Dolphins Trending Up, Trending Down After Week 13
The Miami Dolphins again took care of business with their victory against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday and it was another convincing, if not overwhelming performance.
As a result, we're back to having more players trending up than trending down.
TRENDING UP
-- Myles Gaskin: The second-year running back looked good in his return to the lineup and had that big 35-yard reception in the third quarter when he performed the scramble drill to perfection. Yes, it would have been nice for his performance to not have included the fumble at the end of his 26-yard run, but it overall was a good effort.
-- Mike Gesicki: Gesicki reminded us how much of a factor he can be in the passing game and why the Dolphins should make an effort to get him involved on a weekly basis.
-- Lynn Bowden Jr.: Bowden showed enough with his four catches and his one nifty rushing attempt for 11 yards that he needs to become a bigger factor on offense.
-- Solomon Kindley: Kindley not only was back in the starting lineup after missing time with a foot injury, he showed impressive versatility by moving from right to left guard after Ereck Flowers was injured.
-- Nik Needham: We've been saying this a lot lately, but the second-year cornerback continues to do great work in the slot, and that was before his game-clinching interception.
-- Emmanuel Ogbah: Yes, he went a third straight game without a sack, but Ogbah was a factor again in the Bengals game. And being effective as a pass rusher isn't strictly about getting sacks.
-- Kyle Van Noy: The veteran filled up the stat sheet against Cincinnati with three sacks and five tackles for loss.
-- Shaq Lawson: He also was a big factor after a few quiet games.
-- Noah Igbinoghene: The rookie first-round pick was thrust back into action on defense after Xavien Howard was ejected late in the first half and responded very well.
TRENDING DOWN
-- Jakeem Grant: Grant did have to two nice plays off shovel passes, but he had that nasty drop on what should have been a 91-yard touchdown when Tua Tagovailoa hit him in stride behind the secondary. And Grant didn't help himself on the two big hits he took on punt returns by failing to call for a fair catch either time. He finally did it after he took the two big hits, but that needs to become an automatic move if he's got someone on top of him.
-- Antonio Callaway: So much for the former University of Florida star being able to make a quick impact on offense. He played only 13 snaps against Cincinnati and was not targeted once.
-- Byron Jones: We have to include Jones on this list simply because of the 72-yard touchdown, which we've discussed at length already.
-- Brandon Jones: While Byron Jones was the main culprit for Tyler Boyd turning a short pass into the 72-yard touchdown, Brandon Jones' inability to disengage from tight end Drew Sample also played a part because Boyd was close enough to the sideline that Jones would have been able to push him out of bounds had he been able to get himself free from the block. Worse, Sample and Brandon Jones basically provided a screen that forced Byron Jones to go around them and that allowed Boyd to get to the corner ahead of him and off to the races down the left sideline.
