The Miami Dolphins lost again yesterday. They did have 24 points, so, yay? But the team didn’t play well and lost to the Cleveland Browns.
This wasn’t a game that fans or media thought the Dolphins could win. Now 2-9, the team struggled with the run game both on offense and defense. Since it is easy to focus on the bad, let’s state the good first. There were three things. To start, DeVante Parker is turning into what the Dolphins drafted him to be in 2015: Even towards the end of the game, he was performing and consistently catching. Something we hadn’t seen since he was drafted. Yesterday Parker caught 6 balls for 91 yards. The other two good things for this team were Mike Geisicki catching his first NFL touchdown, and the team losing.
I’m not generally rooting for losses, but this one was needed and the team even got some help. The New York Jets destroyed the Oakland Raiders, and the Washingon Redskins beat the Detroit Lions. They moved to #3 in the draft pick competition, having benefitted from the Redskins win. The New York Giants almost beat the Chicago Bears, which would’ve moved the Dolphins higher, but alas, they lost.
Now to the bad: Running the football, stopping the run and letting Jarvis Landry look like Odell Beckham Jr.
The Browns’ Nick Chubb is electric, and dealing with him is hard enough. Now that Kareem Hunt is back, the Browns have two dynamic players in their backfield. The defense allowed the pair to do whatever they pleased. It’s hard to expect this much from a team missing so many players. Of course, we also got a Landry revenge game. Landry scored twice and caught 10 balls for 148 yards. However, for everyone on Twitter stating they “wish Landry was still on the team,” remember his $75 million contract. He had passed 1000 yards just twice in his career, yet he’s being paid like a #1 receiver. Don’t let the hype distract you, five years for $75 million was not worth it.
The Dolphins running game struggled again. Ballage was (thankfully) taken out for Myles Gaskin and Patrick Laird, but the game couldn’t get going. Despite the lack of a run game, the team scored 24 points, and that is still impressive.
Then there is the quarterback situation. It may seem dumb, but it is time to start Josh Rosen over Ryan Fitzpatrick, who celebrated his 37th birthday yesterday. Earlier in the season, fans were begging for Rosen. We got him, and then he didn’t get it done. It was a bad start to his Dolphins career, but give him the rest of the season. I understand that Fitzpatrick provides the team with the best chance to win, but it’s time to see what Rosen has to offer — again. He could still lead this team to a win against the Cincinnati Bengals and the New York Jets.
Quickly, this is something that bugged me during the broadcast from Fox. The announcers continued to state that Brian Flores said that Ryan Fitzpatrick would start the rest of the year. Flores stated just last week that anything is possible and that Rosen is improving.
The Dolphins should start Rosen for the remainder of the season. After all, the Dolphins are not being “in the hunt” this season, so it would give him time to grow. Happy Thanksgiving.
Correction: Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this story misidentified Frank Gore. He plays for the Buffalo Bills.
