Game thoughts: Week 5, Dolphins at Jets

A lot of Dolphins fans wanted 7th round rookie QB Skylar Thompson to be handed the starting job after Tua got injured. Those fans got their wish today, as Teddy Bridgewater got knocked out of the game on the Dolphins first play of the game – a play which ended in a safety after a questionable intentional grounding call. Skylar came in and played like…well…a 7th round rookie QB. Combined with horrifically bad special teams and defense, it all added up to an ugly blowout loss to the Jets.

The Dolphins looked sloppy and undisciplined from the start, setting the tone with 5 penalties for 49 yards in the first quarter. They finished the game with 11 penalties in total. First quarter lowlights included back to back facemask penalties on Melvin Ingram and Raekwon Davis, the first negating a tackle for loss and the second negating a sack. Those mistakes led to a Jets FG. The first quarter ended with a 79 yard catch and run by Jets rookie RB Breece Hall, leading to a Jets TD. The Dolphins defense decided it was a good idea to leave Hall wide open on the play, with literally no Dolphin in sight. That put the Jets up 12-0, and the rest of the game followed suit, as the Jets dominated all the way.

The Dolphins offense woke up on their first drive of the second quarter, aided by a big pass interference penalty on the Jets against Hill, the second of the day. The drive was capped off by a Raheem Mostert 12-yard TD run. The Dolphins manged just 10 points after that.

Raheem Mostert was awesome, tallying 4 runs of over 10 yards and running like a beast all day.

Skylar Thompson was awful, throwing an INT (after his arm was hit) and losing a fumble, both of which led to Jets TDs. He was under pressure all day, but showed nothing positive at all.

Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle were non-factors, actually gaining more yards on drawn pass interference penalties than on receptions.

Chase Edmonds continued to suck, dropping two more passes and actually getting replaced by Myles Gaskin.

The OL lost Terron Armstead early (replaced by Brandon Shell), and apparently decided not to pass protect all day. Eichenberg and Little were particularly awful, but they all sucked.

The only excitement from the offense came at the end of the first half, as Mostert took a pass inside the 1 with 6 seconds left. McDaniel then called a direct snap to Smythe and he pounded it in off a spin move. Thompson was talking to the sideline when the ball was snapped. Nice trickery! Unfortunately, that was the only brilliance displayed by McDaniel today.

The first drive of the 4th quarter highlighted the comedy of errors that was the Dolphins’ offense:
--Waddle drew a 34 yard PI flag on 3rd down.
--Little allowed a sack and had a false start on that drive.
--Rookie TE Tanner Conner dropped a perfect 3rd down pass that would’ve been a first down.
--Jason Sanders missed a 54-yard FG.

The score was still 19-17 at that point, but then the defense crumbled (as expected) on the ensuing drive, and the route was on. The defense went on to give up 21 4th quarter points.

As you’ve probably guessed by now, the defense sucked, once again leaving receivers wide open and missing tackles, and today they were awful against the run as well. They also committed three personal fouls, all facemasks, and generated almost no pass rush at all. Jets rookie RB Breece Hall had almost 200 all-purpose yards, with 100 receiving yards and 97 rushing yards. Overall, just a pathetic performance by the defense.

Despite getting the score to 19-17 late in the second half, this was a game that the Dolphins were never really in. Just too many mistakes in all phases of the game, and a 3rd string QB that was not even close to being ready to play. And so the Dolphins’ once-promising season is already on the brink of going off the rails. Next week, look for the Vikings to also put up 40+ against this pitiful Miami defense. 3-3 here we come.


Hero of the Game: Raheem Mostert had over 100 yards on the ground, and was the only positive aspect of the team today.

Goat of the Game: Defense and OL. The OL was horrific and the defense was worse. Not much else to say, other than these two units SUCK. Dishonorable mention to a special teams unit that allowed another huge return and missed another FG. The Dolphins will not win many games if these 3 areas aren’t somehow fixed soon.

I'm calling out Jevon Holland. He was supposed to be an All Pro this year, and I think he's made just 2 or 3 big plays through 5 games. He was invisible today...just a complete non-factor. Not good enough.

So it turns out that Bridgewater was a victim of the new "Tua rule". He passed all the concussion tests, but apparently someone saw him hit his head so he was ruled out.

I wonder how this game would have turned out had Teddy not gone out. It wouldn't have helped the OL or defense, but I have to think he would have gotten Hill and Waddle more involved.

Tyreek Hill in a walking boot after the game. Apparently he got injured late.

Joe Schad
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At the moment the Dolphins D is 25th in the NFL in yards per game allowed, 28th in passing yards per game allowed, 29th in points per game allowed. Not good enough. Even considering injuries, they’re better than that.
5:14 PM · Oct 9, 2022

Actually, the problem is...they're not better than that. This is what they are: an awful defense. Much of the blame goes to Boyer, but Ogbah just got a huge contract and hasn't done a damn thing, and Phillips was a first round pick and hasn't done a damn thing. It's not Boyer's fault that these guys can't beat a garbage offensive line two weeks in a row. It's a whole-defense issue...they suck at all 3 levels.

My summary from the Meadowlands. The Coach and Staff SUCK. The QBs SUCK. The K SUCKS. The OL SUCKS. The Defense Sucks. Having to sit in that God forsaken stadium with that friggen stupid chat all day watching that lifeless pathetic team made me sick.

Sad but true. I think you covered all the bases there, JEG. Just plain disgusting.

JMP wrote:So it turns out that Bridgewater was a victim of the new "Tua rule".  He passed all the concussion tests, but apparently someone saw him hit his head so he was ruled out.

I wonder how this game would have turned out had Teddy not gone out.  It wouldn't have helped the OL or defense, but I have to think he would have gotten Hill and Waddle more involved.

I wonder how many other players on other teams had to abide by this "new rule"? I'm guessing...zero.

BTW was Tua EVER diagnosed with a concussion by any of the "experts" the NFL clearly bought and paid for? If so, I haven't heard about it.

Really weird how out of all the players in the NFL, only Dolphins QBs get concussed now

JEGnj wrote:My summary from the Meadowlands. The Coach and Staff SUCK. The QBs SUCK. The K SUCKS. The OL SUCKS. The Defense Sucks.  Having to sit in that God forsaken stadium with that friggen stupid chat all day watching that lifeless pathetic team made me sick.  

My question is, did you get in any fights? I know you wanted to

DolFan 316 wrote:

JMP wrote:So it turns out that Bridgewater was a victim of the new "Tua rule".  He passed all the concussion tests, but apparently someone saw him hit his head so he was ruled out.

I wonder how this game would have turned out had Teddy not gone out.  It wouldn't have helped the OL or defense, but I have to think he would have gotten Hill and Waddle more involved.

I wonder how many other players on other teams had to abide by this "new rule"? I'm guessing...zero.

BTW was Tua EVER diagnosed with a concussion by any of the "experts" the NFL clearly bought and paid for? If so, I haven't heard about it.

Really weird how out of all the players in the NFL, only Dolphins QBs get concussed now

Well, this hasn't gotten much press, but apparently the investigation that the NFL/NFLPA did showed that Tua...did NOT suffer a concussion against Buffalo. Imagine that! So now they made this dumbass rule which basically states that if someone looks like they had a concussion, they're done - even if they didn't have a concussion. So it's basically all arbitrary and subjective. So absurd.

JMP wrote:Well, this hasn't gotten much press, but apparently the investigation that the NFL/NFLPA did showed that Tua...did NOT suffer a concussion against Buffalo.  Imagine that!  So now they made this dumbass rule which basically states that if someone looks like they had a concussion, they're done - even if they didn't have a concussion. So it's basically all arbitrary and subjective. So absurd.

I think I understand why that one flew under the radar The doctor who got fired for making a correct diagnosis needs to sue roughly nowish. It looks like a slam dunk win for him.

So as usual, the outrage mob who was so sure of *their* truth had it completely wrong, again? How many more times will people put up with this garbage before saying enough is enough?

Also, did Bridgewater really get hit in the head?

BTW this is only the third time since 2013 (nine years) that the Jets have won a game by 23 or more.

https://stathead.com/tiny/Rk13j

Also their largest margin of victory over the Fins since '07

https://stathead.com/tiny/NRi8w

In other words, a historically disgraceful, desultory defeat.

If Bridgewater hit his head, I didn't see it. He got hit in the ribs and landed on his elbow, as far as I could tell.

DolFan 316 wrote:BTW this is only the third time since 2013 (nine years) that the Jets have won a game by 23 or more.

https://stathead.com/tiny/Rk13j

Also their largest margin of victory over the Fins since '07

https://stathead.com/tiny/NRi8w

In other words, a historically disgraceful, desultory defeat.

Just disgusting. Even with the injuries, totally inexcusable.

JMP wrote:If Bridgewater hit his head, I didn't see it. He got hit in the ribs and landed on his elbow, as far as I could tell.

I finally saw a picture of Bridgewater's "blow to the head" and...yeah.

https://phinphanatic.com/2022/10/09/nfl-concussion-protocols-joke-unless-youre-miami-dolphins/

What's next, the NFL deciding to change the first 3 wins to forfeit losses like they do to college teams who got caught cheating? Why hasn't Ross done anything about the blatantly obvious double standard happening here? He ALREADY has massive mountains of evidence that would humiliate the NFL in court!

Also, our fears about this D from last season were confirmed once and for all. Flores really WAS solely responsible for their late-season resurgence, and he really did have to take over due to Boyer's incompetent, imbecilic idiocy.

Maybe the Fins can reel in Fangio before they drop to 3-8 or worse? The precedent has been set, in '76 Shula fired the DC after 7 games and replaced him with Arnsparger. A defense that had been allowing 21.4 points per game held the '76 Pats (their best team before the Brady/Belichick Era IMO) to 3 in Arnsparger's first game coaching, with just a week to prepare, and over the last 7 games allowed over 5 fewer points per game. If I'm McDaniel I'm at least making that call.

I yelled at the security guard's supervisor for letting a drunk Jet's fan scream in the fan of Fin's fans all game.
Leaving the parking lot I challenged some guy mouthing off to me to get out of the car so I can send him to the hospital.

Awesome pic!

JEGnj wrote:I yelled at the security guard's supervisor for letting a drunk Jet's fan scream in the fan of Fin's fans all game.
Leaving the parking lot I challenged some guy mouthing off to me to get out of the car so I can send him to the hospital.

Give 'em hell JEG!!!!

Good times Jeg even in the loss. Love that pic.

I wouldn't want to meet JEGnj in a dark alley...or a well-lit one for that matter.

Guess we knew this was coming when we were down to our 3rd string QB after one play. I still think Thompson has a future for sure, but....he's not ready yet.

Depth is a big issue, but just about any team would struggle when down to a 3rd string QB and missing the LT and the intended top two CB's. That's where Baltimore was the last 6 weeks last year and they couldn't beat anyone.

That said, Boyer is a big concern. No fan of Flores but pretty clear that he took the reins during that winning streak last year.

Get everyone healthy though and we still have as good a chance as anyone to catch fire at the right time. And on the plus side despite all that we've stayed in the game until late each of these two nightmare road games.

Here's hoping we can at least get Teddy back to go Sunday, and have Tua back for the Steelers and hopefully beyond.

Kansas City almost lost to the Raiders last night and arguably should have. Outside of Buffalo I don't see any unbeatable juggernauts in the AFC. We can still have a successful season and fix some issues after it is over even with the league kneecapping up on the draft picks.

FYI The Panthers fired Matt Rhule. How is this possibly Fins-related? Because Rhule started 3-0 just last season and had gone 3-16 since.

Right now it's looking like the Fins will be heading down a similar path. This season the only teams I can see them beating are the Bears, Steelers, Texans and Pats again, and I'm not counting on all four of those being a win. A bad start next year and I can totally see Grier throwing McDaniel under the bus to save his job.

A bad start next year and I can totally see Grier throwing McDaniel under the bus to save his job.

I can see him try.

As bad as Ross is, even HE has to see the light when a GM is ready for what - his fourth coach? Fifth? Maybe the coach isn't the issue...