Dolphins at Rams: Good, Bad, Ugly for Miami in 14-10 victory

The Miami Dolphins lost the first 54 minutes of their game against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, then dominated the last 6 minutes to come away with the victory. The win completes Miami’s Southern California road trip, teamed up with a win over the San Diego Chargers last week. Now, the team takes their five-game winning streak back to Miami before they host another California team - this time against the Northern California team in the form of the San Francisco 49ers.

Each Monday, we take a look back at the Dolphins’ most recent game and find the good, the bad, and the ugly from the contest. For Week 11, we have:

The Good

• DeVante Parker - Yes, he could have played that pass that ultimately was intercepted differently, maybe giving himself a better chance to catch it or break up the pick, but other than that, Parker showed why the Dolphins drafted him in the first round last year. He caught eight passes for 79 yards and the game winning touchdown, leading the game in all three categories (tied with Jarvis Landry for the touchdown). Parker turned it on when it was needed and quarterback Ryan Tannehill rode the hot hand for the win.
• Kiko Alonso - Is there any doubt that the Dolphins getting Alonso thrown into the trade with the Philadelphia Eagles was genius? He again led the team with eight tackles, he forced and recovered a fumble, and he constantly seemed to be in the right place at the right time.
• Ndamukong Suh - Six tackles, two for a loss, and he could have had half a sack if the scorer did not give the full thing to Cameron Wake. Suh is a dominant force in the middle of the defensive line, and he continued to be exactly that on Sunday.
• Matt Darr - 10 punts. Yes, 10 punts. That is insane. Darr averaged 45.3 yards per kick on Sunday, and probably had to ice his right leg most of the night.
• Cameron Wake - Another week, another sack. Wake is currently 11th in the league with 7.5 sacks. Not bad for a part-time player early in the season and really not bad for a 34 year old coming off an Achilles tear. Wake is just 2.5 sacks from the league lead.
• Jarvis Landry - Yeah, the wide receiver only recorded 28 yards (and a touchdown) on 5 receptions, but it may have been everything Landry did without the ball that was the most impressive part of watching Landry work. He blocks for runs, he comes back to plays and throws aggressive blocks, like when he came back to block on a Tannehill run in this game.
• Ryan Tannehill - For 54 minutes, Tannehill probably was in the bad section. Six great minutes pulled him into the good. Tannehill struggled - with offensive line issues, no running game, and the rain as factors - throughout most of the game. As Adam Beasley pointed out during the game, he had 27 drop backs for 25 passing yards at one point. Then those final six minutes came around. Suddenly, Tannehill was on fire and the team started moving - again, a part of that was the offensive line, which started giving Tannehill time to throw. Tannehill finished the game 24-for-34 for 172 yards with 2 touchdowns and an interceptions, giving him an 89.3 passer rating for the game. It was definitely not perfect, but Tannehill worked his way out of a funk, put the team on his shoulders, and made a come back from 10-0 to win 14-10.

The Bad

• The first 54 minutes of the offense - Darr had those 10 punts through the first 11 possessions for Miami, with the only non-punt coming on the interception. The Dolphins offense was anemic most of Sunday, and while there are reasons (three offensive line starters out, rain), it does not change the fact that Ryan Tannehill and Jay Ajayi could not get into a rhythm. Luckily for Miami, the defense kept them in the game, and eventually the offense worked out of their funk and won the game.

The Ugly

• Penalties - Seriously, this has to stop. I am not sure, but the referees may still be trying to call fouls on the Dolphins this morning. Miami was penalized - accepted penalties - eight times for 82 yards on Sunday. One of those was the phantom pass interference call on Byron Maxwell when he broke up a pass, but other than that, there did not seem to be a lot of argument for most of the penalties. Miami is currently sixth in the league in penalties per game (via NFL Penalties), and that is something they need to fix immediately.