POLITASPORTS

Carolina exposed Miami’s defensive weaknesses early, jumping out to a quick 14-0 lead. I’m not sure many Fins Fans were too worried, but if they don’t get the kinks worked out before Sunday at Philadelphia, 14-0 could easily be 21-0 or worse. Yes, Miami can score in bunches, but against quality offenses such as Buffalo and San Diego this defense has been exposed. Fangio needs to figure out ways to get pressure because with Ramsey on the sidelines, the secondary needs help upfront. Miami has won every game this year they were “supposed” to win, that is great, this Sunday is their second opportunity to win a 50/50 game and show the NFL they are a top tier Super Bowl contender. The Eagles are coming off a tough loss, and that always makes me nervous, but Miami can make a statement to the league they are the team to beat.

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Coaching: (B+); Fangio made some adjustments after the hot start by the Panthers and locked them down; holding the offense scoreless the rest of the way after giving up 14 quick first quarter points. Carolina’s only other score came on a pick six off of Mike White in the fourth quarter. The defense cranked up the pressure finishing with four sacks. I would love to see the Dolphins D force more turnovers, but that isn’t something the coaching staff can control.

The offense continues to sing. Coach McDaniel drew up one of the best plays of the day, unfortunately it lead to a fumble because Tua threw his worse pass of the day. Early in the game, down 14 facing a 3rd and half a yard, he bunched up the offense showing a QB sneak or RB dive up the middle, but Mostert snuck out the side and had miles of open interstate in front of him. With his speed he may very well have gone for six. But Tua over threw him on what was a backwards pass leading to a loss of almost ten yards on the play as the ball rolled out of bounds. Tua tried too hard to finesse the the throw, truthfully it probably should have been a toss not a pass. Either way, it was a well designed play, just executed poorly. Again highlighting the axiom, “coaches coach, players play.” Back in the day Shaq nicknamed Coach Van Gundy “Master of Panic” for his in game sideline overreactions, Coach Mick showcased a steely reserve as he executed his game plan and kept his focus. His team followed suit.

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Running Backs: (A-); Mostert proved why he was the number one back coming into the season. He finished with three touchdowns, two rushing, one receiving. He ended his day with 132 total yards, 20 touches, and 3 scores. He is leading the league in rushing touchdowns with 9 and total touchdowns with 11. He finished the day averaging almost 7 yards per carry. Brooks and Ahmed both averaged 4ypc and Ahmed found the end zone as well. 166 yards and 3 scores while missing your star rookie is a great game. Need to keep it up for three more weeks before the bye.

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Receivers: (A); Five receivers with multiple receptions, three different players with a TD catch, and Smythe with a TD producing block. Yes, he didn’t catch a ball, but that edge sealing block was a thing of beauty. Hill was once again unstoppable. Two receptions over 40 yards, one that went for six. Hill continues to produce at a MVP level. Waddle led the team in receptions, and although he has had a slower start to the season than most expected after last year, he is working his way back from the early concussion and becoming a bigger threat and part of this offense every week.

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Defense: (B-); The start was awful. Thielen finished with 11 catches for 115 yards and a TD. This is not a knock against Thielen, he has been under-valued his entire career. But with a rookie QB and no other weapons, he shouldn’t be able to go off on a top tier team. Miami did clamp down. Sieler continues to excel adding another sack to his season totals, Wilkins had two, and even Chubb had a sack on Sunday. Apple has fallen off the tree. This unit is going to have to figure things out and get pressure on Hurts this coming week. Hurts, as he showed on Sunday against the Jets, will make mistakes under pressure. The key is not letting him escape the pressure. Miami has struggled with mobile quarterbacks, being torched countless times by Josh Allen escaping the pocket. So keep him under wraps and let Hurts hurt the Eagles with his arm, not the Dolphins with his feet.

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Special Teams: (B+); Solid effort in the punting game. No missed PATs. Berrios had one return that was called back for a holding that would’ve set the offense up with great field position. In a tight game against a tough opponent this is the type of mistake that could have grave consequences. Clean it up.

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Quarterback: (A+); Tua had another MVP caliber performance. He and Hill are running away with this trophy as they near the mid point of the NFL season. He once again hit Tyreek in stride on a deep ball down field for a score putting another nail in the “he only throws slants” coffin. He did have that one errant throw on the aforementioned 3rd down play to Mostert. That may have been his only bad throw of the game. He’ll need another effort like this next week if Miami os going to beat the Eagles in Philadelphia.

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Officials: (C-); Not much to say here. Even if they have a questionable call or two, it’s only glaring in a close game, no one gives it a thought in a route.

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Overall: (A+); I’ve stated repeatedly that the three most vital games before the bye week would be against the Bills, Eagles, and Chiefs. We all know how the Bills game turned out, and none of us want to re-live that travesty. Is this Miami Dolphins team contending or pretending? We’re going to find out in a few days. We need to make the hashtag #SwimFinsSwim trend this week in place of #FlyEaglesFly to rile up the Philly fanbase. Let’s clip their wings and flush that puke green down the toilet.

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