Miami Dolphins fans must be cautious about Matt Moore’s success
The Miami Dolphins’ victory last Saturday in New York against the Jets may have looked impressive on paper, but if you take a closer look, the win wasn’t quite as eye-popping as you would think.
Quarterback Matt Moore — who was inserted into the starting lineup due to Ryan Tannehill’s knee injury — received much praise after the Dolphins’ 34-13 victory over the Jets but did he really play as well as the outcome says he did?
AROUND COVER32
QB Rankings: Who’s rising as the temperatures are falling?
Weekly Pick’ems: A weekend of holiday showdowns
Power Rankings: The playoff picture is still hazy with two picks left
Dolphins News: Miami facing most important game of the season
Follow us on Twitter here
Moore finished the game with 12 completions on 18 attempts for 236 yards while throwing for four touchdowns and one interception. So based on his yards per attempt (13.1) and throwing four touchdowns you’d think that he had a very impressive game. However, due to how the game played out in the second half, Moore wasn’t really asked to do much in regards to leading the team.
At halftime Miami led 13-10 and it looked like the game was going to be your classic ugly Dolphins-Jets matchup that was decided late in the fourth quarter. Also, things didn’t look promising for Miami coming out of halftime as Moore was intercepted on an ill-advised pass to DeVante Parker on the Dolphins first drive.
This is where the game turned, though, as Miami’s defense forced a punt that Walt Aikens proceeded to block and return to paydirt giving Miami a 10-point lead.
From here, the Miami Dolphins were given great field position after a Tony Lippett interception that led to a Moore to Dion Sims touchdown; and then Miami’s defense forced a three-and-out and scored on its first offensive play on a quick slant to Jarvis Landry where he caught the quick pass and outran the Jets defenders on his way to the endzone.
The Dolphins didn’t have to do much on offense after this quick burst of points as the game was in control and they just needed to run out the clock. So while it’s great that Moore did what he was asked, it’s not fair to say that he dominated or that he should have been starting the entire season over Tannehill.
Two of Moore’s touchdowns were one-yard scores that most likely should have gone to Ajayi if it wasn’t for the head-scratching decision to have Ajayi and Damien Williams both in the goal line formation. And his long touchdown to Landry was a fairly simple slant pass that Landry made the most of.
I don’t want to take every ounce of credit away from Moore because he made some good throws throughout the game – a couple nice passes to Sims and the long touchdown to Kenny Stills most importantly – but it will be very unrealistic to expect Moore to do this week 16 against the Bills and again week 17 against New England if Tannehill isn’t cleared to return.
READ MORE: Deadweight cuts will give Miami money to spend
The post Miami Dolphins fans must be cautious about Matt Moore’s success appeared first on Cover32.
