The Miami Dolphins suffered only their second loss of the season last night as they fell to the Philadelphia Eagles in what was a primetime match-up. What's boasted as the record-breaking top offense in the league was held to 17 points, 7 of them coming from a pick-six by linebacker Jerome Baker.
There's been a ton of discourse online with the officiating of the game in favor of the Eagles as they committed zero penalties to the Dolphins 10. It's safe to say there was blatant calls missed that could've helped the Dolphins, but the team as a whole wasn't firing on all cylinders besides that.
Here are the Dolphins most to blame for the loss on Sunday night:
Eli Apple and Dolphins secondary
It was all downhill after it was reported that defensive back Eli Apple told Rodney Harrison that “Tonight is gonna be Eli night.” Admire the confidence, but it didn't show on the field as they were plays where Apple got burned and for the most part had no answer for the Eagles receivers.
The blame isn't totally on Apple as the dynamic duo of A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith cooked the Dolphins. Especially Brown who caught 10 passes for 137 yards and a touchdown.
While a performance like this was to be expected when you're missing arguably the best defensive player on the team in Xavien Howard mixed with Jalen Ramsey still not active, it's a recipe for disaster. It's not like the Eagles put up more than 40 points like the Buffalo Bills did earlier in the season to Miami, but the defense looked vulnerable in the back-seven.
Dolphins offensive line including Liam Eichenberg looked vulnerable
Just like the secondary, the Dolphins offensive line was missing two key starters in usual center Connor Williams and tackle Terron Armstead, who was placed on injured reserve a couple of weeks prior. What resulted was quarterback Tua Tagovailoa getting sacked four times by the sturdy Eagles defensive front.
While it was a concern heading into the season, the offensive line has played pretty good so far this season as in the five wins, Tagovailoa was sacked at most one time. However, in the two losses to the Bills and now the Eagles, he was sacked four times. It's an easy formula, less sacks means winning more football games.
Besides the collective unit, Liam Eichenberg filled in for Williams at center and had problems delivering snaps to Tagovailoa which put a stop to multiple drives as they were building momentum. Eichenberg has been frustrating this season so far as he looks to improve if Williams is once again unavailable.
The offensive line is the anchor in head coach Mike McDaniel's system as they deal with a lot of outside runs, motions, and play-action that if they aren't 100 percent on the same page, the results could be not be favorable.
One thing is for certain, the Dolphins have the capability of being a top team in the league, but there are aspects that they need to clean up and hope they get a healthy roster soon. They'll try to bounce back next week as they look to sweep the New England Patriots at home.
After the AFC East divisional game, they travel to Frankfurt, Germany to take on Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and the Kansas City Chiefs in what is sure to be an explosive contest.
Follow Us
Subscribe