Miami Dolphins Week 2 Report Card

Breaking down how each position group performed for the Miami Dolphins during their 31-28 loss against the Buffalo Bills

Allen Eyestone-Palm Beach Post

The Miami Dolphins suffered a 31-28 loss against the Buffalo Bills in their home opener at Hard Rock Stadium, and it's time to hand out grades to every position for their performance in that game.

Quarterback

This clearly was a much better effort from Ryan Fitzpatrick, even beyond the numbers. Fitzpatrick followed his three-interception game against New England by passing for 328 yards with two touchdowns, no interceptions and a passer rating of 100.3. While some Dolphins fans (judging by social media) still found fault with his performance, those are winning numbers. Grade: A-

Running backs

The Dolphins finished with 99 rushing yards on 22 carries (an solid 4.5 average), and once again it was Myles Gaskin who led the way. He had 46 yards on seven carries, with Matt Breida right behind him with 37 yards on seven attempts. It was another tough outing for Jordan Howard, who had 4 yards on five carries, though he did score a touchdown for a second consecutive game. Gaskin again was a factor in the passing game with six receptions, though he did drop a pass. The biggest knock on the running backs' performance was the lack of big plays, with the longest run coming in at only 14 yards. Grade: B

Wide receivers

The Dolphins had a much better effort than in the opener at New England, especially with Isaiah Ford becoming a factor with seven catches for 76 yards. DeVante Parker was able to go the whole way and had five catches for 53 yards and a touchdown. Preston Williams, however, had a rough game with only one catch on five targets. Jakeem Grant and Lynn Bowden Jr. each had a catch, but were pretty inconsequential. It's tough to complain overall when the passing game goes over 300 yards. There were two penalties against the receivers, an illegal block in the back against Parker and a false start by Grant. Grade: B-

Tight ends

This was the Mike Gesicki show. Not only did he set career highs in receptions and yards with eight for 130, he made several tough catches, including his touchdown in the final minutes. Durham Smythe got considerable more playing time than he did in the opener, but his impact was strictly in the running game. Adam Shaheen had one catch. This, though, was all about Gesicki. Grade: A-

Offensive line

This was another solid effort by the new-look offensive line. The Dolphins had 410 total yards, which shows solid production. The running game averaged 4.5 yards per carry, which is a very good average. The pass protection was solid for the most part, even though Fitzpatrick was sacked three times. There was only one penalty on the offensive line, a holding call against guard Solomon Kindley that was declined after a third-down incompletion. Grade: B-

Defensive line

It's actually difficult to come up with a play that stands out from the defensive line, which played a role in the Dolphins allowing an unsightly 524 total yards. Davon Godchaux led the unit with six tackles and one quarterback hit, but hardly was an impact player. The Dolphins did not have a single tackle for loss as a defense, which is pretty bad. Emmanuel Ogbah and Shaq Lawson again had quiet days in the pass rush. Ogbah was credited with half a sack, but it came when Josh Allen held the ball in the pocket because he couldn't find an open receiver. Ogbah got close to Allen another time, but he slipped and let alone get around him. Not a strong performance here. Grade: D

Linebackers

Kyle Van Noy was the one linebacker who stood out, though not always for the right reasons. He did have a big play when he forced a fumble for the defense's one takeaway of the game, but he also failed to come up with an interception when Allen didn't see him while throwing a short pass to his right. Jerome Baker was very quiet after making 16 tackles in the opener. Van Ginkel shared the sack with Ogbah, but wasn't a major factor. Grade: D+

Secondary

Allen throwing for 417 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions is all you need to know about the performance of the secondary. Rookie Noah Igbinoghene had a rough time trying to cover Stefon Diggs after Byron Jones left the game with a groin injury, though he did get the fumble recovery. Xavien Howard held John Brown in check for most of the game, though Brown did get loose for the key 46-yard touchdown late in the game when it appeared safety Bobby McCain was late coming over to provide deep help. Nik Needham had 12 tackles, but also was beaten often and he was flagged twice for penalties. The Dolphins secondary also had only two pass breakups in this game, the drop by Van Noy and a nice play by safety Eric Rowe when he stripped the ball away from tight end Dawson Knox as he was trying to complete a catch. But overall this was a terrible performance, and only Igbinoghene's fumble recovery saves it from being an F. Grade: D-

Special teams

For a second consecutive game, there was very little of note happening on special teams. Jakeem Grant couldn't return a kickoff because everything was a touchback (yawn) and he had two punt returns for 11 yards. Punter Matt Haack again was very good, with a gross average of 52.4 yards and a net of 48.4 and Jason Sanders was 2-for-2 on field goal attempts of 52 and 45 yards. Grade: B+