Miami Dolphins Week 12 Report Card
The Dolphins recorded their sixth victory in seven games when they defeated the New York Jets 20-3 at MetLife Stadium on Sunday.
So the weekly grades, after a down week, are overwhelmingly positive again.
Quarterbacks
Ryan Fitzpatrick wasn't necessarily dazzling against the Jets in his return to the starting lineup, but he also was very efficient. Fitzpatrick completed 24 of 39 passes for 257 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions with a 97.9 passer rating. Best of all, Fitzpatrick was 6-for-9 in third-down passing and his two touchdowns — to Mike Gesicki and Adam Shaheen — came on third down. Fitzpatrick converted another third down with a 12-yard run on a keeper in the fourth quarter. As has been the case so often this season, Fitzpatrick didn't need to do that much, but he was very efficient. Grade: B+
Running backs
What's going to stick out from the running backs' performance against the Jets were the fumbles by Matt Breida and Patrick Laird, which gave the Jets the ball twice in Dolphins territory. Though the inept Jets offense wasn't able to take advantage of the turnovers, that doesn't excuse those mistakes. DeAndre Washington looked good running the ball in the fourth quarter and had back-to-back receptions good for a first down. Breida had a productive day running the ball with 36 yards on eight carries and Laird gained 9 yards on his only rushing attempt, but the fumbles bring down the grade. Grade: D+
Wide receivers
This clearly was the DeVante Parker show, as he had eight catches for a season-high 119 yards. It's pretty obvious by now the trust that Fitzpatrick has in him in throwing the ball to spots even when Parker is covered fully confident that Parker will make the play. There wasn't so much happening for the wide receivers, though, because nobody other than Parker had more than two catches or even reached 20 receiving yards. Grade: B
Tight ends
The best news here obviously is the fact that both Dolphins touchdowns were scored by tight ends. The one who didn't catch a touchdown pass was Durham Smythe, who actually was the one tight end with the most catches with three. Along with his touchdown, Gesicki had a 22-yard gain on a beautiful throw by Fitzpatrick to convert a third down. The tight ends also helped the running game average 4.2 yards per attempt. A solid effort overall. Grade: B+
Offensive line
For a second consecutive week, there were issues in pass protection, with Fitzpatrick getting sacked four times by the Jets. The Dolphins linemen clearly had problems with Jets lineman Quinnen Williams, who admittedly is a very talented player. Right tackle Robert Hunt was flagged for a false start on the Dolphins' first offensive snap and guard Ereck Flowers later was flagged for holding. The run blocking looked better than it had in recent weeks, though a lot of the yardage came in the fourth quarter. Grade: C
Defensive line
Jets running back Frank Gore gained a season-high 74 rushing yards, but it must be pointed out that 31 of them came on two runs on the final drive of the first half when New York clearly caught the Dolphins in pass-rushing mode. Outside of those two runs, the Jets rushed for only 56 yards on 21 carries. The pass rush certainly was better than it was against the Broncos, and rookie nose tackle Raekwon Davis shared a sack with linebacker Kyle Van Noy. There weren't really splash plays by Dolphins defensive linemen, just a solid overall effort. Grade: B
Linebackers
The linebackers made a lot of plays against the Jets, and Elandon Roberts led the way with his fourth-down stop and half a sack. Jerome Baker had a really solid game, with half a sack, two quarterback hits and a nice third-down stop (on a play where he got injured). Kyle Van Noy also had a half-sack and Andrew Van Ginkel drew a holding penalty when he beat tight end Ryan Griffin around the corner in a pass-rushing situation. The two long runs at the end of the first half are pretty much the only negative plays for this group. Grade: A-
Secondary
It was yet another strong game for the Dolphins secondary, highlighted by the interceptions by Nik Needham and (of course) Xavien Howard. Howard had three passes defenses and drew an offensive pass interference penalty from rookie Denzel Mims. The Dolphins gave up 197 passing yards to Sam Darnold, and 94 came on three plays — a 37-yarder to Breshad Perriman where Perriman seemed to get lost in zone coverage, a 30-yarder over the middle to Mims, who got behind Ogbah after he had dropped in coverage, and a 27-yarder to Perriman, where Byron Jones had good coverage but overran the ball while Perriman made the adjustment. Grade: A-
Special teams
Ho-hum, Jason Sanders nailed field goals of 54 and 51 yards with ease, a sharp contrast to Jets kicker Sergio Castillo pushing a 29-yard attempt wide right. There wasn't much else happening on special teams from either side, though Jakeem Grant did have a 12-yard punt return. The Dolphins did allow a 35-yard kickoff return, which was the longest against them all season, though it came more than halfway through the fourth quarter with the Dolphins up by 17 points. Grade: B+
