Mike Oliva of DolphinsTalk.com recaps the Monday Morning Headlines, community news, and more for your Miami Dolphins.
Morning Headlines
The Miami Dolphins' seven-game winning streak ended with a 34-3 loss to the Tennessee Titans on Sunday. The Titans defense bottled up the Dolphins' offense holding the Dolphins to only 256 yards of total offense. They also sacked Tua Tagovailoa four times and forced Tua to throw an interception and fumble the ball three times. The Dolphins' offense was able to run the ball with success as they averaged 4.6 yards per rush in the game, but it wasn't enough to beat the Titans. The Dolphins will close out the 2021 season next week against the New England Patriots at Hard Rock Stadium.
Christian Wilkins had a career-high 11 tackles (six solo), including one tackle for loss on Sunday. It gives Wilkins a total of 83 tackles this year, which is a career-high and leads all NFL defensive linemen at this moment. No NFL defensive lineman has had more than 83 tackles in a season in the past five years – Pittsburgh DL Cameron Heyward also had 83 in 2019.
The Miami Dolphins held the Titans to 110 yards passing on Sunday. Miami has limited opponents to less than 200 passing yards in five consecutive games; it's the longest streak since Oct. 8, 2006 to Nov. 12, 2006.
Jaylen Waddle had three receptions for 47 yards Sunday, including a 45-yard gain on his second-longest reception of the season. It brings Waddle to 99 receptions and 988 receiving yards on the season. He's two receptions away from tying the NFL's rookie receptions record of 101 set by WR Anquan Boldin in 2003.
Miami Dolphins Head Coach Brian Flores was asked after the game about the feeling in the locker room after the loss. Coach Flores said, "Any time you don't have the performance you're looking for, you're disappointed. But this group, they're going to stick together, support one another, get back out there tomorrow, make the corrections tomorrow and prepare for another big game next week."
Coach Flores was also asked about the team's performance and some of the mistakes they made on Sunday, he said, "Every week we put our best foot forward to try to have a good performance. It was no different this week. I think our guys prepared the right way. I thought we had a good week of practice. The Titans are a good team. They had a good plan, and we didn't play well enough in any phase. And that starts with me. I didn't coach it well enough either, so we'll go back and make the corrections and try to play better next week."
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Quote of the Day
On if the offensive performance was the most frustrating part of the day.
Mike Gesicki: "Yeah, we obviously could have played better on the offensive side of the football. We're going to get back to work for it. Like I said, there's a lot of resiliency in that locker room, a lot of guys that are looking forward to another opportunity this upcoming week."
Miami Dolphins in the Community
The 2022 Dolphins Challenge Cancer had already raised $1 million before the end of 2021. The DXII event this year is on Saturday, February 25.
Trivia
The Miami Dolphins have beaten one team at least 60 times (regular season). Which team is it?
On this Day
The Dolphins scored 10 points in the fourth quarter to beat the Patriots 20-10 in the regular-season finale in Miami. With the game tied at 10 in the fourth quarter, tight end Jordan Cameron scored on a two-yard touchdown pass to give Miami the lead. Miami's defense held Tom Brady to just 12 of 21 passing and 134 yards. They also sacked Brady twice and held New England to under 200 yards of total offense on the day.
Answer to Trivia Question: Buffalo Bills
