3 things we learned in the Miami Dolphins frustrating win against the Las Vegas Raiders

Final thoughts on the Miami Dolphins victory over the Raiders.

I'm not worried about Tua fumbling. He's not a strong runner and he did cover the ball up with two arms. It was just a really good defensive play. I'm going to assume that won't happen many more times. Also, the Tua fumbling stat they shared is all about the fumbled snaps during the year, not Tua fumbling on scrambles. Not saying that it's okay to fumble snaps but I think we know the difference here.

Now the INT Tua threw to start the second half, was pure miscommunication between Tua and Waddle. Tua threw it deep and Waddle flattened out his route at the end of it. Again, I'm not saying that explanation makes it better, just giving some perspective.

If those are going to be Tua's numbers and we can consider that an off-game for him, sign me up. I thought he played fine minus those turnovers. A few missed throws but guess what? Every QB in every game has a couple of throws that they want back. We don't have to question existence when Tua does it.

The larger point here is McDaniel's hubris is getting in the way of painfully obvious approaches in big situational football moments. For example, the 4th and 1 inside the 10-yard line where he went with a screen pass to Hill that was instantly blown up. Remember that play in Germany? I do. Stop running it in big spots. How about running the offense plays that usually work such as quick stuff that Tua is really good at?

Or and this is becoming more of a thing every week but how about a running play in 3rd or 4th and short? I get it, Lester Cotton and Liam Eichenberg don't instill a lot of confidence in running it inside the tackles on short-yardage plays. But maybe give it a shot and get better at it?

McDaniel needs to improve his decision-making in big spots and drop the offensive genius mantra just a little bit. I'm not calling for him to become the late-great Marty Schottenheimer when it comes to play-calling but McDaniel doesn't always have to out-think the room as if he's Ricky Vaughn coming with new pitches.

Defensively, I need to know two things. How in the world does not one Miami Dolphins player pick up that backward pass inside the five-yard line? Three Dolphin defenders just stood around on a clear lateral. I don't get it. I don't get it because every game you watch you see an obvious forward pass get batted down at the line and you'll always have one guy pick it up. When that happens I'm like "How did you think that was a fumble?" Well, how did nobody on the Dolphins even attempt to pick that up? Make it make sense.

The second thing I need to know is what is Jerome Baker doing here?

Hey Jerome Baker don't worry, defensive tackle Christian Wilkins will run down the carrier. You just float like a butterfly and have a good time out there.