Mike Oliva of DolphinsTalk.com recaps the Wednesday Morning Headlines, community news, and more for your Miami Dolphins.
Morning Headlines
Duke Johnson is a Miami native and played at Norland High School and the University of Miami before entering the NFL. Johnson has appeared in 91 NFL games with 17 starts for Cleveland (2015-18) and Houston (2019-20). He's totaled 459 career carries for 1,931 yards (4.2 avg.) and eight touchdowns and caught 307 passes for 2,829 yards (9.2 avg.) and 12 touchdowns. Johnson also played in two playoff games with one start for Houston in 2019.
Last Sunday, the Dolphins used rookie safety Jevon Holland as a punt returner for the first time this season. When Dolphins Special Teams Coach Danny Crossman was asked about giving Holland a chance to return kicks, he said, "We intended to get him involved. He's been working hard, he's been doing a good job and he's a player that we really like, that's why he's here. We wanted to get him some opportunities."
The Dolphins face the Bills this Sunday on Halloween in Orchard Park, NY. Miami is 6-0 all-time in games played on Halloween. The most recent Halloween victory was on a Thursday night in 2013, when the Dolphins beat Cincinnati 22-20 in overtime on a walk-off safety.
Through 7 games in 2021, Miami is third in the NFL in first-quarter scoring, averaging 6.9 points per first quarter this season. The Dolphins were third in the NFL in first-quarter scoring last year, averaging 6.4 points.
Since his return from injury in Week 6, Tua Tagovailoa has completed 65-of-87 passes (74.7 pct.) for 620 yards, six touchdowns, three interceptions, and a 102.7 QB rating. In that span, Tagovailoa's 65 completions are the most in the NFL. His 620 passing yards and 74.7 completion pct. ranks third in the NFL, and his six passing touchdowns are tied for third.
On Tuesday, Defensive Coordinator Josh Boyer was asked about Christian Wilkins' season thus far, which is his best from a statistical standpoint since he joined the team. Boyer said,"I think Christian has always played with great effort. I think it starts with that and I think he's doing a good job of working on his fundamentals and his techniques to put himself in a position to make plays and then when he does and when he has opportunities, he's been able to make those plays."
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Quote of the Day
In the last two weeks, your third-down percentage has nearly doubled from 35.4 percent the previous games to 64.3 percent. I was just curious why you think that might be, why you guys are having success in the money down?
Co-Offensive Coordinator / Running Backs Coach Eric Studesville: "I hope it's the increased emphasis in it, which we are talking about all the time. Coach (Brian Flores) talks about that with the team, that that's an important situational football parameter for us to address. We constantly talk about that. He talks about it, he addresses it and we spend a lot of time on third down talking about what we want to execute, how we want to do things on third down. I think then it becomes a credit to the players where they are studying and buying in and they are executing when we call those things."
Miami Dolphins in the Community
This fall the Junior Dolphins program supported over 500 student-athletes and donated more than $50,000 in equipment to ten high school varsity football teams in South Florida.
Trivia
Who was the Miami Dolphins' first Head Coach?
(scroll to the bottom of the page for the answer)
On This Day
Due to wildfire issues in the city of San Diego, the NFL moved this Chargers home game to Tempe, Arizona. Qualcomm Stadium, the home of the Chargers, had its parking lot set up as an evacuation center for people who needed to get away from the wildfires therefore a game couldn't be held at the stadium. On the field in Tempe, Dolphins QB Brian Griese threw for 192 yards and three touchdowns leading the Dolphins to a win. The Dolphins defenses intercepted Chargers quarterback three times in the game as well. Patrick Surtain had two interceptions and Zach Thoams had one. James McKnight, Chris Chambers, and Randy McMichael were the three Dolphins to catch touchdowns in this game.
Answer to Trivia Question: George Wilson
