This Could Be a Turning Point

This Could Be a Turning Point

The Miami Dolphins sit at 0-2. Their offense has looked lost at times, the right side of their offensive line is shakier than expected, Tua Tagovailoa has been mediocre, and their running game has been all but non-existent. Their defense is one for the history books, but not in the way you’d like it to be.

They started the season off by allowing points on 13 straight drives, not including the end of the half, before finally recording a stop at the end of the third quarter on Sunday. 

Fingers are starting to get pointed, and head coach Mike McDaniel let his displeasure with the offensive execution at the end of the game be known during his post-game press conference. 

“That’s kind of where the frustration lies for me is it wasn’t deciding that cost us, or a late play call, which that happens at times.” he said. “But this was not one of those times. I got the play call in, but I need to do a better job supervising the orchestration within our multiple personnel groups. To win games, you have to win the game and not lose the game, honestly. And that is how you lose the game. You’re moving the ball down the field, you’re first-and-10, and then you find yourself at second-and-20. That was critical.”

While McDaniel puts the blame on the player’s execution, Tagovailoa had quibbles with the way that the information was shared between the coaches and players on the final drive. 

“That was really frustrating. It was frustrating with the communication, with the guys inside the huddle, and then what the personnel is, then the play for those guys,” he said. “Do we have too many guys in? Why do we have another guy running in? Just the whole operation of that was not up to standard, was not up to par, and I’ve got to do a better job with our guys in that sense.”

While both parties paid lip service to accountability, it was clear that there was a thinly veiled implication that they both felt like they were doing their jobs while the other was to blame for the disconnect. The most frustrating part about the entire affair is how close the game was to turning in Miami’s favor. After trailing all day, the Dolphins fought back to make it 23-20 when Malik Washington returned a punt 74 yards to the house, putting Miami ahead 27-23 for their first lead of the season.

Unfortunately, it was short-lived as on the ensuing kickoff, the Patriots’ Antonio Gibson had a 90-yard return of his own to put New England back up 30-27. After New England added a late field goal to push their lead to 33-27, the Dolphins caught a break when the kickoff went out of bounds.