Dolphins Handle Chargers: Quick Thoughts

The victory against the Los Angeles Chargers provided another glimpse as to what kind of team the Miami Dolphins have, one that's gotten pretty good in every area.

And one that basically doesn't beat itself.

That became very obvious when they defeated a Chargers team that has perfected the art of self-destruction. On Sunday, the Dolphins took advantage of enough special teams mistakes by the Chargers to make the difference in their eight-point win.

Linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel deseves a lot of credit for his punt block, but it likely doesn't happen if punter Ty Long doesn't bobble the snap first.

The Chargers then gave the Dolphins four points by jumping offside on a fourth-and-1 field goal attempt.

The field goal at the end of the half? Maybe it doesn't happen if the Chargers punt return fields the punt at the 20 instead of letting bounce and roll until it's down at the 4-yard line.

Bad teams make those kind of mistakes.

Good teams don't.

The Dolphins have become a good team.

Really, when is the last time you've seen them make the kind of mistakes the Chargers made? It's been a while.

The Dolphins just don't beat themselves. There's another team in the AFC East that's been like that for a lot of years ... hmm, who might that be?

Not saying the Dolphins are about to become a carbon copy of the Patriots, but there are similarities and that's undeniable and it's a tribute to the job that Brian Flores has done in Miami.

Other thoughts from the Dolphins-Chargers game:

-- Tua Tagovailoa got the better of Justin Herbert in their head-to-head matchup, but as was the case in the Rams game, the Dolphins made Tua's life pretty easy. What he's done such a good job with so far in his young NFL career is avoiding the really bad mistakes that turn games. Like the killer INT that Xavien Howard got against Herbert that was the biggest play of the game (spoiler alert) — even though, that was more a case of a cornerback badly beating a receiver (Mike Williams) than a poor throw by the quarterback because Williams was supposed to be in the spot where Herbert threw and not Howard. And if we're being honest, Tua got lucky on a completion to Adam Shaheen that went right through linebacker Kenneth Murray's hands. The bottom line from this vantage point is that the Dolphins played a much better game as a team than the Chargers did. Both quarterbacks had their moments and made some throws, but it didn't materialize into a shootout.

-- Back to Tua, we have yet to see a game with gaudy passing statistics yet, but it's mostly because the Dolphins haven't needed it. But nobody is about to complain about anything right now.

-- We said after the Arizona game that the Dolphins might have found themselves a new running back with Salvon Ahmed. Sure looks that way, doesn't it?

-- This will not get as much attention as it should because it came late and was hard to discern, but man oh man, that Emmanuel Ogbah. Forget about his sack, it was his fourth-down tip at the line of scrimmage that ended a Chargers drive and basically sealed the outcome for the Dolphins.

-- I asked Jason Sanders this week about his lengthy beard and he confirmed there was superstition involved because he hadn't missed and didn't want to change anything. So I'll take the blame for even bringing it up now that he's missed a field goal attempt.

-- The biggest key to the victory from this vantage point was the work done by the cornerbacks against Chargers wide receivers Mike Williams and Keenan Allen. The two amazingly had one catch for 11 yards (COMBINED) in the first half. There's a reason that Herbert was held under 200 passing yards after not going below 264 in his first seven starts. Some of it was the pass rush, but more of it has to be credited to the work of the defensive backs.

-- And, as is always the case, don't judge the pass rush's effectiveness by the two sacks the Dolphins got. The pass rush again was disruptive and forced quick outlet throws on more than one occasion.

-- Finally, let's leave with this: How crazy is it that the Dolphins now are a half-game behind the Buffalo Bills for first place in the AFC East. That rematch at Bills Stadium in Week 17 is looking more and more exciting by the week.

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