Fifteen notes, postgame remarks and thoughts from the Dolphins’ 23-15 win against the Rams on Monday night in Inglewood, California:
▪ On a night the defense was exemplary, two interesting developments happened on offense:
1). Raheem Mostert didn’t get a carry for the first time in his Dolphins career.
2). The two key veteran offensive skill-player additions of the offseason (Jonnu Smith and Odell Beckham Jr.) each delivered a play that made a big difference – the first time both of them collectively did it in a win.
From the personnel standpoint, the Dolphins – this past offseason – identified two ways to give Tua Tagovailoa and Mike McDaniel more options, and answers, when teams blanketed Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle.
Smith had been very good for the past month, but this was the first night that both Smith and receiver Odell Beckham Jr. made tangible, meaningful differences in the same game.
Smith had a critical 33-yard catch and run to the Rams 1, just before Tagovailoa’s TD throw to Tyreek Hill that put Miami up 17-6 in the third quarter. No tight end has more yards after catch than Smith over the past four years, and this was exactly the type of play the Dolphins signed up for when they signed him last February.
The Dolphins’ No. 3 receivers couldn’t get open consistently the past two years, but Beckham showed Monday that he can still do that, delivering an 11-yard TD catch on a key late 3rd and 6, from Miami’s 34, with 5:06 left. Tagovailoa found him and the Dolphins prolonged a drive that sealed the game.
As for Mostert, he had none of the Dolphins’ 22 carries, though he did have two catches for 34 yards, including a 25-yard conversion on a big third down play. McDaniel wasn’t asked about that after the game.
Mostert had two costly fumbles in the previous three games, and McDaniel said last week that Mostert “knows he has to hang onto the ball. We’ve learned two hard lessons. You can’t be in the whole scope of, ‘all right, there’s another lesson that needs to be had when there are other guys who are not turning the ball over.’”
The run game was mediocre, generating 67 yards on 3.0 per carry. De’Von Achane had 12 carries for 37 yards – 3.1 per carry.
And it was interesting that Miami went to rookie Jaylen Wright when attempting to run out the block late.
“They were using their corners as the run fit guys,” Tagovailoa said. “They had a really good game plan.”
The Dolphins clearly missed the blocking of fullback Alec Ingold, who was inactive because of a calf injury. Tight end Tanner Conner, who also serves as the Dolphins’ backup fullback, left early with an injury.
▪ Tagovailoa, who finished 20 for 28 for 207 yards, 1 TD, 1 interception and an 89.4 rating, commended “the resilience of this team” when “everyone [is] counting us out. Hopefully we can go on a run.”
What was Tagovailoa thinking when he tried to use his head to stop Christian Rozeboom on an interception? “I wasn’t planning on using my head,” he said.
He said he cracked to Rozeboom: “Dude, you couldn’t just run out of bounds? It was pretty bad tackling form. Pretty terrible.”
Rozeboom told him he ran out of room on the sideline.
Tagovailoa said he feels “good. Everything is good.”
Hill broke a seven-game TD drought, the longest of his career. “It’s not about me scoring; it’s about us winning,” he said.
▪ Tagovailoa said the team learned on Sunday night that Tyreek Hill would play through his wrist injury.
Hill, who had three catches for 16 yards and two carries for 11 yards, told ESPN’s Lisa Salters that he has a ligament tear in his wrist and the injury – sustained in a training camp practice with Washington – was exacerbated when he was handcuffed by police before the season opener.
“I landed on it in the Commanders practice,… been dealing with it the whole season,” he said afterward, declining to discuss the police angle. “Football is a physical sport.”
He said “there was never a doubt in my head” that he was going to play.
McDaniel called Hill a “warrior, as good as it gets in this league. Tyreek wills himself to do things most competitors can’t match.”
▪ More from McDaniel: He said amid the struggles, “You take hard looks at everything you’re doing and critically assessing everything you’re doing… It’s nice the team has shown it as opposed to just talk about it. Everyone is very confident because they’ve been working hard at getting it right.”
▪ The final numbers on the Dolphins’ defense: Miami forced two fumbles (Da’Shawn Hand forced one that Kendall Fuller recovered), intercepted a pass (Anthony Walker) had three sacks (Chop Robinson, Quinton Bell, Calais Campbell), limited the Rams to 70 yards rushing (3.9 per carry) and held the Rams for 3 for 12 on third downs.
Zach Sieler set the tone forcing a 10-yard loss on the Ram’s first play.
“Our defense really, really galvanized the whole team,” McDaniel said. “The coaching staff, led by Weav, did a great job having a way to attack the guys.”
Calais Campbell, who knocked down two passes in addition to the sack and another tackle for loss, said he told defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver on Sunday night that “this is the most I’ve seen guys confident as a whole.”
Said Campbell: “When we play our best ball, we can beat anybody.”
▪ Cornerback Cam Smith continued to struggle in his third game with significant playing time. Smith gave up two sizable receptions after replacing Fuller, who left in the third quarter and is now in concussion protocol. And ESPN’s Troy Aikman blamed Smith on Demarcus Robinson’s 23-yard reception late.
Smith entered having allowed 9 completions in 10 targets in his past two games.
Storm Duck and Ethan Bonner were inactive for the game, with Duck trying to move past a recent ankle injury. It might be time to give the Duck and Bonner a fresh look.
McDaniel said Kader Kohou left briefly after a “knee to knee situation that definitely spooked him” before returning to the game.
▪ If the Dolphins (3-6) can beat Las Vegas and New England at home, they would get to 5-6 for the Thanksgiving night game at Green Bay, with the Jets at home following that. The final AFC wild card spot, possibly the final two spots, are very much available.
“This is the type of game you can use to spark a run,” Campbell said.
▪ Credit the Dolphins for eliminating the penalties, which were an early season problem. Miami had just 1 for 15 yards on Monday.
▪ Nobody on offense has improved more since mid-August than rookie receiver Malik Washington, who had one catch for 17 yards and scoring Miami’s first TD on an 18-yard run.
▪ Tagovailoa’s fumbles have become problematic. He had 10 in his first 24 NFL starts before his frightening concussion in Cincinnati in September 2022. Since then, he has 22 fumbles in his last 31 starts, but has lost only seven of them.
Tagovailoa’s fumble Monday gave him 20 in his past 24 games.
▪ Linebacker Bell had his first big play since training camp, delivering a sack late in the first half.
▪ In a taped pre-game interview, Tagovailoa told ESPN’s Jeff Darlington that retirement never crossed his mind in the aftermath of his Sept. 12 concussion that sidelined him for four games.
“If they were to tell me I couldn’t play, I definitely would have taken that into consideration,” Tagovailoa said. “But there were no talks like that. It never stuck in my mind that I was ever thinking of retiring. Whether doctors told me that or not, it just would have been information for me. What I was doing out week to week, it was a no brainer” to keep playing.
Asked what he wants to be known for, Tagovailoa said: “I can tell you what I don’t want to be known for – the poster boy of concussions.”
▪ Former Pro Bowl quarterback Drew Brees, appearing as a guest on ESPN’s pre-game show, said of Tagovailoa: “He has unbelievable vision. He’s not the most strong armed guy. That’s
not a knock. This guy has had to make accommodations in order to survive out there, which is to play with trust and anticipation, see the field very well, be a master of coverage and spatial awareness. That’s why he turns the ball loose so quick. The pass game is an extension of the run game and they do a lot of things that requires the ball to come out quickly.”
▪ Former Eagles center Jason Kelce, in his first year as an ESPN analyst, said there’s nothing more than offensive lineman can do to protect Tagovailoa from concussions:
“There’s only so much you can do. You’re already trying to protect the guy as is. You can’t do much more than we already do.”