Dolphins-Falcons Week 7 Complete Highlights and Lowlights
A look at the highlights and lowlights for the Miami Dolphins in their Week 7 game against the Atlanta Falcons at Hard Rock Stadium.
DOLPHINS HIGHLIGHTS
FIRST HALF
-- Tua Tagovailoa had a second consecutive impressive opening drive, this time completing 4 of 4 passes in third-down situations.
-- The first third-down conversion was a nifty 9-yard pass to Jaylen Waddle after he rolled out.
-- Myles Gaskin broke a tackle behind the line of scrimmage on a running play on that first drive to turn a loss into a 5-yard gain.
-- Mike Gesicki made a nice catch on a perfect throw by Tua on a third-down slant for a 10-yard gain.
-- The Dolphins used the slant again on the touchdown to cap that first drive, a 10-yard pass to Isaiah Ford.
-- Linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel forced Cordarrelle Patterson inside after he caught a wide receiver screen and that allowed Elandon Roberts to make the tackle for a 3-yard loss.
-- On Atlanta's first third down, the Dolphins got pressure from the left side of the defense and forced an incompletion.
-- Defensive tackle Adam Butler made a great move at the line of scrimmage to get past an Atlanta lineman on a third-and-3 play, though Mike Davis avoided his tackle with a quick spin move and picked up the first down anyway.
-- Rookie safety Jevon Holland did a great job of timing his blitz and then not letting Matt Ryan escape to sack him for an 11-yard loss.
-- Tua had a very good two-play sequence on the Dolphins' third drive, first when he juked LB Deion Jones in the open field to pick up 8 yards and a first down on a scramble and then when he came back with a perfect slant to Gesicki good for 15 yards.
-- Defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah had two nice plays on the second-quarter drive that ended with an Atlanta touchdown, first batting down a pass at the line of scrimmage and then forcing an incompletion when hit Ryan from behind after getting a free run at the quarterback.
-- Tua and Waddle ha a nice connection on a quick slant over the middle that produced a 19-yard gain.
-- Durham Smythe did a great job of fighting for the extra yardage to gain a first down late in the second quarter.
SECOND HALF
-- Center Austin Reiter had a really nice seal block on a 6-yard run by Myles Gaskin on the Dolphins' second offensive play of the half, which followed an 8-yard run by Gaskin.
-- After safety Eric Rowe did a good job tackling Cordarrelle Patterson short on a third-down completion, Jevon Holland came up with a nifty 16-yard punt return.
-- Rookie tackle Liam Eichenberg helped spring Salvon Ahmed for a 6-yard run on third-and-1 from the Atlanta 14.
-- It was good throw, good catch when Tua connected with Gesicki on a jump ball for a 6-yard touchdown in the third quarter.
-- Linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel did a good job of tripping up Patterson on an outside run that netted only 2 yards.
-- On back-to-back plays, Holland forced an incompletion with a big hit on Calvin Ridley and Xavien Howard forced a third-down incompletion with very tight coverage against Patterson.
-- With the Dolphins trailing 20-14, Howard came up with his second pick of the season when he stole the ball from Ridley when the receiver couldn't secure a pass across the middle.
-- Starting at the 10 on the drive that followed the Atlanta touchdown that made it 27-14, Tua Tagovailoa had back-to-back completions of 18 yards to Smythe and 27 yards to Gesicki to move the ball into Atlanta territory.
-- Tua set up his touchdown pass to running back Myles Gaskin when he converted a third-and-6 from the Atlanta 16 with a 9-yard scramble where he shook off an Atlanta defender at around the 12.
-- Emmanuel Ogbah helped create the Dolphins' second takeaways when he chopped the ball out of Matt Ryan's hands when the quarterback scrambled in the open field and Nik Needham recovered the fumble.
-- The Dolphins didn't do good work on screen plays in the first half, but they perfectly executed one with Salvon Ahmed on a first-and-19 to get back 17 yards.
-- Later on that drive, the Dolphins converted a third-and-15 when Tua found Gesicki wide open at around the Atlanta 10-yard line for a 16-yard completion that set up Mack Hollins' touchdown (and a 28-27 lead) two plays later.
DOLPHINS LOWLIGHTS
FIRST HALF
-- A screen pass to Malcolm Brown on the Dolphins' second play went nowhere, resulting in a 1-yard loss.
-- Pulling on a running play, guard Austin Jackson couldn't get across to the right side quickly enough and that allowed linebacker Deion Jones to make quick contact with Brown.
-- Jevon Holland made a very quick fair catch on Miami's first punt return when it appeared he had plenty of room to make a return.
-- The Dolphins' second attempt at a screen pass also went nowhere, with Myles Gaskin tackled for no gain.
-- The Dolphins looked like they were in zone coverage when they let Kyle Pitts found an opening deep down the middle for a 23-yard gain.
-- Elandon Roberts overran a running play by Patterson, and that allowed him to cut back for a 13-yard gain. Making matters worse, Jerome Baker was injured on that play.
-- Preston Williams failed to gain any separation on a slant, allowing the Atlanta defender to knock the ball away.
-- Jason Sanders' first field goal attempt of the game, from 49 yards out, was blocked. That was poor blocking by the field goal unit.
-- Cornerback Byron Jones was cleanly beaten in one-on-one coverage by Russell Gage for a 12-yard gain on third-and-9 at the start of Atlanta's second-quarter TD drive.
-- Tackle Liam Eichenberg was flagged for a false start on the Dolphins' final drive of the half, though the Dolphins came right back with a 5-yard pass play with a facemask penalty tacked on.
-- The half ended with Tua badly trying to force a pass to Smythe in the end zone, resulting in an Atlanta interception.
-- Eric Rowe was flagged for DPI on the play that resulted in a 39-yard reception for rookie tight end Kyle Pitts, who made a crazy one-handed catch on the play.
-- Thanks to that Pitts play, the Dolphins let Atlanta drive 62 yards in the final 36 seconds of the half to kick a field goal and extend their lead to 13-7.
SECOND HALF
-- The second half began with the Dolphins allowing a 26-yard completion to Pitts, which would be a sign of things to come.
-- On only the third play of the half, safety Jevon Holland was slow to react to Justin Gage Jr. running downfield and the result was a 49-yard touchdown that extended Atlanta's lead to 20-7.
-- The Dolphins gave up their only sack on a delayed blitz by linebacker Deion Jones, who went right by right guard Robert Hunt while right tackle Jesse Davis was busy with an outside blitzer.
-- A Michael Palardy punt pushed returner Olamide Zaccheaus to the Atlanta 13-yard line, but he was able to get outside and bring it back 17 yards to the 30-yard line.
-- Preston Williams failed to catch an easy outlet pass near the line of scrimmage on the Dolphins' second drive of the half.
-- Davis was called for holding on a second-and-goal play from the 6, though it became a no-play when Atlanta also was flagged.
-- Austin Jackson was caught for holding when he reached out to grab a jersey, turning a third-and-1 from Miami 21 to a third-and-11 from the 11 and leading to a punt.
-- On the play right after Howard's interception, on a first-and-10 from the Atlanta 32, Tua refused to take a sack and threw an ill-advised late pass that ended up behind Waddle and right into the hands of linebacker Foye Oluokun. Worst, Oluokun returned the pick 56 yards to set up an Atlanta touchdown that made it 27-14. This was a bad case of a QB trying too hard to make something happen.
-- The touchdown came after Raekwon Davis was flagged for roughing the passer when he got his hands on Ryan's helmet on a pass play.
-- The Dolphins were forced to being their ensuing drive after Gaskin muffed the kickoff and linebacker Duke Riley then was flagged for an illegal block in the back.
-- Back-to-back penalties on Isaiah Ford for holding and then for illegal formation put the Dolphins in a first-and-19 hole on their drive when they were trailing 27-21.
-- While the running game had a good day, Gaskin was dropped for a 5-yard loss when Deion Jones shot the gap and dropped him in the backfield.
-- The Dolphins' attempt to secure the win after taking a 28-27 lead never got off the ground because Ryan was able to find Pitts for gains of 23 and 28 yards on the first two plays.
-- Even more disappointing than letting Atlanta get into field goal range with just two plays, the Dolphins then were unable to stop the Falcons from getting a first down to milk the clock even though if was clear by then all they were going to do was run the ball to not take any chances.
