Bengals vs Dolphins reactions: Stock watch for Miami in 19-7 win

The Miami Dolphins beat the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, coming away with the 19-7 victory in a true brawl of a game. The first half was ugly for Miami, where the offense struggled to find a rhythm, but the second half opened up and the Dolphins took it to Cincinnati. The game was marred by five ejections, three for Miami and two for the Bengals, while two cheap shots on punt coverage somehow allowed Bengals gunner Mike Thomas to stay in the contest.

The Dolphins played well in the game, with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa coming up four yards short of his first 300-yard game, running back Myles Gaskin just ten yards shy of a 100-yard performance, tight end Mike Gesicki catching a career-high nine passes for 88 yards with a touchdown, linebacker Kyle Van Noy recording three sacks with five tackles for a loss and eight total tackles, linebacker Shaq Lawson adding two sacks, defensive end Zach Sieler adding a sack, cornerback Nik Needham pulling down an interception, and cornerback Xavien Howard continuing to lead the league with his eighth interception this year. Not to mention kicker Jason Sanders continuing to be Jason Sanders, with four field goals converted and an extra point, making him responsible for 13 of Miami’s 19 points.

Which brings us to our stock watch for today. Normally we aim for three stocks up and three stocks down. Today, I am throwing all of that out:

Stock up: The Miami Dolphins. Period. This team is a family. There is no denying it, when the first person across the field, screaming at the opposing team for a blatant cheap shot - his second of the game on Jakeem Grant - , is the head coach. Brian Flores was hot. The team was hot. And it boiled over. Rightfully so. This team is ready to fight for each other, and Flores led the way on that on Sunday.

“It’s good to see that kind of just because you know he has our back and we’re a family,” defensive end Christian Wilkins said after the game of Flores being out there defending them. “So that’s the biggest thing. That’s all I’ll say. We’ve all got each other’s back. So we’ll just keep that in the family.”

“That’s what we’re going to do,” linebacker Kyle Van Noy said of the team sticking up for each other. “We’re a family. That’s what you do for your family, right? If you saw somebody get hit, you’re going to act a certain type of way, so keep it moving.”

Flores, after the game, seemed to regret losing his cool as much as he did, but did not back down from defending the team. “We’ve got to do a better job of keeping our poise. That starts with me,” he stated. “I’ve got to do a better job of keeping my poise. But, look, I’m going to stick up for my players. They’re going to stick up for each other without getting penalties, without hurting the team, but we’ve got to do a better job of keeping our poise as a team. I’m just going to be honest, these are like my kids. The first time, yeah. The second time I got a little upset about it, but still I’ve got to do a better job. I have to. I can’t do anything to hurt the team. My emotions got the best of me there. But again, you see somebody you care about get hit like that twice … But I have to do a better job. I’ve got to keep my poise better. We have to do a better job of that as a team.”

Maybe the team has to keep their poise better and not do things that result in ejections or penalties, but on Sunday, the Dolphins showed they are a family.

If you check out the Dolphins’ Twitter account, they have one word in their bio.

‘Ohana.

Hawaiian for family.

The Dolphins are a family, and their stock went up on Sunday.