The Miami Dolphins narrowly escaped their week eleven clash with the Washington Commanders in Madrid, Spain with an overtime victory, but with that win, the club finds themselves with a 4-7 record heading into their bye week. It’s certainly not where we would have liked to have seen the club’s record after 11 games this season, but after starting a dismal 1-5, the team winning three of their last four games has a solid portion of the fanbase feeling a bit better about the future of the franchise beyond 2025.
To continue stockpiling wins in 2025, and to have hope for a better future beyond this season, the club will need to lean heavily on their young players to continue stepping up. After a rough start to his professional career, one player had his best game as a member of the Miami Dolphins this past Sunday…
Fins Up
This week’s Fins Up player is rookie left guard Jonah Savaiinaea. No, he didn’t have a perfect game against Washington, but honestly, after how his season began, even an average performance at this point is something to praise.
Against the Commanders, the Dolphins dropped back to pass 23 times — which means Savaiinaea had 23 opportunities to keep quarterback Tua Tagovailoa clean. He did just that, allowing just one lone pressure for the entire contest.
Savaiinaea wasn’t the best player on the field in Madrid, but that’s not what this column is about, so after being down on Miami’s rookie offensive lineman for most of the season, it was only fair to give him some flowers after his best game as a professional.
Fins Down
This week’s Fins Down player is wide receiver Jaylen Waddle. Waddle had two head-scratching drops against the Commanders, bringing back whispers of his pejorative nickname — Jaylen Bobble — from years past.
To his credit, Waddle has been a shining star in an otherwise dreary season for Miami up to this point, yet it was still discouraging to see two footballs bounce off of the hands of the Dolphins’ wide receiver one — a receiver who signed a three-year $84.75 million extension with the team ahead of last season.
There will be better days in the coming weeks for Waddle, so his stay on the Fins Down list figures to be a brief one.
