Things we learned in the Miami Dolphins’ win over the Las Vegas Raiders

A win cures all, and silences any quarterback drama that might be brewing.

Here are the South Florida Sun Sentinel’s takeaways from Miami’s 10th win of the season:

Dolphins’ season has been a success

Myles Gaskin shines in his return

Gaskin didn’t start Saturday night’s game, which was his return from the COVID-19 list. Salvon Ahmed, who produced his first 100-yard rushing performance last week, started his fourth game of the season. But Gaskin shined when he came into the game and the Dolphins stuck with the hot hand. Gaskin’s 87-yard rushing performance on 14 carries and his 82 yards on five receptions shows he deserves to remain Miami’s starter.

Dolphins won — but they were out coached

For the first time this season one of Miami’s opponents rushed three defenders against Tagovailoa and dropped eight into coverage regularly. The defensive package confused the Dolphins because players were rarely open, and the Raiders kept Miami’s offense off balance all game with the approach. Complicating things was the fact the Dolphins don’t have all their arsenal of playmakers. The offense didn’t improve until Fitzpatrick took over late in the fourth quarter.

Andrew Van Ginkel was impactful

Van Ginkel, a 2019 fifth-round pick, has been a pleasant surprise all season. The former Wisconsin standout has a habit of being around the ball all the time, and during Saturday’s game he transitioned to becoming a playmaker. Van Ginkel finished the game with seven tackles, two sacks and broke up one pass. While the linebacker’s edge setting still needs to improve, Van Ginkel has a knack for being around the ball.

Ryan Fitzpatrick is Miami’s reliever

Byron Jones makes costly mistakes

Byron Jones has been victimized by big plays all season, but none were more costly than the two errors he made in the second half of Saturday’s game. The 85-yard touchdown the cornerback allowed late in the fourth quarter when the game was tied, 16-16, was huge. The score put the Raiders ahead, 22-16, with 3:37 left in the game. What’s extremely disappointing about that critical score was safety Bobby McCain’s role in it considering he failed to make a tackle, allowing the score. Later in the fourth quarter, Jones was called for pass interference and that produced a field goal.

Robert Hunt was bulldozing Raiders defenders

The Dolphins used this season to invest in their rookie offensive linemen. Even though Hunt, who began the season as a reserve, had the slowest start of the three linemen selected early in the 2020 NFL draft, he’s been the best of late. Hunt, who made his 10th start at right tackle for the Dolphins, was dominant on second-level blocks.

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Dolphins finally deliver on a trick play

The Dolphins have had two trick plays on special teams called back this season for pre-snap issues that led to penalties, so few were expecting Miami to run a fake punt or field goal vs. the Raiders. But that’s exactly what the Dolphins did, having safety Clayton Fedejelem take a direct snap and run it 22 yards up the field to covert a fourth down.

Eric Rowe struggles against Darren Waller

Rowe has done a phenomenal job covering tight ends one-on-one this season with few exceptions. Kansas City’s Travis Kelce was the first exception, and the Raiders’ Waller was the second. Rowe was responsible for defending both with little to no help, and that was a bad idea because Waller caught 5-of-6 passes thrown his way, contributing 112 receiving yards.

One-year deals can be dangerous for players

Elandon Robert’s injury shows why one-year, tryout deals in the NFL can be a dangerous venture for players. It appears Roberts injured his right knee in the second half. If it’s a serious injury, Roberts could be entering free agency with major rehabilitation ahead of him. That will almost certainly limit the 26-year-old linebacker’s market because teams rarely give decent salaries to players coming off of serious injuries.