Several players draw the praise of Joe Philbin for effort on Sunday

Written by Matthew Cannata at 9:00 AM EST | Twitter: @PhinManiacs

Following the game on Sunday against the Detroit Lions, Joe Philbin singled out Ryan Tannehill, Brent Grimes and Dion Jordan as three guys who stepped up and played well throughout the entire game.  

While Calvin Johnson did have over 100 receiving yards and one touchdown, there weren't any explosive plays from him besides the one in the first half where he scored on a long touchdown. Philbin was pleased with Grimes and the way he covered Johnson but admits more could've been done.

“Yeah, I mean he was there. Obviously, he went up and got a touchdown on us. When you play these guys you don’t want to reach stats where they have the 50- or 60-yard touchdown pass. I don’t think the coverage was bad, but you’ve got to go up there and strip the ball, knock it loose somehow and find a way to get it off him. He certainly came back and made some other plays in the game.”

Dion Jordan also had a good game as he returned a blocked field goal to the 2-yard line and also showed that he can move in coverage and handle that type of thing. 

“I like it. I thought our coaches did a lot of good things. He kind of played a variety of positions, did a number of different jobs yesterday. I think overall he did a good job.”

Finally, Philbin praised Tannehill for his ability to stand in the pocket play after play but also, for his effort to tackle the Lions defender after throwing the interception.

“Great hustle. It doesn’t happen if Ryan is not giving a 100 percent, busting his tail. Then Brent makes an outstanding individual play. Those are two great plays on film, they really are. I thought we had some efficiency, I thought we were throwing completions, it just didn’t seem like we had a bunch of chunk plays. We didn’t seem to have as many as you need obviously against these guys to score enough points to win games. Sixteen points is tough and I think one of them was a four-yard touchdown drive or something like that. We have to do better on offense.”

On that play, Tannehill explained what happened, saying that he was getting pressure from both sides of the defensive line and had to get the ball out of his hands.

“We were hot, just have to throw that one away. I saw the guy coming and I had to get it out of my hands. I just have to throw it over his head and live to fight another day. Once he had it, I was just doing everything I could to get him down.”

The Dolphins will have another tough defensive line to face on Thursday with the Buffalo Bills so expect the game-plan to be similar. Hopefully, they'll be able to contain their offense much better than they were in Week 2. If not, the Dolphins could be in for another long day.

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