5 things we learned from yesterday’s game

STILLS HAS CAREER GAME

Kenny Stills, who suffered a back injury in practice last week, was having a quiet season until quarterback Matt Moore utilized the team’s deep threat as the receiver consistently slipped behind Tampa Bay’s zone coverage. Stills caught a season-high seven passes for a career-high 180 yards against the Buccaneers, and two of those receptions accounted for over 100 yards.

TEAMS KEEP TARGETING ALONSO ON PASSING PLAYS

First it was Oakland’s Jared Cook who carved up Dolphins weakside linebacker Kiko Alonso. Then Carolina’s Christian McCaffrey got the best of Alonso, who blamed his struggles in those two games on poor technique. Sunday, Tampa Bay used rookie tight end O.J. Howard to shred the Dolphins’ defense, and many of those passes were caught with Alonso in coverage.

LANDRY DELIVERING IN RED ZONE

Jarvis Landry has caught more passes in his first four seasons than any other receiver in NFL history, but very few of those passes had turned into touchdowns (only 13) during his first three years. That has changed this season as Landry’s become the primary end-zone target for the Dolphins’ offense. Landry’s 2-yard touchdown reception against Tampa Bay set his career high for touchdowns (six) in a season.

PRE-SNAP PENALTIES HURTING OFFENSE

The Dolphins’ offense has been hobbled all season long with pre-snap fouls — averaging two a game through the first nine games — but Sunday was something from a worst nightmare, with six false starts. Those fouls generally shouldn’t happen, but they should never happen at home, with no crowd issues.

NON-SAFETY CALL HAD HUGE IMPACT ON GAME

The Dolphins were victimized by one of the worst combination of original call/review interpretation one will ever see when ref Tony Corrente ruled that Bucs quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick had gotten the football totally outside of the goal line to avoid a safety midway through the fourth quarter. Fitzpatrick was clearly pushed back into the end zone by his own player before being sacked by Jordan Phillips. It should have made the score 20-15 with the Bucs punting. Then, with the ball at the Tampa Bay 34 on the next possession, Cody Parkey would have been enlisted to try the 52-yard field goal attempt to make it 20-18 with a shade more than seven minutes left.