Well, I guess Reggie Bush is going to be pretty darn important in the Miami Dolphins offense this year. The Dolphins relied heavily on Bush, who had 115 yards from scrimmage, in a 30-10 loss to the Houston Texans.
Miami appeared to be in the game for the majority of the first half until four back-to-back turnovers in a 6-minute stretch at the end of the half completely changed everything. Dolphins QB Ryan Tannehill finished with 219 passing yards, going 20 for 36 with 3 interceptions.
The numbers don't tell the whole story for Tannehill, who actually looked pretty good. The first turnover was an interception that was Tannehill's fault, but the middle two turnovers were interceptions that resulted from deflections by Texans DE JJ Watt, who is great at making big-time plays at the line.
Overall Tannehill was encouraging. He didn't force anything (he probably played too conservatively), and the game didn't look too fast for him. It would definitely help if he had some more playmakers other than Bush and Davone Bess.
An encouraging part, aside from Tannehill, was Miami's ability to run the ball. Reggie Bush ran really well, and Daniel Thomas did well himself before he fumbled the ball after suffering a head injury near the end of the first half.
The Dolphins defense also looked pretty good. Yes, they gave up a lot of points, but 24 of those points came during the freak 6-minute stretch to end the half. The Texans started with the ball on their 46 and Miami's 31, 27, and 12. That is three different drives where they started off already in field goal position. You just can't expect your defense to be successful when their backs are against the end zone to start the drive four times in a row.
I would have liked to see Miami's defensive line get a little more pressure, though. They were able to get pressure some of the time, but there were more than a couple of instances where Texans QB Matt Schaub had plenty of time to find his target.
I know it's not a fun way to look at it, but I saw a lot of encouraging things despite the loss. This was a terrible opening matchup for the Dolphins and their rookie QB, and the NFL is making it up to them by giving them a pretty easy remaining schedule. Miami takes on the Oakland Raiders at home next week, which should give them a good opportunity to win.
Thanks for stopping by. Email me at paul@dolphinshout.com. I'm also on twitter @PaulDSmythe.
