Jorge’s Hot takes - Dolphins Beat Chargers on Sunday for Five Straight Wins

By: Jorge Hinojosa

Man, oh man, what a game! I’m not even going to bore you with an introduction, let’s jump right to it!

The good:

• The Dolphins Special Teams, Yes Don Jason Sanders missed his first FG of the season, but this unit was excellent all day long. They had a punt block early on that set up the first score, Matt Haack, continues to put punts inside the 20 and Jakeem Grant had consistently good returns all day long give thee offense good starting positions throughout the day.

 

• Zach Sieler & Emmanuel Ogbah the 2nd year DL continues to make big plays for the Dolphins and to help the D-line dominate the trench play while Ogbah made another sack as well as bringing constant pressure on Herbert. Chris Grier needed to hit on his FA signing and provide Flores with a consistent pass-rusher and Ogbah has more than delivered. Now Grier needs to make locking them up long term a priority, Ogbah is in a 2-year deal while Sieler could become a FA after this year.

• Tua continues to improve. Look I know we all want Tua to put up big stats and light it up, I get it I really do. But the truth is that he is still only a year away from a career-threatening injury and he is still rusty. He has yet to throw an int, made great reads and has been able to evade the rush. He also had 2 TD’s for the second consecutive week and is 3-0 as a starter. Coach Flores is going to continue to bring him along slowly and not put him in a position to risk him either physically or to take away from the confidence he is rightfully earning.

 
The bad:

• The Karras fumble. Look it was a mistake, it was an ugly one and it could have been costly. That being said, it’s football and it happens, and the good teams are those that even when they lose momentum still find a way to win and the Dolphins did just that.
• Pre-snap penalties, for the second week in a row the Dolphins offense made it harder on themselves by having pre-snap penalties. Coach Flores preaches TNT: Takes no Talent, and this is the sort of mistakes he hates. I really believe the COVID-impacted staff has played a role on it but expect the Dolphins to clean it up by next week.
• Inconsistent play calling during the 3rd quarter. The Dolphins opened the second half with a very conservative play calling on both offense and defense, it seems that both coordinators were for different reasons reluctant to be aggressive. The thing is this team plays better when it is aggressive, and the Dolphins will need to be more consistent with their identity come December.

 
The ugly:

• Well it was going to happen eventually, but I think I speak for every Dolphin fan when I say we were heartbroken to see Don Jason Sanders miss. That being said, he bounced back and added another 3 before the end of the game.

 
All in all, the Dolphins continue to win and are on a 5-game winning streak, next up is a trip up to Denver to face off against the Broncos. Hopefully, the team will have Wilkins and all the coaches back and will continue to improve as they make a bid for the playoffs.

Please welcome Jorge Hinojosa to the PhinManiacs team!  Please follow him on Twitter @FranciscoHinoPe