Miami — Three Performances of Note
Receiver Impact
We’re finally starting to see a little of the impact the Dolphins expected Mike Wallace to have on their passing game. He finished the game with seven receptions for 82 yards and a touchdown, working primarily on Antonio Cromartie while on the other side Brian Hartline took Dee Milliner back to school as he collected 127 yards and a score on his nine receptions. Both players were effective after the catch, collecting 95 of their combined yards after bringing the ball in and Wallace in particular was an obvious threat over the top, to the point he scared the coverage into extremely generous cushions. That led to an efficient day for Ryan Tannehill whose numbers were blighted by an interception that came on a pass batted at the line which became a jump-ball between Cromartie and Wallace that the bigger, more physical player won.
Green All Over the D
When the offense a team is facing is as bad as the Jets are right now you can expect to see a lot of green grades all over the defense, but nonetheless there were some impressive performances here. Olivier Vernon earned a +2.5 grade, and the impact of his sacks was obvious, but perhaps less obvious was his impressive play in the run game which actually made up most of that positive grade. Paul Soliai was once again a force inside against the run notching a +3.2 grade in that area and a +2.9 overall mark. There was a time when Soliai vs the Jets’ interior was a fantastic back and forth battle, but at this stage it’s a battle only one man is winning. On the back end, three of the four starters in the secondary (Grimes, Jones and Clemons) all posted grades of +2.0 and above, with all three players covering well allowing just three receptions on seven combined targets.
Inevitable Weak Link
When you face the Jets’ defense the one thing that is almost certain is that somebody is going to wind up struggling on the offensive line. In this game it was right guard John Jerry, who earned a -3.8 grade overall and a -5.4 mark against the run thanks largely to running into Sheldon Richardson in top form. Richardson was a force in the run game all day, making multiple plays in which he got across his man to block the intended point of attack, and then worked back across the other side of the block to make the play against the running back after he made the cut he forced initially. Jerry hasn’t done that badly this season, but he has graded negatively overall, with this game exactly matching his overall negative mark for the rest of the season in that area.
