this stretch 3-1. My guess would have been we lost to Buffalo, and losing to Cincy is better because we are 2-0 in the AFC East.

But if you showed me the defensive stats... ugh. I was worried about Boyer without Flores, then concerned, and now I'm smashing the panic button about that side of the ball. You can't win shootouts every week, at some point they have to show up.

Beat the Jets and we can pull out of it. We lose that game... oh boy.

McDaniel facing adversity? I think he'll be fine, but he has to show us. Head coaches that can't handle adversity don't last...

I do not see how the Dolphins can move forward after this season without a contingency plan, and at this point I'm not sure they can or should even keep Tua when his contract is up. This was a serious injury and the future for Tua and the team must be given a long, hard look.

I don't hear anyone else talking about this, but it is absolutely something the team must address. In the next draft, there is a chance we'll have a high draft pick courtesy of the 49ers, and it is potentially a QB-rich class. We'll see how it all plays out, but as of today I would absolutely look to use that 1st round pick on a QB. That concussion changes everything for me.

It's a great point, and I have even having the discussion but you're absolutely right.

Fins luck continues, we had our franchise QB... for 3 games.

Obviously, yes, primary concern is for Tua as a person.

Weird to see the same reporters who have been bashing him for 3 years suddenly "concerned for his health, he's such a dynamic player, blah blah". Yeah, you same guys were saying he was soft and wondering why we wouldn't mortgage the future for Mr. Handjob from Houston....sheesh.

Just hypothetically:
If we need to draft another QB to complete with Skylar (who absolutely deserves that chance, he's shown enough promise) I'd want to first look at Wil Levis.

But as of right now, hoping Tua is back and makes a lot of people eat their words in a few weeks. And seeing the issues with Howard and Jones right now leads me to think of CB as the primary need with another edge rusher and/or LB second.

And seeing the issues with Howard and Jones right now leads me to think of CB as the primary need with another edge rusher and/or LB second.

I'm encouraged by what I've seen from Kohou. May have found a good one there. I would absolutely take a pass rusher - DL or OLB.

Thx JMP and I will add to your thoughts.

Yes we beat Baltimore. But in the first half they kicked our ass with a backup secondary. Buffalo can say the same thing. They limited our explosive attack while missing several starters.

Our defense does not appear to have that resilience. And I think the talent is there. But our scheme quickly falls apart when either Jones our Howard can’t play. This cannot happen.

We have to have better coaching on that side of the ball. I am firmly entrenched in my beliefs we are getting less than we should out of the talent we have. It starts with Boyer but extends to his entire staff.

I'm Trying to Find the Picture of Bell 2nd Interception that hit the Turf that for some reason was never reviewed. I saw the Picture.

I have the utmost respect or Tua the person, how he handles himself, how keeps things private and is a team first guy.

The Media has destroyed this kid on the field. We all know he can play. Some believe more than others. Others follow the team more than the player and thats okay too. But the media started to destroy him the minute he broke his hip. It was breadcrumb here and there. It was very minor in the beginning, compound that with his own coach believing the media. All big problems never ever ever start out big. They all start small. The ilttle things that the media conspired destroyed this kids ability on the football field.

Off the field Tua hanlded himself remarkably. He did all the things necessary to be a captain, a team first guy. Really didn't let things rattle him.

On the field, it's a different story. The media IMHO, got to him. All the things said about him got to him. He tried to make plays when plays were simply not there. I think that in his mind he needed to make something out of nothing to quiet them. I think its more evident when we see him hold on to the ball. I think in those defining moments, in his head, he's telling himself, "I make this play and they can STFU". If he plays again watch his reaction to a suspect play that turned out positive. His reaction is different than on a play where hit the right guy at the right moment. Go back and look at the first three games. Let me know what you think