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CINCINNATI –
The Dolphins followed up with their most humiliating loss of the season.
The Bengals hit the road with a flurry of late Friday's game at Paul Brown's Stadium to beat Miami's 27-17 and the Dolphins' second-straight loss to the hot start continues to evaporate.
Few games have flipped this drastically for Miami in recent memory, and it has gone from a commanding lead in third quarter to a double-digit loss. Here are five takeaways from the game:
[Check out our Dolphins-Bengals photo gallery]
1. This was the kind of meltdown Miami could not allow.
There was a lot of talk among the Dolphins this week about the issue of embarrassment against New England, and this was the most important thing they could have lost.
The Dolphins squandered all the big plays that gave them a 17-0 lead to the score of 27 unanswered points. The failure was multifaceted, with lapses in the run and the coverage of the offense.
Now Miami trudges home to face another division leader, the 3-1 Chicago Bears, and its season is on the verge of sliding to .500 after has 3-0 start. And while there's a good time for offensive line issues, the Dolphins' patchwork group is going up against the mighty Khalil Mack.
2. The Dolphins' offensive line is broken.
It could not be surprising for Miami Josh Sitton, but it was not better than that. Cincinnati's six-time Pro Bowl defense tackle Geno Atkins made major intrusions from the onset and never really stopped. He dropped Tannehill on two big sacks in the second half to set up third-and-long situations.
The biggest challenge in the fight against larry Tunsil is with a possible concussion. At the Dolphins' 33-yard line, Tannehill was in trouble immediately as defensive end Michael Johnson was replaced by Tunsil's replacement, Sam Young. Tannehill evaded Johnson Andrew Billings, then everything went haywire. Tannehill tried to throw the ball away, but it ricocheted off tight end Durham Smythe 's helmet and Johnson caught up with scrimmage with no one around him. He ran in easily for a touchdown to tie it at 17 with 11:43 left.
The Bengals delivered a similar play with 2:37 remaining to end the game. Ryan Tannehill was first flushed out of the pocket, and Carlos Dunlap caught him from behind. The ball went straight into defensive Sam Hubbard's hands and he ran for 19 yards. The pressure on that play came from Tannehill's right side, where Ja'Wuan James was flagged for a penalty that Cincinnati declined.
3. The defense made pretty big plays to win.
It's amazing how much things changed when it came to Miami with lackluster 2017 season. The Dolphins already had more than last year (10 to nine) and should have the total takeaway soon with 11 already in hand compared to 15 all of last season.
The big play against Cincinnati happened on the opening drive, when the Bengals were rolling effortlessly towards what might have been a 90-yard touchdown drive before safety. Reshad Jones disrupted it. Jones broke up Andy Dalton's pass to A.J. Green at the 3-yard line, and linebacker Kiko Alonso caught the deflection to not only give Miami the ball at least three points for Cincinnati.
Those plays were missing when the Bengals plowed their way to Miami's 2-yard line before kicking a field goal to go up 20-17, but it's worth noting that Cincinnati's offense put up just 13 total points.
4. Speed is the Dolphins' equalizer – when they have time to operate it.
There was a clear goal when Gase remodeled his offensive plan coming into this year: Get as many burners on the field as possible. Promoting Jakeem Grant to a sturdy role in the offense, making use of Kenyan Drake as a receiver and signing Albert Wilson were speed-minded maneuvers for an offense that already had deep threat Kenny Stills.
Drake raced wide open towards the end zone as Tannehill lofted a 22-yard pass to him, and Grant made something out of nothing with a 70-yard punt return score in the final minute of the second quarter, at a time when the Dolphins might 've simply run out the clock had he opted for a wrestling. Wilson, in a perfect demonstration of what this offense wants to do, has helped to overcome the problem by catching a 1 yard yard of scrimmage and running for a 16-yard gain.
In a league where the score is between 20-30 points, the Dolphins have no chance at pulling them off.
5. Miami has done a good job managing its injury situation, outside of the offensive line.
The Dolphins' defensive line is out of control with Cameron Wake and Andre Branch because of knee injuries, lose William Hayes to torn ACL and waive Jordan Phillips. They've had wide receiver DeVante Parker on the field for one of the first five games. Jones missed two weeks with a shoulder injury.
Through all the tumult, Miami 's steady state of calm and good timing. It's a nice luxury to turn to a 2017 first-round pick in Charles Harris when Wake goes down. The team loaded up on receivers – Remember the head shaking when the Dolphins signed Wilson and Danny Amendola? – in part to avoid being so dependent on Parker's health. Xavien Howard's breakthrough and the impact of versatile rookie Minkah Fitzpatrick have helped the secondary weather its absences.
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