Still feeling the high from Sunday's 27-23 victory over the Atlanta Falcons? Allow me to share some thoughts to feed your buzz aside from my column in today's Herald:
Quarterback Ryan Tannehill showed up bigtime on the final drive. He began by telling his teammates to forget everything (much of it bad) that had happened in the game previously. Then he authored a 75-yard game winner that included him doing his job and even helping offensive coordinator Mike Sherman do his.
Yes, it was Tannehill that suggested that one-yard pass to tight end Dion Sims to take the lead.
"The orginal call was something else and I suggested that one," Tannehill said. "It's something I liked. Coach [Mike} Sherman agreed and thought it was a great idea. It's a play we know very well, and Dion stepped up and made a great play."
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Dion Sims has a flare for the dramatic, I'll give him that.
That game winning catch? One handed.
That game winning catch? The first of his career.
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Sims is a very quiet kid. He was asked his thoughts as he's making that important catch.
"I didn't really think about the situation," he said. "I knew it was crunch time and I just wanted to go out there. We ran that play in practice. I knew it was coming."
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The Dolphins run-defense was surprisingly bad. The Dolphins had allowed only 180 rushing yards the first two games of the season. They gave up 146 yards on Sunday.
No doubt the absence of run-stopper Paul Soliai had an effect on the situation. I texted David Canter, Soliai's agent during the game and suggested his player's price was going up because the team really missed him.
"Nah, don't bet on that," Canter texted back.
We'll see. I would be surprised if Soliai plays against the Saints, with the only reason to have hope being that it's a Monday night game thus giving the player an extra day to recover from his knee injury.
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Tannehill has reached the all important 2-1 ratio of TDs to INTs for the season. He has four TDs and 2 INTs.
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I don't often talk to John Denney despite the fact he's the longest-tenured Dolphins player. Truth is there are 53 guys on the roster and I simply don't get around to all of them.
But in his 131st consecutive game played for Miami, Denney came away with a big fumble recovery on a punt. It was impressive because when he dove into the pile, an Atlanta player had the ball in his grasp and Denney somehow took it away.
"There was some wrestling going on down there," Denney said. "But all that matters is when the refs get to the bottom of the pile, you're the one with a majority of the ball."
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I have no update on Cameron Wake's knee injury. He wasn't too eager to discuss it after the game and said he didn't even remember how it happened other than the fact someone rolled him up.
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Michael Egnew caught his first career pass. It gained eight yards.
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I could see Richie Incognito biting his tongue when he was asked about the poor pass protection of Tannehill.
"We don't know until we watch the tape," he began, which is always a bridge from I hate this line of questioning. "There's a lot of different factors to pass protection. It's more than just the offensive line. So we have to watch the tape to figure out what's going on."
Well, what's going on is the line got beat, for sure. Incognito and left tackle Jonathan Martin failed to recognize and react properly on a stunt that led to one of Osi Umenyiora's two sacks.
But there were other folks responsible as well. Running back Daniel Thomas got beat for a sack. Tight end Dion Sims got beat for a sack.
And, yes, sometimes Tannehill holds the football waaaay too long. Has to clean that up.
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Yes, Sunday's comeback victory was impressive. But you know what else impressed me about the Dolphins this day?
The Colts.
Consider that Indianapolis went to San Francisco and carved up the 49ers. Consider that it wasn't even close. And when you consider that in the context of Miami beating the Colts in Indianapolis a week ago, you should be impressed also.
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