Winners and losers from Dolphins week 8 win over Lions

The Dolphins improved to 5-3, maintaining prime position in the early AFC wildcard race, as they emerged victorious in a 31-27 win over the lowly Detroit Lions. Here are the winners and losers from Sunday’s win:

Winner: Tyreek Hill (and all of his fantasy owners)

Remember when we talked about how bad the Lions defense is? Yeah, we weren’t lying.

Tyreek Hill exploded for 12 catches for 188 yards, which astonishingly, was not even his best stat line of the first half of this season. That performance was good for 31.5 PPR fantasy points, as he maintains his spot as the number one fantasy wide receiver.

It seemed like Hill was open on every possession and when he wanted the ball, he got it. He is looking to be worth every draft pick and every penny Miami gave up for him.

Tyreek Hill looks extremely happy to have Tua Tagovailoa back, which may not be the best news for our next entrant.

Loser: Teddy Bridgewater

Making Tua a winner on this list seemed lazy, so let’s dig deeper into Tua’s huge game on Sunday.

Just a week after returning from injury, Tua lit up the Detroit secondary for 382 yards and 3 touchdowns — with no interceptions. Tua also completed 29/36 of his passes, an extremely efficient outing.

Tua’s sudden emergence is a very bad sign for Teddy Bridgewater, who at this point is just trying to keep a roster spot. With the trade deadline looming, Miami may look to dump off Teddy’s contract to a QB-needy team.

Winner: Dolphins’ offensive line!

Following some very rocky games, the Dolphins’ offensive line had possibly their best showing of the season.

According to PFF, the Dolphins only allowed two quarterback pressures — all day long. Tua stayed upright a majority of the day and was able to dice the Lions’ defense apart. He owes a giant ‘thank you’ to the guys upfront.

Although there was not much in the way of running room for Miami, 26 attempts for 107 yards, it was a huge step for an offensive line that has struggled for a majority of the 2022 season thus far.

Loser: Mike Gesicki

When you think of potential moves from the Dolphins coming as the trade deadline nears, you have to think of Mike Gesicki.

Unfortunately for the tight end, he had another disappointing showing in the receiving column. On four targets, Gesicki only registered three receptions for 38 yards (including a touchdown) against a Lions defense that is notorious for letting tight ends shred them.

If the Dolphins do want to add some draft capital and free up some cap space, unloading Gesicki at the deadline would make a lot of sense for them.

On the bright side, Mike Gesicki elected not to attempt a Griddy after his touchdown. This is a win for all of us.

Winner: Jevon Holland

Jevon Holland was all over the place on Sunday.

The safety registered 12 total tackles — 10 of which were solo — and recorded a pass defensed in what was possibly the most dominant performance by a Dolphins’ defensive back this season.

Possibly the most important stat of all, Holland played 100% — all 60 — of the Dolphins’ defensive stats. For a team hurting so much in the secondary, having a player like Holland able to play every snap and come up with so many tackles is big for this defense.

The game ball likely goes to Tua or Tyreek, but Jevon Holland is my unsung hero from Sunday’s win.