Hyde10: Ten thoughts on Dolphins’ dominant 33-10 win over Panthers

Four straight wins.

Back to 5-7 on the year.

A possible big December ahead.

That’s the fall-out of the Dolphins’ dominant 33-10 win against Carolina on Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium. The win might not have been a surprise. But this one-sided of a win?

Here are 10 thoughts on the game:

1. Player of the game: Rookie receiver Jaylen Waddle. You could pick quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and that’d be fine. The combination put the offense in gear against a top defense. Waddle caught nine of Tua’s passes for 137 yards — his first game over 100 yards — and provided the electricity to the offense he was drafted to do. You’ve waited to see the speed of Waddle in use? There it was midway through the second quarter when Tagovailoa had some time, showed some patience and hit Waddle over the middle on about a 10-yard pass. Waddle took it from there. He turned it into a 57-yard gain, the only mini-surprise is he was caught at the Carolina 14-yard line by cornerback Donte Jackson (4.32 speed at his NFL combine). Waddle was a star Sunday, catching five passes for 101 yards in the first half. His 9-yard touchdown catch was impressive for his getting across the goal line, finding an open space in the Carolina zone and waiting for Tua to deliver the ball. His previous numerically high game was the 83 receiving yards against Atlanta or his two touchdowns against Jacksonville.

2. Tagovailoa might have had his best game since the win at Arizona in his starting debut. There was trouble at the start — two sacks from Carolina’s strong rush on the first two series, no running game as the Dolphins had 16 carries for 34 yards at half. But he lifted the offense in completing 27-of-31 passes for 230 yards and a touchdown. This was against the NFL’s second-ranked defense in total yards and sixth in giving up points. So it meant something more than beating up Houston, Baltimore (24th), and the New York Jets (dead-last 32nd).

3. Three interceptions, four batted balls by defensive linemen, five sacks — where do you want to start with the domination by the Dolphins defense? Let’s start here: 10 points. That means in the past four weeks Houston (nine points), Baltimore (10) and the Jets (17) haven’t put a dent in the Dolphins defense.

4. Stat of the game: Jaelan Phillips ended with three sacks on Sunday — nearly half of his 6.5 on the season. So three of the rookies shined on Sunday — Waddle, Phillips and Jevon Holland with his interception.

5. Carolina quarterback Cam Newton completed 5-of-21 passes for 92 yards and was intercepted twice. The Dolphins defense helped him look like a guy who couldn’t find a job most of the season. He threw back-to-back interceptions in the first half to Holland and Xavien Howard. He completed 3-of-15 passes for 84 yards in the first half and a 10.0 rating. The long pass, a 64-yard reception to DJ Moore, was underthrown or it would have been an easy touchdown.

6. When you scramble with personnel moves at a position in midseason, it means one of two things: 1) You have injuries there, or 2) You misjudged your talent. Put the running back situation at 2. Last week it was Duke Johnson who was elevated for a game from the practice squad after he was picked up. This past week, Phillip Lindsay was picked up off waivers from Houston and ran 12 times for 42 yards. That’s a healthy output considering this running game hasn’t done much. Myles Gaskin ran 16 times for 49 yards. On his first play, Lindsay appeared to go the wrong way, crippling a first down and putting the series in three-and-out jeopardy. You expect moments like that from a guy who was signed Wednesday, went through a walk-through on Thursday and a practice Friday. But as he showed with runs of 8 and 9 yards in the second half he can provide some punch for an offense needing some in the running game.

7. Special teams giveth … and they taketh away. The good was very good: Duke Riley ran in free and blocked a punt in a scoreless game, Justin Coleman picked it up at the Carolina 2-yard line and ran it/was pushed in for a touchdown. That’s the game-tilting play this special teams made a lot of last year and hadn’t done much this year. The bad: With Carolina’s offense struggling, it went to punt after the first possession of the second half. A direct snap was made to safety Sean Chandler. Andrew Van Ginkel appeared responsible for the Dolphins left end, but Chandler ran around it for 14 yards and a first down.

8. “Hold on a second please, gentlemen, hold on a second please.” With those words from referee John Hussey, the Dolphins stopped moving to the locker room after a what-was-that misadventure just before half. With 12 second left and the ball at Carolina’s 27-yard line, the center Austin Reiter’s shotgun snap went over Tua’s head. Carolina linebacker Frankie Luvu ended up with it at the Carolina 49-yard line and returned it to the Miami 23. The clock initially looked to run out but — “Hold on a second” — a second was put back on it. So gone was a Dolphins field-goal attempt that could have made a, 24-7, at half that was about as good as it could be. Instead, Carolina kicked a field goal to make it, 21-10.

9. Quick takes:

* Carolina running back Christian McCaffrey rolled his ankle in the first half, tried for a play in the second half and didn’t. The Panthers’ lone offensive threat had 10 carries for 35 yards;

* Jason Sanders’ extra-point streak ended at 69 with a third-quarter miss. It was the longest active streak in the league;

* Durham Smythe, the one-time blocking-only tight end, had five catches for 32 yards and Mike Gesicki had three catches for 17 yards;

* New England moved to 8-4 with a win over Ryan Tannehill and Tennessee.

10. Next week: New York Giants (4-7) at Dolphins. Two chips off the Bill Belichick coaching tree meet as Joe Judge brings his struggling Giants to town. Judge fired offensive coordinator Jason Garrett last week. GM Dave Gettleman, Judge and quarterback Daniel Jones are all under fire right now. The Giants beat Philadelphia on Sunday.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3rjALwW