Week 13 Game Thoughts: Dolphins at Commanders

The Dolphins just keep on rolling, as they traveled to our nation’s capital and tossed a beating to the lowly Commanders.  The 45-15 win was highlighted by big plays on offense and defense, in what was an easy victory for the Phins.

Let’s start with Tua Tagovailoa.  Tua turned in a turnover-free day as he racked up 280 yards and 2 TDs, with a completion percentage of 75% and a rating of around 140.   Tua was masterful in the pocket all day, smoothly avoiding pressure and stepping up to make throws.  Tua dominated on 3rd downs, including two 60+ yard bombs to Tyreek Hill.  It was an outstanding day for Tua, and he got a well-deserved rest in the 4th quarter as Mike White finished the game.

Tyreek is the best player in football, hands down.  He had a 78-yard TD on the Dolphins 3rd play of the game, and added a 60-yard TD later in the first half.  He also had a couple of clutch 3rd down catches.  Jaylen Waddle added 5 catches for 52 yards, but did have a terrible drop on a perfect pass when he was wide open with room to run.  TE Julian Hill had a couple of key catches for first downs and delivered some key blocks.  

Three Dolphins RBs – Raheem Mostert, Jeff Wilson and De'Von Achane combined for 127 yards and 3 TDs, with Achane leading the way with 73 yards and 2 TDs.  Mostert continued his season-long dominance with his 14th rushing TD on the year.

The offensive line was outstanding.  But Terron Armstead and Robert Hunt both started, and both left the game with injuries – Armstead at the end of the first half with an ankle and Hunt in the 4th quarter with a hamstring.  Neither injury seemed serious to me, but time will tell.  The OL was dominant in run blocking and kept Tua clean in pass pro.  

The defense did not miss Jae Phillips today.  His replacements, Andrew Van Ginkel and Emmanuel Ogbah, had big games – AVG with a pick 6, 5 tackles and numerous pressures and Ogbah with a sack and a tackle for loss. AVG's pick 6 was just awesome - the guy just defines the word "playmaker".  David Long was all over the place today, but fellow LB Jerome Baker left the game with what appeared to be a serious knee injury.  Duke Riley replaced him and made plays all over the field.  Safety Brandon Jones replaced the injured Jevon Holland and made a bunch of plays as well. The “next man up” mentality is alive and well in Miami!

The pass defense was outstanding today, holding Washington to just 107 total passing yards and sacking him 3 times.  QB Sam Howell was running for his life all day against a heavy Miami pass rush, but the young QB was often able to avoid pressure and finished with two rushing TDs, including an impressive 13-yard run.  Overall the defense allowed almost 140 rushing yards, which is unacceptable, but it did not impact the game’s outcome.

The Dolphins led from wire to wire, taking a 31-7 lead into the half and never looking back.  They got the double-dip today, with a TD on their final first half drive and another TD on their first second half drive.  Overall, this was a dominant win in all phases (including STs, with a 49-yard FG by Jason Sanders and a great punt downed inside the 10 by Jake Bailey).  Yes, the Commanders are not a good team – but just ask the Bills how important it is to beat bad teams.  The bottom line is that the Dolphins kicked ass today and now sit at 9-3, running away with the division.  And the best part of all: Tua is healthy.  


Hero of the Game: I’m giving a game ball to the entire team today.  Just an outstanding effort from top to bottom.  You can really see everyone playing together as a single unit, and it’s fun to watch.

Goat of the Game: If you think I’m calling anyone out after a 45-15 victory, think again!

Enjoyable to watch. Waddle drop was really only time I yelled at the TV. Loved closing it out running the ball - we didn’t see that much last season.

Yeah, the run game is just so impressive this season. Seems like McD is getting more and more comfortable with it. The OL is doping a helluva job run blocking, even when backups are in.

Great game all around. Enjoyable to just watch a blowout.

Waddle has 1 or 2 big drops a game and MLB/ILB still a weakness.

Just from looking at the box score this went as it probably should have, in mostly all the right ways. I figured they'd have a lot more trouble running and a much easier time passing and I was right as they averaged a mere 3.6 yards per carry. For those who watched did they have a lot of trouble running inside as I suspected? I pointed out that Howell was tied for the league lead in pick sixes and lo and behold I love how the D is now starting to score, if they keep it up they just might actually match the number of opposing non-offensive scores by season's end.

Also, this team is 9-3 for the first time since '01 I'm far from a math whiz but according to my calculations (counts fingers) that's...(let me see, carry the one and then...)TWENTY TWO YEARS!

Just woke up and dealing with a sinus headache but 'll have more to say about this one shortly.

The Phins are currently the #1 seed in the AFC, with the Ravens on bye and the Chiefs and Jags not playing yet. Cool to see, even if it likely won't last much longer this week.

DolFan 316 wrote:Just from looking at the box score this went as it probably should have, in mostly all the right ways. I figured they'd have a lot more trouble running and a much easier time passing and I was right as they averaged a mere 3.6 yards per carry. For those who watched did they have a lot of trouble running inside as I suspected? I pointed out that Howell was tied for the league lead in pick sixes and lo and behold I love how the D is now starting to score, if they keep it up they just might actually match the number of opposing non-offensive scores by season's end.

Also, this team is 9-3 for the first time since '01 I'm far from a math whiz but according to my calculations (counts fingers) that's...(let me see, carry the one and then...)TWENTY TWO YEARS!

Just woke up and dealing with a sinus headache but 'll have more to say about this one shortly.

I'd say the Phins ran pretty well up the middle, overall. The ypc average was hurt by a few big losses on pitches behind the line. Those plays seem to fail every time the Phins run them. I think Hill and Achane lost almost 20 yards combined on two of those plays. Regardless, great to see McD sticking with the running game!

Injury updates:

McD said Armstead could have returned if needed. He doesn't think the Baker injury will be season-ending. Hunt re-aggravated the same hamstring injury he had, but seems OK.

JMP wrote:

DolFan 316 wrote:Just from looking at the box score this went as it probably should have, in mostly all the right ways. I figured they'd have a lot more trouble running and a much easier time passing and I was right as they averaged a mere 3.6 yards per carry. For those who watched did they have a lot of trouble running inside as I suspected? I pointed out that Howell was tied for the league lead in pick sixes and lo and behold I love how the D is now starting to score, if they keep it up they just might actually match the number of opposing non-offensive scores by season's end.

Also, this team is 9-3 for the first time since '01 I'm far from a math whiz but according to my calculations (counts fingers) that's...(let me see, carry the one and then...)TWENTY TWO YEARS!

Just woke up and dealing with a sinus headache but 'll have more to say about this one shortly.

I'd say the Phins ran pretty well up the middle, overall.  The ypc average was hurt by a few big losses on pitches behind the line.  Those plays seem to fail every time the Phins run them.  I think Hill and Achane lost almost 20 yards combined on two of those plays.  Regardless, great to see McD sticking with the running game!

Okay, cool. This is why looking at the box score doesn't tell the whole story sometimes. I've been waking up and falling asleep all day.

BTW, I have to give credit to Eich. He looked very good at RG last week, and very good at LG today. He's really come a long way in a short time.

And speaking of OL, I'm not saying Austin Jackson is the best RT in football right now...but I'm also not saying that he isn't. He is playing at an insanely high level - just amazing to watch. I try to key on him a lot, and I just don't see him get beat. He's going to get a lot of $$$ in free agency.

JMP wrote:BTW, I have to give credit to Eich.  He looked very good at RG last week, and very good at LG today.  He's really come a long way in a short time.

And speaking of OL, I'm not saying Austin Jackson is the best RT in football right now...but I'm also not saying that he isn't.  He is playing at an insanely high level - just amazing to watch.  I try to key on him a lot, and I just don't see him get beat.  He's going to get a lot of $$$ in free agency.

It's almost like that O-line coach who was hired this season actually knows what he's doing, or something

Still think he needs better players to work with, though. Or at least less injury-prone ones.

I gotta say that if eichengerg and Jackson continue people may have to eat shit when they speak about grier

Well, that Washington defense really improved with Rivera taking the reins and firing Del Rio....

Just a great team effort. Taking care of business like that in back to back road games is impressive. This team is much improved from last year.

Terry McLaurin had as many catches as I did today while sitting on my couch drinking beer and sipping rum. Pass defense was INSANE today!

I heard that this was the largest margin of victory in a road win for the Dolphins since 1978!

JMP wrote:I heard that this was the largest margin of victory in a road win for the Dolphins since 1978!  

HEY!!! I'M the one who supposed to post stuff like this around here! Stay off my turf, bro!

j/k When it comes to good stuff you can post all the stats you want

Even *I* didn't realize this BTW

EDIT: Yup, it's official.

https://stathead.com/tiny/MzTri

BTW anti-Fins media kicking things into overdrive now by literally refusing to show ANY highlights of their win. Seriously.

Considering the team they thrashed, I would not be surprised in the least if they were "under orders" not to. Again, seriously.

Been watching NFL Network for almost an hour and a half now and I've seen some games get highlighted three times but no Fins.

Chiefs losing late in the 4th!

Mahomes just threw his 10th INT, in a crucial situation. Wonder if everyone will say he needs to protect the ball better? Yeah, probably not.

Okay, since there's apparently a presidential mandate against showing highlights of this game on any network, I've decided to take matters into my own hands. Again.







As an aside, I'd just like to ask the fascist pigs at Youtube how it feels to know that their asinine, absurd anti-ad policy that has somehow united woke and non-woke people against it is having NO EFFECT ON ME WHATSOEVER!!! MUAHAHAHAHA!!! Douches.

I echo most of what JMP said. The explosiveness of the Tua to Tyreek combo was on full display. I don’t know if Rivera was purposely putting Hill in single coverage, but he was uncoverable for most of the game. This game was over about 5 minutes into the 1st quarter – as it should have been. Yet even if the Commanders are clearly an inferior team, they are still a team with some good playmakers and Miami silenced them. The pass rush was all over Howell forcing him to scramble and throw off his back foot most of the game. The way the Dolphins ground out over half the 4th quarter with the run was a thing of beauty. While he didn’t have any hugely explosive runs, Achane did do a nice job of picking through some holes to gain tough yards.

Without any turnovers and few penalties, the Dolphins showed when firing on all cylinders, only they can stop themselves. Really only one drive was derailed by an offensive hold by J Hill in the 3rd quarter – although his 18 yard reception was critical in the 2nd half opening TD drive.

Obviously the overwhelming majority of things in this game were positive to the point that the negative might not be worth mentioning, but Miami does have some things to think about for when facing a better team. The LB coverage of guys coming out of the backfield was pretty sketchy. The Commanders 2 biggest plays (33 and 32 yards) were both down the sideline to guys out of the backfield with LBers in coverage – one of which resulted in Baker’s injury near the goal line. The run defense was bit more leaky than one would like to see with 29 and 15 yards runs to the right and a ridiculous 13 yard QB scramble up the middle for a TD.

To the eye, Waddle and Tua don’t seem to have the same connection as they shared in the past (although the stats don’t exactly back that up other than Waddle’s yards per reception being down). No fault for Tua on the Waddle drop. In fact, Tua made an excellent play to get the ball to a wide open Waddle (to his credit he came back to the ball while Tua scrambled), but Waddle turned his head to run before securing the ball and let an easy one drop to the ground. There was another deep pass to Waddle on which I’m not sure if Tua threw it a tad short and to the inside or Waddle just couldn’t get to the ball (there was little to no separation on the route), but the pass fell harmlessly to the ground.

Most of the Dolphins running success (which was more workman like than explosive) were off-tackle runs. Unless the Dolphins can figure out how to get a crashing end-of-line defender blocked, the wide runs (and WR screens) are taking way too much time in the backfield and aren’t working. I wasn’t a fan of Tua extending the ball in an apparent play fake to no one before pitching the ball to Mostert on the some of the side runs. That just seemed to telegraph what was coming and allowed the defense time to react.

While it would be easy to acknowledge either Hill or Tua (his movement in the pocket was very, very good) as they won this game before the game even started, I’m gonna anoint Van Ginkel a player of the game award. He played lights out most of the game and kept Howell under duress. And his pick-6 was amazing and exactly what the team needed after a 3 and out drive by the offense.

And its nearly impossible to give a goat of the game award after a 30-point margin thrashing. I was thinking maybe the injuries. Maybe LBer coverage. And maybe Waddle for that egregious drop. Instead I’ll just give a collective warning.

GO DOLPHINS!!!

and by the way, Gink int was the result of film study.

“It starts during the week with preparation,” Van Ginkel said. “It’s something that was on my radar. I saw the tackle kind of [does] the same thing on the wide receiver screens, so I kind of expected it. When it happened, I couldn’t believe it and the rest was history.”

https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/nfl/miami-dolphins/article282613033.html

i love that they picked up on a "tell" and Gink was able to implement it in the heat of the moment.

It was so Nice to Win a Game so easily again, When it was 17-0 You knew we were going to Win just by how much. Enjoy it so much that I like the Winny the Pooh reference by Mark Schelerth talking about the Honey Hole that Tua loves to throw in across the Middle. Also the Pats are so Bad that Kraft can’t even score in Whore House.

Achane basically had a 100 yard game in the fourth quarter. If he can add 10lbs of muscle and keep the speed he's a draft steal. Tyfreak Hill might be faster than a cheetah. Tua's offseason work has been paying dividends.

just more Tua bashing proven false.

https://sports.yahoo.com/tyreek-hill-explains-that-he-ran-wrong-route-tua-tagovailoa-still-hit-him-for-a-td-171006520.html

DC radio host: "This is one of the coolest plays I’ve seen live. I cannot stress how bad this throw was and how amazing this play by Hill is. He’s got Fuller beat so badly he just flips his hips and goes and get the ball over the wrong shoulder."

Tyreek: "Bad take I ran my route wrong Tua threw that ball exactly where I was suppose to be . He noticed my angle put enough air time on it just to give me time to adjust"

and nice to see the WR step up for his QB.

mercury22nathan wrote:just more Tua bashing proven false.

https://sports.yahoo.com/tyreek-hill-explains-that-he-ran-wrong-route-tua-tagovailoa-still-hit-him-for-a-td-171006520.html

DC radio host: "This is one of the coolest plays I’ve seen live. I cannot stress how bad this throw was and how amazing this play by Hill is. He’s got Fuller beat so badly he just flips his hips and goes and get the ball over the wrong shoulder."

Tyreek: "Bad take I ran my route wrong Tua threw that ball exactly where I was suppose to be . He noticed my angle put enough air time on it just to give me time to adjust"

and nice to see the WR step up for his QB.

So absurd. How anyone can call that a bad pass is beyond me. If he threw it more inside, there's a DB there. The fact that Reek caught the ball so easily shows how good the pass was. In fact, it was a GORGEOUS pass.