5 THINGS WE LEARNED
Christian Wilkins, Superman: Defensive tackle Christian Wilkins, who had six tackles Sunday, continued his excellent season against the Patriots. His 92 tackles for the season are the most by a defensive lineman in the past decade, according to the Dolphins. Wilkins, the 2019 first-round pick from Clemson, is in the final year of his contract and due for a big payday this offseason.
Run game appears: The Dolphins ended with 86 yards on 27 carries. They entered the game last in the league in rushing attempts at around 22 per game. In the first half they had 62 yards on 19 carries (3.3 yards per carry), which seemed to set the stage for a strong second half. But things didn’t work out that way. Technically, the Dolphins’ first touchdown, a 2-yarder by Tyreek Hill, was a run because it was a lateral from Teddy Bridgewater. But coach Mike McDaniel did well to stick with the running game, which kept New England’s defense off balance and also gave Bridgewater and Skylar Thompson an opportunity to throw off of play-action.
Penalties creeping up again: The Dolphins, who had five penalties for 34 yards in the first half, ended with nine penalties for 71 yards. It was their highest total for penalties and penalty yards since having 10 for 97 yards in a 24-16 loss to Minnesota. The Dolphins, who have stayed in the top half of the league on penalties and yards for much of the season, entered the game sixth in penalties (97) and 14th in penalty yards (763). As an example of how penalties haunted the Dolphins consider the early-fourth quarter exchange when Tyreek Hill had an illegal shift penalty on a third-and-9 that negated an 11-yard gain by Skylar Thompson. On the following play, third-and-14, Thompson’ pass bounced off Hill’s hands and Jonathan Jones recorded an interception at the Patriots’ 37-yard line. On the flip side, New England had a crucial running-into-the-kicker penalty that allowed the Dolphins to convert a fourth-and-1 and score their only touchdown of the first half. But the Patriots ended with just five penalties for 35 yards.
Mike McDaniel’s game management has been costly: On the heels of the pivotal Marcedes Lewis debacle last week against Green Bay, where Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel failed to challenge the Packers’ 31-yard pass to the Dolphins’ 7 that was an incompletion off the grass, McDaniel botched a huge sequence early in Foxborough. On what was an obvious 29-yard catch by Tyreek Hill to the New England 27, the officials called him out of bounds before two feet were down. Instead of a redeeming red flag, McDaniel was silent. Then, on a carbon-copy 24-yard sideline catch to the Dolphins’ 41 by Tyquan Thornton, McDaniel did throw the flag, and was obviously rebuffed. Huge sequence. He needs to get much better.
Talk about losing streaks: The Dolphins entered the 49ers game in Santa Clara having won 10 of their 11 coin flips, deferring each time to receive the second-half kickoff. But how the coin has turned. The Patriots became the fifth consecutive Dolphins opponent to win the coin toss. The first opponent to win the toss had been the Pittsburgh Steelers. So, in games where Miami has won the coin toss, the Dolphins are 7-3. In coin-toss losses? 1-5.