The Good, Bad & Ugly from the Miami Dolphins’ Week Nine Victory against the Houston Texans

Finally.

FINALLY!

After seven straight weeks of losing football, the Miami Dolphins finally won a game! It was an ugly victory, but a win is a win, and like the old saying goes – beggars can’t be choosers. So, despite the fact that before this cursed season started, experts would have predicted a blowout win for Miami against a Watson-less Texans squad, even just a one score victory still feels pretty darn good right about now.

Not all went right for Miami in this one, starting with the pregame reports that announced starting QB, Tua Tagovailoa, would miss this contest, but against a bad football team, our similarly bad football team did enough to leave Hard Rock Stadium the victors.

Phew!

Now, let’s take a closer look at the good, bad and ugly from Miami’s week nine win against the Houston Texans.

GOOD

Mike Gesicki continues to look like a star despite the offense’s struggles

No, he didn’t finish the game with outrageous stats, but Mike Gesicki was easily the most entertaining Dolphin’s player on Sunday.

After Gesicki’s first one-handed snag against Houston, I was ready to back up the Brink’s truck to pay the man top tight end money, but when he went up and looked like a spitting image of the Jordan Brand logo for his second highlight reel catch of the afternoon, I was already planning my trip to Miami so I could sneak into Stephen Ross’ office, steal his checkbook, and hand Gesicki the blank check that he so rightly deserves.

Gesicki is one of the lone bright spots on the season for the Miami Dolphins’ offense. He remains one of the only reasons to even tune into the games each week. He shows immense passion and great leadership, even during a season that is obviously going nowhere.

Those are players you build around. Those are the players you reward with new contracts.

Do the right thing, Miami. Sign Mike Gesicki to a lucrative long-term deal as soon as possible and keep him in South Florida for the long haul.

BAD

Once again, Miami’s offensive line proves to be a major liabilty

Dolphins’ fans everywhere, myself included, were extremely happy to see former first round left tackle, Austin Jackson, move to guard just a few weeks ago. We were all certain that the line was about to get better with Liam Eichenberg taking over for the struggling young lineman.

Unfortunately, Eichenberg has proven himself to be even worse than Jackson was at the position, consistently giving up loads pressure week in and week out. Against Houston’s no-name defense, Eichenberg was routinely pushed around, leaving Jacoby Brissett running for his life all day long.

Right tackle, Jesse Davis, was also a disaster in this one, and has been all season long. I don’t know what Miami’s coaches see in him, but his play wrecked more than one drive against Houston, and that’s par for the course for him in 2021.

Moving Robert Hunt back to tackle in order for Davis to kick inside – or Solomon Kindley to rejoin the starting lineup – would be a move worth trying, especially when Tua Tagovailoa returns from his latest injury.

UGLY

Multiple turnovers in key spots threatened to cost Miami the victory

The Dolphins had five turnovers on the day against Houston, and in multiple instances, gave the Texans great field position with those untimely miscues. Unfortunately for Houston fans, the Texans were unable to cash in on those Dolphins mistakes in order to score points and take the lead.

Myles Gaskin, Jevon Holland and Jacoby Brissett all lost fumbles on Sunday.

Brissett also threw for two interceptions in the game.

Those kinds of mistakes have cost Miami all year long, but even though they tried their best to give this game away multiple times, the Dolphins’ defense bailed the offense out time and time again.

If Miami wants to keep Thursday’s contest against the Baltimore Ravens close, they will need to cut down on those errors big time. Playing a clean game against Lamar Jackson and company will be paramount if they don’t want to get embarrassed on national television like they’ve done frequently over the past few seasons.

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How are you feeling after Miami’s first victory in a month a half? Do you think the Dolphins have any chance of taking down the Ravens on Thursday and riding that wave of momentum into the second half of the season? Let me know in the comments below or on Twitter at @MBrave13. Fins up!