The Miami Dolphins made it by way of back-to-back highway video games within the NFC North with a pair of victories, albeit unflattering in some elements in tight wins over the Chicago Bears on Sunday and the Detroit Lions final week.
But you are taking NFL highway wins nonetheless you will get them.
And though the Miami protection underwhelmed for a second consecutive outing, the Dolphins have confirmed they will win each in a defensive battle and a shootout alike as they received their third recreation in a row on Sunday.
Here’s how the Dolphins graded out in varied areas of their 35-32 win over the Bears to enhance to 6-3 with the Cleveland Browns (3-5) up subsequent.
Passing recreation: A-
This was the second consecutive recreation the place Tua Tagovailoa was completely sensational. The third-year quarterback is persistently stringing collectively nice performances now after back-to-back three-touchdown video games with out an interception — this time, going 21 of 30 for 302 yards.
The minus within the grade merely comes as a result of, on two late drives with an opportunity to place the Bears away, Tagovailoa first missed quick to a wide-open Durham Smythe on fourth-and-1 after which underthrew Jaylen Waddle, who was open behind the protection on a key third down.
Despite this, Tagovailoa was once more very good on third down general, going 6 of seven for 109 yards on the vital down.
The mixture of Waddle (85 yards) and Tyreek Hill (143 yards) now has 1,916 receiving yards mixed, essentially the most by a pair of teammates by way of 9 video games within the Super Bowl period.
Tagovailoa was not sacked. He was hit twice, formally, and a few instances escaped destructive performs with incomplete passes that had been near being referred to as for intentional grounding.
Running recreation: C+
Raheem Mostert and Jeff Wilson Jr. could also be a 50-50 timeshare within the backfield now as the previous San Francisco 49ers are reunited in Miami. Each had 9 carries. Wilson noticed 28 offensive snaps. Mostert, who began, obtained 27.
Wilson did extra along with his alternatives, dashing for 51 yards and in addition scoring a receiving landing. Mostert had a 1-yard rating and completed with 26 yards. The two tailbacks mixed for a 4.2 dashing common.
It was respectable however largely simply complemented the passing recreation. The Dolphins might’ve stood to do extra in opposition to a Bears run protection that entered the matchup thirty first out of 32 groups.
Defending the go: D
If the Dolphins weren’t going to cease quarterback Justin Fields on the bottom, at the least don’t let him beat you with the go, too.
Fields and the NFL’s worst-ranked passing offense accounted for 3 touchdowns by way of the air as Fields completed 17 of 28 for 123 yards. Two of the touchdowns went to tight finish Cole Kmet, the opposite was vast receiver Darnell Mooney’s first rating of the season, as he beat Xavien Howard for a 16-yard rating.
Howard had an interception negated as a result of he was referred to as for defensive holding. Having hassle getting Fields down all afternoon, the Dolphins corralled him twice late for key sacks that led to the ultimate two stops for the win. Melvin Ingram’s sack on the Bears’ penultimate probability was immense, and Duke Riley had one resulting in the ultimate stand. But even that one was a results of a drop from Chicago receiver Equanimeous St. Brown as a substitute of the protection.
Defending the run: F
Absolutely no containment on Fields in any respect as he ran for 178 yards, an NFL regular-season document for a quarterback. The second-year QB out of Ohio State made Dolphins defenders look foolish. I’d examine the Dolphins to some an inferior Big Ten staff attempting to deal with Fields when he was in school, however not even any school opponent for Fields surrendered that many dashing yards in opposition to him.
It’s unlucky for the Dolphins as a result of they in any other case stopped the standard run recreation from the operating backs, holding David Montgomery and Khalil Herbert to 2.6 and three.3 yards per carry, respectively. But when you may have defenders whiffing, getting shook, taking poor angles and flat-out lacking tackles to surrender a document, you get an F.
Special groups: C
There was the nice, and there was the terrible. Jaelan Phillips blocked a punt, and Andrew Van Ginkel scooped it up for a landing. But then there was Jason Sanders missed a chip-shot 29-yard area objective that would’ve turned out to make a distinction ultimately. Sanders hooked the quick attempt, which shouldn’t be missed no matter wind at Soldier Field, vast left, and he has now missed 4 area objectives this season with this one being the primary from inside 50 yards.
Coaching: D
There was an almost catastrophic sequence early within the fourth quarter. The Dolphins burned one timeout on third-and-2 from Bears 15-yard line. They achieve one yard on a Wilson run. They don’t kick the sector objective. With the offense on the sector, they burn a second timeout. And in any case of that, the Dolphins fail on fourth down with Tagovailoa’s go to an open Smythe skipping to him.
That wasn’t the one irritating sequence of recreation administration. At the top of the primary half, the Dolphins let ample time run off on a few performs earlier than the Sanders 29-yard area objective — and had a penalty for too many males on the sector, in addition.
Overall, the offensive recreation plan was schemed up properly for Miami, however defenders weren’t adequately ready to comprise a operating quarterback of the caliber of Fields.
Stock up: Eric Rowe
It’s not Tagovailoa as a result of his inventory was already excessive coming off his recreation in Detroit. Rowe was the “stock down” participant final week after his shock wholesome scratch. On Sunday at Soldier Field, he was again within the lineup and energetic, ending with seven tackles, which was third on the staff. Rowe was within the field, permitting Jevon Holland to return to the free security function as Miami has combined and matched to fill the void left by Brandon Jones’ season-ending knee damage.
Stock down: Team tackling and pursuit
Why single out one participant? We all noticed the highlights from Fields. We noticed varied Dolphins defenders showing like they had been operating on a sandy seashore whereas Fields was on a quick indoor observe. We noticed the poor angles and pursuit. It’s not the primary time scrambling quarterbacks had been capable of exploit the Dolphins, with Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson and Buffalo’s Josh Allen additionally racking up huge performs on the bottom in earlier matchups with Miami.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com