Dolphins-Lions Week 8 Complete Observations

Checking out the key moments from the Miami Dolphins' 31-27 victory against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field

Junfu Han - USA Today Network

Here's what caught our eye during the the Miami Dolphins' 31-27 victory against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field.

-- We'll start with the inactive list, which was highlighted not by injured players, but by rookie fourth-round pick Erik Ezukanma and veteran safety Eric Rowe being healthy scratched in favor of rookie free agents (and practice squad elevations) Braylon Sanders and Verone McKinley III.

-- The really good news was that all six players listed as questionable on the final injury report, including cornerback Xavien Howard, defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah and punter Thomas Morstead, were available.

FIRST QUARTER

-- The opening possession of the game was a disaster from start to finish for the Dolphins defense, and it began with linebacker Elandon Roberts foolishly standing over Jamaal Williams after tackling him out of bounds, drawing a flag for taunting. Oh, and that play came Andrew Van Ginkel, getting a well-deserved start, whiffed in the open field.

-- Jared Goff isn't a great quarterback, but his pass over the middle of Kalif Raymond for 27 yards was something else because Xavien Howard had very good coverage in a trail position.

-- Jamaal Williams' 7-yard rushing touchdown to cap the drive was really disappointing because he barely was touched running right through the middle.

-- The Dolphins' first drive ended in disappointment when Sanders, in his first NFL game, fumbled after catching a pass on first-and-10 from the Lions 22. Lions safety Kerby Joseph put his helmet right on the ball to dislodge it.

-- That play came right after the Dolphins converted a fourth-and-4 from the Detroit 44 when Tua Tagovailoa completed a 9-yard pass to Jaylen Waddle after the Dolphins got out of a second-and-18 hole following a sack by Malcolm Rodriguez, who's the one who recovered the Sanders fumble.

-- The sack came when Rodriguez ran free between right guard Robert Hunt and right tackle Brandon Shell.

-- The Dolphins ran twice on that drive and had success on both plays, with Raheem Mostert gaining 12 yards and Chase Edmonds gaining 8.

-- The defensive problems continued the second time the Lions had the ball, with tight end T.J. Hockenson beating Jevon Holland to the sideline on a third-and-2 and then turning upfield for a 58-yard gain.

-- On third-and-goal from the 7, it appeared that Jerome Baker was left in one-on-one coverage with running back D'Andre Swift coming out of the backfield, and Swift easily got free with a quick inside move for the touchdown that put the Dolphins behind 14-0.

-- The Dolphins came back with an 80-yard touchdown drive highlighted by Hill getting open downfield. First, he caught a deep out for 24 and then on third-and-13 from the Miami 41 he outran the DBs double-teaming him and then waited for Tua's floater and made the catch for a 36-yard gain.

-- The drive was kept alive after a third-down incompletion on third-and-goal from the 9 with an illegal contact penalty on the Lions and Tua hit Jaylen Waddle in the back of the end zone after getting all day to throw for the touchdown that cut the Lions' lead to 14-7.

-- The one negative on the drive was a holding penalty on Liam Eichenberg, his third penalty in the past two games.

-- Jevon Holland had a nice pass breakup in the final minute of the first quarter when he punched the ball out of Amon-Ra St. Brown after an apparent completion. The Lions challenged the ruling, but the official ruled he had not completed the catch and the call of incompletion stood.

-- On the final play of the quarter, a third-and-4 from the Lions 31, Noah Igbinoghene appeared to have man coverage against St. Brown but easily was beaten and the result was a 21-yard gain to the Miami 48.

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SECOND QUARTER

-- The second quarter began with another bad play by the defense, who let Raymond get free deep for a 43-yard gain that should have been a touchdown if not for an underthrown ball by Goff. Replays seemed to indicate it was Holland who was responsible for Raymond but was way too slow to react to his outside move.

-- The drive ended with another Detroit touchdown when Jamaal Williams strolled in up the middle for a 1-yard score that made it 21-7.

-- The Dolphins again came right back to cut the lead back to seven, with Tua connecting with Hill for a 42-yard gain on first down and capping the drive with a 29-yard touchdown pass to Waddle on third-and-6. While the pass to Hill was underthrown and Hill deserves the credit for adjusting to the ball, the pass to Waddle was perfectly laid out after Waddle got behind the defender.

-- The defense gave up three runs for 26 yards at the start of Detroit's next possession and then allowed a 12-yard completion to Amon-Ra St. Brown on third-and-10 when he beat Kader Kohou to the outside to get into field goal range.

-- Props to Xavien Howard's hustle for tackling Maurice Alexander short of the sticks on third-and-10 to force the field goal that made it 24-14.

-- The Dolphins' next possession was a bit sloppy, with four penalties, including two on the same play.

-- But Tua completions of 14 yards to Trent Sherfield and 13 yards to Waddle converted third-and-13 and third-and-6 situations. The pass to Sherfield, where Tua drilled the pass downfield, might have been Tua's best throw of the half.

-- The Lions started getting pressure late in the drive, producing a sack and an incompletion that forced Miami to settle for Jason Sanders' 45-yard field goal.

-- The defense appeared to come up with its first stop on the series that sandwiched the two-minute warning with good pressure on second down and Holland hustling to bring Swift down ... but that was until the Lions ran a fake punt on fourth-and-2 from their own 33.

-- The fake worked to perfect when Duke Riley rushed the punter, leaving a gaping hole on the right side of the defensive formation.

-- The Lions then marched downfield using mostly short passes, while the Dolphins kept getting flagged for various penalties, including illegal contact and offside.

-- The drive ended with a 26-yard field goal that gave Detroit a 27-17 halftime lead.

THIRD QUARTER

-- Beautiful drive to open the second half starts with a 20-yard completion to tight end Mike Gesicki.

-- After the Dolphins move down the field, the key play comes on third-and-6 from the Detroit 12 when Tua hit Trent Sherfield on a quick slant. The officials rule Sherfield down at the 1-yard line, though TV replays clearly show Sherfield reaching the goal line before he was down.

-- No worries. After an offside penalty on the Lions, Alec Ingold comes in motion with Tua in shotgun formation, takes the handoff and pushes forward for the 1-yard touchdown. The only issue is in the stat book, where Tua loses a touchdown pass. The important thing is the Dolphins are now within 27-24.

-- The Dolphins then watched the Lions offense self-destruct on their next possession to get the ball back. Detroit was flagged for a false start, holding and a false start on three consecutive plays to find itself in a first-and-30 hole.

-- The Dolphins' next drive started with another big gain, this one a 16-yard pass from Tua to Waddle off a rollout.

-- Tua used his legs to produce a big play later in the drive, gaining 18 yards on third-and-6 from the Miami 47.

-- On third-and-3 from the Lions 11, Tua threw a beautiful floating pass over a defender to Mike Gesicki for the go-ahead touchdown. The play, however, ended with Liam Eichenberg having to get carted off the field with a knee injury.

FOURTH QUARTER

-- The Dolphins defense comes up big on its first series with the lead.

-- On second-and-7 from the Detroit 29, Jerome Baker forces Swift wide on a sweep and Kader Kohou comes up to make the tackle for a 2-yard loss.

-- On third-and-9, Zach Sieler crashes through the middle and dropped Goff for a sack.

-- The Dolphins' next offensive possession features a 12-yard run by Mostert and an 18-yard completion to Waddle, but ended in a messy way.

-- After having Chase Edmonds run on first and second down, the Dolphins botched a third-and-8 when Connor Williams snapped prematurely as Tua was moving forward in the shotgun to shout something. The result was an illegal shift penalty, an illegal motion on Tua and immediate pressure that forced Tua to throw the ball away.

-- Detroit got the ball at the 12-yard line to start a critical drive moved into Dolphins territory thanks to several short gains and a penalty on Christian Wilkins for lining up in the neutral zone.

-- Wilkins redeemed himself when he pushed a Detroit offensive lineman into the path of Swift to cause a 2-yard loss on a running play.

-- After an 11-yard completion to Hockenson, the Lions faced a critical fourth-and-1 from the Miami 35 with just under three minutes left that almost was a fourth-and-2. In any event, Goff made the curious decision to throw to the end zone for Josh Reynolds, who got turned around and tried to adjust to the ball but never really came close to catching it. There was some contact between him and cornerback Kader Kohou, but it did look like a good no-call. The turnover on downs gave the Dolphins the ball at their 36 (yard-line change) with a chance to kill the clock.

-- After Mostert gained a quick first down with runs of 9 and 2 yards, the Dolphins made the curious decision of throwing the ball, but Tua made an easy 19-yard completion to Hill, the only negative on the play being that Hill went out of bounds after catching the ball.

-- That left the Dolphins needing another first down to clinch the victory, and it came when Tua hit Hill on a comebacker for 8 yards on third-and-8.

-- It was a fitting ending to a brilliant Tua performance in third-down passing. He went 9-for-10 on the day, the only incompletion being the fourth-down pass on the play where there were two fouls on the offense.

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