Everything came together Sunday in Atlanta for the Dolphins. Miami was dominant in all three phases earning a 34-10 blowout victory, the second-largest road win under Head Coach Mike McDaniel.
This performance had been percolating for the Dolphins. The players knew it. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa talked about it Wednesday in his weekly media availability.
"I think we're this close to being able to go out there and show what we've said we've wanted to do, but we've just got to be able to put them all together," Tagovailoa said.
Miami took it to Atlanta with a dominant defensive showing and a balanced offensive attack.
1. Where's the beef?
The Dolphins had played 60 games (playoffs included) under McDaniel coming into Sunday's contest in Atlanta. Across nearly 4,000 snaps, the offense had never called upon a sixth offensive lineman (an eligible blocker often replacing a tight end in the formation).
Sunday, McDaniel called upon Daniel Brunskill, a jack-of-all-trades who has started at all five offensive line positions in his career. He played 14 snaps in Sunday's game as the eligible sixth member of the offensive line.
Including a 21-yard gain on a pass interference, the Dolphins gained 72 yards on those plays. The 5.14 yards per play Miami gained from this grouping was just part of the menu for the day.
The Dolphins mixed up their run scheme with various man schemes to complement their usual zone running game. Miami called power, pin-and-pull, isolation lead, essentially emptying the kitchen sink of run calls. They did the same with the usage of the running backs.
De'Von Achane, Ollie Gordon II and Jaylen Wright combined for 185 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns. Perhaps the biggest impact of the Brunskill package, and Miami's power running game, was the effect it had on the Miami passing game.
2. Vintage Tua
Two of Tagovailoa's four touchdown passes went to running backs De'Von Achane and Ollie Gordon II. It was the fifth game in Tagovailoa's career with at least four touchdown passes as he is now tied for fifth in the NFL this season with 15 touchdown passes. He completed 17 of his final 19 passes finishing the game 20-for-26 with 205 yards and the four touchdowns.
Tagovailoa completed seven-of-eight passes off play action for 66 yards including a 43-yard touchdown strike to Jaylen Waddle. It was the third catch in four games for 40-plus yards for Waddle. He's now 12th in the NFL with 504 receiving yards and tied for 14th with his four receiving touchdowns.
The fourth touchdown strike went to wide receiver Malik Washington, the first of his career and perhaps the best throw of the year from Tagovailoa. With just 10 seconds to play in the half, Tagovailoa escaped the pocket before throwing a laser toward the front pylon. Washington caught it between two Falcons defenders, broke the plane of the goal line and got both feet in bounds.
Miami had it all going. The play creation on that touchdown was complimented by a balanced game plan that featured downhill, smashmouth football and the occasional wrinkle that had Atlanta playing on their heels all day.
"I think he called a great game," Tagovailoa said of McDaniel. "I think he calls really good games. It's just that it always comes down to the execution for us. I think our O-line did a phenomenal job when it comes to the pockets that we had to be able to sit in the back there and then throw the ball, be able to distribute the ball to our playmakers. Then outside of that, in the run game as well, I think they did a phenomenal job today. I think the running backs could tell you the same about the O-line. The receivers could tell you the same. Fullbacks, tight ends, everyone liked it."
3. Blanking Bijan
The Dolphins were tasked with slowing down arguably the NFL's best running back Sunday. Mission accomplished.
Falcons tailback Bijan Robinson managed just 25 yards on nine carries for an average of 2.78 yards per rush, less than half of his season-total entering play (5.6). It was the third-lowest rushing total in a game for Robinson in 40 career starts.
The Dolphins were led by linebacker Jordyn Brooks. He added 10 more tackles to his NFL-leading total, now up to 85 on the season. He also logged a sack and three tackles for loss in Miami's dominant showing.
"I like playing in these type of matchups," Brooks said. "I'm actually, I'm a fan of (Robinson's), you know what I mean? I love the way he runs the ball. I love what he's done here in the NFL. So, when you get those matchups, it's a little different, and that's not to discriminate against anybody else. Everybody can play in this league. But when you get those types of matchups, me personally as a linebacker, you're kind of licking at the chops a little bit like man, alright, we got a real matchup this week. It's a little bit more added to going into the games."
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