The Good

I cannot say enough about Ryan Tannehill and the way he has played thus far this season. Despite an interception, a fumble and a couple of sacks he could have avoided by getting rid of the ball faster, Tannehill had his best game as a pro quarterback. The reason I say that is because he beat a Superbowl contending team with a fourth quarter comeback win. Tannehill was 24 of 35 for 236 yards, 2 TDs and 1 INT. Not terrific numbers, but he was 9 of 12 for 69 yards and a game winning touchdown when it mattered most.

Nice little coming out party for Rishard Matthews. 4 catches for 42 yards and some key plays throughout the game for the Dolphins 4th wide receiver.

Caleb Sturgis continues to be money for the Dolphins. He was 2 of 2, including a 50 yarder right down the middle. The guy is a machine. 5 of his 6 field goals this season have come from 45 yards or more. He also had 4 touchbacks on 4 kickoffs.

The Bad

Pass protection needs to be addressed, and it is not necessarily just the offensive line. One sack allowed by Daniel Thomas and another by Dion Sims that led to a fumble recovered by the Falcons. These guys need to start protecting Tannehill. That he is still winning games despite getting sacked at a record pace is nothing short of amazing. But it cannot last forever.

The defense missed way too many tackles today. Sure, they held the Falcons to 23 points and made key plays in the redzone, but they gave up too many running yards and failed to sack Matt Ryan once.

Playcalling continues to be puzzling. The Dolphins averaged 6 yards per carry, but the running backs only got 13 carries. Almost all of those carries came on 1st down. The Dolphins need to mix it up more with screens and draws, especially when the QB is getting sacked way too much.

The Ugly

Not sure what happened with Mike Wallace today. He was targeted 5 times in the game, but 4 of those came in the first half. Two of which he caught. Maybe it is a case of spreading the ball around because every week someone different leads the team in receptions. In week 1 it was Hartline, in week 2 it was Wallace. This week is was Gibson with 6. But I have a hard time accepting that Wallace was only open twice. Either he has to play better or this goes back to poor playcalling. He is too fast and explosive to not get him involved more.

Injuries are creeping in. The Dolphins were already missing Soliai and Patterson. Wake and Misi went down during the game and even Ellerbe got injured at one point. The Dolphins pulled out the win, but they have to get healthy quickly, especially on defense.

Overall

A big statement game for the Dolphins. One of the few remaining undefeated teams in the early season. Teams that start off 3-0 make the playoffs 75% of the time. The Dolphins have certainly started out strong this season, beating two playoff teams in Indy and Atlanta (look at what Indy did to the 49ers in San Francisco). This is the biggest Dolphins win in a while and one of the most impressive games from Miami's emerging your signal caller in his young career.

Many would have been overjoyed if the Dolphins got out of the first 5 games with a 3-2 record. Well, it isn't going to be worse than 3-2.

Next up, the explosive New Orleans Saints, who will post a serious test for the Dolphins defense.

Very good post Rich.

That was quick Rich. Nice write up. I think something else that may be trending good is O production from the TE spot.

Nice work as usual Rich.

There was one play, 3rd and 7 I think where RT was in the gun. The RDE had to be 2 yards to the outside of the tackle. There was one LB on the field and he was in the gap between RG and RT and only inches off the LOS. Miller was in the backfield and I was screaming for a draw. The hole was already there. I think RT was sacked on that play. Anyway, does anyone notice that when RT is calling the plays in the 2 min drill the offense suddenly gets better?

It was another huge win. But I am worried Tannehill is going to get injured if he keeps getting sacked at this pace. 14 sacks in 3 games. Another thing that showed today is Miami has some depth and can still win without starters.

I love this hit.

I would say the Falcons caught them a lttle off guard with that...They haven't been running the ball and quite frankly don't really need to..That offense is loaded with talent right down to the fullback and we kept them to 23..
I say good job!


Without looking it up i would say most runs came on 2nd down..seemed like it was very predictable..But hey maybe they were setting something up..
Alot of run yards came on that long run

Is that the rookie Bob Jones?

if by bob you mean don, then yes

..haha er ... yeah

Speaking of rookies...How bout that kicker

We are 3-0...nice.

The Good; 70,660......And very loud

You're right that it appeared the Phins weren't prepared for that many rushes from the Falcons. It was smart of Atlanta to plan that but our DC was even smarter for making the adjustments.

It was some deep digging toughness the Defense showed today. But how many times did we have a chance to make a tackle for a loss, in the backfield, or before the first down line? This game could've been much much more manageable if we wrapped up more consistently.

Thanks i meant to put that in there.We shut that down some as the game went on

Lovin' it!

If you take away the 49 yard run by Miller, we only averaged 2.9 yards a carry (including two runs by Tanny for 7 yards).

Nice write up, Rich.

This is the key to the running game today. The stats (YPC) are very misleading because over 1/2 of their rushing yards came on one carry. We continue to struggle running the ball, and I do put some of that on the play calling today. It seemed far too often it was pass on 1st for little or no gain, run on second for little or no game, 3rd and long.

I don't really like Sherman's play calling too much. He shies away from the run way too early and puts a lot of pressure on Tannehill to win it on his shoulders. But I'm not sure that not running the ball very well overall isn't a huge contributing factor in that.

We need to give lamar at least 15 carries.....2 of those are gonna be long gains!

Tannehill with the kill today. I mean I know he didn't throw for the TD, but that final drive was all him!

It's good to see someone else feel this way. You have to find ways to get the ball in the hands of your best playmaker more. I think the running game could have been helped with a couple more deep passes as well to Wallace. How about a slant or two? If you can get Wallace the ball more it will put the defense back on its heels and open up things even more for the other receivers.

I think this game and the Browns game sends a message to defensive coordinators that you can cover Wallace with your best cornerback and the Dolphins will throw elsewhere.

He didn't???

Ya, I gotta hear this one

Must have been a hand off to Dion Sims.

Must have been a hand off to Dion Sims.

Ha!

Sorry I was really drunk when I wrote that. I forgot the final drive was the Sims td.

That was the order on almost every drive in the 2nd half. I was screaming at the TV.

If I can tell what you're going to do, SO CAN THEY!

Pretty good grammar and spelling for a drunk guy... I'm impressed!

He was one beer drunk, its the altitude you get drunk quicker. ; )

What a great win!!

With the playcalling, I would add that the coaches need to ride one of the RBs when they are playing well. Miller had that big run and then they went with Thomas a few plays later for an extended period of time. Might be hard for either of them to get going like that.

Also, take a chance down the field with Wallace. They had the match up they wanted a couple times and didn't look his way.

LOL .... my afternoon was sponsored by Fireball.

Great day though yesterday. The weather is finally coolin' off here in Scottsdale, which always makes for a great Sunday Funday. Was rockin' my new custom Dolphins tank and enjoying the hell out of that win.

We need to get our run game going if we want to be able to hit Wallace deep. Being able to freeze the linebackers and safeties on some play-action would be a huge help to this offense. But it's all predicated on being able to run the ball effectively. If you can't do that, the defense has no reason to react to the play fake.