The Miami Dolphins hosted the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 5 and were very accommodating to the visitors. Miami’s offense never got out of its own way, turning the ball over three times and converting on only six of 12 third downs. The defense struggled to contain the Bengals’ offense, but the discussion of the day will be on Miami’s offensive failures.
From interceptions and fumbles to settling for field goals after a first-and-goal from inside the one-yard line, Miami’s offense never put it together
to threaten the Bengals’. The good news for Miami is that their 24 points are a season-high.
Final Score
Bengals 31 – 24 Dolphins
Immediate reactions
Snap Winners and Losers
Winners
Ollie Gordon, running back: Losing De’Von Achane to a season-ending knee injury in Week 3 could have decimated Miami’s offense. Instead, it has allowed second-year running back Ollie Gordon to emerge. Initially seen as the power back to complement Achane and Jaylen Wright, Gordon has established himself as Miami’s back of choice this season. Achane and Gordon as a duo in 2027 could be deadly.
Kevin Coleman, wide receiver: A rookie receiver who caught his first touchdown pass made our winners list. He had only two catches for seven yards, but one of them was a touchdown.
Bradley Pinion, punter: I have been tough on Pinion this year. He has been inconsistent, with some poor punts. On Sunday, he was (a) good and (b) the definition of consistency. On a day when special teams were rough (more below), Pinion punted twice: once for 59 yards and once for 57. He boomed kicks that changed field position, and he was consistent in doing so.
Losers
Note: “Losers” is not a judgment on the talent or character of any individual. It is simply a categorization of the play in one game – no disrespect is intended or should be inferred.
Malik Willis, quarterback: This was just beyond rough. In a season when the Dolphins are focused on improving every week, Willis is doing absolutely nothing right now. He plays like the game is too fast for him, trying to make the perfect play instead of just making a play. He overlooks an open player to find a bigger option, which leads to bad throws that fall incomplete or get picked off. Until completing four passes in the final drive of the first half, Willis was 1-for-7 for 23 yards and two interceptions, giving him a 0.6 passer rating. That does not seem ideal.
The second half was better – not great, but better – and Willis showed some flashes of why the coaching staff and front office believe he might be the quarterback of the future for the team. He finished the game 15-for-27 for 137 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions, giving him a 51.0 passer rating.
Jackson Woodard, linebacker: This is the definition of a snap winners/losers analysis. Woodard lands on this list because the two times I noticed him in the game, it was on bad defensive plays. The first, Woodard took off down the field, seeming to think he needed to cover someone, but Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow then scrambled for 11 yards in the giant vacancy Woodard left. Then later, Woodard got lost in coverage and was trailing the play when tight end Erick All caught the ball and picked up 14 yards. He finished the game with four tackles, including one for a loss, and maybe he was a solid part of the defense, but he lands here based on the two times I noticed him.
Immediate thoughts
Special teams anything but special
The Dolphins’ special teams do not deserve to be called special anymore. They will be just teams until something changes. On the opening kickoff, the Bengals returned the ball 81 yards to set up a tight end Mike Gesicki touchdown three plays later. The Dolphins have enough problems on offense and defense as they work through this rebuild, they cannot afford to be allowing opponents giant chunks of yards on a kickoff return to open the game.
The second kickoff, following Miami’s first touchdown, resulted in a penalty because the ball did not reach the landing zone inside the 20-yard line. The ball was placed at the 40-yard line for Cincinnati following the kick, but the Dolphins got lucky with an unnecessary roughness penalty on the Bengals, pushing the ball back to the 25.
Third-down defense disappears
The Dolphins are not a team good enough to allow opponents extra chances with the ball. When they have the opportunity to get the defense off the field and the ball back for the offense, they have to capitalize. They did not do that on Sunday.
Miami forced the Bengals into a third down 13 times during the game. The Bengals converted a first down on nine of those plays. That seems decent enough for Miami’s defense, but when you consider the Bengals converted eight of their first 10 third down attempts before worrying more about running out the clock than converting first down, it shows just how off Miami’s third-down defense was on Sunday.
Pass rush regresses after breaking out last week
Last week, Miami recorded five sacks against the Minnesota Vikings. This week, they struggled just to get anywhere near quarterback Joe Burrow. They were credited with four quarterback hits, two from Chop Robinson, one from Zach Sieler, and one from Jordan Phillips, but other than a Robinson sack that was called back because he was in the neutral zone before the snap, there was nothing that really seemed to have an impact on Burrow’s day.
Does Miami have to do something at quarterback?
During the game, I posted on X this:
I was not seriously thinking Miami should consider a trade to bring quarterback Tua Tagovailoa back to South Florida, but the more Willis struggles, the more it seems Miami has to do something. The goal this year is to get a read on Willis and assess whether he can be the team’s quarterback of the future. Right now, the team might need to decide if he is the quarterback for Week 7 when they come out of the bye week.
No, I do not think they need to get Tagovailoa. But they need to do something to spark Willis. The hope is that he can prove to be a quality starter who can handle the position at least through 2027, giving Miami a chance not to use their first pick on a quarterback in the spring. Right now, it looks like Miami might be forced to use their opening pick on a quarterback, despite this not shaping up to be a great quarterback draft class.
