There’s No Easy Path Through the Dolphins’ Situation
Credit: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images
One of the five stages of grieving is bargaining. Chances are, you were one of the many Miami Dolphins fans in the bargaining stage of grief over Tua Tagovailoa‘s absence. “Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle are such great weapons that they should be OK,” you may have thought. “Mike McDaniel’s a genius and can find a way to orient the offense around the run game.” “This team is talented enough to make the playoffs, and they’ve had 10 days to prepare for the Seattle Seahawks.”
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to rationalize why the Dolphins will still be OK. I’ll even do it now: What can Tyler Huntley do with this offense once it’s up to speed? It’s natural. You aren’t dumb for trying to negotiate a way out of Miami’s situation.
Again, you’re not dumb for thinking those thoughts. But boy, did you feel dumb when Miami went into Seattle with hopes for an upset win and left with a 24-3 loss and one less quarterback after Skylar Thompson left the game with a chest injury.
It’s gone. The rationalization, the cope, and the hope that the Dolphins could stay afloat without Tua, out the window. Maybe that’s an overreaction, but it’s at least one that’s backed up by the display Miami put on in, admittedly, a tough game on the road.
Why wouldn’t you think that Hill, the No. 1 player in the NFL’s Top-100, would be able to at least get his without Tagovailoa under center? But without No. 1 throwing the ball, Hill was far from being No. 1. Maybe that’s not fair, since he led the Dolphins with 40 receiving yards on three catches. But if that’s a superhuman accomplishment with Hill and Tim Boyle slinging the rock, Miami’s got a lot of problems. Waddle was arguably worse, with four catches totaling 26 yards.
The belief that McDaniel would be able to change up the Dolphins’ offense to build off their strong ground game was also disproven on Sunday. Miami ran 50 plays from scrimmage. 18 were runs, 32 were passes. Granted, most teams are going to air it out after going down 17-3 in the first quarter, but even before then, McDaniel called more passing plays (seven) than running (four). We’re just never gonna see a run-first Dolphins team, are we?
And with the backs not able to get in any sort of rhythm, the running game didn’t do that much to make them seem like an attractive alternative to throwing. De’Von Achane got fed 11 carries and mustered just 30 yards out of them (though he did add three catches for 28 yards). If there’s any room for second-guessing, we can ask why he didn’t find more ways to get Jaylen Wright (two carries, 17 yards) or Jeff Wilson Jr. (three carries, 14 yards) some more touches.
The Dolphins just couldn’t get anything going all day, and the worst part is, this was a very beatable Seahawks team Miami saw on Sunday. D.K. Metcalf showed up with his usual star performance, and Geno Smith may have gotten 289 yards on the day, but Seattle wasn’t exactly a juggernaut. They made mistakes, with Smith throwing two interceptions. You’d be happy that the Dolphins won the turnover battle… except they protected the ball by essentially doing nothing with it at all — even when they got the ball at the Seahawks’ 6-yard line.
Seattle was also vulnerable on special teams. A missed field goal gave the Dolphins the ball near midfield, which was harmlessly punted away five plays later. One drive later, Seattle allowed Braxton Berrios to spring for a 44-yard punt return, giving the Dolphins the ball at midfield again. The Dolphins took this advantage and turned it into minus-29 yards on the back of four penalties. This wasn’t coming into a hostile environment and being overwhelmed by a tough home team. Instead, the Seahawks were a team that tried to give away the game multiple times, but Miami was incapable of doing so.
We don’t want to overreact to one game, but the thought that the Dolphins can be fine without Tagavailoa is extinguished until further notice. As much as we want to say “Well, maybe they can get some home cooking with Huntley starting against an 0-3 Tennessee Titans team,” we have to force ourselves to stop. We’d be bargaining again, and at least for right now, there’s no negotiating out of this nightmare.
Up Next