Who’s hot, who’s not after the Miami Dolphins’ blowout loss to the New York Jets
The Miami Dolphins began Sunday’s game against the New York Jets without their starting quarterback, both of their starting cornerbacks and one of their starting offensive linemen.
Before the first quarter ended, they were already down to their No. 3 quarterback and missing both of their starting offensive tackles.
So maybe it shouldn’t come as much as a surprise that Miami ran out of gas late and gave up three fourth-quarter touchdowns in a 40-17 to the Jets to fall to 3-2 on the season.
Here’s a look at who’s hot — and who’s not — after the Week 5 loss:
Who’s hot
▪ Raheem Mostert: The Dolphins entered the week with the fourth-fewest rushing yards in the NFL, averaging just 69.25 yards on the ground per game. Coach Mike McDaniel said this week there needed to be “a better commitment” and “better execution by everyone ... at operating the run plays.”
Mostert lived up to the task, has begun to emerge as the Dolphins’ lead running back and served as one of the rare highlights for Miami on Sunday.
He ran for 113 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries Sunday and added one catch for 9 yards. It was his first 100-yard rushing performance since Jan. 19, 2020, when he ran for 220 yards for the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game.
▪ Tyreek Hill: While the offense failed to generate much through the air behind third-string quarterback Skylar Thompson, Hill once again found a way to make as much of an impact as he could. The speedy playmaker caught all seven passes that went his way for 47 yards and drew a pair of defensive pass interference calls, the second of which came on Miami’s eight-play drive that resulted in Mostert’s touchdown and the Dolphins’ first points of the game.
On the season, Hill has 38 catches for 524 yards.
Who’s not
▪ The overall defense: Most of the damage against Miami came in the fourth quarter, with the Jets taking advantage of short fields on three consecutive drives to score three touchdowns.
But even early on, Miami’s defense — specifically its pass coverage without cornerbacks Xavien Howard and Byron Jones — afforded the Jets opportunities to get into the end zone.
The biggest was a busted coverage on the last play of the first quarter that resulted in a 79-yard catch and run for Jets running back Breece Hall and led to a Michael Carter 1-yard touchdown run on the next play.
Overall, the Jets scored on five of six trips to the red zone, including all four opportunities with goal to go, and averaged 5.8 yards per play.
Miami also did not record a turnover for a second consecutive game and has just one turnover overall in its past four games.
▪ Offensive line depth: The Dolphins were already without right tackle Austin Jackson, who is on injured reserve, entering Sunday.
And then they essentially had to play the whole game without their starting left tackle as well with Terron Armstead leaving on the second drive as a nagging toe injury flared up once again.
That left Miami with Brandon Shell and Greg Little as its tackles for the entirety of the game.
While the offensive line held up in the run game, there was chaos on the pass protection. The Jets forced 14 quarterback hurries in addition to two sacks and a fumble recovery.
This story was originally published October 9, 2022 at 6:20 PM.
