There was a moment in the game on Thursday night when it looked like the Miami Dolphins’ “good” was finally going to overtake the “bad.” That is, of course, before it was ripped away by the “ugly.”
Still, the Dolphins showed a ton of fight in their 31-21 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Thursday night. It just wasn’t quite enough to take down the team that has owned the AFC East in recent years. Let’s review the “good,” the “bad,” and the “ugly” from this game.
Yes, yes, there are no moral victories in football, but the Dolphins were set up for disaster against the Bills and didn’t fold. That’s worth something.
Even when Miami was playing well during this era, it was never a gutsy team. The team’s performance on Thursday was gutsy on both sides of the ball, even if its overall execution wasn’t good enough.
The Dolphins came out with a great opening script and jumped out to a seven-point lead. That drive included several good runs, and the team actually ran the ball well all night. The Dolphins racked up 120 yards on the ground on 5.3 yards per rush.
The offensive line missed some blocks, but when they connected, they created plenty of movement. De’Von Achane and Ollie Gordon II look like a potent one-two punch.
The passing game is still severely limited, but Tua Tagovailoa made enough plays in key moments to keep things afloat. His out-of-structure flashes in the final drive of the first half were great, and he took what the defense gave him for most of the night.
The other side of the ball came out flat for the third-straight game, but found its footing midway through the third quarter. The team’s cornerback play was actually OK for the most part, and the run defense bounced back in the second half.
Miami’s offense and defense are not good units yet, but this team could’ve easily rolled over, and nobody would’ve blamed them. There was enough on film in Week 3 to believe the Dolphins can at least string a couple of wins together in the coming weeks.
Whether it’s too little too late is a whole other question entirely.
Miami’s offensive line played well enough in Week 1, but it’s been a steady decline since then. Their performance against the Bills was just not good enough, though.
The Bills pressured Tua on 45.7% of his dropbacks, according to PFF, the second-highest mark since the start of last season. Sure, some of those could be on Tua or the backs/tight ends, but there were a lot of rough one-on-one pass protection reps.
Rookie guard Jonah Savaiinaea is really struggling in this area. He’s throwing his hands way too recklessly, allowing for easy wins. Kion Smith was benched for Daniel Brunskill in the second half, and neither of them was effective against the Bills.
There’s a lot of blame to go around on Tua’s interception, but Brunskill deserves a good bit, given how quickly he got beaten by Deone Walker.
In the running game, the group is just wildly inconsistent. Smith was getting beaten inside a lot in the first half, which is probably why he got benched. Patrick Paul isn’t getting to all of his landmarks in space and has had communication issues with Savaiinaea.
Aaron Brewer has probably been the team’s most consistent offensive lineman in both categories. He’s had a few bad penalties this season, but he’s mostly been solid.
We could spend another 500 words talking about the Dolphins’ OL, but this was a fairly predictable outcome given the group’s injuries and reliance on young players.
Paul and Savaiinaea are still growing, while Borom and Smith/Brunskill are backups for a reason. Either way, the Dolphins won’t win games blocking like they did against Buffalo.
For the second straight game, the Dolphins were burned by poor situational football. Against the Patriots, it was pre-snap penalties and an interception on the final two drives.
Against the Bills, it was a penalty on a special teams snap and an interception that ultimately sunk the Dolphins to 0-3. The penalty on special teams is probably the more frustrating of the two critical errors.
Miami’s defense, which struggled pretty much all night, had finally found its footing and forced three straight stops. However, Zach Sieler busted through the punt protection and roughed the kicker, giving Buffalo another chance.
Sieler is a team captain and one of the Dolphins’ best players — it’s just not a mistake that he can make in that spot. It’s especially mind-boggling because Matthew Judon was called for a similar penalty against the Colts, negating Miami’s only stop in Week 1.
As for Tua’s interception, there’s a lot of blame to go around. It seems like every former quarterback in the media has a different opinion on the play. We’d lean toward most of the blame landing with Tua and Brunskill, but there are other factors to consider for sure.
Regardless of who deserves what percentage of the blame, that interception can’t happen in that spot. The Dolphins’ offense got two chances to win the game against New England and one chance to tie the game against the Bills, and didn’t convert on any of those opportunities.
So many football games come down to those drives, and the Dolphins’ performance in those spots has been nothing short of ugly.
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