Sometimes a team plays great and racks up all types of impressive statistics, but they still end up losing the game, such as when the Phins lost the Arizona game. Then there are games, where the other team is the one running up the stats on you, however they fail to get in the end zone enough, and the result is a victory even though you didn’t play your best football. The Phins played a sloppy game against the Rams, but their defense even though it was bending more then a rubber band, held strong when it counted in the red zone. In addition the Dolphins received a bit of karma. After having had their own problems with field goals, they were rewarded with an unexpected 3 missed field goals from the usually automatic Greg Zuerlein. In the end a win is a win, no matter how ugly it was, and in reality we were owed at least one win from our two heart breaking overtime losses.
I am actually glad we were exposed on defense in this game, because we will have something to work on going into the bye week. Football bookie software fans can bet that even though the Phins won this game, the players are not satisfied by their lackluster performance, and if this group is as prideful as they seem, than don’t be surprised if they practice extra hard during this bye week. This is all good, because the next game, the players will need to bring their A game, because a huge match up looming against the Jets coming off the bye week will be a true test of where this team is headed for the remainder of the season.
There were three things that stood out to me on this game. The first was that again we received a huge play from a defender at the end of the game to help preserve the victory. On third down on St. Louis’ last drive, rookie Olivier Vernon, broke through and recorded his 2nd sack of the game. This ultimately forced the Rams to try a 66 yard field goal. Hopefully this is a glimpse of more good things to come from Vernon, because football gambling fans would admit that he had his best game as a Dolphin yesterday. The other thing that stood out was the ballsy fake punt call on fourth down by Philbin on the Dolphins own 40 yard line with a few minutes left in the game. I completely loved the call, and even though Philbin seems to be a straight laced conservative guy, his coaching style is very aggressive and is a positively refreshing change from the boring conservative coaching style of Sparano. Once again, I feel like Philbin reminds me a bit like Bill Belichick, which is clearly a step in the right direction. Lastly, rookie QB Ryan Tannehill, seems to get better with each game that passes. I love seeing him change the plays on offense, and he had his most efficient game yet, going 21 for 29 for 185 yards, 2 touch downs, and a 112 QB rating. It appears that phins news fans may have something special in this kid.