Miami Dolphins keep it close but lose first lead of the season
By Brian Miller
The good news for the Miami Dolphins is that they finally managed to take a lead in a football game this season. Then they lost it.
Each week brings something new with the Miami Dolphins and while it is easy to point out all the negatives from a Sunday loss, finding the positives can be a lot trickier.
For the first time, this season the Dolphins held a lead. It didn’t last long but the Josh Rosen to DeVante Parker touchdown on the team’s first drive was taken as a sign that this game would turn out differently for the Dolphins. It didn’t.
On the Charger’s next drive, the lead was taken back and was not relinquished again. The Dolphins defense once again stepped up early and held the Chargers to a 17-10 lead heading into the half. Los Angeles would score only three points in the third quarter and a final 10 points in the fourth to put the game away.
That Dolphins offense we saw on that first drive didn’t show back up the rest of the game. On Miami’s second drive it seemed as if this game might be different. Miami drove the field and they managed a game-tying field goal for 30 yards out.
Miami’s defense did it’s job well in the first half. They stopped the Chargers on a 4th and short deep in Miami territory and gave the ball back to the offense. Rosen engineered a decent drive setting up a 50 plus yard missed attempt by Sanders. He would miss twice in the game from over 50.
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The miss gave Phillip Rivers a short field to work with and they scored on the next drive.
Overall the first half played out like the two weeks previous. The Dolphins defense stepped up and the offense failed to produce points. Eventually, the defense wore down and Miami was too far behind to mount any type of comeback.
The game marks the lowest points surrendered by the Dolphins this year. Last week they gave up 31 to the Cowboys so they improved by one point.
The good news is Miami doesn’t play next weekend so the bye-week will allow them to get their heads together. They will face the winless Redskins in two weeks. The Redskins are as bad if not worse than Miami.