Streaking Fins

By: Mike Rifkin

Monday night the Miami Dolphins defeated the New Orleans Saints 20-3. It was the seventh consecutive win for Miami. The Dolphins are the first team in NFL history to win and lose seven consecutive games in the same season. With this streak the Dolphins now own the last wild card spot in the AFC. 

The major catalyst for the team’s recent performance has been the defense. In six of the seven games during the streak the defense has allowed 17 points or less and held teams to under 300 total yards. The defense which last season feasted on turnovers and having a +9 turnover differential, during this streak they have forced  14 turnovers. After eight sacks of Saints quarterback Ian Book last night, Miami now leads the NFL with 45 sacks. There have been a lot of standouts on defense including All- Pro Cornerback Xavien Howard and linebacker Emmanuel Ogbah. But the young guys on this defense have also been impressive in Safeties Brandon Jones and Jevon Holland and rookie Pass Rusher Jaelan Phillips who is second on the team with eight and a half sacks.

Those are not the only young guys playing well as rookie receiver Jaylen Waddle is five catches away from breaking Anquan Boldin’s record for most catches in a rookie season. Waddle has 96 catches for 941 and five touchdowns on the season. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has also played well during the streak. On the season the second year quarterback has a 70.1 completion percentage with 15 touchdowns and nine interceptions.  One thing that I believe has also fueled this streak is now the team knows who their quarterback is. Prior to the trade deadline there was a lot of chatter that the Dolphins were going to acquire Deshaun Watson from the Texans. I think a lot of that may have gotten into Tua’s head a little bit and the team’s as well. Now it is hard to judge Tua the offensive line is one of the worst in the league, the team has no run game and outside of Waddle and tight end Mike Gesicki the outside weapons are not great. For context Waddle has 96 catches, Gesicki has 67 catches the next closest player has 46. Now whether the Dolphins continue their pursuit of Watson will have to wait until the offseason.

A lot of people look at the winning streak and the first thing they ask is who were the other quarterbacks that the Dolphins have beaten. That list would be Tyrod Taylor, Lamar Jackson, Joe Flacco, Cam Newton, Mike Glennon, Zach Wilson, and Ian Book. Outside of Lamar this is not a great list but this is the NFL and winning seven in a row is not easy. The NFL is not college where you can make your own schedule, you play who you have to and nobody is going to apologize for taking advantage of the situation. The only two things standing in the Dolphins way are former quarterback Ryan Tannehill and Bill Bellichick. Whether they make the playoffs or not this team showed a lot of fight coming from 1-7 to 8-7 controlling their own destiny.