Dolphins-Patriots Week 1 Observations
Here's what caught our eye in the first half of the Miami Dolphins regular season opener against the New England Patriots at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday.
-- We'll start with the inactive list, which surprisingly included cornerback Noah Igbinoghene. And that's surprising to us because we had expected the Dolphins to give him a shot at playing time on defense with Byron Jones sidelined for the first four games. Igbinoghene not being active, unless there was a non-playing explanation, is quite the indictment for the third-year player and 2020 first-round pick.
-- On the flip side, there was good news with Raekwon Davis and Andrew Van Ginkel both being available after being listed as questionable on the final injury report of the week.
FIRST QUARTER
-- The Dolphins didn't exactly dominate on the opening drive of the season, allowing four first downs as the Patriots went with the run and short passes, and a couple of missed tackles (including by Jaelan Phillips) didn't help.
-- The first time the Patriots took a shot deep ended with Jevon Holland's first interception of the season after Xavien Howard tipped a pass intended for DeVante Parker, though the TV replay showed the Dolphins getting away with a DPI that should have given New England a first-and-goal at the 1 because Howard clearly grabbed Parker's jersey.
-- The first offensive possession of the season ended with a field goal and the big play was a 23-yard completion from Tua to Tyreek Hill, who got wide open downfield after getting a free release off motion at the line.
-- The running game showed flashes, with runs of 7 and 5 yards by Chase Edmonds off some good blocking up front, but Raheem Mostert getting dropped for a 1-yard loss on second-and-5 from the New England 17 was disappointing after nobody picked up a Patriots defender on a run blitz.
-- On the third-down sack that ended the drive — before Jason Sanders kicked a field goal to give the Dolphins a 3-0 lead — Connor Williams and Robert Hunt allowed Dietrich Wise to run free at the right of the offensive line for the sack and the Dolphins were fortunate that Williams was able to recover the fumble.
-- Speaking of Williams, we also should mention he had a high snap that caused Tua to bobble the ball before he threw an incompletion. He did, however, had plenty enough time to reset after the snap but never seemed to have full control of the ball and his pass was woefully short.
-- The Dolphins' run defense was leaky again on New England's second drive, with Rhamondre Stevenson starting with gains of 7 and 12 yards when he was allowed to get the outside after Jerome Baker and others were pinched inside.
-- The Dolphins also got caught inside on a third-and-11 quick pass to Nelson Agholor and he was able to gain 17 yards.
-- The defense stiffened on the next two plays when Emmanuel Ogbah took advantage of a missed assignment on the offensive line to come in free and sack Jones before Christian Wilkins beat his block and dropped Ty Montgomery for a 2-yard loss.
SECOND QUARTER
-- Interesting to note it was Jevon Holland who was back inside the Miami 10 to field New England's first punt, which he fair-caught at the 6-yard line.
-- The Dolphins' second drive featured two third-down conversions, including a 2-yard run by fullback Alec Ingold on an inside handoff and a nice dump-off over the middle to Edmonds for 11 yards on third-and-7.
-- Good to see the Dolphins use Tyreek Hill on an end-around, and the play would have gained a lot more than 6 yards if not for a great tackle by Patriots safety Kyle Dugger, who came back on the next play to drop Edmonds for a 7-yard loss (yuck). Of course, it would have been nice if somebody had blocked Dugger instead of letting him shoot free on the right side of the line.
-- Though it's unclear whether it was his fault on the play, but it's worth noting it was Greg Little at right tackle on that play after Austin Jackson left the game with an apparent ankle injury.
-- Big props to anyone who had Melvin Ingram scoring the first touchdown of the season for the Dolphins, courtesy of a perfectly executed blind-side blitz by Brandon Jones (we've seen this before), who came in late to the outside of Ingram. And props to Ingram for grabbing the bouncing ball with his left hand before strolling into the end zone.
-- The Dolphins lost another player on the kickoff return after the Ingram touchdown when Cethan Carter was carted off the field and later was announced he had sustained a head injury.
-- Brandon Jones almost had another big play on the next offensive snap by the Patriots but he couldn't hang on to what should have been a relatively easy INT to make.
-- Nik Needham got beat for a 27-yard completion to Jakobi Meyers, but he had very good coverage and was beaten by a great catch.
-- Rookie free agent cornerback Kader Kohou's first big play in the NFL didn't come on a pass, but rather on a running play when he dropped Stevenson for a 4-yard loss that helped derail New England's fourth drive.
-- The Dolphins' third possession started with a 1-yard run by Chase Edmonds when Liam Eichenberg was stood up at the line of scrimmage.
-- Tagovailoa kept the drive alive on third-and-7 with an 8-yard completion to Jaylen Waddle, his first pass in his direction.
-- Hill continued his great first half when he stole a pass from Patriots rookie defender Jack Jones for a 26-yard pick-up.
-- The drive was derailed by a 9-yard loss on a sack when Matthew Judon ran a twist and ran in between Robert Hunt and Connor Williams.
-- The Dolphins ended the drive in style with Tua threw his best pass of the half on fourth-and-7 and Waddle then splitting the Patriots secondary to complete a 42-yard touchdown.
THIRD QUARTER
-- The second half did not start well for the Dolphins, who had a second-and-3 before losing backup Greg Little to an injury and then failing to convert a third-and-1.
-- On that third-and-1, Hill was tackled right after catching a short pass from Tua that he had to jump to catch, and one can't wonder whether he would have been able to shake off the tackle attempt had he stayed on the ground the whole way.
-- Two newcomers teamed up for a great play on the fourth-and-2 punt, with Thomas Morstead nailing a 58-yard punt and Justin Bethel dropped returner Myles Bryant for no gain.
-- That nice play was followed by an awful sequence by the Dolphins defense, allowing a 15-play, 92-yard touchdown drive.
-- The drive featured two third-down conversions, including the 6-yard touchdown pass from Jones to Ty Montgomery when it appeared Jaelan Phillips badly missed on his coverage assignment.
-- There also was a fourth-and-1 conversion when Howard was called for illegal contact against DeVante Parker. As those things go, it says here the contact on the DPI that wasn't called was more significant than on this play.
-- Brandon Jones overran tight end Jonnu Smith on a quick completion outside, and Smith turned it back inside for a 15-yard gain.
-- There were good plays as well on the drive, namely by Emmanuel Ogbah twice on running plays and by Jones when he met Damien Harris at the line to stop him for no gain after Wilkins joined in.
-- The Dolphins responded with a field goal drive powered by some good YAC, first by Hill after a short pass at the line on a play that gained 18 yards and then by Raheem Mostert, who turned a 2-yard gain into a 16-yard pick-up after breaking a tackle attempt.
FOURTH QUARTER
-- New England's first drive of the fourth quarter ended with a third-down incompletion and a punt, but it did include a bad play by Jevon Holland when he got flagged for a roughing-the-passer penalty when he hit Mac Jones late and high. Fortunately for him, that came on the same play when the Patriots were flagged for an illegal chop block against Jerome Baker, resulting in offsetting penalties. As great a young player as he is, Holland's got to know better than that.
-- The Dolphins' own first drive of the fourth quarter was ugly, with Tua underthrowing Hill on first down and Chase Edmonds getting stuffed for only a 1-yard gain on third-and-2.
-- Kohou came up with a great play on the Patriots' fourth-and-3 from midfield when he had great coverage down the middle of the field against tight end Hunter Henry. Beyond Kohou, it was a great play for the entire defense because Jones had plenty of time but couldn't find anybody open. And kudos to Emmanuel Ogbah for not giving up on the play because he eventually induced a holding penalty, which obviously was declined.
-- The Dolphins' next possession after the fourth-down stop reached the Patriots 29, but Tagovailoa took a 12-yard sack on third-and-3 to knock the team out of field goal position. That sack also looked like a case of the Dolphins not picking up a stunt up front.
-- The Dolphins were able to pin the Patriots at their 5-yard line thanks to another good punt by Thomas Morstead and Keion Crossen catching the ball to down it.
-- Nik Needham was beaten deep by Nelson Agholor on first down but got bailed out when Jones overthrew the pass. He wasn't so lucky two plays later when Kendrick Bourne also got behind him and Jones hit him for a 41-yard gain.
-- It was Kohou again with the next big play by the defense, the one that pretty much ended things. It came on second-and-10 from the Miami 43 when Agholor caught a short pass from Jones going across the middle but lost the ball when Kohou threw a shoulder into him and Jaelan Phillips recovered the fumble.
-- While the offense didn't do much in the second half, it did the job of killing the final 4:55 after the last turnover thanks to four first downs and featured plays of 12 yards (pass to Jaylen Waddle), 15 yards (pass to Edmonds) and 11 yards (run by Mostert).
