Final NFL Week 5 Observations ... With Dolphins Angles
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Week 5 of the 2022 NFL season began with a dreadful Thursday night matchup but it did end with a dramatic Monday night battle, and in between there a whole lot of focus on quarterbacks, roughing-the-passer calls and the concussion protocol.
It was a tough week for a lot of teams for different reasons, but it's hard to think of any team that should have felt more discouraged than the team the Miami Dolphins will face in Week 7, the Pittsburgh Steelers.
This is a franchise that, seemingly no matter what, fields a competitive team year in and year out, the best proof being that Mike Tomlin has never finished with a losing record since taking over as head coach in 2007.
It's hard to imagine that streak won't end in 2022 after the Steelers got waxed at Buffalo on Sunday.
The 2019 Steelers also started 1-4, but that team turned things around to get to 8-5 before ending up 8-8.
Oh, and that team had Ben Roethlisberger at quarterback and also had a healthy T.J. Watt around. The 2022 Steelers have rookie Kenny Pickett at quarterback and Watt sidelined with a pectoral injury that's now been compounded by a knee injury that likely will delay his return — past the game against the Dolphins.
And while Pickett hasn't exactly become an overnight sensation after replacing Mitch Trubisky, a bigger issue is the inability to get running back Najee Harris any room to operate. He's averaging about 60 total yards per game in 2022 after his average was close to 100 last season.
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FOR EVEN MORE COVERAGE ON THE MIAMI DOLPHINS, CHECK OUT SPORTS ILLUSTRATED'S MIAMI DOLPHINS PAGE ON SI.COM
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CAN CAMPBELL GET IT DONE?
Following the game against the Steelers, the Dolphins will be heading to Detroit on Oct. 30 to face the Lions and former interim head coach Dan Campbell.
To say the Lions are reeling would be putting it politely after the "performance" they put forth at New England when they got shut out after coming in with the highest-scoring offense in the league.
The Lions set a dubious NFL record in the process with the most unsuccessful fourth-down conversion attempts without a success (0-for-6).
So now the Lions are 1-4 and headed to Dallas in Week 7 following their bye and looking at a second loooong season with Campbell as head coach.
While Campbell needs a turnaround at some point to prove he's got what it takes to become a successful NFL head coach, remember that Detroit signed him to a six-year contract so the organization will give him every chance to prove himself.
For the Patriots, the victory was encouraging on so many levels, including the work of rookie QB Bailey Zappe, who didn't do anything spectacular but made the plays that were there and more importantly didn't make costly mistakes.
MORE FRUSTRATION FOR BRISSETT
Former Dolphins quarterback Jacoby Brissett continues to start for the Cleveland Browns as Deshaun Watson serves his NFL suspension, but unfortunately for his new team he kept throwing interceptions at key moments.
In each of the Browns' three losses this season, he threw a fourth-quarter pick and the one against the Chargers on Sunday was the most egregious because it came on a third-and-7 from the 9-yard line with the Browns trailing 30-28 and Brissett forced a throw while rolling to his right.
And then, given another chance after Brandon Staley went back to his unconventional gambling ways — going for a first down on fourth-and-1 from the Chargers 46 with 1:14 left and the Browns out of timeouts, Brissett was able to complete only one of four attempts.
That left Cleveland having to attempt a 54-yard field goal for the win, except rookie Cade York was wide right, leaving the Browns at 2-3 despite having the best rushing attack in the NFL.
FEARSOME 49ERS KEEP ROLLING
Yeah, it sure is looking like that 49ers first-round pick the Dolphins will have in 2023 isn't going to be very high.
San Francisco now has won three of four since Jimmy Garappolo replaced Trey Lance at quarterback, the latest a dominating victory at Carolina in Matt Rhule's final game as Panthers head coach.
While the 49ers did lose CB Emmanuel Mosley to a torn ACL after he had a pick-six, the defense looks better week after week and the offense is showing the kind of balance that put the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game last season.
Beyond the first-round pick issue, the Dolphins also will have to deal with the 49ers directly at Levi's Stadium on Dec. 4.
QUICK HITTERS
-- While the crazily bold decision to go for it on fourth down is what folks talked about after the Chargers win, it's more significant that their running game put up big numbers for a second consecutive game. If they keep that up, that will make them a lot tougher for the Dolphins to defend Dec. 11.
-- Among individual efforts, it was tough to beat Houston rookie Dameon Pierce's 20-yard run that set up his game-winning touchdown in the Texans' 13-6 victory at Jacksonville. The fourth-round pick from Florida has put up big numbers the past three games and he'll test the Dolphins run defense Nov. 27.
-- Perhaps the most impressive team win belonged to the New York Giants and first-year head coach Brian Daboll, who was a Dolphins candidate before the organization hired Mike McDaniel, but the flip side was the Green Bay Packers looked nothing like the Super Bowl contender they've been the past few seasons. And maybe the biggest question there is why the Packers, who will play in Miami on Christmas Day, aren't using running back Aaron Jones more. Against the Giants, he averaged 4.8 yards per carry, but had only 13 attempts. On the season, Jones is averaging 6.4 yards per carry but doesn't have more 16 carries in any game.
