Dolphins vs Bengals Immediate Reactions

That game was not what the Dolphins needed. not because of the loss itself, though. Another L doesn't mean much these days- other than better draft positioning. This game was all about Quinn Ewers and seeing how he would fare in the NFL against another team's starting defense. It was supposed to be all about seeing if the Dolphins had anything in Ewers and to see if there was enough potential in him to maybe have him start for the Dolphins next year and beyond. All the Dolphins had to do what keep the game somewhat close in order to get him real NFL experience.

In the first half, the Dolphins did just that. And Ewers didn't just do "enough". He was downright impressive. For a guy who didn't have more than 5 days to prepare for his first NFL start, he looked very comfortable in his newfound role as the starter. The ball was coming out of his hand with grace and conviction, and he was giving the fans plenty to be excited about. And though the Dolphins were trailing 17-14 at the half, they had to feel good about Ewers.

Then came the second half...

In the second half, the defense just imploded, allowing the Bengals to quickly pull away and turn it into a rout. And yes, the turnovers made it much harder on the defense to stop Joe Burrow and the Bengals. But you can't really argue that if you watched the defense play. it looked like they weren't even trying! And not only did that hurt the scoreboard, it hurt Ewers, too. because by making the game not competitive, they decreased his time to play real NFL minutes and to get real experience.

His first INT was not a great throw, but that was certainly not all on him. If Theo Wease Jr. would have been more physical and aggressive to the ball, he could have caught that. The Waddle INT was supposed to be a my-guy-is-better-than-your-guy type of throw (not a bad idea when you have Waddle 1-on-1), but the throw was not a good one and it ended up getting picked. That was 100% on Ewers.

From there, Ewers looked like his confidence was completely shot and he started throwing some ill-advised passes. It looked like he decided who he was going to throw the ball to even before the ball was snapped, which never ends well in the NFL. He ended up racking up his stats in garbage time, which is not the way you want your QB to get his experience...

Ewers was certainly not perfect, especially in the second half. but I believe he showed enough to put some hope into, and he should absolutely be the starting QB for the remainder of the season. the defense just needs to actually try so that he can get meaningful football time and the Dolphins can get a better assessment of his talents. so, again- far from perfect, but enough to have some hope that he can be successful in this league.

Let's see how he can do with a full game under his belt and a full week to practice as the starter...