Dolphins-Cardinals: Quick Takeaways

Random thoughts and quick hitters from the Dolphins' 34-31 victory against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium:

-- Biggest win for the Dolphins since ...? Think about the circumstances. Short five coaches because of the COVID-19 protocol, playing on the road against a very good Arizona team and, most importantly, with Tua showing the promise that had everybody so excited about the Dolphins getting him. Yeah, this was big. Let's say maybe the biggest win since the Week 16 victory at Buffalo in 2016 because that one ended up putting the Dolphins into the playoffs.

-- Tua's performance is exactly why you never want to rush to judgment when it comes to young quarterbacks. He was so much better in every facet of quarterbacking than he was in the Rams game, it was eye-popping. While it's easy to overreact the other way considering how well Tua played, there's no denying what his performance meant in terms of the promise of what he can become as an NFL quarterback.

-- As sharp as he was with his passing, Tua's scrambling might have been the most impressive part of his performance. He had some really nice jukes in the backfield that turned potential losses into nice gains.

-- Just saying, but Salvon Ahmed looks like a keeper at running back. He looks faster than anybody the Dolphins have at the position.

-- Good to see Mack Hollins get rewarded with a touchdown catch in the fourth quarter and on what was his first catch since he joined the Dolphins last December. We say it was a nice reward because Hollins has been a stud on special teams.

-- Brian Flores was proven right on his decision to settle for a field goal on fourth-and-1 late in the fourth quarter, though we still would have liked a more aggressive approach. It was the same approach that Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury took, but the difference between the two kickers in the game became obvious.

-- The Dolphins had their hands full with Kyler Murray, but they weren't the first team to have its problems with the young quarterback and they certainly won't be the last. It's pretty amazing to think that Murray maybe had one bad play the entire game and it came right before Zane Gonzalez came up short on a 49-yard field goal attempt that would have tied the game.

-- But the way Tua was playing, does anybody doubt that he would have led the team into field goal position.

-- How good has the signing of Emmanuel Ogbah been? That's all.

-- It wasn't necessarily a great game for the Dolphins' vaunted cornerbacks, Byron Jones and Xavien Howard. Jones was beaten for the long touchdown by Christian Kirk and Howard had his issues with penalties, though not all of them looked completely legitimate calls. Those are two guys the Dolphins usually can count on, so this day shouldn't be overly concerning in the big picture.

-- In closing, forget for a second what the win meant for the Dolphins. How much fun was that game?

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