Dolphins 2021 Week 15 Report Card

The Miami Dolphins made it six victories in a row when they defeated the New York Jets, 31-24, at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Here's the weekly breakdown on how each position group performed:

Quarterbacks

After a string of really good performances, Tua Tagovailoa had what arguably was his worst outing of the season when you factor in that he wasn't duress the way he was during the second Buffalo game. Tua threw two interceptions, including the pick-six that tied the game in the fourth quarter, and was lucky it wasn't more with a couple of tipped passes, including one that ended up in the hands of Albert Wilson for a reception. There also was the muffed handoff with Duke Johnson to end the first drive and Tua throwing late and too short after Wilson got behind the Jets secondary. Tua did throw two touchdown passes and had a couple of good scrambles along with pretty touch passes to DeVante Parker and Isaiah Ford, but this clearly was not Tua at his best. Grade: C-

Running backs

We probably don't need to repeat just how impressive Duke Johnson, and not just because he rushed for 107 yards and two touchdowns, he's the way he consistently maximized every attempt and gained a lot of yardage on his own. It truly was inspiring to see. And he did the same thing on his 20-yard gain on a screen pass that certainly didn't look that promising after it was thrown. Myles Gaskin's contribution was the huge 30-yard run on the game-winning touchdown drive, though as we observed in our story on the five biggest plays of the game the Dolphins should have been flagged for a false start on the play. But since they weren't, props to Gaskin for breaking a couple of tackles on his way to the long gain. Grade: A

Wide receivers

The Dolphins had to play this game without Jaylen Waddle, and it was Isiah Ford who stepped up in a big way. His 27-yard catch of Tua's perfect loft was a key play on the third-quarter touchdown drive and caught all three of his target. Parker had another productive outing with four catches for 68 yards, and deserves credit for the 37-yard reception for hanging on despite the ball being hit as he was catching it and then on his touchdown for beating cornerback Bryce Hall so cleanly on the quick slant that Hall couldn't even get his hand on the ball despite the pass being thrown behind Parker. None of the other wide receivers were factors. There were no clear drops. Grade: A-

Tight ends

Mike Gesicki led the Dolphins with five catches, including a couple to convert third-down situations. Durham Smythe caught only one pass for 4 yards, while the only time Hunter Long was targeted resulted in the pick-six. Long also was flagged for holding twice, but the second call seemed dubious at best. With the Dolphins rushing for 183 yards, the tight ends certainly deserves some credit for the run blocking. As with the wide receivers, there were no clear drops. Grade: B-

Offensive line

Can we now finally stop with the O-line bashing? No, the performance wasn't perfect despite the 183 rushing yards because of Johnson making a lot happen on his own, but that's the way it's supposed to work, no? In pass protection, a review shows Tua forced to hurry his throw on only a handful of occasions and the one sack he took came after he took off from the pocket when he couldn't find anybody open. Jesse Davis was flagged for a false start and Robert Hunt was flagged for holding (along with Long) on the play before the pick-six, though it looked more like Hunt threw the defender to the ground than actually held him. Liam Eichenberg and Austin Jackson should have been called for a false start on Gaskin's 30-yard run, but again there was no flag. Yes, this performance came against a bad Jets defense, but it's still difficult to complain about the work up front. Grade: B+

Defensive line

The Dolphins defense had a pretty slow start in this game but was back to its dominant ways in the second half, and up front it was Zach Sieler and Emmanuel Ogbah who led the way. Sieler was a force against the run and had one of the biggest plays of the game with his sack/strip early in the fourth quarter. The one who recovered the fumble was Ogbah, who also contributed a sack and two more passes defenses, including one late in the fourth quarter. Christian Wilkins had another solid performance, though his touchdown reception and subsequent celebration overshadowed what he did on defense. Grade: A-

Linebackers

Andrew Van Ginkel continued his exceptional recent work, with the highlights including a sack and a 5-yard loss on a running back credited to Wilkins but caused primarily by AVG's pursuit. Van Ginkel did have a roughing-the-passer penalty on a Jets touchdown drive, but let's just say the call was rather suspect. Jerome Baker also had a big game with two sacks, including one on the series after the Dolphins' ill-fated fake punt. Jaelan Phillips had a tackle for loss and though he didn't have a sack it was his initial pressure that led to Baker's second sack of the game. Elandon Roberts was in on six tackles. Grade: B+

Secondary

Zach Wilson ended up passing for 170 yards, but a lot of his yardage came off trick plays (the hook-and-lateral and then flea-flicker to tight end Ryan Griffin). The longest pure completion to a wide receiver was only 14 yards (to Jameson Crowder). Brandon Jones had a sack in his return to action, Nick Needham did a solid job moving to free safety in the absence of Jevon Holland. Byron Jones was very good in coverage and the Jets never really tested Xavien Howard, except on a deep pass in the fourth quarter that was way overthrown, though Howard deserves credit for applying pressure on wide receiver Keelan Cole to disrupt his option pass to Wilson in the end zone.. Grade: A-

Special teams

The Dolphins didn't end up paying dearly for it, but the poorly executed fake punt could have been very costly. Clearly Dolphins players weren't on the same page because Clayton Fejedelem wasn't looking when Blake Ferguson snapped the ball directly at him. Michael Palardy had another very good outing with a gross average of 53 yards, a net of 45.3 and one punt inside the 20, and Jason Sanders made his only field goal attempt. There were no long returns by either team and no Dolphins penalties on special teams. The fake punt has to bring the grade down, though. Grade: C