What stood out in the Miami Dolphins Week 10 game against the Los Angeles Rams:

We’ll start with the inactive list, which includes injured fullback Alec Ingold, although the Dolphins had DT Zach Sieler and S Jevon Holland back from injury.

The Dolphins were without an emergency third quarterback for the third straight time.

The Dolphins got a number of players back on defense, and it showed. This was much more representative of the type of defense the team can play.

We selected Calais Campbell as our Dolphins midseason MVP and he had another great outing against the Rams. He was a regular in the Rams’ backfield and again used his long arms to complete a few passes, including one that ended in an interception for the Dolphins.

Interesting that Raheem Mostert didn’t play a role in the running game at all, although he did make some nice plays as a receiver.

This wasn’t a great performance from the Dolphins offense and it starts with Tua Tagovailoa. He had two turnovers, a pick and a fumble, and showed some hesitation in the pocket a few times, which contributed to some of the sacks he took. Worse, he showed poor judgment when he tried to tackle linebacker Christian Rozeboom after an interception by going low, ultimately getting kicked in the head.

The Dolphins were ultimately defeated, but were able to win because they were more efficient on third down (6-13 vs. 2-for-11) and were also better in the red zone.

It wasn’t exactly a work of art, but the defense stepped up and the end result was a much-needed win that finally ended the Dolphins’ losing streak after three games.

The first offensive play of the game for the Dolphins was the kind they’ve lived on for the past two seasons, but we haven’t seen nearly enough this year, a deep route by Jaylen Waddle for an easy 19-yard pitch-and-catch . .

Nice maneuvering in the pocket by Tua Tagovailoa on a third-and-13 before taking advantage of a blown coverage for a 36-yard completion to Waddle.

We wrote all week about how big it was for the defense to get Sieler back, and it took him one play to make his presence felt, as he sniffed a screen pass and dropped Kyren Williams for a 10-yard loss.

This wasn’t a major catastrophe, just another sloppy special teams play when Siran Neal was flagged 15 yards for going out of bounds in punt coverage and not trying to get back on the court immediately. No excuse for that.

We wrote that Chop Robinson is coming, so it was good to see him get his second sack in two games.

Raheem Mostert didn’t play a role in the running game in the first half, but that was a nifty catch to convert a third-and-6 when the ball was thrown behind him.

Anthony Walker Jr. Once again, as expected, got the start at linebacker alongside Jordyn Brooks, and showed some good pass-catching skills in his interception, which was of course thanks to a tip from Calais Campbell.

Crazy spin move by De’Von Achane in the open field on a run on the very next play.

The Dolphins left points on the board on their drive after the Walker pick when Waddle dropped a nice pass from Tagovailoa. Waddle appeared to make a gesture after losing sight of the ball. Either way, that’s too many of those drops from Waddle this season.

Tight end Julian Hill looked like he ran over a block while on the move after an Achane run, and the result was a loss of four yards.

The Dolphins had too many negative running plays and it was several players taking turns on missing assignments. Another came: Liam Eichenberg badly missed his block.

Tagovailoa was quite careless with the ball in the pocket, which resulted in the fumble. Robert Jones, who was defeated by Jared Verse on the play, also got to the ball first, but let Verse outrun him for it. That can’t happen.

Tagovailoa later took a 15-yard sack after he couldn’t find anyone open and hesitated with the rushers coming after him.

It was nice to see Quinton Bell get his first sack of the season. He was pretty invisible on defense after getting off to a good start in training camp.

A troubling development on the first drive was that Kendall Fuller left the game with a concussion and was quickly ruled out. It is the second concussion this season.

The Dolphins took a break as the Rams were driving and had a first-and-10 from the Miami 28 with a high shotgun snap and subsequent muffed handoff that resulted in a loss of 13 yards. Those are the kinds of breaks the Dolphins haven’t gotten very often this season.

Great YAC work from Jonnu Smith after catching a third-and-3 pass in the middle of the field as he flipped off a would-be tackler and then made his way to the 1-yard line. That’s why the Dolphins signed him.

We saw why the Dolphins signed DT Neil Farrell from the practice squad with a killer bull rush that got him right in Stafford’s face and forced an incompletion.

Jalen Ramsey wasn’t tested enough, but he showed why with a deep shot to Puka Nacua when Ramsey was all over him.

Great call by Anthony Weaver to blitz Jevon Holland on the final play of the third quarter, setting up a third-down sack that forced the Rams to settle for a field goal.

Nice job on Eichenberg for shoving Rams defensive lineman Byron Brown in the back on a play, not hard enough to draw a flag, but hard enough to irritate Brown to where he headbutted Eichenberg and was flagged for roughness, giving Miami 15 yards free.

One play after taking a bad sack that put the Dolphins out of field goal range, Tua came right back with a nifty play when he avoided pressure on a third-and-19 and delivered a pass en route to Mostert for a distance of 25 meters. earn.

The Dolphins were shocked when Kader Kohou went down with his left knee, but that was due to popping knees and he only missed one play. However, on that play, the Rams completed a 21-yard pass against his replacement Siran Neal, with Fuller sidelined and Storm Duck and Ethan Bonner inactive.

The Dolphins were able to get two big first downs on their final drive, and this is where Tagovailoa came up big. The first came when he scrambled towards his goal and Odell Beckham Jr. for a first down on third-and-6, and it was followed by a throw-in in traffic to Malik Washington to set up Jason Sanders’ third field goal and give Miami a lead. 11 points ahead with 2:38 to go.

It was a little disappointing that the Dolphins gave up a late field goal, especially a 23-yard completion off the sideline against zone coverage, but that didn’t really matter as Duke Riley recovered the onside kick to get the win.

So the Dolphins moved to 3-6 on the season and are now just a game and a half out of seventh place in the AFC standings.