Dolphins take care of business versus Chargers, look forward to Denver next week

The Miami Dolphins (6-3) beat the Los Angeles Chargers (2-7) 29-21 and are now three games above .500. This puts the team in a clear position to make the 2020-2021 NFL playoffs in January 2021. 

Not only does this put the team in playoff position, but it is now one game over the 5-11 finish during the 2019-2020 NFL season last year. This bodes well for the future. 

It wasn’t the most impressive win in the world, but the Dolphins were able to make the plays they needed in order to hold the Chargers to 21 points and keep Justin Herbert below 200 yards.

.@FOETYY with the SACK and a loss of 13.#FinsUp pic.twitter.com/lJQNwBmagj

The play from the defense was something huge for the team, again. Not only did Justin Herbert throw well below 300, but he was 16/25 for 129 yards, one touchdown, and one interception with 6:20 left in the game. For reference on how impressive this was from the Dolphins defense, in five of his first six starts, tonight’s game being his sixth, the lowest yardage he threw for was 264.

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Nuh uh @Iamxavienhoward

@NFLonCBS pic.twitter.com/BWMSifbp6e

— Miami Dolphins (@MiamiDolphins) November 15, 2020

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The defense was just outstanding. One can’t overemphasize how great they played. Improvement in big-play defense also improved. They got to Herbert, tackled better, and didn’t give up the big play. This was huge as Herbert hit four plays of 50 or longer in his first five starts.  

Running the football with undrafted free-agent Savon Ahmed, who was on the Dolphins practice squad for weeks, was outstanding. He finished the game with 21 carries for 85 yards.

Giving Tua a running game and the ability to keep the clock running at the end of the game was crucial for the offense. They ran the ball well all game with Ahmed and that makes yet another starter for the team in the backfield. Jordan Howard was once again a healthy scratch, a free $5 million for him this season.

Quick hits

  • Tua didn’t have to be the reason for an impressive win, but still showed up when necessary.
  • The defense was good but missing Christian Wilkins presence was obvious. 
  • Jakeem Grant is slowly becoming a focal point of the offense. 
  • Kalen Ballage getting yards for the Chargers after being released from the Fins’ earlier in this season.
  • Emmanuel Ogbah is the real deal.
  • Tua Tagovailoa wasn’t sacked all game.

Overall

The team did what it needed to do and made the plays when it was required. This is a playoff team at 6-3. And with the Denver Broncos, New York Jets, and Cincinnati Bengals in the next three weeks, it’s not out of the question for this team to be (9-3) heading into the home matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs on December 13. 

Kai’Chien Chisholm is currently studying broadcast media and wants to become sports broadcaster. He currently works for the ProFootballNetwork and is the Podcast Network Director for the site while running his own podcast.