Giants vs. Dolphins: Miami Grades, Notes and Quotes
It was a thrilling start for the Miami Dolphins, who for two-and-a-half quarters looked like the better team on the field.
Then Odell Beckham Jr. showed up to put his imprint in the game, while Miami decided to stop running the ball. The result: a 31-24 loss to the New York Giants.
The Dolphins now move to 5-8, while the Giants at 6-7 are in a three-way tie for first in the NFC East. While the Dolphins looked good at times, they managed to play like the Dolphins we've been used to when it mattered the most, thanks to bad offensive line play (despite not allowing a single sack), dumb penalties and tight ends and receivers dropping catchable balls.
Let's relive a game that promised the world and then turned into a turd.
Positional Grades for Miami
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Quarterback: B+
I knocked Ryan Tannehill for a horrendous performance last Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens, but he answered back with a good performance against the Giants.
In this game we saw Tannehill use his legs to escape New York pressure. Sure, the Giants have a horrid pass rush and a horrid pass defense, but Monday night it was on Tannehill that he did not get sacked at all throughout the evening.
What held him back in the second half? Well, he still made some bad throws, especially his worst throw of the game to Jarvis Landry after a sequence where he looked stellar stepping up in the pocket and escaping the pocket. His wide receivers did him no favors, though, and his tight ends were a glaring issue throughout the evening.
In the end, Tannehill's performance was good, but not great. He was a solid B-plus, but you need an A-plus quarterback in the NFL, especially when the team of players around you commit the dumb mistakes that they do. He didn't lose the game, but he couldn't win it either. Can he be an A-plus QB? I wouldn't blame you if you had your doubts.
Running Backs: A-
The good with the running backs: Lamar Miller.
Miller had 89 yards and two touchdowns, while Jay Ajayi had 15 yards.
Combined number of carries: 17.
This was in a game where Miami was never more than one score away, and for most of the second half was either ahead or tied.
It was a bad job by the coaching staff, especially since he wasn't hurt, per Andrew Abramson of the Palm Beach Post: "Lamar Miller says he didn't suffer an injury, his ankle was just getting taped. He doesn't know why he didn't get more second-half carries"
I'll get to the coaching staff later.
Wide Receivers: C
I can't say that a single wide receiver was good today—not even Jarvis Landry, despite his 11 catches for 99 yards. He was targeted 18 times, so the fact that he didn't score a touchdown or at least get to 100 yards is irritating.
Many of the remaining receivers had a hand in dropping balls that should've been caught. However, Kenny Stills made the best catch of the night, a 47-yard touchdown pass, thanks in part to Tannehill's wonderful throw.
Tight Ends: F
They can't block; they can't catch. What more is there to say about Jordan Cameron and Dion Sims? The sad part is, Tannehill and the Dolphins offense actually tried hard to get the tight ends involved.
Defensive Line: B-
Miami's defensive line was extremely uneven on Monday.
At times it looked dominant, especially when stopping the run as it held the Giants to an average of 2.9 yards per carry.
Unfortunately, it couldn't get to Eli Manning, which was primarily due to Manning's mastery of the pocket. However, there were times when the defense couldn't complete the sack even though Manning was in its grasp.
Linebackers: D
The Miami linebacking unit's theme was missed tackles, as it has been all season long. It was a dreadful performance.
Defensive Backs: F
Nothing was more dreadful than the Miami defensive back's performance—even eventual Pro Bowl safety Reshad Jones.
Odell Beckham Jr. owned any cornerback the Dolphins threw at him, whether it was Brent Grimes, Jamar Taylor (referred to as "Jamar Fletcher" by Jon Gruden) or even Brice McCain.
It was an ugly performance that exposed a big concern Miami will have to address in the offseason.
Special Teams: A+
Matt Darr was spectacular, and the special teams did well on returns.
Coaching: F
Why did Lamar Miller only carry the ball 12 times? That along gives them an "F."
Dolphins Officially Eliminated from the Playoffs
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It has felt like this since Week 4, but now it's official.
The Miami Dolphins will not make the playoffs in the 2015 season.
Monday night's loss to the Giants confirmed that mathematically, as their 5-8 record, along with wins by the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Jets on Sunday, made it official as there's only three games left to play, and both the Jets and Steelers own tiebreakers over Miami that the Dolphins cannot overcome.
Why Not Give Lamar Miller More Carries?
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When Lamar Miller gets the ball, good things happen.
That was the case in the game's first half, when Miller was an offensive focal point and he rewarded the Dolphins with two touchdowns.
Then came the game's second half, and he had but one carry.
Miami's largest deficit: seven. They even led for most of the second half!
At first, I thought it was injury as he was shown on the broadcast having the trainer re-tape his ankle, but after the game this nugget came from Andrew Abramson of the Palm Beach Post:
"Lamar Miller says he didn't suffer an injury, his ankle was just getting taped. He doesn't know why he didn't get more second half carries."
That makes two of us...actually, that makes most Dolphins fans and writers.
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Is Jarvis Landry Targeted Too Much?
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The buildup of Monday's game was Jarvis Landry facing off against his college teammate and best friend Odell Beckham Jr.
Both players were sure to be featured plenty, and both were.
While Beckham swung the game with his play in the second half, Landry had the ball forced to him, thanks to 18 targets and one rushing attempt.
He came down with 11 catches for 99 yards, while the targets to him seemed to pull the offense out of the rhythm it had going in the first half.
Landry is a talent, but perhaps he shouldn't be the focal point of an offense that has Lamar Miller.
'It Seems Like the Same Thing Every Year'
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This quote could've come from any Dolphins fan on the web, but it instead comes from center Mike Pouncey (via Hal Habib of the Palm Beach Post).
"It seems like the same thing every year."
Every year Pouncey has been a Dolphin, the season has ended without a playoff appearance. It was like that in the two years before he was drafted as well.
He's as sick of it as all Dolphins fans are, and it's worse that the Dolphins were eliminated with three games left in the game.
The positive of that was pointed out by Pouncey though, per Habib: "We’ll see which guys really like football and we’ll find the ones that don’t and we’ll get them out of here.”
'There's No Excuse for Those; Those Are Totally Inexcusable, and They Killed Us'
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The Dolphins played an undisciplined game, and this came to head in the second half.
Miami committed 23 penalties for 123 yards, including Landry's big personal-foul penalty on the Dolphin's final drive that backed them up 15 yards, making the drive that much tougher.
Per Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, Dan Campbell was not happy about it.
“There’s no excuse for those,” Campbell said. “Those are totally inexcusable and they killed us.”
Despite this anger, the Dolphins have been heavily penalized since Campbell took over as head coach, and it has killed them quite a few times down the stretch.
The whole country saw it on Monday night; the country saw both the Miami Dolphins' best and their worst.
Where does Campbell fit in that? We'll see in the final three games of the year.
Statistics provided by NFL.com.
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