Miami Dolphins Week 9 Report Card
The Dolphins recorded their fourth consecutive victory with their thrilling victory against the Arizona Cardinals and every unit contributed in some way.
That clearly is reflected in the grades we handed out.
Quarterbacks
Well, that was more like it, right? Tua Tagovailoa rebounded from a less-than-stellar starting debut with a terrific performance against the Rams. Tagovailoa completed 20 of 28 passes for 248 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions with a passer rating of 122.3. He also had seven rushes for 17 yards, making some nifty moves to avoid oncoming rushers. And he clinched the victory with his quarterback sneak for a first down. The only blemishes were his near-interception when he should have just thrown the ball way out of bounds and a grounding penalty when he mistakenly hit Robert Hunt's foot on a busted screen pass. But that's minor compared to what he did. Grade: A
Running backs
There were some new faces in the lineup at running back, though not a ton of production. The bright spot clearly was rookie Salvon Ahmed, who showed a great burst while rushing for 38 yards on seven carries with a long gain of 19 yards. Jordan Howard was back in the starting lineup after being a healthy scratch for three games, but it was tough sledding for him again, though he did have his fourth rushing touchdown of the season. Patrick Laird had a nifty 17-yard reception. Grade: C+
Wide receivers
This was a great bounce-back game for the wide receivers after a tough outing against the Rams. DeVante Parker led the way with six catches, and Preston Williams and Mack Hollins each had a touchdown catch, though Williams had to leave the game with a foot injury after his score. Hollins' touchdown catch came on his first reception since joining the Dolphins last December and he made a really tough catch look easy. Jakeem Grant tied his season high with four catches, including a 9-yard gain just before Jason Sanders' game-winning field goal. Unlike the Rams game, there were no clear drops. Grade: B+
Tight ends
The running game averaged 3.7 yards per rushing attempt but less than that when you take away Tagovailoa's scrambles, and the tight ends have to take some responsibility for that. Mike Gesicki and Durham Smythe each contributed big catches — Gesicki had a 19-yard reception on the first play of the game-winning field goal drive and Smythe had a 19-yard gain just before Howard's rushing touchdown. Adam Shaheen did not catch a pass and was targeted only once. Grade: B
Offensive line
The Dolphins welcomed Austin Jackson back to the lineup but he started on the bench before retaking his spot at left tackle and Jesse Davis was moved from left tackle to right guard to replace rookie Solomon Kindley. It wasn't a great performance by the offensive line, which was flagged four times. Davis was flagged for holding, Robert Hunt for a false start, Ted Karras for hands to the face, and Jackson for a hold. The pass protection was pretty solid for the most part, but the penalties and the run blocking were less than ideal. Grade: C
Defensive line
Ogbah, Ogbah, Ogbah. The man just keeps doing it. Seventh sack on the season, second consecutive game his forced fumble starts a Dolphins defensive touchdown. Just great work. Ogbah also batted down a pass near the line of scrimmage after Kyler Murray had scrambled out of the pocket. Zach Sieler came up big on one of the plays of the game when he fought off his blocker to meet Chase Edmonds in the hole and lead the stop for no gain on Arizona's failed fourth-and-1 attempt in the fourth quarter. That was big time. Sieler also had a quarterback hit. Raekwon Davis and Christian Wilkins weren't all that noticeable, but they share the credit for the Dolphins holding Edmonds to a 2.8-yard average. Grade: A
Linebackers
The linebackers had the fun task of trying to deal with Murray after he started scrambling, and by fun we mean not at all. All the linebackers had really quiet performances, except for Shaq Lawson scooping up the fumble created by Ogbah and taking it to the end zone and Elandon Roberts helping finish off the tackle of Edmonds on the fourth-down run. Those were two huge plays, though. Grade: B-
Secondary
What will stick out from this game will be all the flags that Xavien Howard saw coming his way. All but one of them came in what was a truly forgettable second half for him. Howard does get credit for holding DeAndre Hopkins without a catch in the first half and to only three catches for 30 yards overall. But the DPI represent basically completions without yards after catch. Byron Jones also had a tough day, allowing Christian Kirk to get behind him for a 56-yard touchdown and then letting tight end Darrell Daniels steal the ball from him in the end zone to turn an interception into a touchdown. Eric Rowe had a tackle for loss, which might have been the one highlight for the secondary. This unit is the strength of the Dolphins defense, but this was not a good day for those guys, as evidenced by Murray's 150.5 passer rating. Grade: D+
Special teams
The difference in the game might have been as simple as Jason Sanders being better than his counterpart, Arizona kicker Zane Gonzalez. Sanders finished the first half with a career-long 56-yard field goal and then made the game-winning 50-yard kick to set the franchise record with his 20th consecutive successful attempt. Jakeem Grant didn't have a long return in this game. Rookie first-round pick Noah Igbinoghene took over on kickoff returns in the second half when Grant became needed on offense in light of Williams' injury, but didn't hae a long return either. Kamu Grugier-Hill tackled Kirk for a 4-yard loss on a punt return in the second quarter. Punter Matt Haack had another solid outing. Grade: B+
