The Miami Dolphins have had a troubling two weeks. After appearing awesome against the New England Patriots in their opening game, they digressed tremendously the next two weeks.
Before their week four NFL matchup with the Oakland Raiders, in the last two weeks the Dolphins lost to the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs getting outscored 63-25 (ouch).
The two teams simply outplayed the Dolphins and entering into their week four matchup against the Raiders, this game became a must-win situation because a 1-3 start would almost certainly take them out of the picture of winning the AFC East.
The Dolphins understood the task that was upon them and they answered the bell defeating the Raiders 38-14 in front of a lovely London crowd at Wembley Stadium.
Quarterback Controversy?
One of the biggest storylines entering the Raiders game was that Ryan Tannehill was on shaky ground and might not start.
It even got so bad locally, that fans in South Florida were crying out for the second string quarterback Matt Moore.
Two words. Stop it.
This season Tannehill is not the problem for the Dolphins. He has had no time to throw and in the last two games he was sacked eight times combined. Against Oakland, Tannehill was finally able to get time to throw inside of the pocket and carved up the Raiders.
He played wonderfully spreading the wealth with all of his receivers and at least eight different receivers caught a pass. Tannehill played with poise and also was highly efficient, he finished the game with a 109.3 passer rating while completing 23-of-31 passes for 278 yards and two touchdowns. One of those touchdowns was to Mike Wallace (got to love their chemistry) and the other was to Dion Sims.
Pressure Breaks Pipes
News flash, quarterbacks do not like pressure. Better yet, rookie quarterbacks do not like pressure.
It looked like the Miami Dolphins got the memo because rookie starting quarterback Derek Carr was routinely looking uncomfortable during the game.
Carr was not under fire a lot, but he was tested because receivers were covered and the pocket often collapsed. Sure at times Carr made some awesome throws in the pocket in spite of the defense but he is a talented quarterback and at times that is what they do, make the best situation out of nothing.
However, a lot of the times he did not look like he was in a position to succeed.
The Dolphins only allowed Carr to throw for 146 yards, so they need to congratulate themselves.
What I will say though is that Carr impressed many people during the game.
At one point he got hurt attempting to scramble for a first down and injured his left leg. Carr then remained in the game for the next play even though he was hobbling and couldn’t really walk.
He completed the next pass for a first down and left the game. That is a warrior.
Defense, Defense
Speaking of warriors, I have to give all of the praise and credit to the Dolphins defense today.
In all four games the most impressive part of the team has been the defense. They have consistently been good, but they were always playing on the field because of the lack of scoring drives by the Dolphins offense.
Against the Raiders the Dolphins defense played excellent. They contributed three interceptions, a touchdown, a forced fumble, five quarterback hits, two sacks, three tackles for loss and seven pass deflections.
This time the defense didn’t wait for the offense to score points, they contributed as well. Brent Grimes brought the fire when he intercepted the Raiders quarterback Carr, and returned it for nearly a touchdown. Though he didn’t get the score, the offense scored because of his interception return.
In addition, the Dolphins also brought the house down when they had a fumble return for a touchdown from Cortland Finnegan.
Moving Forward
The Dolphins leave the first quarter of their season at 2-2. This is a really good starting point entering their week five bye week because they are in a prime position to take the lead in the AFC East in the next few weeks.
They return to face the Green Bay Packers in Miami Gardens.
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