MIAMI — All eyes were on Quinn Ewers.

The rookie quarterback stepped into the starting role after coach Mike McDaniel benched Tua Tagovailoa due to Ewers’ ability to give “this team the best chance to win.”

Instead, it was the other Ohio State transfer in Joe Burrow who dominated Sunday’s contest, leading the Cincinnati Bengals to a lopsided 45-21 victory over the Miami Dolphins.

Burrow finished with 309 yards passing and four touchdowns. He added another 6 yards rushing on two carries. Another quantification of Burrow’s dominance can be seen in his number of incompletions, of which he had just seven.

Conversely, Ewers completed 72% of his passes for 228 yards to go along with two interceptions.

How did Ewers look?

The rookie quarterback didn’t look bad at first.

Through the first two quarters, Ewers had thrown just two incompletions to go along with 109 yards through the air. He hadn’t taken any sacks — something which he surprisingly maintained all day — and had led the Dolphins to two scoring drives.

He also didn't have a problem pushing the ball down the field.

Then reality hit in the third quarter. In arguably the most important quarter of the game, Ewers completed 38% of his passes for 35 yards and threw two picks, one of which was a bad read to say the least.

Although he did lead the Dolphins to another touchdown drive in the fourth quarter, it was little too late.

Achane’s heroics not enough to save the day

The star running back likely had the play of the day when he took a pitch 48 yards to the house.

De'Von Achane even set a pair of records, becoming the best rusher in Dolphins history through three seasons as well as the only player to score 35 touchdowns during that same span.

That, however, couldn’t help Miami as the Bengals pretty much contained him outside of that big rush. Achane accumulated 81 yards on 15 carries as well as added three catches for another nine. Remove that big run, however, and Achane’s stats — 14 attempts for 33 yards – look rather pedestrian.

Bengals receiver duo snaps

The Bengals might have the best receiver duo in the league in Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.

They certainly didn’t disappoint, combining for 12 catches and 162 yards. Joe Burrow got Higgins going first with a 35-yard shot that saw the 6-foot-4-inch receiver use every single bit of his frame to grab the ball over cornerback Jack Jones. He then punctuated that drive with a nine-yard, goal line fade.

Chase, meanwhile, did most of his damage in the short to intermediate range — though he did sky over two defenders to grab a 36-yarder in the third quarter.

Turnover battle doesn’t go their way

This had certainly been an area of concern with Tagovailoa who has thrown a league-high 15 picks.

Ewers, however, had a clean game through the first two quarters.

Everything changed in the third. On the Dolphins’ first drive, tight end Greg Dulcich coughed up the ball on third down that defensive end Myles Murphy eventually recovered. Then Ewers’ pass to Theo Wease Jr. bounced off of the receiver’s shoulder pads, popped up into the air and was snagged by linebacker Barrett Carter.

Another interception, this time courtesy of cornerback Jalen Davis, on the opening play of the Dolphins’ third drive.

The first two turnovers led to touchdowns from Bengals running back Chase Brown, who finished with 109 yards from scrimmage and a trio of touchdowns, while the third giveaway resulted in a Mike Gesicki end zone trip.

Another 3rd-quarter meltdown

Once again the Dolphins folded in the third quarter.

As previously mentioned, all three of the Dolphins’ turnovers led to scores. Keep in mind, the game was 17-14 prior to the Bengals’ 21-point outing in the third.

That means the Dolphins have been outscored by nearly 100 points — 113-17 — in the third quarter since the start of the season. Words cannot begin to express how terrible that number is.

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