It didn’t take long after the Oakland Raiders drew first blood after a Brian Leonhardt touchdown, the Dolphins flipped a switch to run up the score for 38 unanswered points. While many Dolphins fans will celebrate this win in the streets of London, the road is only going to get tougher for the Dolphins. The Dolphins outplayed and outmatched the Raiders in nearly every phase of the game.
The most remarkable stat of the game was quarterback Ryan Tannehill throwing 14 straight completions with a combination of wide receiver screens, fake hand offs and throws, and looking poised and confident as ever. It was Tannehill who battled the demons all week long of playing poorly in two straight games, saved his best for an incredible performance in London versus the Raiders.
Tannehill threw for two touchdowns (Mike Wallace and Dion Sims), 278 yards, and was 23-31, his best performance of the season with a 109.3 rating. In fact, at one point in the huddle, on a 4th down play, camera’s caught Tannehill laughing in the huddle as the Dolphins offense prepared to unleash a run out of the shotgun for an improbable Lamar Miller Touchdown. Tannehill as a passer was just as deadly as a runner, rushing for 35 yards to keep the offense moving forward. The captain and signal caller of the offense did not take a single sack. Not one.
In fact, Miller scored two touchdowns in the game, his first multi-touchdown game of the year and first rushing touchdowns of the season proving that the hard earned yards and picking up the slack after losing Knowshon Moreno, Miller is one to watch.
On the defensive end of things, the Dolphins got into a game of takeaway with four in the game, three interceptions, one by Brent Grimes another by Jimmy Wilson and a peculiar scoop and score on a corner blitz by Cortland Finnegan. Cam Wake didn’t have a sack, but Derrick Shelby and company did. Shelby was credited for 2 sacks and showed that he could step up from the injured Randy Starks.
Overall, defensively, the Dolphins forced the Raiders to punt several times after making some serious adjustments after allowing the Raiders and rookie signal caller Derek Carr to score a touchdown. The defense rebounded because of better play at linebacker, better coverage by cornerbacks, and lastly because the Dolphins got Carr off of his game fueled by an incredible offensive performance by the Dolphins offense. Heck, even rookie safety Walt Aikens got into the mix with an interception of his own!
Lastly, this win brought fans a glimpse of what a ball-control-balanced Bill Lazor offensive attack can do. After a series of bubble screens, Tannehill managed to get rid of the ball quick, direct his team, and look like the leader he’s yearning to be.
After all, the Dolphins punted only two times. The fact that Brandon Fields had one punt fair caught in the 20 late in the 4th quarter showed that the Dolphins dominated for 60 minutes.
Said Ryan Tannehill in his post game comments: “I wanted to come out and personally play better and my teammates, they need that from me and they expect me to play better.”
Play better did Ryan Tannehill. Play better did the Miami Dolphins. Dolphins win in London could be the catalyst that gets the Dolphins on a roll!
Upcoming next week is an all important bye week for the Dolphins to re-group and get ready for 12 more games. Up after the bye is the 2-2 Green Bay Packers.
(Photo Credit-Bleacherreport.com)
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