Dolphins Week 8 Instant Takeaways: The Complete Game That's Been Missing

Miami Dolphins running back De'Von Achane (28) runs the ball against the Atlanta Falcons in the second quarter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

The Miami Dolphins always seemed like a better team than their record indicated as they headed into their game against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 8, but nobody could have seen coming what they produced at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

The Dolphins went from their most embarrassing performance of the season to their most dominant, with every phase completely overwhelming an Atlanta team that admittedly was missing some key pieces.

This was a day of validation for a whole bunch of people on the Dolphins, with the three at the forefront being head coach Mike McDaniel, defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.

This game actually was reminiscent of a 2011 game when the Dolphins were 0-7 and headed on the road to face the 4-3 Kansas City Chiefs and left with a dominating 31-3 victory at Arrowhead Stadium.

Whether the Dolphins can bottle what they did against Atlanta and bring out that kind of performance again and how often is a story for another day, but on this afternoon all was right for the Dolphins.

DOMINANT FROM THE START

-- The defense came to play from the beginning, and nobody was more impactful than linebacker Jordyn Brooks. The team captain recently restructured his contract ahead of the NFL Trade Deadline and who knows what that means in the big picture, but he was all over the place.

-- There were a lot of comments and jokes about exactly how many yards Falcons superstar Bijan Robinson would get against the Dolphins' porous run defense, but he went nowhere. On top of that, he lost a fumble early in the second half at a time when the score was only 17-3.

-- Weaver insisted (and correctly) that the run defense has been solid the past couple of weeks except for some occasional long runs. That long run was eliminated in this game and the result was Robinson and Tyler Allgeier being erased.

-- The Dolphins got a lot of mileage out of the running game, and yet it might surprise many that they still averaged less than 4 yards per carry. Where the Dolphins were very good, though, was in converting short-yardage situations and avoiding negative plays.

-- After the uproar over his comments and his poor performance at Cleveland, Tua really needed a good game and he delivered it. Beyond anything else, he avoided turnovers and he delivered a couple of really nice throws, including the touchdown pass to Malik Washington while on the move. It was the kind of performance the Dolphins have gotten from Tua when he's at his best.

-- Jaylen Waddle didn't quite reach 100 yards in this game, but it was plenty good enough and he provided a reminder of how he can turn a short completion over the middle and turn it into a long touchdown with his speed.

-- Loved seeing the Dolphins trying different things on offense like having Daniel Brunskill on the field as a sixth lineman.

-- This win, though, was more than anything about the defense finally delivering and coming up with the key play at a key juncture of the game, that being the fumble by Robinson.

-- The challenge for Miami now will be repeating this kind of performance — or something close to it — starting against the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday night with Lamar Jackson expected back in the lineup.

-- For one day at least, the Dolphins got a glimpse of what they can be as a team when they're executing in every phase.