So many times the Dolphins in victory leave me feeling hollow (see Browns game) but this one, facing the Steelers when it seems we had hit rock bottom and the Steelers were just in their stride, feels awesome. The Steelers were massive favorites for good reason and the way this team has played I expected a repeat of the first half of the NE game. Even when we were ahead with the miracles and lucky breaks the Steelers always pull you expected something might happen. Not today. But the best thing about this is that the win wasn't a team playing mediocre and scraping out a win. We had one truly bad play, the short FG that was blocked, and the rest was just the Dolphins playing great team football. QB played well all game. Found open receivers, hit open receivers in stride, didn't create sacks for the defense, and eluded a sack for a deep strike. It's that Tannehill performance that always pops up this time of year but this time it was more complete than when he's ridden bubble screens and slants. RB's? Ajayi has actually averaged pretty well on the ground, just haven't gotten enough carries as the offense can't stay out and the RB's rotated, so I thought a breakout performance might happen, but what a breakout this was. A great performance even before the icing on the cake, but that last carry was such a way to seal a win. Not just holding on, but grabbing a win by the horns. WR's were on point all game (that Parker non-TD could have been a hospital ball IMHO). TE's had great contributions from role players, I'm not so sure they were lined up wrong when they were penalized. The offensive line get's an A+. Yes I would have loved more points, but I'm not gonna nitpick. No mistakes and controlling the pace all game was huge. The defense came up big too. Facing maybe the best RB in the NFL and one of the most high flying passing offenses of this era, they played physical, limited the gains, disrupted the Steelers rhythm, generated key turnovers, and the pass rush may not have been dominant on the stat sheet but their effect on the game was huge. They hit the QB constantly and even when they didn't get there the throws were rushed, the timing was off, and of course we completely legally nicked by Big Ben. Maxwell really stepped up today and in a physical match with Brown, called by many the top receiver in football, he easily got the upper hand. Defense did have a negative with the costly penalties, but still, huge credit to them stepping up today.
This team played complementary and near-mistake free football today and they did it against a top flight opponent. How many times can we say that? It doesn't mean playoffs. It doesn't mean we won't suck next week. But having a game that was so darn fun to watch as a Dolphin fan is awesome. And it does mean that a Gase regime that we were ready to write off has shown an ability to pick itself out of the dumps for the first time.
This team played complementary and near-mistake free football today and they did it against a top flight opponent. How many times can we say that? It doesn't mean playoffs. It doesn't mean we won't suck next week. But having a game that was so darn fun to watch as a Dolphin fan is awesome. And it does mean that a Gase regime that we were ready to write off has shown an ability to pick itself out of the dumps for the first time.
