Week 11 Game Thoughts: Raiders at Dolphins

Coming off the bye week, the Dolphins entered today’s home game as nearly two TD favorites against the Raiders. Unfortunately, the offense was absolutely awful and the Dolphins barely scraped by with a 20-13 win. I'll absolutely take the W, but this was not the type of game the Dolphins need to be playing down the stretch.

The game began with Raiders getting the ball. Andrew Van Ginkle forced a third down fumble on Raiders rookie TE Michael Mayer and Jevon Holland returned it 40 yards for a TD – but after further review, the ball was ruled incomplete.

The Dolphins got the ball and responded by – losing a fumble as Tua Tagovaiola tried to run for a first down.That led to a Raiders FG.

It was that type of game for the offense, as they turned the ball over 3 times and managed just 20 points – only 6 in the second half. Tua did not look right, losing the fumble and throwing an ugly INT on a deep pass on the first play of the 3rd quarter. Tua did have 2 TDs and threw for over 320 yards, but there were too many drives where he just couldn’t get anything going. Raheem Mostert handled most of the running duties, as rookie De’Von Achane left the game early with another injury. Mostert finished with 86 yards, but averaged just under 4 yards a carry. Tyreek Hill was the Dolphins passing game all by himself, racking up 10 catches for 146 yards and a gorgeous 38 yard catch-and-run TD. Hill did miss some time with an injury, but returned. Jaylen Waddle added 4 catches, but 3 of those occurred on one drive. Overall, the passing game just wasn’t effective. Rookie TE Julian Hill lost a fumble after making his only catch of the day, leading to another Raiders FG. The OL was decent, doing just OK in pass protection and run blocking. The line was called for two penalties.

The defense, on the other hand, was mostly outstanding. Before the final drive, the defense held the Raiders to about 200 yards on the day. The Raiders scored just 6 points off 3 turnovers, and didn’t score at all in the second half. This is the second game in a row where the Dolphins have shutout their opponent in the second half. The run defense was stellar, holding Josh Jacobs to under 40 yards rushing. Jae Phillips had 2 sacks, and also got an INT as Christian Wilkins was sacking Aidan O'Connell, forcing the QB to toss a desperation pass that landed in Phillips’s hands. Bradley Chubb was incredible against the run and had some pressures as well.

And then there’s Jalen Ramsey. The star CB showed his value today with two INTs – the second one ending the game as the Raiders attempted a last-minute endzone pass. Ramsey makes this defense really, really dangerous.

Special teams was mostly awful. Jason Sanders missed a 50-yard FG, Jake Bailey shanked a punt, and the kick return unit had 2 penalties. Sanders did kick two other FGs, including a 51-yarder, and Bailey had a couple of great punts, but overall it was a bad day for STs.

So on a day where the Dolphins’ offense just couldn’t find the endzone, the defense stepped up and won the game. The Phins now sit at 7-3, with a 5-2 conference record. A Black Friday afternoon matchup against the Jets is next up, in what will be a key game for the Dolphins as they continue their quest for the AFC East crown.


Hero of the Game: As good as Tyreek was, it has to be Jalen Ramsey. He was lockdown all day, and sealed the victory with an endzone INT.

Goat of the Game: I have to give it to Mike McDaniel, who just did not have a good day calling plays. The Dolphins had two short yardage situations and failed miserably on both, with idiotic playcalls both times. The Dolphins offense struggled in the first half, and if anything were even worse after halftime. I don’t know what is happening, but McDaniel needs to figure it out quick – because the Jets’ world-class defense is up next.

I tried to warn everybody this would be a far closer game than you thought.

The really weird part is, they gained just 2 fewer yards and allowed the exact same yardage total as the Panthers game but won by 14 fewer points

If McDaniel couldn't figure out how to fix the offense with 2 weeks to do it, He definitely won't be figuring it out now. Brace yourself for a lot of 17-13, 13-10 games. It's the only way the Fins will be able to win at all going forward. Thankfully they face just enough non-winning teams to maybe barely eke out a playoff spot, probably the 7 seed again.

BTW I do not care if the offense has been figured out or who is hurt, there is NO excuse for losing to a team that just lost by 2 scores to the freaking GIANTS. None, zero, zip, zilch, nada.

EDIT: It's even worse than I thought, the Commanders actually managed to get SWEPT by the Giants

Glad for the W but this team does not make it easy. I had to work today so watched on my phone. Lot's of foolishness and slop but the D played great. Done with Sanders. Should have won by 21 at least.
I'll be in the Meadowlands Friday so they better not pull any BS and just bury the Jets.

To me the only bad spot on the Defense was Elliott, Adam’s would never have scored if he could just stay on his feet and it happened a couple more times afterwards

Yeah, Elliott had a rough game.

Heading into the Jets game, we'll have to see which QB we'll be facing. The Jets got absolutely crushed by the Bills today, and Zach Wilson got benched. Tim Boyle came in and did nothing, as the Jets totaled just 155 yards. Pathetic.

I am super-excited about the Miami defense. They are playing AWESOME right now. Great to have that defense on a day when our offense couldn't put points on the board.

Moving forward, we're in excellent position...just have to keep taking care of business.

Interesting game note: the Raiders had not allowed a 300 yard passer in their first 10 games. Tua had 325 today.

Another interesting note: despite Tua's "struggles" today, he had a 103 rating and averaged 8.3 yards per attempt.

And that's the frustrating part: we rolled up over 420 yards and still struggled to score. But we needed a win, and we got a win. That's all that matters in the end.

Forgot to mention the Ahmed TD catch-and-run, which was a an excellent play design and was executed perfectly. Great blocking on the play, especially from Williams.

More Tua hate:



When is the last time you saw a TV network put up QB stats and not include TDs? Such bullshit.

This is a clip of the huge play Hunter Renfrow made for the Raiders. I'm posting it because: look at who made the tackle:



Christian Wilkins, a D-lineman, never gave up on the play and made the tackle 30+ yards downfield. That's impressive.

I think a lot of the problems were caused by shiite pass blocking it looked like. Even Armstead was getting whipped! The Raiders seemed determined to make Tua move and upset the timing of the offense. If the Phins can't do better than this, the Jets D will eat them alive!

Besides Hunt, (and maybe Wynn?) the Dolphins just do not have any starting class OGs on the roster apparently. This is a huge balck hole in the offense IMO and should be addressed more than it has been. Tua is the franchise QB, then he needs to be protected by ONE- a Solid running game, TWO - a decent interior Oline and not just by a super quick release.

Did everyone notice how close to the Oline the Raiders D was able to play? They had two safeties back, but everyone else was within five or six yards of the line. And even the safeties were only about eight to ten yards back most of the game it looked like to me from the high shots that were shown.

The Raiders game plan was to get to Tua quick, force him to throw quick, ignore the motion and close the zone running lanes. It worked sorta well. I think the Phins will see this defensive gameplan until they learn how to beat it.

With the craptastic Oline play they are getting, I do not know if the Phins CAN beat it!!??

One thing for certain is... McD needs some HELP in breaking his tendencies. He needs to let someone else call half the plays IMO. On the 4th down stop from the two in the 2nd qtr (I think it was the 2nd qtr?) you could tell the Radiers knew exactly what was coming. They had overloaded that side of the defense, when a fake toss to Hill would have allowed Tua to stroll around the end and into the end zone IMO.

This is the second season where the McD offense gets "figured out" it seems but both have one thing in common and one thing that I think ultimately means the Phins will not have much success in the playoffs (if they get there): Bad Oline play. Last year it was not good, and this year, it seems to be just a smidge above not good...

Thank goodness the Fangio D is playing well.

I do think that if Fangio tries to play this soft zone against Wilson, he is going to have some success. I woulkd try to do to the Jets what the Bills just did: poor on the pressure! The Jets Oline makes the Phins Oline look kinda/sorta half-arsed decent!

The Phins need to get up and then keep their foot on the Jets neck!

Go Phins!! And beat those dastardly Jets!

Very disappointing performance by the offense. Self-inflicted, drive-killing turnovers and penalties. Absolutely pathetic 3rd down conversion rate and lack of ability in short yardage. The screen plays to Hill with 1 yard needed just ain’t working – stop it. But Hill was otherwise the lone bright spot on offense outside of the perfectly executed Ahmed TD. Why does Waddle disappear for so much of the game? Would the offense have had a spark if Achane didn’t get hurt?

Thankfully, the defense, Jalen Ramsey specifically, picked up the slack. J Phillips (Wilkins and Chubb too) also had a very impressive performance – if only he could’ve kept his feet on the interception, this game would’ve been sealed. The defense as whole was put in some tough situations and bailed Miami out.

Clearly this game was tough to watch and shouldn’t have been as close as it was – but it was. However, the Dolphins came away with a victory leaving them atop of the AFC East. Its frustrating to see an offense that was labelled as “unstoppable” in the first part of the season struggle so mightily. Someone other than Hill has gotta step up and get this thing back on track. Until then, thank the higher powers for Jalen Ramsey.

JMP wrote:This is a clip of the huge play Hunter Renfrow made for the Raiders.  I'm posting it because: look at who made the tackle:

https://twitter.com/loganreever/status/1726342438992937071

Christian Wilkins, a D-lineman, never gave up on the play and made the tackle 30+ yards downfield.  That's impressive.

nice job by Wilkins. nice trail technique by Baker carrying Renfrow's lunch for him.

finfanatic wrote:Besides Hunt, (and maybe Wynn?) the Dolphins just do not have any starting class OGs on the roster apparently.  This is a huge balck hole in the offense IMO and should be addressed more than it has been.

did anyone else notice that former LSU and Patriots 6th round pick OG Chasen Hines was elevated for this game? he didn't play a snap, but he was there.

Yes, Hines was elevated because we literally had no interior backups. But I looked into him a bit and he seems to have some upside at least.

As for the offensive struggles, as merc said I thought they were mostly self-inflicted yesterday. That's actually a good thing, because it means the issues are correctable. The two fumbles, for example, would both have been first downs and as a result those drives would have continued instead of giving the Raiders easy FGs. Who knows what happens if there were no fumbles, but the outcome might have been very different.

Getting Hunt and Smythe back, and having either Achane or Wilson at #2 RB, will help for sure.

It's also a good sign, IMO, that on a day the offense struggled, we still had over 420 total yards. Eliminate the mistakes, and more points will come.

JMP wrote:Who knows what happens if there were no fumbles, but the outcome might have been very different.

and kicking a field goal (or running up the middle to continue the drive) instead of the damn failed screen on 4th and 1.

i'm also curious how much of the offensive gameplan had to be tossed out the window once Achane went down.

JMP wrote:Jaylen Waddle added 4 catches, but 3 of those occurred on one drive.

and that was the drive when Hill was out. why can't Waddle get some balls when Tyreek is in the game?

McDaniel said Tagovailoa’s interception was the result of a miscommunication in single-high coverage. Jaylen Waddle went underneath the safety and Tagovailoa threw it as if Waddle was going over the top.

https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/barry-jackson/article281968688.html

Phins gotta do something to get Tua and Waddle on the same page.

mercury22nathan wrote:

JMP wrote:Who knows what happens if there were no fumbles, but the outcome might have been very different.

and kicking a field goal (or running up the middle to continue the drive) instead of the damn failed screen on 4th and 1.

i'm also curious how much of the offensive gameplan had to be tossed out the window once Achane went down.

Yes, I think losing Achane definitely changed the gameplan. Consider this: not counting Achane's 1 carry, Dolphins RBs totaled 25 carries yesterday. Of those 25, Mostert had 22 - and he had not gotten more than 18 carries in a game this season before yesterday, and usually much less in most games. So I do think Achane was expected to get probably 8-10 carries, and those carries were not plays that Ahmed was ready to run.

I just don't understand why McD so often refuses to run the ball on 3rd and 4th downs when only 1-2 yards are needed. It's mind-boggling. Without looking up stats, my guess is that Mostert very rarely loses yards. You're telling me he can't gain a yard or two??? And on one of those attempts yesterday, Mostert wasn't even on the field! Just crazy - and frustrating.

mercury22nathan wrote:

JMP wrote:Jaylen Waddle added 4 catches, but 3 of those occurred on one drive.

and that was the drive when Hill was out.  why can't Waddle get some balls when Tyreek is in the game?

McDaniel said Tagovailoa’s interception was the result of a miscommunication in single-high coverage. Jaylen Waddle went underneath the safety and Tagovailoa threw it as if Waddle was going over the top.

https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/barry-jackson/article281968688.html

Phins gotta do something to get Tua and Waddle on the same page.

As I've said, I am really down on Waddle this season. I don't know what the problem is, but his lack of impact is a big part of the recent offensive struggles IMO. Is he not getting open? He's got just one 100-yard game this season - he had six last season. He's also averaging 5 yards less per reception than he did last season - that's a significant drop-off. McD needs to find a way to get him going - somehow, someway.

(Peeks in.)

This thread is pure awsomeness FF somehow manages to perfectly encapsulate and articulate all my concerns about the offense exactly, but better. It's got to be his courtliness

Perhaps the reason McD chooses not to run in short yardage situations is because it simply might not be possible with what has to be the league's worst guard situation right now. But surely he can try something else better than lame tosses to Tyreek behind the LOS

(Scurries away.)

DolFan 316 wrote:the league's worst guard situation 

Hardly. I don't know why McD didn't call running plays in those situations, but the league average is 111 rushing yards per game, and with this guard duo we had 117 against the Chiefs and 99 yesterday. We ran the ball fine, if not great, with Eich and Cotton starting. If you want to see a team that couldn't run the ball yesterday, check the Jets or Raiders stats! LOL