The Day After: What We Learned About the Miami Dolphins in Week 14
If anybody has been watching the Miami Dolphins at all this season, there should have been little surprise at the resilience they showed against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday when they mounted a valiant comeback attempt despite missing pretty much all of their skill position players.
The Dolphins just don't quit. They play hard from start to finish, which is one reason you don't see them getting blown out, the proof coming in the fact their biggest margin of defeat this season is 10 points — ironically against their upcoming opponent, New England.
The loss against Kansas City was reminiscent in some ways to what happened against Buffalo and Seattle in the first month of the season when the Dolphins hung in there against an elite team but ultimately fell short.
That the Dolphins came as close as they did to pulling off what would have been a miraculous comeback is even more impressive when you consider that by the middle of the fourth quarter they were without their top eight leaders in yards from scrimmage — DeVante Parker, Mike Gesicki, Myles Gaskin, Jakeem Grant, Preston Williams, Matt Breida, Salvon Ahmed and Isaiah Ford.
Fun fact: The leader in yards from scrimmage still available was quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick with his 151 rushing yards.
But somehow Tua Tagovailoa made it work, leading the Dolphins to 17 points on three fourth-quarter drives.
It may still have come up short, but the comeback attempt still said a lot about the Dolphins.
Here's what else we learned about the Dolphins in Week 14:
-- This was a pretty revealing game in a couple of ways for the Dolphins defense. On the one hand, their ability to create turnovers truly is impressive, and we saw it again against the Chiefs. Sure, two of the interceptions came off deflections, but it still speaks to the defense's ability to make things happen. On the other hand, the inability to stop Kansas City from getting big plays also showed the defense isn't perfect. After all, there's a reason the Dolphins are ranked 19th in the NFL in yards allowed, though they do rank second in the more important category of points allowed. What it says, though, is that the defense needs those turnovers to succeed.
-- There's not a lot of margin for error when playing a team like the Chiefs, and the Dolphins just made too many of them. On offense, the most obvious ones were the dropped passes by DeVante Parker in the end zone and by Jakeem Grant on a third-down pass in the first quarter. Sure, those weren't gimme catches, but they still were plays that needed to be made.
-- On the subject of passes not caught, there was a lot of Twitter hate for Grant after Tua's first NFL interception because he didn't come up with a contested catch on a long throw. That was as ridiculous as it was unfair. This was not like the drop he had against the Bengals when he flubbed what should have been a 91-yard touchdown. This whole play against the Chiefs was messed up from the start. First, there was quick pressure on Tua, who had to sidestep an oncoming rusher, which disrupted the timing and caused a late throw, which became a bit underthrown. Oh, and then Chiefs DB Rashad Fenton got his hand on the ball while Grant was jumping and trying to corral the ball into his chest. For those suggesting he should have caught the ball with his hands, consider what you're asking: running full speed, slowing down, jumping backward and then extending the hands. And don't forget the hands of the defender. So, no, that was not a drop, nor was it necessarily a bad throw. It was just a play that was disrupted from the start.
-- That said, it should be obvious by now that Grant's inconsistency catching the ball is a problem and maybe the best use for him on offense is a package of jet sweeps and shovel passes to take advantage of his speed.
-- The Tua interception illustrated a problem that was overshadowed by other things Sunday, and that was the play of the offensive line. Yes, it's impressive that the Dolphins are starting three rookies and they're showing promise, but we can't overlook the fact that the O-line is a work in progress. The run blocking is spotty at best these days and the pass protection has gotten leaky in recent weeks. Left tackle Austin Jackson had a particularly rough day against the Chiefs, lowlighted by the sack he gave up on the final play of the first half that cost the Dolphins a chance at getting some points.
-- We mentioned all the missing players for the offense down the stretch, but we also shouldn't overstate the point, particularly when it comes to the running backs. As we've mentioned before, the Dolphins simply don't have an impact player at that position, so the idea that Gaskin would have done significantly better than DeAndre Washington's 35 yards on his 13 attempts might be off the mark.
-- Finally, what we learned against the Chiefs is that the special teams can have a bad game too, which is exactly what happened. Of course, it started with Jason Sanders missing a field goal attempt, a rare occurrence this season. And then there was, of course, the punt return for a touchdown, which started by a poor punt by Matt Haack (short line drive). It's really difficult to complain about the special teams having a bad day because that unit has been so good all season, but it's a shame it happened against maybe the best team in the league.
