The Good, Bad & Ugly from the Miami Dolphins’ week six loss to the Minnesota Vikings
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By: Marek Brave
Back to square one.
Why are the Miami Dolphins cursed?
On Sunday, against the Minnesota Vikings, the Miami Dolphins couldn’t catch a break. Sometimes they were just plain unlucky and other times, they created their own bad luck – seemingly taking two steps backwards for every step forward.
The team was penalized 10 times, while also turning the ball over three times.
The Dolphins shot themselves in the foot over and over again on Sunday, and on a day when they needed everyone to be at their best, very few players were.
That’s a recipe for a loss most weeks, but even more so on a week where the team was missing their starting quarterback, their starting left tackle, their starting right tackle, one of their starting cornerbacks, and one of their replacement cornerbacks.
And those were just the injuries that affected Miami BEFORE the game started.
Nevertheless, because we must, we’ll now take a look back at the good, bad and ugly from Miami’s week six defeat at the hands of the Minnesota Vikings.
GOOD
Mike Gesicki gets back on track with a two touchdown performance
Mike Gesicki has had himself a down year, to put it mildly.
Many fans questioned whether or not he was a fit in Mike McDaniel’s new offense before the season started, and through Miami’s first five games, the doubters were being proven right.
However, against the Vikings on Sunday, Gesicki showed up in a big way, catching six passes for 69 yards and two touchdowns. I believe he now also holds the record for the longest Griddy celebration in the dance’s history. It was Gesicki’s most productive game of the season so far, as he was one of a select few players to play well against Minnesota.
Let’s see if Gesicki can keep the momentum rolling and continue to put up numbers when Tua Tagovailoa returns under center for the Dolphins next Sunday.
BAD
Miami’s banged up offensive line did nothing to help their backup QBs on Sunday
As I mentioned earlier, when you’re without so many key players on game day due to injury, the healthy players need to step up in big ways if you want to come away with a win.
Without left tackle, Terron Armstead, and right tackle, Austin Jackson, Miami’s banged up offensive line group was one unit that really needed to hike up their pants and get to work dealing with the tough task of protecting the Dolphins’ backup quarterbacks.
Unfortunately, that didn’t happen as Miami’s signal callers were under immense duress all game long. Miami’s offensive line gave up pressure after pressure, allowing Minnesota to hit their quarterbacks 13 times while also giving up six sacks on the day. Miami’s starting quarterback for week six, rookie 7th rounder, Skylar Thompson, was forced from the game due to a thumb injury sustained while being smacked around by Minnesota’s defensive line.
All in all, it was a very unsuccessful day at the office for Miami’s offensive line. But, what else is new?
UGLY
Jaylen Waddle fumbles Miami’s chances away late in the game
Despite Miami’s injury woes, the Dolphins still had a chance on Sunday – down six points late in the 4th quarter against the Vikings.
Miami was driving as backup quarterback, Teddy Bridgewater, was finding Waddle and Tyreek Hill for chunk gains while trying to take his team in for the score and the lead.
However, with just four minutes left, Jaylen Waddle caught a long pass for a first down, but while trying to make a move and juke a defender, got tackled from behind and coughed the ball up. That fumbled ball was unfortunately recovered by a Vikings defender. Just a few plays later, Miami’s defense gave up a long rushing score to Dalvin Cook, and the game was essentially over from there despite a late touchdown throw to Mike Gesicki to make things less embarrassing on the scoreboard.
The Dolphins needed big contributions from their star players on Sunday, and despite Waddle’s gaudy stat-line of six catches for 129 yards, it was his fumble that will be remembered as his unfortunate signature play from this contest – in addition to his dropped pass that resulted in an interception late in the first half.
There will be better days ahead for Miami’s second-year wideout.
Sidenote: The extent of Nik Needham’s lower leg injury wasn’t fully known at the time of this writing. A torn achilles – which will cost him his season – is another obvious ugly outcome from this game.
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Through six games, Miami has a record of 3-3. Do you think this team can return to form once they get healthy at a bunch of key positions? Will Tua Tagovailoa’s return next Sunday help this team get back to their winning ways? Let me know in the comments below or on Twitter at @MBrave13. Fins up!
Originally posted on The Phinsider
