The Phins landed plenty of heavy blows, but mistakes cost them the game
The Miami Dolphins fell to the Seattle Seahawks Sunday in an up and down slugfest. Miami showed plenty of spunk against an elite team, but too many sloppy plays spoiled the upset. Despite being 1-3 on the season, fans should remember that Miami has been beaten by three teams with only 1 loss between them. But, the Phins have two beatable teams coming up, so they must have more than moral victories against the 49ers and Bronco if they want to make something of the 2020 Season.
I can’t deny I screamed at the T.V. a few times because of some ‘same ole’ Phins’ moments. On the flip side, there were plenty of big times plays that had me also saying these aren’t the ‘same ole’ Phins’! It was one of the most bi-polar experiences I’ve had as a Dolphin fan in quite some time.
Boneheaded plays that killed a magical moment
CB Xavian Howard caught napping against D.K. Metcalf in the 1st Qrt and gave up a big play that led to a touchdown.
Brian Flores didn’t challenge the forward pass ruling against Fitzpatrick, which would have been overturned and keep a drive rolling. It was so obvious and they were punting, so there was plenty of time to see the replay.
Noah Igbinoghene gave up a huge play just before the half and was also caught napping for a TD to Metcalf in the 2nd Half
Fitzpatrick missed two open receivers and forced a throw late in the game that was intercepted. While he was under pressure and down 9 pts with just under 5mins, but it was 1st Down with time enough to win.
Sticking Jordan Howard in at RB on a critical drive. It isn’t all his fault, but he and this O-line just aren’t a good mix.
Plays that make me believe
The Bobby McCain hit on Metcalf to break up the pass was beautiful. McCain has played very well this season.
There were a half dozen beautiful and clutch catches by Ford, Gesicki, Williams, and Parker.
A ballsy call to decline a penalty left Seahawks with a 4th and 3. Miami not only stopped the Seahawks but added an exclamation mark with a sack.
Xavien Howard had a clutch pick in the endzone.
Miami managed a semblance of a run game against the 2nd best in the NFL and limited Seattle only one sack on Fitzpatrick.
The Phins had a bunch of players step up and look to be part of the future
Many are ho-hum about RB Myles Gaskin, but his performance against the 2nd best run defense on Sunday made it harder on his detractors. He had some very nice runs that showed something more than run of the mill RB.
DT/ DE Zach Seiler played plenty had played well. He is starting to lap the play of veteran Davon Godchaux. Can we get him resigned ASAP, please?!
Isaiah Ford was targeted 10 times and had 4 receptions. Mostly, this disparity was because of quality coverage rather than poor play on his part. He flashed in a couple of very nice plays.
DE Shaq Lawson had another good game and fellow Free Agent DE Emmanuel Ogbah had his best game as Phin. Lawson looks to be a good pick up… now if Ogbah can keep playing like this, Miami will be in a very good place.
Overall, the coordinators looked good, especially OC Chan Gailey. The concern that they weren’t the right picks is slowly fading into the backdrop.
S Jomal Wiltz is slowly gaining strength and has had a good season so far. His blow dislodged a certain TD catch by Metcalf. It’s time to put an eye on his play a little more.
Jakeem Grant keeps making plays and you have to wonder if he isn’t done proving his worth.
LB Kamu Grugier-Hill is finding his way and taking snaps from others. I expect this to continue.
Rookie S Brandon Jones is still outplaying former Phins safety Minkah Fitzpatrick by a long shot.
Nik Needham was a surprise player last season. This season he’s been a disaster. You can bet with the best pay per head review sites that Needham is on the road for a demotion.
RB Jordan Howard isn’t a good fit for this offensive line. He isn’t agile enough to wend his way through so much early traffic.
LB Jerome Baker had some great stats Week 1, but since then he’s been ineffective at best and at worst a liability.
LB Elandon Roberts posted stats this week, but there was a lot of ugly to go along with them. Miami must spend a high pick in the 2021 Draft on a linebacker. Seattle showed how valuable quality linebackers are.
DT Devon Godchaux is falling farther and farther down the pecking order. He just isn’t a good fit for this scheme and most of the successful runs are right at him.
Miami has two critical (but winnable) games coming up
I see this loss as a push as far as expectations. I expected this game to be a close one and hoped for a win. And, really they could have pulled off the upset… but, there’s that ‘should of could of, would of’ thing. Miami will start cementing its 2020 image over these next two games, so be a little more patient Phins fans. If Miami enters Week 7 with a 3-3 record… that’s not too shabby. Go Phins!!!
Hey, thank you for reading and commenting, Stephen! I agree… 2021 is the year we should have real expectations and be disappointed if there aren’t any. Just like last season, we need to let this season play out. We have gutted this franchise to the core… it will take time and even more trimming to get this thing right. I’m not saying don’t hold the team accountable, but doing so in context and with a wider lens because of this huge turnover. we need to come out of these next two games with at least one win… if we win both then I will be thrilled. These are very winnable games and we should win them. Moral victories aren’t as credible these next two weeks… It will be very interesting.
MJ, Thank you for your response back to me. After calming down from this past Sunday’s loss to Seattle, I focused on the fact that this is what a rebuild looks like! The team hit the re-set button hard, and it needed to happen. Like you, I was fully on board with the hard re-set vs. a re-tool. We will be in much better shape, and for the long term with the rebuilding effort. The Dolphins and Jags are the two youngest teams in the league. Flores has great promise as a HC, but he is young and inexperienced too as HC. Josh Boyer-DC, is young and just out of the gate. If you recall, Bill Belichick was fired from his first coaching job in Cleveland after 2 or 3 seasons! When he landed in New England, the Pats did not start to win immediately either. So my point to all this is that the team is young, inexperienced, near 50% turn-over from 019′, 4 out of 5 new OL, etc. The rebuilding effor to me was at least a 2 year program. I believe if we draft well in 2021 with 2 first round picks and 2 second round picks, 2021 will be our “coming out party”. I think this is when the Dolphins will be a strong factor in the playoffs. Your thoughts?
Tough loss, but I suspected as much. After all that has come down this season with Covid 19, etc., I was hoping that at this point, a 2-2 record would be cause for celebration. However, people need to realize that our 1-3 start has us against 3 playoff teams. Miami right now, is not a playoff team. Our schedule going forward gets easier. We have more tough games vs. Bills, Pats, Chiefs, Raiders, etc., but they are spaced out some. To start our season and have 3 out of 4 games vs. solid playoff teams was very, very tough. Add in no preseason games, shortened training camp, no OTA’s or Mini-Camp, 4 out of 5 new O-Linemen, and near 50% turn-over, and this is why I thought 2-2 would be very good at this point. Not sure at what point we put in Tua, but there are lots of calls now for him to be starting QB. At 1-3, this is not all Fitzpatrick’s fault! He is not responsible for a pass defense that is getting destroyed by opponets with good WR’s. Nor is he responsible for an O-Line that still is struggling to run block. Run blocking is harder vs. pass blocking, so this is a work in progress. The absence of Byron Jones at CB is HUGE. It is apparent that after Jones and Howard, our CB play drops way off! Jones was our biggest off-season acquistion, and the groin strain has kept him out. Hopefully he comes back vs. 49’ers. Jone’s inury really agrivates me! A strained groin or hamstring is a sign of not enough conditioning and stretching period. This is poor care of your body which is how you get paid! I think with one of our first 4 picks next draft we need to take a CB again. I also feel that our biggest needs are MLB and NT/DT. We need another Zach Thomas at MLB and NT/DT who can dominate and require double-team blocking! Need a guy like Aaron Donald, young Suh, Warren Sapp, type players. This will help the rest of our DL big time. So the question going forward for me is at what time in the season does Tua come in? Currently, I feel that Fitzpatrick is our best chance to win now. He knows Gailey’s system, and like I said, there are other factors regarding the losses that are beyond him. However, I say after the next 3-4 games we still are not 3-4 or 4-4 and are climbing back into this thing, start Tua and let him learn. At this point, the season is all but lost!
“The absence of Byron Jones at CB is HUGE. It is apparent that after Jones and Howard, our CB play drops way off! Jones was our biggest off-season acquisition, and the groin strain has kept him out.” It’s so huge… Jones nearly doubles the PFF grade of Igbo. It’s been a very tough start to his career. He’s had to face some good receivers the last two weeks. It will either make him stronger or break him. They are saying Jones will the back for the 49ers. It will make a very big difference. Howard needs to improve too. He’s been caught off guard and not ready for the snap a few times. Even saw him slow down on a long route a couple of times. Still, he is playing well for the most part. He appears still a little rusty. If he can turn it up a notch more and Jones can stay healthy, this team will look a lot different. We need a real top-flight MLB and an impact DLinemen. I think starting Tua must only come when he earns it. The team won’t like it as it will be a sign of not giving the best to win. Fitz is still way better than Tua at this point. The Ol is better, but Fitz is making them look better than they are with his release and pocket presence. I think your point of entry is pretty good though. This team needs to run it’s course as far as trying to win before a switch. The thing is Flores believes that every week no matter what the record is a must-win… it’s his core belief. He can’t compromise it. But, like last year with Rosen, if Fritz plays himself out of the role, then it’s on as well. I hope we don’t drop the season that early… man, it would be a disappointment…
Hey, thank you for reading and commenting, Stephen! I agree… 2021 is the year we should have real expectations and be disappointed if there aren’t any. Just like last season, we need to let this season play out. We have gutted this franchise to the core… it will take time and even more trimming to get this thing right. I’m not saying don’t hold the team accountable, but doing so in context and with a wider lens because of this huge turnover. we need to come out of these next two games with at least one win… if we win both then I will be thrilled. These are very winnable games and we should win them. Moral victories aren’t as credible these next two weeks… It will be very interesting.
MJ,
Thank you for your response back to me. After calming down from this past Sunday’s loss to Seattle, I focused on the fact that this is what a rebuild looks like! The team hit the re-set button hard, and it needed to happen. Like you, I was fully on board with the hard re-set vs. a re-tool. We will be in much better shape, and for the long term with the rebuilding effort. The Dolphins and Jags are the two youngest teams in the league. Flores has great promise as a HC, but he is young and inexperienced too as HC. Josh Boyer-DC, is young and just out of the gate. If you recall, Bill Belichick was fired from his first coaching job in Cleveland after 2 or 3 seasons! When he landed in New England, the Pats did not start to win immediately either. So my point to all this is that the team is young, inexperienced, near 50% turn-over from 019′, 4 out of 5 new OL, etc. The rebuilding effor to me was at least a 2 year program. I believe if we draft well in 2021 with 2 first round picks and 2 second round picks, 2021 will be our “coming out party”. I think this is when the Dolphins will be a strong factor in the playoffs. Your thoughts?
MJ,
Tough loss, but I suspected as much. After all that has come down this season with Covid 19, etc., I was hoping that at this point, a 2-2 record would be cause for celebration. However, people need to realize that our 1-3 start has us against 3 playoff teams. Miami right now, is not a playoff team. Our schedule going forward gets easier. We have more tough games vs. Bills, Pats, Chiefs, Raiders, etc., but they are spaced out some. To start our season and have 3 out of 4 games vs. solid playoff teams was very, very tough. Add in no preseason games, shortened training camp, no OTA’s or Mini-Camp, 4 out of 5 new O-Linemen, and near 50% turn-over, and this is why I thought 2-2 would be very good at this point. Not sure at what point we put in Tua, but there are lots of calls now for him to be starting QB. At 1-3, this is not all Fitzpatrick’s fault! He is not responsible for a pass defense that is getting destroyed by opponets with good WR’s. Nor is he responsible for an O-Line that still is struggling to run block. Run blocking is harder vs. pass blocking, so this is a work in progress. The absence of Byron Jones at CB is HUGE. It is apparent that after Jones and Howard, our CB play drops way off! Jones was our biggest off-season acquistion, and the groin strain has kept him out. Hopefully he comes back vs. 49’ers. Jone’s inury really agrivates me! A strained groin or hamstring is a sign of not enough conditioning and stretching period. This is poor care of your body which is how you get paid! I think with one of our first 4 picks next draft we need to take a CB again. I also feel that our biggest needs are MLB and NT/DT. We need another Zach Thomas at MLB and NT/DT who can dominate and require double-team blocking! Need a guy like Aaron Donald, young Suh, Warren Sapp, type players. This will help the rest of our DL big time. So the question going forward for me is at what time in the season does Tua come in? Currently, I feel that Fitzpatrick is our best chance to win now. He knows Gailey’s system, and like I said, there are other factors regarding the losses that are beyond him. However, I say after the next 3-4 games we still are not 3-4 or 4-4 and are climbing back into this thing, start Tua and let him learn. At this point, the season is all but lost!
“The absence of Byron Jones at CB is HUGE. It is apparent that after Jones and Howard, our CB play drops way off! Jones was our biggest off-season acquisition, and the groin strain has kept him out.”
It’s so huge… Jones nearly doubles the PFF grade of Igbo. It’s been a very tough start to his career. He’s had to face some good receivers the last two weeks. It will either make him stronger or break him. They are saying Jones will the back for the 49ers. It will make a very big difference. Howard needs to improve too. He’s been caught off guard and not ready for the snap a few times. Even saw him slow down on a long route a couple of times. Still, he is playing well for the most part. He appears still a little rusty. If he can turn it up a notch more and Jones can stay healthy, this team will look a lot different. We need a real top-flight MLB and an impact DLinemen. I think starting Tua must only come when he earns it. The team won’t like it as it will be a sign of not giving the best to win. Fitz is still way better than Tua at this point. The Ol is better, but Fitz is making them look better than they are with his release and pocket presence. I think your point of entry is pretty good though. This team needs to run it’s course as far as trying to win before a switch. The thing is Flores believes that every week no matter what the record is a must-win… it’s his core belief. He can’t compromise it. But, like last year with Rosen, if Fritz plays himself out of the role, then it’s on as well. I hope we don’t drop the season that early… man, it would be a disappointment…