Tua Shines AGAIN; Dolphins Beat Lions – Game Takeaways

The Miami Dolphins rocked and rolled all day Sunday. Thanks to the offensive performance, Miami had a comeback win up in the Motor City against the drowning Detroit Lions, 31-27. Here are some takeaways from the game.

1. Miami’s passing game is INSANE. Tua needs to be an MVP candidate

If the league didn’t have Tua, Waddle, and Hill on watch, they better now.

Besides an early Braylon Edwards fumble on the first drive, Tua had another great game Sunday, completing 29-of-36 passes for 382 yards and three touchdowns; two of which were thrown to Jaylen Waddle (both in the first half). Speaking of Waddle, he had eight catches for 106 yards. As if those receiving numbers were not enough, Tyreek Hill had to top Waddle’s performance with 12 receptions for 188 yards, making thousands if not millions of fantasy owners smile.

Right out of halftime, the Lions led 27-17. But right when the second half started, the page flipped. On the Dolphins opening drive, FB Alec Ingold took a snap that fooled the defense and scored on a one-yard sneak. Later on, Tua would have another really nice drive, helping the Dolphins take the lead when a wide-open Mike Gesicki caught a 12-yard touchdown pass late in the third. Too bad Gesicki did not do the griddy; every NFL fan on Twitter would have gone crazy.

Combined, Hill and Waddle have 1,688 yards, a Super Bowl era record for two teammates through the first eight games of a season. Tua, meanwhile, is now 5-0 on the season (when he plays a full game).

2. The Lions’ offense rebounded

After a bad game in Dallas, the Lions’ offense played well against a depleted Dolphins’ defense.

Jared Goff played well, completing 27-of-37 passes for 321 yards and a touchdown pass to D’Andre Swift. Goff almost had a second touchdown, but Josh Reynolds dropped a pass in the end zone right before halftime. That would pretty much cost Detroit the game, as they had to settle for a closing first-half field goal instead of a touchdown. Jamaal Williams also had two touchdown runs in the first half.

3. Miami’s Lack of Discipline Needs to be Figured Out

There were way too many penalties for Miami. When they were accepted, the Dolphins were penalized seven times for 55 yards by the likes of Elandon Roberts, Liam Eichenberg, Tyreek Hill, and Justin Bethel. And that’s not even half of the penalties that were declined due to offsides and illegal shifts on players like Christian Wilkins (2), Terron Armstead, Brandon Shell, Hunter Long, and Melvin Ingram.

In my opinion, Mike McDaniel needs to have a more aggressive in-game strategy because your offense can only do so much, but little things like penalties and such can cost you in games against better teams. Josh Boyer is like McDaniel in the sense that he is less aggressive and his defensive play-calling is so predictable.

4. Injury Concerns?

In the second half, starting left guard Liam Eichenberg left the game with an undisclosed injury. This takes an already depleted Dolphins offensive line down even more. Add the likes of players on the defense like Brandon and Byron Jones, Nik Needham, and Trey Flowers… it’s a pretty depleted unit.

Next Up

Coming up, we have the trade deadline. There are quite a few players that the Dolphins can very well trade for.

With the Dolphins needing help in the secondary and the front seven, there are names like Bradley Chubb, Brian Burns, Greedy Williams, and William Jackson III. It would be interesting to see the Dolphins go all in.

Next week, the Dolphins travel back up north to play the Chicago Bears.