Quickie reaction: New York Jets beat Miami Dolphins after controversial call
The Miami Dolphins just lost a tough game against the New York Jets, 22-21.
And after the final gun, Dolphins coach Brian Flores tried to go up to officials before being restrained by his own security man. The reason?
On a booth review, the Dolphins were called for defensive pass interference when the call on the field was no call against Dolphins defensive back Nik Needham as the ball fell incomplete.
The irony?
The officials Flores was angry at didn’t make the call against his team. Again, the call on the field was nothing. No call.
The booth called for the review and overturned the call.
The Jets took the 18 yard penalty and kicked a game winning field goal.
Some other quickie reaction:
On the bright side, Jason Sanders broke the Dolphins records for most field goal attempts in a game with eight and most field goals made in a game with seven -- a record previously held by Olindo Mare in 1999.
The bad news is Jason Sander broke the Dolphins record for most field goal attempts in a game which means they were terrible in the red zone and forced the kicker to bail them out of no touchdown jail.
The Dolphins were in the red zone five times. And failed to get in the end zone on any of those chances.
Sanders connected on kicks of 37, 22, 25, 28, 31, 53, and 47 yards.
Great work for him.
The Miami receiver corps is a mess and not just because they didn’t produce on Sunday.
DeVante Parker left the game in the second quarter with two catches for 28 yards because he suffered a concussion. Albert Wilson also left the game in the second quarter with one catch for 5 yards when he also suffered a concussion.
In the fourth-quarter, quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick was throwing a nine-route (deep and straight down the sideline) to Mike Gesicki. Gesicki is a long-striding tight end. Yeah, that desperate.
The Dolphins rushed for over 100-yards as a team. That’s been rare this year. But that’s not good news, either.
Because Fitzpatrick rushed for 65 of those yards and was Miami’s leading rusher. In fact, Fitzpatrick is now the team’s second-leading rusher for the season with 187 yards.
That’s not good, folks.
Especially when the leading rusher is Mark Walton, who is not on the team, and on the third-leading rusher is Kenyan Drake, who is not on the team, and the fourth-leading rusher is Kalen Ballage, who is on injured reserve.
Appreciate the effort by Fitzpatrick. But the Dolphins obviously have to do work to get the running game right with more running back help and better work up front.
The good news here? Patrick Laird showed something in this game.
He gained a modest 48 yards on 15 carries but he should more elusiveness and ability to make yardage on his own than, say, Ballage did throughout this season.
This story was originally published December 8, 2019 at 4:15 PM.
