Dolphins vs Bucs Instant Reactions

What a game! The Dolphins beat the Bucs today 20–17 (although it was a 2-possession game with less than a minute to go) and looked pretty good doing so.

Quinn. Ewers. Man, he looked even better today. Not perfect, but he played very well overall. He threw a perfect touchdown pass on a blown coverage—which he actually orchestrated himself by faking the defender into believing he was throwing it short. It was also the longest TD pass of the season for the Dolphins, for what that's worth. He also threw another beautifully placed pass to Greg Dulcich (Ewers’ favorite target thus far) and finished 14/22 for 172 yards, 2 touchdowns, and- most importantly- 0 interceptions. He also had a massive run with 3 minutes remaining on a third and 3 from mid-field, something Dolphins fans are not accustomed to seeing. This is exactly the kind of growth you want to see with your young QB in terms of week-to-week progress, and Dolphins fans should be pumped. Remember—this guy is a seventh-round draft pick. Has he looked like that so far? Absolutely not! I’m not saying he’s our sure-fire franchise QB yet, but he is impressing me and the rest of us who are watching.

He had a ton of help from the run game this time (unlike last week), and that certainly opened up the field for him. Achane ran for 83, Wright ran for 56, and they were carving up the Bucs defense all day.

Speaking of defense, what a defensive game for the Dolphins! The way the game started, it looked like the Dolphins weren't going to get a stop the whole day. But to sum it up in one word: turnovers. Turnovers are so big. They change the momentum and the entire flow of the game, and they turn a bad-looking performance into a fantastic one- which is exactly what happened today. The Dolphins picked off Baker Mayfield twice and Bradley Chubb got a (million-dollar bonus and a) strip sack on him as well late in the game. If there’s a winning formula in the NFL, “winning the turnover margin 3–0” might just be it.

The Dolphins surprisingly played with a lot of heart after last week’s F-for-effort showing, and whether you like it or not, Mike McDaniel probably awarded himself another year of head-coaching duties with his team’s performance over the past two months.