POLITASPORTS

The fish tried to soar amongst the elite and drowned in the clouds. Beating the teams you’re supposed to is a sign of a quality playoff team. Miami is that, they’ll be playing into 2024; but unless they can start to beat the elites of the NFL, they won’t be playing long. Miami has yet to record a win against any team with a record above .500 (Chargers 2-4, Patriots 2-5, Broncos 2-5, Giants 2-5, and the mighty Panthers 0-6). Buffalo has proven quite beatable including yesterday by the Patriots, they crushed Miami 48-20. Philadelphia stomped the Fins 31-17. Neither game versus a quality opponent has been particularly close. Against Philly the score wasn’t outrageously lopsided, but the outcome never seemed in doubt either. Miami started sluggish, they struggled to slow Philadelphia defensively and even when gifted a 20 yard field could only come away with 3 points. It wasn’t awful, it was worse. This isn’t “sky is falling” hyperbole, Miami is a solid team, but they are not yet on the top tier of the NFL.

Jump to Grades: Coaching || Defense || Quarterback || Special Teams || Running Backs || Officials || Receivers || Overall ||

Coaching: (F); I have been emphatic all year that the defense needed to play better. I wrote last week in my “4Keys to Victory” post they needed to pressure Hurts without breaking containment. They struggled to do so. He converted several 3rd downs and the 4th down conversion late in the 2nd quarter was atrocious. Overall the defense did not play bad. They fought hard and Fangio deserves a lot of credit, but they still have consistent break downs in coverage that are frustrating. Wilkins lined up in the neutral zone almost the entire night, how this was never corrected from the booth is baffling. It cost the Dolphins several “offsides” penalties including one late in the 4th quarter that practically sealed the game.

I am more perplexed by Coach McDaniel. The offense was out of sync all night, evidenced by the 10 points they struggled to put on the scoreboard. The Eagles weren’t playing shut down defense; until the 4th quarter they had only one sack. The line plugged up the run, but McDaniel wasn’t using his normal motions and pre-snap movements to add confusion. The offense seemed, flat. Maybe he lacked faith in the Offensive Line substitutes? Not sure, even his halftime interview he appeared lost. The Dolphins put up the exact same amount of yards this week as the Jets last week 244. That is awful and should put the “Greatest Show” stuff to bed.

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Running Backs: (C); I should drop the “s” as Mostert was the only back featured on Sunday. Even then it was seldomly. Mostert finished with only 9 carries, Ahmed was the only other back to touch the ball, he had 2 carries. 11 carries from the backfield. Hard to give a grade with such little usage. Mostert started slow with little room against the Philly front, but finished averaging 5 yards per carry. Why Miami didn’t try to shuffle in more from the ground game, I am not sure, but there were some gaps to be found. It may have helped in the air assault that wasn’t.

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Receivers: (D+); It was a pedestrian game, which is insane considering Hill had 11 catches for 88 yards and a score. But when you’ve been putting up the numbers that Hill and this offense has, mortal appears morbid. Wilson Jr. made a couple nice catches including one on 3rd and a mile that led to Miami’s only offensive touch down of the game. He also was the recipient of a blatant facemask no call. Mostert too, did not get any help from the men in stripes on his comeback attempt on a poorly thrown ball, being tackled while Slay swooped in for the pick. No receiver over 100 yards. Hill had a bad drop on what would’ve been a first down late while the game was still in reach. And of course the dropped TD catch! It wasn’t their best effort Sunday Night.

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Defense: (B-); They fought hard. The secondary was short staffed yet tried to contain Brown, which they did for most of the game. The 4th down play in the 2nd was a breakdown. When Hurts broke containment the secondary was caught staring as a floater sailed over their heads to a waiting Brown at the 2 yard line. Yes, Hurts should’ve been sacked, but you have to stay on your coverage. That ball screamed “pick me off” as it slowly drifted through the sky. The line was able to put pressure on Hurts, but also allowed him to slip outside containment too often, and on 3rd downs, which is always a killer. Also, you need to stop that stupid QB sneak. And Wilkins, line up on side! Please. With the offensive struggles, this unit kept the game from getting out of hand, unlike in Buffalo which is why they get my highest grade of the day.

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Special Teams: (C+); Berrios had a couple nice returns, including a decent punt return, Sanders made his lone FG attempt and both PATs, and Bailey averaged 45 yards a punt. The kick coverage did give up a 40 yard return however which sinks the grade.

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Quarterback: (C); Tua, I am glad he is the Dolphins QB at the moment. I think Miami does have a very difficult decision, but one the league has designed to force every team into at this point. Either offer a huge extension or start over. There is almost no middle ground in the NFL. There are only a handful of QBs I would take over Tua right now, but do I believe he is worth 255-275 million dollars? That is the low and high end of the 2020 draft class extensions thus far. Tua will be in the middle of that number. If Miami wins a Super Bowl or gets there as did Hurts last season, it will happen and may even exceed the high end of Burrow. As it is right now, I think an extension could come during the bye week. Though I believe if it comes mid season, Tua will be taking less, which would help the Fins and further ingratiate him to Finatics.

As for Sunday Night, it was a forgettable outing. The interception he threw was a terrible decision. All night I listened to Collinsworth badmouth Tua with “he just throws to a spot,” “he isn’t reading the defense he just throws it there because that is the spot he’s told to throw it.” And other such paraphrased quotes. Well the INT was one such ball. Tua didn’t bother to look and see he had two teammates in the same area, covered by three Eagles defenders, and he lobbed a pass that had more hang time than Looney Tunes Jordan, hoping a Dolphin would be there. McDaniel and FinsNation can be mad at the missed pass interference, which there was, but the ball should never have been thrown. Not late in a one score game. Coach should be more concerned with that, than with Mostert not being able to come back towards the poor pass.

The ball to Tyreek at the end of the half was a thing of beauty. I taunted a certain take first blow hard about it here Sunday Night. Tua is capable of such throws, which make the miscues more maddening.

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Officials: (F-); Ten penalties to zero? It was an awful night for the stripes, unless of course they wanted Philadelphia. I’ve seen lopsided calls, but for a team to have a “clean sheet” when there were very obvious calls that just jumped off the screen more and more as they weren’t called throughout the game… this was a travesty and suspensions should be warranted for this crew. A snap shot the calls that weren’t:

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Overall: (F); Last week I wrote the following:

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.

Obviously that didn’t go as planned. Miami has yet to win any of their “toss up” games, they have one more before the bye, in Germany, against Kansas City. The Chiefs are the cream of the AFC crop. Miami has much to prove, beating KC across the pond will go a long way in showing the AFC and the rest of the NFL that the way to Vegas requires a swim in the Caribbean. As of now, Miami is just the best of the rest. This Sunday at home against an AFC East rival that just beat the Bills is a bigtime “trap” game, I hope the Fins don’t fall into it.

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