Miami Dolphins: Week 8 Stock Report

Welcome back guys to another installment of Stock Up Stock Down. This was the most anticipated game in my memory following our Dolphins and while the Offense did not play the way we would like, the team did enough to prove that its not a liability and can in fact still compete for a playoff spot with a rookie QB at the helm. With so much to dissect let’s dive right in:

Stock Up

Ogbah:

During the Bye Week I went back and really looked at and analyzed the play of Emmanuel Ogbah who has been on a tear.

Emmanuel Ogbah has proven to be worth every single penny we signed him for. A thread:

— Juan C (@exclusvty) October 27, 2020

This week was just another day in the office for Ogbah as he was a huge part of the pressure that caused Goff to look as pedestrian as he did. Ogbah was able to get another sack this game marking the 6^th straight game with at least .5 of a sack as well as another deflected pass showing his complete game.

Elandon Roberts:

Elandon started off the year with a big role which he seemed to have been losing before the injury that ultimately made him miss a game. After missing time, he has looked better and better with each passing game. Against the Rams Roberts made 2 of the loudest hits I have ever heard on a football field. On one play he blew up the lead blocker so bad that he made the blocker tackle the ball carrier.

elandon roberts with a massive hit stick pic.twitter.com/rHgclAgyja

— josh houtz (@houtz) November 1, 2020

Jerome Baker:

After a questionable couple of games after his monster performance Week 1, it is nice to see Jerome put back to back elite games together. This afternoon Jerome was all over the field wreaking havoc on a Rams Offense. Jerome not only did his job on the run game with 13 tackles (5 solo), but also rushing the passer with 1 QB hit and even 1 Pass Defended.

Eric Rowe:

Another player that I did a deep dive in this past week.

Eric Rowe has been playing out of his mind. Let's give him some love

— Juan C (@exclusvty) October 25, 2020

Eric showed all afternoon long his versatility and why this coaching staff trusts him with so much. Eric showed his love for contact with 7 tackles (5 solo), his prowess for defending the pass with an unreal 5 PD and lastly, not just the interception he did get but also the one that he almost had which would have surely been a house call for a touchdown. This has become Coach Flo ultimate chess piece as he can be put anywhere and handle any role or assignment.

Team Chemistry:

With all the media and national noise about how terrible of a move it was to go to Tua and how veterans won’t play as hard when they know the organization is only looking at the future, it was hard to see as complete of a team performance as the one we saw Sunday, actually happening. The Defense harassed Goff into 2 interceptions and 2 fumbles lost with one being taken to the house. Special teams taking a punt to the house. Even all the love shown after Tua’s first touchdown of his career showed a team that wanted to fight for their new QB and to shut up the national media as we have a team can compete now for a playoff spot.

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Stock Down

Myles Gaskin:

After such a positive performance against the Jets, Myles unfortunately came back down to Earth. With 47 yards on 18 carries an average of 2.6 yards per carry is cringe-worthy, add to that 6 targets, 2 drops, and only 3 catches for 16 yards and it leads back to the question of why we haven’t given these type of opportunities to either Breida or even Jordan Howard. Multiple times on 3rd and short and he just was unable to get the 1 or 2 yards necessary to keep the offense on the field.How many more of these below average performances before we start to give opportunities to others on the team.

Offense:

As good as a team performance as we had, the one unit that did not hold its end of the deal was the Offense. We only had 8 first downs all afternoon while the Rams had 31 first downs. The offense only ran 48 plays compared to the rams 92. The 2 most alarming stats of the offense was Total Yards with only 145 compared to 471 for the Rams and 3^rd down conversions with the Dolphins struggling to the tune of 3 out of 12 converted successfully.

Rush Defense:

In a game that closing the 2^nd quarter we were up 28-10, it seems next to impossible to consider how the Rams were still able to run the ball for 4.5 yards per carry. This is now the 3^rd week in a row where I find myself mentioning that without the lead our opponents would have ran the ball for what may have been over 200 yards. What is most concerning is with the Rams pass effectively neutralized because of the pass rush, we still allowed them to rush it 29 times with no answer.

Overall this win puts us over .500 for the first time since November 4^th, 2018. Tua and the offense are going to have figure out a better game plan to get him comfortable. We put a lot on tape to analyze this upcoming week as we get ready to travel and face Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals. Follow me @exclusvty on twitter to get a close-up analysis this week of Tua and others. Till next time guys, Fins Up!