Dolphins Fall to Broncos

Byler Henry

        With a chance to tie Buffalo in first place with a 7-3 record, the Broncos rained on the Dolphins parade spoiling their plans. The Broncos ended up winning 20 to 13.  Miami’s defense had some big plays yesterday, forcing a fumble giving them a chance to take the game into overtime. However, they could not stop the run. Between both of Denver’s running backs, they gave up 166 yards rushing. Melvin Gordon had 84 rushing yards, 2 touchdowns and a fumble, and Phillip Lindsay had 82 yards rushing. Head Coach Brian Flores offered his thoughts on how their defense looked against Denver’s run game. “It wasn’t good enough. We’ve got to do a better job on the edge, we’ve got to do a better job tackling, we’ve got to do a better job fighting pressure with pressure, defeating blocks. I think we started the game decently, but they made some adjustments and we’ve got to make better adjustments as a staff and our players have to play better.” Miami’s defense started the first quarter strong, with key stops and an early interception and holding the Broncos to only 7 points. Ln the second half it was a different story.

The Broncos also did a good job of getting pressure on Tua and making him uncomfortable. Once they took his first read away, he held on to the ball too long and took hit after hit. He did not look good at all Sunday, h only completing 11 of 20 passes for 83 yards, and 1 touchdown, During the second half, Broncos defensive line amped up the pressure and blew past the offensive line to sack Tua 6 times. Early in the fourth quarter Dolphins felt they needed some Fitz MAGIC to rally a comeback, so in comes Ryan Fitzpatrick to replace Tua. When Fitzpatrick was asked about the sideline conversation before he got the word that he was going in, here’s what he said, “ ’Flo’ (Head Coach Brian Flores) – we all came up and just said we needed a little bit of a spark and we’re going to kind of do the up-tempo deal. He said I was going in so I talked to those guys and just let them know that A., I was in there; B., some of the stuff that potentially we could do. But just trying to get a little bit of juice going with those guys and unfortunately we came up short there, but again, that was a tough game that their defense played really well and I wish I would have hit that last throw.” Although he threw a game ending interception towards the end, Fitzpatrick completed 12 of 18 passes for 117 yards. Once he came in, the passing game  improved.

Now at 6-4, Dolphins are still in 2^nd place in the AFC East. The Dolphins next game is a rivalry road game against the Jets. The Jets still have not won a game this season and their first win shouldn’t come against Miami next week. Dolphins must forget about last week and take it out on the Jets this week and focus on winning out this season to secure a spot in the playoffs. They can do it, and I see a win against the Jets on Sunday.