The Good

The Dolphins defense held an effective Chargers offense (averages 403 ypg) to 273 total yards and 4 of 13 on third downs. The defense also did a decent job of stopping the run, holding the Chargers rushing attack to 3.4 yards per carry. Aside from one garbage time TD catch by Keenan Allen, the Dolphins corners had a much better game against the Chargers.

Dolphins special teams were once again special. An early blocked punt by Andrew Van Ginkel led to an early Dolphins TD. Jakeem Grant consistently returned punts that put the offense in good field position. Jason Sanders finally missed a field goal, it was bound to happen, but he hit three others, including one from 50 yards. One of the common themes of this winning streak is that either the defense or special teams are making big plays that put the Dolphins up early.

The Dolphins may have found themselves a running back in Salvon Ahmed. He finished the game with 85 yards on the ground and a touchdown. He showed good vision and burst in the hole. If the offensive line could consistently run block, he could be a very effective runner.

The Bad

Ted Karras may have put too much moisturizer on his hands before the game as he had a couple of bad snaps, one that led to a turnover late in the first half. Whatever he was doing needs to be corrected as this team wins in large part by protecting the ball.

The Ugly

After having a spectacular game last week against the Cardinals, Tua came back down to earth a little bit. He made a couple of throws that counter the reputation he has for being someone who sees the field well and rarely turns it over. Granted, he didn't turn it over, but there were at least two plays that should have been interceptions, one dropped by Denzel Perryman and one that went right thru a defenders hands and was caught by Gesicki. That being said, Tua did nothing in this game to disprove that he has what it takes to be our quarterback of the future. It is to be expected that he will make mistakes in his third career start.

Overall

It's hard to criticize a team on a 5-game winning streak, that is sitting at 6-3 in year two of a rebuild. The Dolphins are consistently finding different ways to win, whether it's an explosive offense one week or dominant defense or special teams making big plays the next. The Dolphins rarely shoot themselves in the foot or commit too many penalties. Players make plays when plays are needed most. This goes back to coaching and Brian Flores establishing a certain mentality. The "TNT" approach we were all poking fun at last season is paying off as this team plays disciplined football, despite a lack of talent at certain positions. Sitting at 6-3, with three more winnable games ahead of us, puts this rebuild ahead of schedule in my opinion.

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It's fun to follow a team that's finally finding new ways to win instead of new ways to lose.

I don't want to get ahead of myself, but this is the most excited I've been about the Dolphins as an adult.

Whether they make the playoffs this year or not, a plan seems to be working, and a seemingly steady hand is at the wheel.

A quick shout out to Phinished (I think I'm giving the right guy credit) for being on the Salvon Ahmed bandwagon since March. He looks good. Good call.

I’ve been solidly impressed by Tua so far.

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Good job Rich. Luckily the biggest problem was the snapper which should be easily fixed.

Thanks Rich, I think Ahmed has shown better vision in one game than the rest of the Dolphins Rb's have for most of the season so far.

This paragraph is why everyone should be the most excited they have been in a long time. One thing you notice about teams that are consistently good is that they find many different ways to win, just like Rich is pointing out. You don't need to rely on one player or one group every single week.

Nice work Rich.

There are similarities with this team to the 1985 Bears. The Bears won at lot of games because of there defense that year. If your defense and ST can help you win games all the time you will come out with a winning record.

Even I’ll admit Tua is twice the QB that Jimmy the Brute was with that Chicago team.

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I think the ugliest thing about this game was the center-QB exchange. As others have said, that is easily corrected.

The only thing I will add is that the "next man up" has worked pretty well. Preston Williams, Gaskin, and Breida are all skill-position players we've missed. Wilkins on the DL. Some LB injuries. Austin Jackson for a few weeks. This has allowed us to find out about other players, like Ahmed, Perry, and Hunt, who should all be contributors going forward, while still winning games. We do need to keep our cornerbacks healthy, though. The rookie Iggy isn't quite ready yet.

That play alone would’ve been enough to bury most Dolphin teams for the rest of the afternoon years back.

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Rich - good write up! I will disagree with you on 1 point. The Center-QB fumble was not bad, it was just ugly, and it cost us 7 points.

With that said, overall, the Dolphins controlled the game from front to back, and it is exciting to see the Dolphins back in the playoff mix!

This is a way too early post but keep an eye on Creed Humphrey at Oklahoma. He's a left handed center and a first round prospect. Karras has done an admirable job but Humphrey would be tailor made for Tua and he plays with a nasty streak.

Nicely done, Rich, and we appreciate you weekly thoughts on the game. It's a must read for me.



I expected a shootout and was surprised by both quarterbacks. Our defense did a good job of trying to confuse Herbert and made him look for the short stuff, and Tua didn't light up the Chargers as he should have considering their very predictable vanilla defense. I"m happy with the outcome though.




I was definitely ok with it as it didn't affect the game in any way. When you get on a hot streak like that it starts to get into a person's mind, and I'd rather him get that monkey off his back. He is just outstanding and dependable.




And it changed the momentum of that game when that happened. Instead of going up 17 or 21 to 0, it allowed them to get an easy touchdown. If you watch it, it was like Karras was thinking that Tua was back in the shotgun. How about Tua chasing down our ex-LB Zach Vigil?

I'm sure I wasn't the only one thinking OMG don't do it Tua! But he didn't try to play superhero; basically held him up until the big guys showed up.

In my last post it credited Jammer with the quote that was actually Dave. What?

Appreciate the time, Rich.

This was a game that Miami seemed to be dominating for most of the day, yet the scoreboard reflects a one possession contest. The defensive backs definitely seemed more comfortable with a QB who wasn't nearly the same threat to run as last week. Overall, between coaches missing again and Christian Wilkins watching from home, the team was able to work together and get an important W against a scrappy team in the Chargers.

There is no question that Joey Bosa not playing made things a bit easier offensively.

Special teams was constantly making plays - giving the offense ideal field position throughout the contest, and not allowing the Chargers to have great field position when they received the ball.

Defensively, the team held Herbert to his lowest yardage output (187) of the season. With the current slate of running backs in LA, the Chargers will need to be successful through the air to win games, and Miami did a nice job of taking that aspect away.

Side-note: Elandon Roberts is an assist tackling machine. He becomes involved in plays that he starts on the opposite side of the field.

AFCEast said what I was thinking: the fumble in the redzone would have completely deflated most Phin teams of the recent past, especially after the Chargers scored. But Miami was able to continue to play their style of game.

Ahmed was a nice change of pace. Not sure I can expect this to happen from week to week, but when going against middle of the pack run defenses like the Chargers (16th overall) these things need to happen. Same with next week against Denver (23rd overall).

A good win. Victory Monday (Tuesday for me).

Phins Up

Speaking of Keenan Allen ....



And, this .... lol.