Week 7 Game Thoughts: Dolphins at Eagles

As the Dolphins traveled to Philadelphia for a Sunday night battle of two 5-1 teams, the national narrative all week was that the Dolphins cannot beat good teams. That narrative was proven correct, as the Dolphins put forth a sloppy effort and got destroyed 31-17.

The Dolphins made the game interesting by tying the score at 17 early in the third quarter, but they got blown out after that point.

It was a sloppy effort all around, with the Dolphins getting penalized 10 times, mostly on the OL and DL. The Eagles committed a bunch of penalties too, but on a day when NFL officiating was as bad as I’ve ever seen, amazingly there was not one flag thrown on them. The worst calls were a completely ridiculous roughing the passer call against Christian Wilkins (leading to an Eagles TD) and a blatant facemask by an Eagles DB that wasn’t called (leading to 0 points by the Dolphins). NFL officiating, quite simply, is ruining the sport.

But aside from the poor officiating, the Dolphins just got outplayed across the board. The offense did nothing, scoring just one TD. There was no running game to speak of, aside from 2 or 3 nice Raheem Mostert runs. The defense got shredded by the pass all game, with Kader Kohou once again showing that he cannot cover on the boundary. AJ Brown toasted him multiple times.

Aside from some nice throws by Tua, the only highlight of the game was a pick 6 by the defense. Kohou blitzed from the slot and batted a pass up, which was caught by Jerome Baker and taken to the house for the score that tied it up at 17.

Down 24-17, Tua had a chance to tie the game in the 4th as he drove the Dolphins downfield. But on a 3rd and 8, he tossed up an ugly INT in front of the endzone and that was essentially the last we saw of the Dolphins offense.

To give you an idea of how bad the offense was, Tyreek Hill finished the night with 11 catches – but totaled just 88 yards. The offense generated just 12 first downs and ran for under 50 yards.

The OL was terrible, allowing lots of pressure and doing nothing in the run game. Liam Eichenberg got pushed around at center and had a couple of bad snaps. Isaiah Wynn left the game early with an injury. His replacement, Lester Cotton, got pushed around and was flagged twice. Austin Jackson played his worst game of the season. Ugly.

The defense had a few sacks and got a lot of pressure all game, but too often Hurts escaped and made a positive play. Coach Fangio tried a lot of different things, but ultimately his defense got embarrassed.

I guess I can say that special teams were good, with Braxton Berrios having a few good returns, Jake Bailey downing a punt at the 5, and Jason Sanders kicking a successful FG. Yay.

Injuries did play a role in the loss. Waddle spent a lot of time off the field with a back injury, David Long got a concussion, Wynn barely played at all, Holland missed some time, and Connor Williams and Xavien Howard were unable to play. But at the end of the day, the Dolphins played poorly and lost by two TDs – no excuses. (Although the game might have had a very different outcome if the game had been officiated competently.)

And so the Dolphins remain atop the East at 5-2, thanks to yet another Bills loss. But it is hard to feel good about the team right now, after getting dominated yet again by a good team. Next week is a now-tough matchup against a Patriots team that just decisively beat the Bills. There’s a lot of season left, but this team looks more like a pretender than a legitimate contender at this point. Having to play against the officials in addition to the opponent just makes things even harder.


Hero of the Game: I don’t want to give it to anyone after a loss like this, but I guess Jerome Baker can have it for his TD. Jae Phillips had some pressures early, including a sack to end the first half – and then he disappeared. David Long played a great first half, but left with a concussion. So yeah, Baker gets the award.

Goat of the Game: Ultimately, I have to give it to Tua. He made a lot of great throws, but his awful INT was a backbreaker and basically ended the game. Yep, Tua pulled a Herbert tonight.

I know he is a backup but Cotton looked like he never played the game before in his life.

JEGnj wrote:I know he is a backup but Cotton looked like he never played the game before in his life.

He was absolutely horrible. A complete waste of space out there.

It's time to end the F'n QB Push play. The D needs to go balls wild and just cause pain and hurt. Grab face masks, chop knees, maul the QB under the pile. F em Up.

O just could not get things going and the Ref's F'g us Tua went for the HR and ended it with the INT.

I DEFENDED THEM FROM DOUBTERS AND HATERS ALL WEEK AND THIS IS HOW THEY REPAY ME?!?! BY BACKSTABBING AND BETRAYING ME AND MAKING ME LOOK LIKE A FOOL?!?! THAT'S IT!!! NO MORE!!! I'VE HAD IT WITH THIS BUNCH OF BUMBLERS BUSTS AND BUMS!!! I'M GETTING OUT BEFORE THEY TURN ME INTO A WIMPISH WUSSIFIED WEENIE JUST FOR BEING ASSOCIATED WITH THEM!!!

EDIT: Now that I know the NFL engaged in possibly their most blatantly rigged game ever by ordering the officials to not let the Fins win no matter what, I'll definitely be staying away. At this point it's ceased to be a legitimate competition and is now just a gambler's plaything. The NFL has all but issued a public declaration that it'll be another Chiefs-Eagles Super Bowl because Taylor Swift and the Kelce brothers.

Someone needs to tell Tua every throw doesn't need to be 20 yards down the field. Ultimately we lost because of that pick. We had the momentum on our side. 

We have receivers that get deep creating a lot of open field over the middle. Why don't we ever utilize a TE? This team is missing a big bodied receiver. Where's that loser from the Bears?

CarsonChris wrote:Someone needs to tell Tua every throw doesn't need to be 20 yards down the field. Ultimately we lost because of that pick. We had the momentum on our side. 

We have receivers that get deep creating a lot of open field over the middle. Why don't we ever utilize a TE? This team is missing a big bodied receiver. Where's that loser from the Bears?

HA!!! PREACH AWN, BRUTHA!!! FINALLY, SOMEONE ELSE SEES THE TRUTH!!!

Again, Grier TRADED for Claypool. That's making a public statement that one, the team needs him roughly nowish and two, they valued him too much to even take a chance of him hitting the waiver wire. Then he gets here and collects dust while O-linemen and DBs are dropping like flies. I always thought the whole point of making midseason trades was to make a team better at a certain area right away, but apparently not as far as THIS team's concerned! Grier just can't help himself, he always has to make a random, nonsensical trade just to tell the world, "Hey look at me, everybody! I'm doing GM things! See how much of a GM I'm being?"

If you make a trade that's absurd on multiple levels, heavily imply that I'm an idiot for not hailing it as a stroke of genius, then literally never play the guy you just traded for, my opinion of you is going to be severely lowered. And if you can't understand why then you're an even bigger moron than I already think you are. I HATE to keep harping on this but good LORD giving away the same thing for a DB or O-lineman even at that time would've at least made sense!!! NOW what can Grier trade for one of those guys? He only has 5 picks left in next year's draft, and none in the 3rd and 4th rounds!!! And if I find out that Welker really WAS the one who pushed for that trade then HE needs to get the boot along with Grier!!!

Smash mouth football still wins vs Miami. We aren't built to handle physical teams. We need more physically dominant linemen on both sides of the ball. This has been decades of the same weak team.

I wasn't all that surprised by the outcome, and I thought the Fins showed a hell of a lot more in prime time than the ass kicking we took in Buffalo a few weeks ago.

For me the game was this simple: Backup LT, backup LG, and backup (LOL) Center against a powerful defensive front. That's why we couldn't run the ball, and why Tua was under pressure and forced into making throws he didn't want to make.

Delving deeper on a few more points.

The Eagles offense benefitted from some of the flukiest luck I have witnessed - completions that should have been picked, Hurts squirming away from certain sacks (yes some of that is just how strong he is). I've never seen Hill knock the ball out of his own hands with his knees. Just one of those nights a lot didn't bounce our way.

Connor Williams at center makes this a different game even without Armstead at LT. We are (and will be) a powerful running offense - that doesn't work when you're overmatched in the trenches. If we get turned into a one dimensional offense, Tua will not succeed. We saw that and learned that last season. A balanced attack is a big key to this offense.

Yes, the officials were AWFUL tonight, and JMP pointed out just a few of the bad calls that went against us. Let's not forget a Hill TD was erased by penalty, as well as a "chunk" play early in the third. With all the subjective calls - especially Holding which can be called on nearly every play - there is no way there should be such disparity heavily called against one team and not the other. The Wilkins roughing call had me throwing things on the back porch. Literally.

I could not care less about the national "narrative" around Tua. The strike to Hill was a perfect throw and shows that even on a bad night, we have elite playmakers that will score.

On defense, I was pleasantly surprised the Eagles didn't just run the ball down our throats. I thought we showed a hell of a lot of fight and FINALLY started generating some turnovers. Sack-fumble and the pick 6. With Howard and Ramsey in the secondary, I expect we will start generating a lot more turnovers if the front 7 plays like they did last night. Not to mention putting Kohou back in the slot where he's excellent, as well as getting Needham back in the fold for additional depth. Ultimately, on a night when the offense was clearly out matched, they wore down against a very physical squad on the road. I'm not going to blame them for that.

Going forward. Yes, we need to get some of our guys healthy especially on the offensive line. New England and the Jets are righting the ship. All of our AFC east games are going to be critical, and I'm really happy we get the Pats at home. Nothing is going to come easy but we're still in great position at the top.

Buffalo may be dead already by the time they come to Miami, so first things first. I don't know what's wrong with the Bills, but they are showing some serious cracks and could collapse. Part of their problem is a lot of injuries on defense. Also, Allen is looking more and more human each week. He just cannot carry it all on his shoulders.

Smash mouth football still wins vs Miami. We aren't built to handle physical teams. We need more physically dominant linemen on both sides of the ball. This has been decades of the same weak team.

Thinking the same thing here CC. I will say, it's been a long, long time since we've had the caliber of playmakers we have on offense today. I can draw a parallel to the Rams. They were OK, and then they drafted Orlando Pace and turned into world beaters over night.

I think we are actually THAT close. I'll take Lamm - Williams - Hunt - Jackson. Add a pro bowl left guard, and if we can upgrade at RT all the better, and this line will take another big step forward. With a line like that, we can handle the physical defenses in this league.

white1 wrote:Yes, the officials were AWFUL tonight, and JMP pointed out just a few of the bad calls that went against us.  Let's not forget a Hill TD was erased by penalty, as well as a "chunk" play early in the third.  With all the subjective calls - especially Holding which can be called on nearly every play - there is no way there should be such disparity heavily called against one team and not the other.  The Wilkins roughing call had me throwing things on the back porch.  Literally.

That's what ultimately is the final straw for me. The message from the NFL that they can openly rig a game against the Fins (or any other team) any time they want, and literally nothing can be done about it. It really does come down to which team the NFL "feels" like "allowing" to win or lose and at that point it ceases to be a sport and becomes...something else entirely.

At least it's cathartic for me to know that I'm not the only one in a rotten mood today. Not sure how anybody could witness that and NOT be.

The NFL is going to have to do something drastic about officiating. I don't know what the answer is. The fans are one thing, but there biggest problem now? All the gambling money on the line. That's where the power is.

Now that I've calmed down a bit, the reason we lost really comes down to mistakes: Hill dropping a perfect pass that would have been a TD, Tua missing a wide open Ahmed down the sideline, Tua throwing the INT, Jackson retaliating and drawing a 15-yard penalty - negating a 15-yard penalty on the Eagles, AVG being completely out of position on the Brown TD, D-linemen lining up with their hand in the neutral zone several times, Eich making bad snaps, the list goes on.

In the end, our offense scored 10 points and our defense allowed 31 (which would have been 38 had the Eagles not shown mercy at the end). Yes, we were still in the game in the 4th quarter - but the players were simply not mentally prepared to win a game like this against a good team. We are not ready to compete with the better teams in this league - period.

This so-called "great" offense gets shut down whenever they face a legit defense. And looking ahead at the schedule, with games against the Chiefs, Jets (twice), Cowboys, Ravens and Bills, McDaniel better figure out how to gameplan for great defenses real soon or this season is going to crash and burn like so many before it.

white1 wrote:The NFL is going to have to do something drastic about officiating.  I don't know what the answer is.  The fans are one thing, but there biggest problem now? All the gambling money on the line.  That's where the power is.

Watching many of the games yesterday, it really does make you wonder if these refs are on the take. Some of the calls and non-calls I saw yesterday were simply mind-boggling. The absurd first down the refs gave the Steelers cost the Rams a victory - so the refs are literally directly impacting the fate of a game with bad calls. It really is becoming increasingly more difficult to NOT think these games are fixed.

Totally agree JMP.

That's where I stand today. We have to improve on offense and move the ball well even against tough defenses. It's time to take the threat of what they've seen us do with Hill and Waddle and turn those into wide open underneath throws to TEs, RBs, and our other receivers underneath.

That and continuing to innovate in the running game.

It's coming. McDaniel has done alot, this is going to be the next step.

The complete lack of TEs in the passing game is so frustrating. We've seen Smythe make plays. We saw Julian Hill make plays in preseason. Why are they not a part of the offense?

And why did we give Ingold a new contract if he's not going to be utilized? What happened to using him as a receiver?

BTW - Claypool did play yesterday. I saw him on the field several times. Why not throw him a pass?

JMP wrote:The complete lack of TEs in the passing game is so frustrating.  We've seen Smythe make plays.  We saw Julian Hill make plays in preseason.  Why are they not a part of the offense?

And why did we give Ingold a new contract if he's not going to be utilized?  What happened to using him as a receiver?

BTW - Claypool did play yesterday.  I saw him on the field several times.  Why not throw him a pass?

Remember who was the one clamoring for more diversity in the passing game than just Hill and Waddle. Me, that's who. I was even keeping track of the number of times players other than those two had as many as 3 receptions in a game. Spoiler alert: nobody else did last night.

BTW this team was held to a whopping 145 yards lower than their second lowest season total. Which was VS the Pats. As in, their next opponent. That's almost as much as the gap between that yardage total and the 2nd highest

I should have mentioned Bradley Chubb in my game thread. With David Long playing just half a game, Chubb was our best defensive player by far. He had a couple of sacks and multiple pressures and gave us a short field (for a FG) on a strip sack.

Yep, nice to see Chubb deliver a great performance.

This defense is coming together. I am excited!

Chubb has been getting better and better. If our DBs weren't playing so far off receivers all the time, Chubb might have close to double-digit sacks by now. Seriously.

Phillips looked really good in limited playing time, too. If he gets back to 100% and Ramsey can come in and help with coverage, we just may have a decent defense moving forward.

But until Ramsey is ready, step one is getting Kohou off the boundary. He should NEVER be asked to play boundary ever again. He's a good slot receiver - leave him there and let literally anyone else play outside.

So yes, this game went a long way in reinforcing the narrative that Miami can’t beat the good teams. The only way to shut that narrative down is to, well, beat the good teams. Even early in the broadcast, Collingsworth openly admitted he doubted Miami’s ability to beat a good team. The same people who were praising Tua and asking how can anyone stop Miami’s offense will now be the same people claiming they knew all along that Miami was a fraud. And should Miami return to their winning ways, they’ll be the same media hypocrites jumping back on the bandwagon. Its all meaningless drivel.

Contributing reasons Miami lost this game – and these are facts, not excuses.

The injuries both before and those suffered during the game played a part. When you’re starting Kahou and Apple against AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith bad things are gonna happen. Throw in the inability to account for a TE like Goedert – the one where Apple couldn’t keep up with his shallow crossing route was particularly frustrating – and it’s a recipe for disaster. Eich at center and Cotton coming in cold exacerbated an Oline already not built to stand up to powerful Dlines. The interior of the line was collapsed on multiple occasions and forced Tua into some decisions/throws he didn’t want to make. And a couple of shit snaps from Eich derailed a drive. No Achane to spark some speedy wide runs – although that may or may not of made a difference considering there didn’t seem to be a plan to block Hassan Reddick in the running game. And by the time the running game did start seeing progress, it was clear Miami’s defense couldn’t slow down Philly’s offense so the running game was all but abandoned. Guys like Waddle and Holland missing time and Long being removed from the game went a long way towards aggravating the inconsistencies on both sides of the ball. Yes, injuries happen to every team, but there is no denying the cumulative effect of the rash of multiple injuries played on the outcome of this game.

The 10 penalties for 70 yards disparity versus absolutely zero penalties against the Eagles despite some very obvious ones not called. How many times does Wilkinson need to line up with his hand over the line of scrimmage? This seems like such a basic thing not sure how it can happen multiple times? How does a team get a delay of game penalty on the very first offensive play – do they not come from the sideline already knowing what they are gonna run? Those were legit penalties and seems like they could easily be fixed moving forward. Some of the Oline holds and false starts are the product of the inconsistency of having to play backups due to injury. A blatantly missed facemask on a PI on the pass to Wilson (although the Baker int TD made that irrelevant), a clear hands to the face (twice – and it looked like the dude was trying gouge his eyes) on the play that hurt Wynn’s ankle and the phantom roughing call on Wilkinson (well within one step and even pulled up) are things that are completely out of Miami’s control. Clearly these miss/no calls influenced the game to Miami’s detriment. One could argue bad penalties even out, but there is really no way to dismiss the 10 to 0 discrepancy.

And despite all of this, Miami was still very much in this game with the score tied at 17 until nearly the end of the 3rd quarter. But that is when the true difference maker in the game came to very much the forefront: Jalen Hurts ability to escape the pocket and make plays when things are falling apart. The Dolphins put a reasonable amount of pressure on Hurts, but it was more than once that he would scramble, duck under a rusher or just use his strength to break a tackle and subsequently find a target down field (not even Howard and Ramsey can cover for that long). I hate to say it, but many of those same circumstances would result in Tua taking a sack (whether due to his lesser mobility, strength, or the fact there is no were to escape behind backup linemen) or forcing a rushed inaccurate toss in this game (ala his interception – although Waddle being forced off his route contributed to Slay being the area of the pass to Mostert). Hurts – and his ability to deal with the pass rush - was the TRUE difference maker in this game.

And yes, we can all bitch and moan about the shove play, but if you don’t like it, then don’t let them get in 3rd/4th and less than 2 yards four “f’ing” times! The problem with that play is not the play – its nothing more than a QB sneak, albeit with a dude who squats ridiculous weight – the problem is the 8 and 9 yards given up on 1st and 2nd down to allow them to get into that position. And yes, a well timed monster LB missile would put an end to it for good – unfortunately Miami doesn’t have one of those ILBs. Think about it, as dirty as he was, do you think the Eagles would run that play against a guy like Vontaze Burflict even when he was playing clean?

Things I did like… The defensive pressure forcing a fumble and interception TD. Both Tua TD tosses to Hill (even though one was wiped out by a penalty) were AMAZING. Mostert ran hard at the beginning of the second half despite the odds stacked against him. Waddle found some nice holes in the defense and Tua’s anticipation (when not having a defender in his face) was next level. There was more than one successful Cedrick Wilson sighting. Kadou did contest some catches (unsuccessfully) and made a couple nice tackles to eliminate YAC as well as the deflection on the interception. Long played pretty well until getting a concussion (maybe) on the crossing route collision. Ramsey “coaching” up Smith on the sidelines (yes, that’s a stretch).

As much as I hated this game, all is not lost (yet). Miami is still currently the second seed in the AFC playoff race (a victory against Philly wouldn’t have changed that) and still very much in control of their own destiny. If they don’t like the narrative, they can’t beat good team…GOOD, then go f’ing beat some good teams.

Outstanding post, merc.

by the time this regular season is over, we will have multiple wins over good/playoff teams, and IMO 12 to 13 wins total unless the injuries become ridiculous/season ending for key players.

HalCHorn wrote:by the time this regular season is over, we will have multiple wins over good/playoff teams, and IMO 12 to 13 wins total unless the injuries become ridiculous/season ending for key players.  

I sure hope you're right, Hal. That was my initial expectation - now, I'm not so sure. I need to see this offense produce against good defenses before I get back on board.