SI:AM | What Their Win Over the Dolphins Revealed About the Eagles

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I’m really excited for Game 7 in Houston tonight.

In today’s SI:AM:

The Dolphins still haven’t beaten a good team

Last night’s meeting between the Eagles and Dolphins looked like it could be a potential Super Bowl preview, but now one of those teams looks much more likely to be in Las Vegas in February than the other.

Philadelphia won easily, 31–17, holding the potent Miami offense to its fewest points and total yards all season, and the Eagles’ offense, while far from perfect, relied on its physicality to get the job done.

Gilberto Manzano’s biggest takeaway was simple: The Eagles outmuscled the Dolphins, while Miami again failed to win a physical game:

Miami can certainly score points against any defense, but McDaniel’s squad hasn’t shown it can win games when the play style isn’t pretty. It’s probably too soon to call the Dolphins overrated, and they showed enough toughness to avoid the dreaded soft label.

But one thing’s for sure: The Eagles can win in various ways, an advantage that will come handy in the postseason.

The Eagles are far from perfect, though. Their biggest problem thus far has been turnovers. They turned the ball over four times in last week’s loss to the Jets and had two turnovers last night, both by quarterback Jalen Hurts (an interception and a lost fumble). Philadelphia has 11 turnovers this season, tied for seventh most in the league, and ranks in the middle of the pack with nine takeaways on defense. After posting the third-best turnover differential (+8) in the NFL last season, Philly ranks tied for 18th (-2).

Hurts’s inability to hang on to the ball is worrisome. He’s now thrown eight interceptions this season, tied with Jimmy Garoppolo for most in the league. He had only six all of last year. (He has cut down on his fumbles, from nine last season to two this year.) But the Eagles’ strong defense and ability to control possession with the ground game can patch a lot of holes. It says a lot about this team that they can win against a quality opponent when not everything goes their way.

As for the Dolphins, they’re still searching for a signature win to prove they’re legit contenders. Their 5–2 record is impressive at first glance, but the five wins have come against teams with a combined record of 8–25 (the Chargers, Patriots, Broncos, Giants and Panthers). It’s tough to know how seriously to take them when they’ve lost to the only two respectable teams they’ve played.

Other results of note from Sunday

Let’s just quickly run through other games that caught my eye:

Bears 30, Raiders 12: Congratulations to Chicago quarterback Tyson Bagent, an undrafted rookie out of Division II Shepherd University in West Virginia, who completed 72.4% of his passes in his first NFL start. On the flipside, it isn’t great for Las Vegas coach Josh McDaniels that his team lost to a guy who threw two picks against Colorado School of Mines in the last game he started.
Ravens 38, Lions 6: Lamar Jackson was unreal in this one, completing 21 of 27 passes for 357 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran nine times for 36 yards and another score. (Conor Orr wrote more about Jackson’s big day.)
Steelers 24, Rams 17: Pittsburgh isn’t flashy, but Mike Tomlin’s teams are remarkably consistent. They picked up another solid win in L.A. on Sunday and are right in the thick of a tight AFC North race.
Patriots 29, Bills 25: Does this result say more about Buffalo or New England? The Pats—and especially quarterback Mac Jones—have been disrespected all season long, but Jones organized a game-winning drive in the final two minutes to pick up the win. The Bills, meanwhile, have been underwhelming for the past three weeks. They lost to the Jaguars, won an ugly one against the Giants and then lost yesterday to drop to 4–3.

The best of Sports Illustrated

Can Max Scherzer bounce back when the Rangers need him most? Jerome Miron/USA TODAY Sports

Here are Albert Breer’s biggest takeaways from Week 7.
Conor Orr argues the NFL needs to come up with a way to overturn egregiously bad calls by officials.
The Rangers beat the Astros last night to force a Game 7 tonight. Now Texas’s season rests on the shoulders of Max Scherzer. Tom Verducci has more on Scherzer’s potential redemption—and the possible suspension of a key Houston reliever.
Bob Harig was at the LIV Golf team finale in Miami and wrote about what might be next for the Saudi golf league as it faces an uncertain future.
Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers will reportedly miss time with a shoulder injury. Does that open the door for Arch Manning to make his college debut?
Coyotes defenseman Travis Dermott used pride tape on his stick in defiance of the NHL’s ban.

The top five…

… things I saw yesterday:

5. The Packers’ deflected touchdown pass.

4. Stefon Diggs’s perseverance to score against the Patriots.

3. Adolis García’s grand slam to bury the Astros.

2. Kyle Tucker’s leaping home run robbery (even though the game had already been decided).

1. Seahawks rookie Jake Bobo’s one-handed toe-tap touchdown.

SIQ

The Jets pulled off the “Monday Night Miracle” on this day in 2000, mounting a furious comeback to beat the Dolphins. How many points did New York trail by at the end of the third quarter?

Friday’s SIQ: The 1982 Cardinals had three Hall of Famers and two MVPs on their roster, but when they beat the Brewers in Game 7 of the World Series, the series MVP was a guy many fans today probably haven’t heard of. Who was it?

Darrell Porter
Tom Herr
George Hendrick
Ken Oberkfell

Answer: Darrell Porter. Not Keith Hernandez (the 1979 NL MVP), Willie McGee (the ’85 MVP) or Hall of Famers Ozzie Smith, Bruce Sutter or Jim Kaat. Porter, a catcher who batted .286 with a homer and five RBIs in the series, took home the honor.

Porter was an above-average player when he signed with the Cardinals before the 1981 season. He’d been named to four All-Star teams and gotten MVP votes in ’78 and ’79. His ’82 season wasn’t up to the level of his peak in Kansas City, but he shone in the World Series.

Porter had a clutch game-tying double with two outs in the bottom of the sixth in Game 2, then had an RBI single in the eighth inning of Game 7 that extended St. Louis’s lead. That, along with what Sports Illustrated’s Ron Fimrite described as Porter’s “excellent defensive play,” earned him the award.

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