1) Rosen's aggressive style
It only took quarterback Josh Rosen three plays to push the ball down the field and give wide out DeVante Parker a chance to complete an explosive play. The result was a 40-yard completion that also served as an early warning to the Cowboys' secondary of the second-year quarterback's willingness to stretch the field in the passing game. We witnessed that willingness last week and I believe it's in Rosen's makeup. I also liked his ability to avoid pressure in and around the pocket and escape with his eyes downfield looking to make a completion. Early in the 2nd quarter, Rosen was flushed to his left, out ran the pass rush, and found tight end Nick O鈥橪eary for 19 yards. Then, on the next play, he escaped to his right and bought enough time to locate Preston Williams on a 24-yard connection. His athletic ability to escape pressure and make positive yards running the ball was also a surprise, but Rosen must learn quickly to slide or avoid contact to preserve his availability from week to week. Although the Dolphins weren't successful in getting their first win of the season, his performance against Dallas should serve as a positive starting point in his seasonal evaluation.
2) Mistakes continue
Some of the issues that appeared over the first two weeks of the season at home seemed to make the travel list this weekend as well. Multiple dropped passes again hampered this offense especially in the red zone, where Miami had three possessions without scoring a touchdown. They also turned it over when running back Kenyan Drake tried to spin away from a tackle, but collided with tight end Durham Smythe at the five-yard line and fumbled away the scoring chance. This offense has had difficulty creating explosive plays and it can't turn the ball over or drop touchdown opportunities down the field or in the end zone. These issues are holding back points for a team that's struggling to score. As for the running game, neither Kenyan Drake or Kalen Ballage found much success on the ground, totaling just 55 yards combined. On defense, the inability to apply consistent pressure on quarterback Dak Prescott allowed the Cowboys' wide receivers to break away from coverage and run freely through the Dolphins' secondary. Third down continues to plague both sides of the ball with the Miami defense allowing Dallas to convert on 50-percent of their chances while the offense only managed three conversions on 15 attempts.
3) Injuries hit hard
Multiple players on both sides of the ball went down with injuries against Dallas on Sunday. Receiver Allen Hurns took a vicious hit on Miami's second series of the game when safety Jeff Heath collided with Hurns in the Dallas secondary. Hurns left the field under his own power, but was later diagnosed with a concussion and didn't return to action. Left tackle Jesse Davis also left the game in the first half with an apparent right triceps injury, moving rookie left guard Micheal Deiter out to the left tackle position. Deiter held his own at tackle, but this injury will probably have the Dolphins offensive line continuing to shuffle bodies around for the fourth week in a row. Adding to the issues up front, right guard Danny Isidora injured his foot in the second quarter and was replaced by Evan Boehm. Defensively, cornerback Jomal Wiltz left the game in the third quarter with an apparent leg injury.
