Dolphins takeaways from Week 8 loss to Bills before NFL trade deadline.
The “potential bills trades” are three takeaways from the Bills game before the NFL trade deadline. The Dolphins lost to Buffalo by a score of 27-16.
The Miami Dolphins lost for the eighth time in a row, this time against the Buffalo Bills, 26-11. They are now 1-7 on the year.
Even though Miami lost for the eighth time in a row, this was undoubtedly their greatest performance of the season, and there are some positives to be gained from their defeat. After being savage all season, their defense finally stepped up. Unfortunately, their offense failed to perform again again, but that is to be expected when you have one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL. The Dolphins can likely improve in a variety of areas, but they did compete against one of the top teams in the NFL.
Let’s look at some of the key lessons from the Week 8 defeat.
It’s possible that the 2020 defense may return.
Last season, the Dolphins had one of the greatest defenses in the NFL, allowing just 21.1 points per game, which ranked fourth in the league. They have given up the fourth-most points in the NFL this season, with 29.1.
Obviously, this does not indicate that the defense will return to its previous form in 2020, but cornerback Xavier Howard said in his postgame press conference that the defense will return to the coverages used last season for this game versus the Bills. They stopped one of the finest offenses in the NFL to only 26 points in the first half, allowing just three. They should be able to beat anybody if they keep playing defense like this.
Tua Tagovailoa must improve.
Tua had two strong outings in his first two games back from injury. He was in no way to blame for the Dolphins’ back-to-back nail-biter losses the prior two Saturdays. Tua may take a lot of the criticism for this week’s loss against the Bills. With a completion percentage of 53.8 percent and a passer rating of 58.2, he recorded his lowest completion rate and lowest passer rating.
Tua wasn’t hitting his targets, and there were plays to be made. Tua was missing a few receivers, and much of the fault may be attributed to the coaching staff for not focusing sufficiently on tight end Mike Gesicki. Gesicki is one of his favorite targets, but he only had four against the Bills. Tua should attempt to get the ball to him more often since he can go up and catch it with the best of them. In his defense, Gesicki’s failure to receive the ball is not entirely his fault.
The offensive line is still one of the worst in the NFL, if not the worst.
The Dolphins’ offensive line is certainly one of the worst in the NFL, as they demonstrate every week. It didn’t help matters that two of the offensive line’s guys were playing out of position. The center, who was in his second game with the squad, was one of them. They were also up against one of the NFL’s greatest defensive lines. Unfortunately for the Dolphins, their offensive line still looks bad even when they’re facing an average to below-average defensive line. Tua was sacked twice and four tackles for losses were recorded. The offensive line also committed a number of penalties that slowed the offense down.
There’s a reason the Dolphins have so many talented players yet can’t seem to score touchdowns. It is undeniably on the verge of collapsing. They will not be successful until they make significant improvements next year.
Miami will seek to capitalize when they face the Houston Texans, another 1-7 club. They head to Houston for a game that the Dolphins are expected to win.
The “Miami Heat offseason moves” is a blog post from the Miami Herald talking about the 3 biggest takeaways from the Week 8 loss to Bills before NFL trade deadline. Reference: miami heat offseason moves.
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