Following a dramatic victory on Sunday Night Football, the Miami Dolphins snapped a three-game skid and look to start another stretch of wins with a Week 8 matchup against the Detroit Lions on the horizon.
The 4-3 Dolphins saw their leader and quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, return for the prime-time Pittsburgh Steelers game, and he helped lead Miami to a 16-10 victory, which was capped with an endzone interception by cornerback Noah Igbinoghene. One of three Miami interceptions, the Dolphins kept a clean slate themselves and didn’t turn the ball over Sunday night.
While there’s still work to be done, there were both positives and negatives during the Dolphins’ win, and they now head to a mini midwestern road trip to face the NFC North’s Lions before a Week 9 matchup against the Chicago Bears.
The Lions and Bears have a combined 4-9 record, and Miami must take care of business against teams they’re clearly better than, even despite key injuries. The latest in injured reserve designations is budding star safety Brandon Jones, who suffered a torn ACL and will miss the remainder of the season
Miami has been decimated by injuries in the secondary, from the absence of Byron Jones, who’s still on the PUP list, the Achilles injury to Nik Needham two weeks ago, as well as undrafted rookie Kader Kohou missing the last two games.
This area of the field could be what the Lions aim to exploit, as they’re statistically more offensively potent than their record indicates. Detroit is averaging 395.2 yards per game in total offense (fourth in the league), while Miami is averaging 367 (10th).
On the flip side, it’s the Lions’ defense that’s a true indicator of the 1-5 mark. Detroit is dead last in the NFL in scoring defense, giving up 32,3 points per game, as well as total defense, allowing teams to gain an average of 412.2 yards of offense.
Here are some other news and notes heading into the Week 8 showdown: