Miami Dolphins: 10 observations from Week 3 win vs. Bills

Miami Dolphins Week 3 Observations

6. McDaniel and the Dolphins cleaned up the penalties

A week after they had an ugly showing in the penalty and dumb mistake department, coach McDaniel showed that he had his team more prepared to be disciplined against the Bills. Miami had just 4 penalties for a total of 20 yards, and finished the game with 0 turnovers.

If you’re wondering how a team can be out-gained like the Dolphins were and still be victorious, it is by playing mostly mistake-free football.

7. 3rd down defense was rough

The numbers didn’t quite reflect it, but it seemed like the Bills were converting every crucial third down that they needed to.

Buffalo finished 11 for 18 officially, but Miami had a chance to shut down drives on third down on more than a handful of occasions. It was this that contributed to the Bills having long, sustained drives of 10, 14, 20, and 17 plays and owning the time of possession battle by a huge margin.

The Bills have a high-powered offense, but getting beaten repeatedly on long third-down plays is not a recipe for success in the NFL.

8. The Miami Dolphins need to protect Tua Tagovailoa at all costs

Whether they were trolling or not, there was a small contingency of Dolphins fans who believed that Teddy Bridgewater was the best quarterback on the team’s roster during the preseason, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a single one of them remaining.

Bridgewater was inserted into the game with Tagovailoa in the locker room with a head injury, and while it was a small sample size, the results were not good. Keeping Tua upright and healthy (and hopefully away from late, dirty hits) will be essential for the success of the offense going forward.