Dolphins-Eagles: 10 thoughts on Miami’s 31-17 loss
If this was a test of where the Miami Dolphins are, the Philadelphia Eagles’ 31-17 win said plenty.
Philadelphia took control of the game early, the Dolphins offense couldn’t get going and so they fall to 5-2 — and 0-2 against teams with winning records.
Here’s 10 thoughts on the game:
1. Stat of the Game: Philadelphia was 4-for-4 on converting fourth downs. That’s thanks to the dreaded “Tush Push.” I don’t like the play. If it’s illegal for defensive players to assist each other, why is it legal for the offense? That said, what Philadelphia does is something other teams can’t emulate. It converted fourth downs from its 26- and 37-yard lines on a fourth-quarter drive that put it up, 31-17. The play is straight out of Australian Rules football. Quarterback Jalen Hurts takes the center snap and patiently waits to be pushed across the line of scrimmage by the scrum of teammates around him. Beyond the fourth downs, Hurts also scored an early touchdown with it.
2. The Dolphins defense showed it’s moving forward Sunday night. Sure, you can look at Philadelphia’s points and say there’s a long way to go. But it matched the physicality of a top-end Eagles offensive line. And big plays? Bradley Chubb stripped Hurts in the first quarter at the Eagles 22 (leading to a field goal). Kader Kohou tipped Hurt’s pass on a blitz, leading to a Jerome Baker interception for a touchdown. Jaelan Phillips registered the first sack against star Philadelphia right tackle Lane Johnson since 2020. Linebacker David Long Jr. had his best game until an unfortunate second-half collision with Jevon Holland that put both out for a while (Long didn’t return, Holland did). So, what you have to envision with this defense is what it looks like when Vic Fangio has Jalen Ramsey and Xavien Howard (out Sunday) on the back end. And you now what? Come December, it should be right where lots of people said it would never be back in September.
3. OK, now for the Dolphins offense. The they-just-beat-up-weak-defenses argument got bolstered Sunday. Look at what happened here. The Dolphins defense scored a touchdown and set up a field goal. So that left the offense to essentially having one touchdown drive. Philadelphia has a dominant front seven. The Dolphins found some rhythm as the game went on, but nothing like they have this season in behind held to 244 yards of offense. And all those receivers running wide open much of the game against some of the lower defenses this season. That didn’t happen Sunday. That said …
4. A game against Philadelphia’s strong defensive line makes it hard to continue masking health problems on the offensive line. Mike McDaniel’s schemes, Tua Tagovailoa’s quick reads and Tyreek Hill’s speed have gone a long way to covering for them this season. But when left guard Isaiah Wynn left Sunday’s game early on, that meant three starting offensive linemen were out against one of the league’s top defensive lines. Missing left tackle Terron Armstead and center Connor Williams is problematic enough considering with right guard Robert Hunt they’re the sure things on this line. You saw what happened Sunday night when Wynn’s replacement, Lester Cotton, got called for holding to take away first-quarter touchdown — and it’s good he held or Tagovailoa might have been flattened. Philly had four sacks and held the Dolphins to 45 yards rushing.
5. The Dolphins got slapped with a delay-of-game penalty before their first play, and that started some problems they’d put behind the most of this season. Ten penalties for 70 yards on Sunday. You can quibble with some — or some that weren’t called on Philadelphia like an obvious facemask penalty deep in Philadelphia territory in the third quarter. That helped the Eagles to zero penalties. Still, the Dolphins had 10 penalties. That’s too many in a big game. Some of that’s backups stepping in for injured players, some of it’s a loud road venue.
6. There’s no containing Hill. He ran through the strategic set-up of Philly cornerback James Bradberry getting help from safety Sydney Brown for the offense’s lone, 27-yard touchdown to make it 17-10 in the second quarter. He finished with 11 catches for 88 yards as the Eagles set up their defense against him. It worked well enough. But on the TD he got a 1.7-yard separation from Bradberry when Tagovailoa threw the ball, via NextGen Stats. He was three yards behind the defense when he caught the touchdown. That’s a weekly occurrence. That was his fifth TD on deep targets (more than 20 yards) to lead the league. He has 428 yards on deep catches — no other player has more than 250 yards. All that’s why he’s the MVP of this team.
7. Understated Play of the Game: Third-and-18 completion from Tagovailoa to Cedric Wilson Jr. down the right side for 29 yards. This was in a 17-3 game with just over two minutes before half. Don’t convert there, you punt and go into the half looking for answers. Instead, after that completion, the Dolphins went in for a TD to make it 17-10 and put them right back in the night.
8. Mystery call of the night: Philadelphia running Hurts up the middle on third-and-goal from the 9 on the first possession of the night. Hurts gained three, the Eagles kicked a field goal and Fangio said thank you. What, Hurts thought it was a Tush Push from that far out?
9. Quick Hits:
* Tagovailoa completed 23-of-32 passes for 216 yards and was sacked three times;
* The Dolphins had some communication issues with receivers in the same area. One such problem led to Philadelphia’s interception near their goal line;
* Aside from one Sunday against the Dolphins, Buffalo looks like a team whose window is closing fast between defensive injuries and limited help for QB Josh Allen. It’s 4-3 after Sunday’s loss to New England and hasn’t hit the tough part of its schedule;
* Baltimore is going to make another run as a faux-contender;
Kansas City is undefeated with Taylor Swift.
10. Next week: New England at Dolphins. The Patriots had a Sunday against Buffalo to keep the fire-everyone brigade off them entering this game. Bill Belichick didn’t just get his 300th win, but it was purposely leaked by someone that he signed a contract extension before the season, according to the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. The Patriots are 2-5, though, and haven’t scared anyone for a while.
