Welcome back to Club Dub everyone! The Dolphins move to 5-1 with a 42-21 victory over the Carolina Panthers!
- Original Prediction: Dolphins 34-13
- Result: Dolphins 42-21
The Passing Game:
A clean, efficient day from Tua Tagovailoa and the Dolphin's passing game, exactly what I was hoping to see this week. Tua kept the ball out of harms way while keeping the explosiveness of the passing game alive. Tagovailoa finished the game 21/31 (67.7%) for 261 yards, 3 touchdowns, and a passer rating of 126.0. Mike White did play football today and he did throw a competition for a touchdown to T. Hill, only issue was it was a horrific read and throw to Troy Hill for a Panthers touchdown.
Tyreek Hill continues to do Tyreek Hill things and went off for another big performance recording 163 yards and 1 touchdown on just 6 catches. Man is on a mission to get to 2,000 and you know what, I am starting to believe that he gets there because at this rate, no one is stopping him. Jaylen Waddle was a focal point of the offense this week hauling in 1 touchdown on 7 catches (9 targets) but unfortunately for his yards per catch he is getting his rookie year treatment by only averaging 7.3 ypc. It'll continue to be important to get Waddle more and more involved in the games, especially this week against Philly. The other receivers didn't do much but it is nice to see Mike McDaniel continue to break out creative passes for the backs out of the backfield. The touchdown catch by Raheem was beautifully designed and executed.
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| Stats courtesy of ESPN |
Running game:Raheem Mostert does football really well. It was another big day for the Dolphin's rushing attack that was led once again by Raheem Mostert. Mostert ran for 115 yards and 2 touchdowns on just 17 carries, good enough for an average of 6.8 per carry. Chris Brooks broke off a really impressive 28 yard run but unfortunately got hurt with what looks to be a serious injury. Miami should get Jeff Wilson back this week which will help the depth in the room but Miami just has to keep it going in the run game like they have been. The run game has probably been the most pleasant surprise this season and they are going to need it this week at Philadelphia to keep the Eagles pass rush at bay.
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| Image via the Miami Dolphins |
This game started off like it was going to be one of those days where we all send angry tweets and complain about the defense all game long because man oh man did it start out ugly for the defense. Carolina's first drive ended with a 3-and-out thanks to a Bradley Chubb (Hey!) sack of Bryce Young. The two drives after that? Carolina marched down the field with ease by dominating the line of scrimmage and targeting Adam Thielen about 300 times. Thankfully the defense shored itself up and managed to shut down the Panthers offense for the rest of the game. Really the a lot of the movement Carolina got after the first two drives came courtesy of one Eli Apple in coverage. Look if Cam Smith isn't better than Eli Apple then we have a problem for the next 1-3 weeks until Jalen Ramsey and Nik Needham come back.
Christian Wilkins' pass rush finally showed up in a big way recording 2 sacks against Bryce Young. Wilkins wants to get paid big time and performances like today will go a long way in achieving that for him. We also have to give some love to Bradley Chubb who had another good game recording a sack (should've been 2 but Perry Nickerson held) and multiple pressures. Chubb just needs to continue stacking good games and keep making impact plays for Miami because they need it badly. Jaelen Phillips finally returned and played 30 snaps. He didn't make much of an impact but hopefully now that he's got his feet wet he can perform at the level many of us hoped he would this season.
Up next: The Dolphins travel to Philadelphia to take on the 5-1 Eagles on Sunday Night Football.