The Good

It's honestly kind of hard to write this up given last night's events. Last night turned out to be more about an individual who suffered a scary injury than a game. So the good news is that Tua was discharged from the hospital and got to travel back with his teammates. He had movement in all his extremities. Here's hoping the team and the player both take the right path on his recovery.

Tyreek Hill was explosive with 10 catches for 160 yards.

I felt the Dolphins defense played well given the injury situation in the secondary with Xavien Howard playing through a groin injury and Byron Jones being out. Also given how many snaps they played the week before and on a shot turnaround. They absolutely stuffed the run as the Bengals only gained 67 yards for a 2.2 YPC clip. The Bengals had 14 points through 3 quarters and the defense had to overcome 2 turnovers by the offense.

The Bad

It is the first loss of the season and it happened in a terrible way, with Tua Tagovailoa coming out of the game after a scary hit. Some people have said the play by Josh Tupou was dirty. I disagree. I think he was working his but off to make a play and given the angle and momentum, it was just an unfortunate result.

The Ugly

Teddy Bridgewater played better than his short stint against Buffalo, but he was off on some throws, including the interception late in the game. Obviously, he probably didn't practice much this week and hasn't developed chemistry with the first-team receivers. It's looking like he will have an opportunity to do that now as I expect Tua to miss at least a couple of games after the concussion.

You can also tell McDaniel didn't trust Bridgewater against the Bengals. The play calls went very conservative as the Dolphins ran the ball more (and were actually somewhat effective) or went to safer plays. When the play did call for Bridgewater to make a play, the results were mixed, so perhaps McDaniel had good reason for this. Honestly, purely speculative here but I also think McDaniel was impacted by the injury to Tua and didn't seem like the same guy on that sideline the rest of the game.

Overall

There will be a lot of second-guessing by the medical "experts" on Twitter. Did the Dolphins cover up a concussion against the Bills? Should McDaniel have allowed Tua to play? Most people don't seem to know that, against the Bills, Tua had to be cleared by an independent neurologist and he would have been evaluated throughout the week for a concussion. According to the medical experts that were in the room, he did not have a concussion. I could be wrong, but I don't see McDaniel as the type to try to influence the situation if one of his players is at risk. All this irresponsible speculation by people who don't know what they are talking about is dangerous, but it seems to be the way of the world. Eventually, the facts will come out, but people seem incapable of waiting for that to happen.

As for the Dolphins, they are 3-1. No one saw this happening. So they are in a better spot than expected. And the schedule lightens up considerably from the murderer's row of teams they just faced (3 Superbowl contenders in a row). But Tua will most likely be out against the Jets. The Dolphins will need to change their approach to a more run-heavy offense and utilize Bridgewater as a game manager. Hopefully, the team doesn't play down to the competition as they have done in past seasons.