Here's what caught our eye during the Miami Dolphins' 24-16 Week 6 lo s game against the Minnesota Vikings Stadium on Sunday afternoon.-- Cornerback Xavien Howard is back in the lineup after mi sing the Jets game in Week 5, and that's clearly huge news given the talent the Vikings have at wide receiver with Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen.-- One last note on the inactive list involves Durham Smythe, who's probably the best run-blocking tight end on the roster and whose absence could mean (finally) a bigger role in this game for Mike Gesicki.FIRST QUARTER-- The defense pitched a three-and-out to start the game after Andrew Van Ginkel helped stuff Dalvin Cook for no gain on second-and-2 and tight coverage by Xavien Howard on Justin Jefferson forced an incomplete on third down after Kirk Cousins rolled out.-- The Dolphins avoided disaster on the ensuing punt after Jevon Holland made a bad choice and tried to catch a punt with a Vikings player on top of him. He muffed the punt, but Adoree' Jackson Jersey Jaelan Phillips was able to recover the fumble.-- The Dolphins' first offensive po se sion showed promise, but the pa s protection wasn't good enough and ended up short-circuiting it when Liam Eichenberg failed to pick up a twist up front on a third-down sack.-- Thompson was 3-for-5 on his first drive, including a dart over the middle good for 18 yards. There was another receiver in the vicinity and Thompson only knows who he his target was, but the end result was a great play.-- One of the incompletions was a batted pa s at the line.-- Thompson also converted a third-and-7 with a nifty 9-yard scramble after pre sure was collapsing the pocket.-- Tight end Hunter Long mi sed a block on Raheem Mostert's second run and the result was a 1-yard lo s.-- Good job by Justin Bethel catching Thomas Morstead's first punt at the Minnesota 6-yard line.-- Andrew Van Ginkel made another play on the Vikings' second drive, meeting Dalvin Cook at the line to force him to bounce the play outside, where he was pushed out of bounds by Jerome Baker.-- On third down, Trey Flowers got to Cousins in the end zone to force an incompletion on a play that easily could have been called intentional grounding.-- The next drive because with a 30-yard completion from Thompson to Jaylen Waddle running a deep cro ser and was followed by a 16-yard run outside by Mostert where Long this time got a good block at the line.-- After the drive got to a first-and-10 at the Minnesota 24-yard line, all hell broke loose with the Dolphins committing five penalties over the next seven plays.-- The most egregious was by center Connor Williams for being illegally downfield when he was nowhere near the play.-- Liam Eichenberg was flagged for holding to nullify a gorgeous completion by Thompson while he was rolling to his right.-- All the penalties left the Dolphins in a third-and-28 hole at the Taywan Taylor Jersey Vikings 42 and Tyreek Hill dropped Thompson's wide receiver screen when he tried to get running Delanie Walker Jersey before he caught the ball.-- And just before that, rookie Tanner Conner had another drop on a short pa s, his second drop in two weeks.-- The first quarter ended with back-to-back good plays by Xavien Howard, who had tight coverage on Adam Thielen on an incompletion, then pushed K.J. Osborn out of bounds after only a 3-yard pick-up.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The second quarter began with the Dolphins defense completing their third consecutive three-and-out when pre sure forced a quick throw into traffic by Cousins.--The offense then had a three-and-out after Thompson was incomplete on a deep pa s to Hill while he was double-coverage and then was hit by blitzing linebacker Jordan Hicks on third down.-- And because this is way things are going for the Dolphins right now, Thompson injured his right hand (po sibly thumb) on the play when he hit the helmet of a Vikings defender.-- Keion Cro sen came up with a great special teams play when he tackled returner Jalen Reagor after no gain after a 54-yard punt by Morstead.-- And the defense continued its great work, pitching a fourth straight three-and-out after Jaelan Phillips and Elandon Roberts took advantage of great coverage to split a sack of Cousins on second down.-- With Thompson now listed as questionable to return with a thumb injury, Teddy Bridgewater takes over at quarterback and on his second play throws a dart to Mike Gesicki over the middle for a 17-yard gain.-- But then would come six consecutive running plays, although the last probably Kamalei Correa Jersey wasn't planned because Bridgewater tripped over the foot of Robert Hunt as he was dropping back to pa s and that forced him to adjust and scramble. And then he gained 1 yard and took a hard shot on the tackle, a scary sight considering he's now the only QB left.-- Thanks to a couple of 7-yard runs by Mostert, the Dolphins were able to move into field goal range and took a 3-0 lead when Sanders nailed a 44-yard attempt.-- On the next play, the Dolphins finally allowed a first down on a 14-yard completion to Adam Thielen, but the problem there was the lower leg injury sustained by Nik Needham, who was carted off the field.Scroll to Continue-- Justin Jefferson later got his first reception when Howard played off him and Cousins hit him on a deep slant for 20 yards.-- The defense somehow lost Jefferson in coverage on third-and-6 from the Dolphins 26, leading to an easy catch-and-run to inside the 5, after which Cousins threw a 1-yard touchdown pa s to tight end Irv Smith Jr. off a play-action fake.-- The Dolphins got to start their next drive near the end of the first half in great field position after a 25-yard kickoff return by Mostert with a facemask penalty tacked on.-- The pa s protection continued to be an i sue, though, with Bridgewater hurried on first and second down before he finally had enough time on third down to connect with Hill for a 19-yard gain.-- The drive fizzled after that, though, before Jason Sanders mi sed a 52-yard field goal attempt with replays showing that Sanders' plant foot slipped before he made contact with the ball.-- The defense stepped up to make sure the mi s didn't hurt at the end of the half, with Elandon Roberts coming through untouched on first down to sack Cousins.-- The Dolphins went aggre sive after getting the ball at their 11 with 28 seconds left and things started off well enough with a 14-yard completion to Waddle, but on second down Waddle bobbled a pa s over the middle and the tip was picked off by Harrison Smith at the 40.-- And then on first down, Noah Igbinoghene lost track of the ball and held Adam Thielen A.J. Brown Jersey for a 20-yard DPI that set up Greg Joseph's 33-yard field goal to end the half.-- The second half began with a really disappointing effort when Mostert was stuffed for no gain on third-and-1 and then the Dolphins tried a little trickery by having up-back Clayton Fejedelem take the snap in pun
