In depth recap of Miami Dolphins week three victory
The Miami Dolphins won on Sunday and at times it wasn’t the prettiest but they are showing that never give up mentality they had in 2016.
Not everything on Sunday was good for the Miami Dolphins, especially the beginning which is where we begin with our recap of the victory over the Raiders. With the good and the bad.
The good:
Matt Haack punting started off good but he did fall back to earth as well.
The Dolphins red zone/goal line defense played well making some key stops.
Xavien Howard intercepted Derek Carr and returned it for 39 yards. Also got one in the end zone that helped to seal the game late.
William Hayes with a sack on third down. (got torn ACL by following the sack rule)
Cameron Wake also with a sack on third down. (his first on the season)
Mike Gesicki was getting open in the middle for a few passes and running well after them. He appears to be more acclimated to the speed of the game at the pro level. He caught all three of his targets for 31 yards.
Vincent Taylor got a sack while having to do spot duty from others being injured. There might be more of this if some players stay hurt.
Albert Wilson played a great game even connecting on a TD pass to Jakeem Grant. Wilson and Grant both had rushing TD’s. (shuffle passes)
The bad:
Minkah Fitzpatrick looked to get burned on the first passing play for 61 yards by Jordy Nelson who at his age can’t be all that fast.
Someone cover Jordy Nelson already! He got his second pass of over 60 yards half way though the second quarter. Fitzpatrick did run down and tackle him on the second one saving a TD.
Penalties were back on both sides of the ball. However re watching some clips, the holding on the center and some of the PI calls on the WR’s looked bogus.
Slow start by the offense with many mishaps and not many getting on the same page. And this lead to long third downs and failed drives.
Akeem Spence got ejected from the game giving the Raiders the ball back. (he supposedly tore a lineman’s helmet off)
Jakeem Grant had two pass interference fouls by early third quarter. (but after reviewing one play nothing is there)
The Raiders made many long running drives using a lot of time that had to be wearing down an already depleted defensive line.
The Dolphins run was absent for the most part heading into the fourth quarter taking some bite out of play action and becoming too reliant on passing.
The Dolphins had to start the game without a play maker on defense Reshad Jones. Their run defense came crashing back to earth along with some poor tackling.