The Miami Dolphins were feeling all the momentum of their week 1 victory over the Tennessee Titans as they traveled to Green Bay. The Packers have an absolutely stacked roster and Coach Fallen wanted to approach this game differently than his team did last week. The Packers have a ferocious front seven, but their linebackers lack certain coverage abilities that coach Fallen wanted to attack. The Dolphins knew that they needed to get the ball out quickly and keep the downhill pass rush of the Packers at bay. Salvon Ahmed was going to have a bigger impact in the run game, or so Coach Fallen thought. The Miami Dolphins started off with the ball, but they were only able to score a field goal on their first possession. The Dolphins ability to score touchdowns when in the red zone and on the goaline is a huge opportunity and it cost them the game this week. The game was back and forth in the first half but the Green Bay Packers held onto a one possession lead for most of the half except when Tua found Jaylen Waddle open on a bubble score for a touchdown that tied the game 17-17. The Dolphins left 1:42 on the clock and it proved to be way too much time for Aaron Rodgers. He was able to lead his offense down the field, but on second and goal, with 20 seconds left, the Dolphins were in a goal line formation and stopped Aaron Jones in the backfield. Aaron Rodgers quickly hurried his team to the line of scrimmage and the Dolphins defense were unable to switch their defense and it led to a wide open touchdown pass for Aaron Rodgers and the Packers.
The Green Bay Packers had a 26-17 lead midway through the fourth quarter, but the Dolphins collapsed on offense. Tua threw more turnovers in this game than he has in a single game in his NFL career. The Packers intercepted his pass with 20 seconds left on the clock. Adrian Amos could have ran the clock out, he could have gone down, but instead he ran the interception back for a touchdown. The Dolphins were without any timeouts left, so it begs to question if there is bad blood between these two teams. The Packers head coach did apologize for running up the score after the game. He said that he was focused on scoring because he didn’t think the game was over yet. Nonetheless, the Miami Dolphins cannot be happy with their performance on offense.
Tua Tagovailoa had a miserable performance. He was throwing into windows that just weren’t open and when he did have a window, his throws came just a tad bit too late. He completed 26 of his 38 passes for a 68% completion rate. He had 315 passing yards, 2 touchdowns, and 5 interceptions. His interceptions were all ill-advised. He didn’t miss on them, his throws just fell flat. In the off-season, he worked on his arm strength, but you couldn’t quite tell in this game. It’s a very bad sign when your quarterback leads your team in rushing yards. Tua Tagvailoa had four carries for 29 yards. All four of his carries came from extending the play, none of them were on designed runs. Salvon Ahmed was bottled up again this week. He carried the ball 12 times for 14 yards. His average of 1.1 yards per carry is the worst in his short NFL career. Salvon Ahmed had a very promising rookie season, but so far he hasn’t been able to run the ball with any promise. Coach Fallen has praised Ahmed for his patient running and believes that he will improve if given enough opportunity.
Offensive Statline of the Game –
Jaylen Waddle – 9 receptions, 88 receiving yards, and 1 touchdown.
Jaylen Waddle and Salvon Ahmed led the team with 9 receptions. Ahmed had just one more receiving yard than Waddle, but the touchdown that Waddle caught catapulted him ahead of Ahmed for the biggest contributor on offense for the game. Will Fuller was left without a catch in the game versus the Packers, but are the Dolphins working the speedy receiver out of the rotation or was this game just a one off?
Defensive Statline of the Game –
Byron Jones – 3 tackles and 1 interception
The Miami Dolphins forced Aaron Rodgers into throwing three interceptions. Byron Jones had a beautiful skyscraping interception where he stepped in front of the boundary and floated in front of the defender. Byron Jones was one of the five Madden casualties on the Miami Dolphins that lost their abilities. Byron Jones had four interceptions and four pass deflections last season and he is on his way to having another terrific season.
The biggest surprise of the season so far is fourth round selection Juanyeh Thomas. He has two interceptions in the first two weeks of the season. He has been able to limit the passes across the middle of the field in both games this season, but the Dolphins cannot expect this type of production out of the rookie every week.
Coach Fallen has to make a decision about how he wants his offense to play this season. The Miami Dolphins have a solid defense, but their offense has put unnecessary stress on their defense the first two weeks of the season. The Miami Dolphins face off against the New England Patriots in week 3 and they will have to play perfectly on offense if they want to compete in that game.
Week 2 Trade Speculation –
We are two weeks into the season and the Miami Dolphins are into the thick of things when it comes to the trade block. It is rumoured that they have spoken with multiple teams about trading their franchise quarterback Tua Tagvailoa. Tua has two years left on his rookie deal with a fifth round option available. The Miami Dolphins have plenty of cap space to re-sign the young star, but after two weeks of poor decision making, they are interested in how Emory Jones would fit in their offense. Emory Jones is a gifted athlete, but his throwing accuracy just isn’t up to par at the moment for a starting quarterback. The Miami Dolphins would be better suited to build Emory Jones up this season and keep Tua until the off-season. However, if the offer is right, the Dolphins aren’t afraid to pull the trigger.
