The Dolphins won their 5th straight game against a depleted New York Giants team, and they now head into the bye week. After an awful start to the season, Miami seems to be playing the type of Football that was expected of them.

Here are the takeaways from Miami’s victory against the Giants.

  • Drops Galore: Miami’s offense struggled to get any momentum in the 3rd quarter, and that was in large part due to drops by typically reliable receivers in Mike Gesicki & Jaylen Waddle. Gesicki in particular struggled throughout the game, even failing to catch a pass in the endzone which hit him in the facemask, he did make up for it with a game-sealing 3rd down conversion late in the 4th.

 

  • Devante Parker is a Game-Changer when Healthy: By this point, we all know the book on Devante Parker, he’s an extremely talented receiver who’s an asset whenever he’s on the field, but that 2nd part is the issue as he’s rarely on the field. For now, he appears to be healthy and he gave the Dolphins some tough catches, including a jaw-dropping 16 yard 3rd down catch that helped Miami extend the drive and eventually add points.

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  • Jaelan Phillips is becoming a Dangerous Pass-Rusher: The Dolphins 1st round pick struggled to get on the field early in the season, as he was learning to play a new position and adjust to the NFL. Now, he’s purely being utilized to go after the passer, and he’s thriving doing that. After last week’s 3 sack performance, he followed it up with a pair of sacks. Perhaps his most impressive play was picking up a 2nd blocker as he rushed the QB, managing to free up Adam Butler who would then sack the QB. Phillips now has 8.5 sacks, a new franchise record for a rookie player and he’s 2nd in the league amongst rookies (1.5 sacks behind Micah Parsons).

 

  • Miami’s Offensive Line Issues: The Dolphins O-Line issues remain unsolved, and as nice as this 5 game winning streak feels, if they want to find a way to crawl themselves into the postseason then they must improve the way their offensive line play. They have no real run-game, and their passing game is limited to RPO’s without doing any damage downfield. That may work to beat teams like the Giants & Jets, but it won’t suffice against tougher competition.

 

  • Jevon Holland & Xavien Howard: “When the ball’s in the air it’s either my ball or his ball. That’s how we play it.” This is what Xavien Howard had to say a few weeks ago regarding Jevon Holland’s play. Since that quote (following a Dolphins win against the Ravens), the pair have combined for 3 interceptions. Holland continues to show elite instincts for a rookie, and he nearly came away with another interception in this game. Xavien Howard is probably the corner in the NFL with the best ball skills, and with a roaming safety like Holland behind him, the pair is becoming dangerous.