The Miami Dolphins earned their fourth victory of the season on Sunday, as they defeated the New York Giants 31-16 at Hard Rock Stadium.
Miami looked to be commanding the game for most of the contest, but they also turned the ball over three times, twice on interceptions and once on a De’Von Achane fumble.
Buy Dolphins TicketsLuckily, their defense was impeccable, holding the Giants’ offense from finding the end zone a single time.
As we do after every game, let’s take a look at some of those who deserve credit and some who deserve blame for their performances against the Giants.
STUD: RB De'Von Achane
The rookie ran for an incredible 13.7 yards per attempt on Sunday, finishing with 151 yards on the ground and a score. His combination of speed and shiftiness makes him one of the most difficult running backs to stop already.
In fact, his seven touchdowns this year are the most of any player through the first four games of their career in the Super Bowl era.
De’Von Achane of Miami Dolphins has more TD (7) in his first 4 career games than any player in Super Bowl era.
H/T NFL Research
— Joe Schad (@schadjoe) October 8, 2023
DUD: P Jake Bailey
Bailey only punted twice in this game, and it took him until the fourth quarter to kick his first. Unfortunately, it was a terrible punt, going just 20 yards before going out of bounds at the Giants’ 49-yard line.
He did have a much better punt later in the quarter, a 49-yarder that was fair caught at the 17-yard line, but his poor first kick put the Dolphins’ defense in terrible position.
STUD: WR Tyreek Hill
Miami’s top receiver, once again, was the best player on the field, and it was evident. He recorded eight receptions for 181 yards and a touchdown that went for 69 yards on a play where he was single-covered.
Hill is on pace to break the NFL’s record for receiving yards in a season.
DUD: CB Eli Apple
This may be a bit nitpicky because he wasn’t horrible, but Apple finds himself among the duds. He may have been the team’s leading tackler (tied with David Long) in this game, but it was likely because he was allowing a fair amount of completions to the wideouts he was tasked with covering.
At least he was making most of the tackles, which is something that this defense severely needed to focus on after last week’s mishaps.
STUDs: Zach Sieler and Christian Wilkins
The Giants were missing three offensive linemen entering the game and lost another in the midst of it. Sieler and Wilkins capitalized on that, helping hold New York’s backs to just 2.2 yards per attempt on the ground. The two combined for 11 tackles (three for a loss), five quarterback hits and 2.5 sacks.
