Enemy Reaction 2020: Miami Dolphins (with bonus San Francisco 49ers!)

The Seattle Seahawks led wire-to-wire against the Miami Dolphins... it just didn’t feel like it. Miami did have a chance to take the lead in the 4th quarter but they ended up kicking another field goal, and Seattle pulled away late to improve to 4-0 on the 2020 NFL season.

It’s time for another Enemy Reaction, and thankfully for the sake of my workload there weren’t too many big moments to recap. To make up for the lack of game thread comments from this game, you get a bonus from the San Francisco 49ers’ home loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. But first, let’s head back to Miami and feature some of the best reactions from The Phinsider.

After Ryan Neal interception, Chris Carson gets his first rushing TD (7-0 SEA)

Seahawks get denied on 4th and 3 (10-6 SEA)

Following 57-yarder to David Moore, Travis Homer gets his first NFL touchdown (17-9 SEA)

Xavien Howard picks off Russell Wilson (17-9 SEA)

David Moore gets into the end zone (24-15 SEA)

Shaquill Griffin picks of Ryan Fitzpatrick, leading to Chris Carson touchdown (31-15 SEA)

Chris Carson converts on 3rd and short to clinch Seahawks victory (31-23 SEA FINAL)

Post-Game: Dolphins not getting the value out of their CB contracts (Brian Miller, Phin Phanatic)

Maybe the Dolphins are cursed or something. They gave Reshad Jones a big contract and he never really came close to living up to it. Following the deal he spent a lot of time injured. Miami also gave Xavien Howard a huge contract and since then, he has spent most of his time injured. In free agency back in March, Byron Jones was given the biggest contract ever for a CB at that time. He is injured.

On the plus side, Jones is close to coming back to the field and almost played last Sunday. It was smart to keep him on the bench another week. Howard saved the Dolphins on Sunday with an endzone interception that kept the Dolphins in the game but there is clearly rust on Miami’s top corner.

Howard doesn’t look like the same player he was before the injury. He looks far from it. We don’t know what Jones will bring to the team but he has to do better than rookie Noah Igbinoghene who is not looking good this year on the outside. He was drafted to play multiple roles on defense but he hasn’t been able show that versatility yet.

Post-Game: Miami shot themselves in the foot too often (Armando Velez, Phins Talk)

Remember how I said earlier in the article how Miami had one touchdown? That one touchdown did not come until their final drive, where it was capped off on a Ryan Fitzpatrick 10 yard touchdown run, and then converting a 2-point conversion to Preston Williams. The first thing a lot of you probably thought was, “Where was that in Week 2, Preston?” That touchdown is what we like to call, “too little, too late.”

Then one very questionable thing happened at the end. After Miami was unable to recover an onside kick, the Seahawks kept running the ball to burn Miami’s timeouts. On 3rd and 3 with 1:42 left, Seattle had a very close spot to the first down, and as the chains were brought to measure, from the camera angle that FOX had, it looked like the Seahawks were short of the first down. However, they were given the 1st down, and even after a booth review upstairs, the call was upheld.

Not saying that it would’ve made a difference in the game, Seattle probably would’ve tried a QB sneak on 4th down to end it, but I felt that denied Miami an opportunity to at least try for a game tieing drive to send it to OT. However, does not change the fact that Miami did not give themselves a chance to win with their lack of execution once they crossed midfield.

The offense has not been a huge issue, but when you’re not converting for touchdowns and turning it over deep in your own territory, and the MVP front runner is making quick work of your defense(which is the even bigger issue on this team), then we can honestly say that they did not deserve to win.

This game reminded me a bit of that one Monday Night Football game in 2009 where Miami hosted Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts, keeping them off the field, but in a losing effort and an inability to score touchdowns.

Miami could’ve won, but far too often, they shot themselves in the foot.

Post-Game Audio: Opponent audio recap with Dolphins announcers Jimmy Cefalo, Joe Rose, and Jason Taylor (via SportsRadioKJR)

Post-Game Video: One touchdown is not good enough (Craigo28 Sports)

BONUS: Niners Nation meltdown after Nick Mullens’ terrible pick-six

Enemy Preaction: Minnesota Vikings

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Well now we’ve got the Minnesota Vikings coming to town for Sunday Night Football. Russell Wilson has never lost to Minnesota, and ideally that’s still the case after this weekend. If this team is 5-0 entering the bye week, it would basically take a catastrophic collapse for them to miss the playoffs. We’re not satisfied with just merely making the playoffs — we want the NFC West title and the #1 seed for the first time since 2014.

Thanks for reading and go ‘Hawks!