The Miami Dolphins defeated the Los Angeles Chargers by a score of 29-21 on Sunday. The Dolphins move to 6-3 with the win, and the Chargers fall to 2-7.

The Dolphins are handling business right now.

This team has bought into the culture that coach Brian Flores is trying to build, and it becomes more apparent with each week that passes.

The game started red-hot for Miami, much like how it has in the past several games. Linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel blocked a punt, allowing the Dolphins to recover and take possession on the Chargers one-yard-line.

After a one-yard goal line touchdown by Salvon Ahmed, the Chargers got the ball back and were promptly forced to punt.

The Dolphins drove down the field again — capping off the drive with a three-yard touchdown pass to Jakeem Grant to take a 14-0 lead.

The Dolphins then forced a three-and-out, and began driving down the field, momentum clearly in their favor. The Dolphins would reach the Chargers nine-yard-line, and that’s where the momentum would end. Center Ted Karras snapped a poor ball to Tagovailoa, causing a fumble. The ball was recovered by Chargers Nick Vigil, who returned the ball into Miami territory.

The Chargers would finish that drive with a touchdown of their own. This one play killed the entire rhythm of the game. The Dolphins lost all momentum, and the Chargers didn’t really have control either… it was just a lull, where both teams seemed to be going through the motions, playing a very non-aggressive form of football.

It wasn’t until the fourth quarter with a 6-point lead, that Xavien Howard intercepted Justin Herbert, reigniting the flame that the Dolphins needed. On a terrific play call on the goal line, Tua faked the hand-off to the left, causing the whole defense to shift in that direction. Tight end Durham Smythe would sneak back over to the right, where Tua found him wide-open for the score.

At that point, Miami had a 12-point lead, and all the momentum in the world. The Chargers were only down by two touchdowns, but appeared visibly defeated. That play was the dagger.

A deeper look

This game was hyped up by many media members because of the dual between rookies Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Herbert. While neither quarterback looked outstanding in this game, it was likely enough to make fans of both teams optimistic about the futures of their franchise.

Tua finished this game: 15-for-25, 169 yards, 2 TDs.

Tua had the highest “aggressiveness,” this week among all QBs in the NFL… by far, per NFL Next Gen Stats. Aggressiveness is defined as “the amount of passing attempts a quarterback makes that are into tight coverage, where there is a defender within 1 yard or less of the receiver at the time of completion or incompletion.”

Tua’s aggressiveness was 32%. In other words, he was throwing into tight windows very, very often.

It was another encouraging performance from Tagovailoa. He had several great plays, including a fade pass in the end zone to DeVante Parker, which was overturned and a beautiful on-the-run dime to Mike Gesicki. He floated a beautiful touchdown pass to Durham Smythe in the fourth quarter.

In the first half, on a botched snap by Karras, he scooped the ball off the ground, and quickly turned his head up, chucking a 23-yard pass to Parker.

His pocket presence continues to be fantastic. In the first half, Tua narrowly avoided a sack, and took off on the run to his right. He threw a cross-body bomb, just barely out of the reach of Jakeem Grant. This play would have been the highlight of his NFL career thus far.

Now, while he does not have an interception on the season — he had several that, frankly, should have been intercepted in this game. In the first quarter, he threw to Gesicki into a tight window. The ball was deflected and nearly corralled for the interception.

In the second half, he threw a pass almost directly to linebacker Kenneth Murray, that somehow slipped through his hands and into the hands of Shaheen.

Again, those weren’t plays where the ball could have been intercepted — they were plays where the ball should have been.

The Dolphins running game was led by Salvon Ahmed. Ahmed had a solid performance last week where he led the team in rushing, but in this game, he was a focal part of the offense.

Ahmed has burners. It’s as simple as that. If he finds a hole, he is hitting it at full speed. He had two carries of 18 yards, and he was the clear-cut lead back.

He finished the game with 85 yards rushing on 21 carries. His 85 rushing yards are the second most rushing yards by a Dolphins player this season, the most being by his former college teammate Myles Gaskin who had 91.

Receiver Jakeem Grant led the Dolphins in receiving this week, finishing the game with four catches for 43 yards and a touchdown. He was also extremely effective on returns in this game. Grant appears to be playing with a purpose now, doing a terrific job at showing that he is deserving of a role that is bigger than just a special teams specialist.

Tight end Mike Gesicki had two catches for 40 yards, but had several drops in this game. He only hauled in two of his five targets, and though they were clutch plays, like last week, it would be nice to see more from Gesicki on a week-to-week basis.

DeVante Parker hauled in a beautiful contested 23-yard catch on a touch pass from Tua. He also had an absolutely insane one-handed catch in the corner of the end zone, nearly getting in bounds for the score. It was originally ruled a touchdown, but was later overturned.

Receiver (or quarterback or running back) Malcolm Perry showed us a bit of what he had this week. He had two catches for 21 yards, and also a rush for 6 yards. Though that may not sound impressive, his elusiveness and speed after the catch is something that instantly stands out. His 6-yard run came out of the wildcat, and should’ve been a loss for at least five yards. Perry was able to reverse field and somehow turn it into a gain. Perry needs to be involved more in the future. The talent is there.

The offensive line had a great outing in this game. Tagovailoa was not sacked in this game, and the Dolphins had one of their better rushing performances of the season. Though there is still plenty of room to improve, this was one of their above average games.

Kicker Jason Sanders is… human? Sanders’ historic streak came to an end. He converted 22 consecutive field goals, which is a franchise record. His miss came on a 47-yard attempt.

The Dolphins defense showed up once again.

Justin Herbert would finish the game: 20-for-32, 187 yards, 2 TDs, 1 rush TD, 1 interception

Herbert’s rushing touchdown came on a 1-yard goal line sneak.

Herbert entered this game averaging 306.6 passing yards per game, which was third in the NFL. He was a gun-slinging, risk-taker and was dicing up defenses. The Dolphins held him to under 200 yards, and had him looking uncomfortable the entire game, causing him to miss on several routine completions.

This was a great game from Nik Needham, who blitzed in untouched to get a sack on Herbert early in the game. He also had a clutch pass deflection on a throw to Keenan Allen.

Cornerback Xavien Howard’s late-game interception shifted the momentum of the entire game. At the time of the interception, he was tied for the NFL lead in interceptions with five (J.C. Jackson would record an interception Sunday night, knocking Howard to 2nd.)

Now, if there were any knocks on Howard, it would be that in the fourth quarter, he allowed a touchdown to Keenan Allen. The Dolphins sent the house on a blitz, and Allen was able to beat Howard to the inside and get enough separation to score.

Linebacker Elandon Roberts, who I’ve criticized heavily all season, had a solid performance. He led the team in tackles with seven, and came up big on several goal line rushes by the Chargers. However, it wasn’t perfect from Roberts, as he lost tight end Hunter Henry who Herbert found wide open for the touchdown.

Another week, another sack for Emmanuel Ogbah. He now has eight sacks on the season, which is fourth in the NFL. He has at least one sack in six straight games. Ogbah also had a huge pass-deflection on a fourth down pass by Herbert, causing a turnover on downs.

Defensive linemen Zach Sieler and Shaq Lawson were great at stopping the run. Lawson had a goaline stop, and Sieler had two tackles for a loss. As mentioned earlier in the season, Sieler is deserving of an extension A-S-A-P.

Raekwon Davis, with Sieler, did a terrific job stepping up in the absence of Christian Wilkins. Davis was tied for the team-lead in tackles with seven, and had several big run stops.

Chargers running back Kalen Ballage received a heavy volume in this one, but the Dolphins contained him — holding him to 3.8 yards per carry.

Takeaways:

Gaskin’s return won’t be the end for Ahmed. Ahmed is talented, leading to some suggesting (like Adam Beasley,) that the starting role might not be available to Gaskin when he returns. Now, I love what I’ve seen from Ahmed, but I’m not sure if I would go that far yet. I think Gaskin and Ahmed’s styles both compliment each other. As their former coach said, Gaskin is jazz and Ahmed is hip-hop. Gaskin is a patient, smooth runner, who seems to be more effective as a pass-catcher. Ahmed has blazing north/south speed, but can get to the outside in the blink of an eye. I think the duo of Gaskin and Ahmed is on the horizon.

Malcolm Perry needs some more touches. Again, it was a small sample size — but even then, the eye-test checks out. The guy just looks like he is in a full gear above the defense once the ball is in his hands. Now, I will say I’m not a huge fan of the runs out of the wildcat, but I think he could thrive on some bubble screens.

This Dolphins team is legitimately good. The coaching is terrific, the players believe in the culture and are stepping up, and this is still the beginning. This isn’t a team that requires luck, or all the stars aligning to pull off a close win anymore. They need their respect.