Ryan Tannehill and the Miami Dolphins finally put in their most complete and best performance of the 2014 season. Tannehill had arguably one of his best games as a pro, Grimes and Finnegan completely shut down the Bears’ two big receivers, and the D-line pressured Cutler all game. The Dolphins took the early lead in the first quarter and never looked back.
Tannehill started the game off connecting on his first 14 passes of the game and finished the game going 25 of 32 for 277 yards, 2 touchdowns, no turnovers and a QB rating of 93.9. Most of his passes were short to medium range, but his accuracy, and touch on the ball was noticeably improved, and he did an excellent job of spreading the ball around. Eight different players caught passes, and each player had at least 2 catches. Lastly Lazor is finally starting to figure out a way to use Tannehill’s unique athletic ability by incorporating more option plays, which Tannehill used to rack up 48 rushing yards on 6 carries. It is about time that the coaching staff realized that they have a big athletic QB that can use his legs to wreck havoc on opposing defenses.
It was also nice to finally see Charles Clay get into the action with 4 catches for 58 yards and 1 touchdown. Jarvis Landry continues to make plays, and appears to be a very solid draft pick, which many fans were originally berating the Dolphins for choosing. Dion Sims had two solid catches and Daniel Thomas was able to add a few solid runs and catches when his number was called. Miller had another rushing touchdown and a few catches and continues to look like he can handle being the featured back. Even though Tannehill and Wallace can not connect on the deep ball, they have definitely developed a better chemistry, which is evident from Wallace catching another touchdown, which is already his 5th of the season.
The Defense played very well racking up 3 sacks, and getting 1 interception and recovering 2 fumbles. Finnegan caused a fumble and did a great job holding his own against the Bears’ big bodied receivers. Cameron Wake continues to show why he is an all pro player, notching another sack and recovering a fumble. Reshad Jones had his first pick of the season, on a diving catch, and was even able to make a nice return at of it. Grimes did his usual great job in shutting down a top notch receiver.
The reason I am listing all these players and showing what they did well in the game, is to show that this win against the Bears was a total team effort. The Dolphins got a lot of production and big plays from multiple players on the team, and all football gambling fans know that the better teams have more than one player make the difference in a game. Lastly the Dolphins and Philbin showed that they could rebound from a heart breaking defeat to the Green Bay Packers, which if anyone else realizes is one of the better teams in this league. The key now is for the Dolphins to take this momentum into the next game and lay the wood to a Jacksonville team that there is no reason why they shouldn’t beat by more than double digits.