I'll call this a Morale Victory.

It's an L on the stat sheet and it was a winnable game, something many of us a month ago was going to be a massacre. But here's why it's a morale victory; we FOUGHT. There's clearly a sense of FIGHT on this team unheard and unseen from the previous regime. This loss did expose some team weaknesses that were obvious under McDaniels but can't be fixed until the off-season.

OFFENSE

Without Miller we don't have a viable backup who can step in as a swing tackle / swing guard. The OL depth just isn't there and that blame falls on the previous regime. Any team who is without a starting tackle will struggle but at least there should be a backup that can be slightly above average. Our playcalling was able to mask some of it but once the Dolphins counted what we were doing there was no alternatives.

Playcalling was atrocious with the middle runs with Jacobs. The offense was fluid in the first half and the Dolphins never really "stopped" anything. All they did was bracket Adams after his TD and we totally went away from play-action, crossing patterns, and slants. That's play-calling. AOC is making rookie mistakes; mistakes that can be overcome, but really hurt us in a one-score very winnable game.

DEFENSE

Graham has these guys playing fast and fluid. Peters is a shell of himself and Bennet is a WORK IN PROGRESS corner given starter minutes. He's learning and it shows.

COACHING

AP is checking the box as far as leadership and getting the men to play fast and hard; our issue is at the coordinator and roster depth. In other words, the issues we have can't be fixed in a week. We're dinged up in critical positions and it's showing we've yet to have our bye-week. AP has turned the corner and the guys are playing for him. Overall this one was a loss I didn't walk away from with a feeling of doom.