Trying to Make Sense of a Couple of Decisions

The report that Mike McDaniel will continue as head coach of the Miami Dolphins at least through the end of the 2025 season came in the aftermath of some dubious decisions in the Thursday night loss against the Baltimore Ravens.

They were decisions that probably didn't have a major impact in the outcome of the 28-6 loss at Hard Rock Stadium, but they were egregious enough (from this vantage point) to mention in the hope they don't get repeated.

We're talking about the decision to defer after winning the coin toss and the decisions to have only two halfbacks in the game-day lineup.

While some play calls can be questioned on a weekly basis, we tend to stay away from criticizing those because it's awfully easy to play the results.

But the two non-play-call decisions mentioned above were bad, regardless of result.

TWO HALFBACKS ONE TOO FEW

The Dolphins went into the game against Baltimore coming off their best performance of the season in the rout of the Atlanta Falcons, and a key to the success was the running game and that was helped by the contributions of not only De'Von Achane and Ollie Gordon II but Jaylen Wright as well.

McDaniel talked during the week about how he liked the variety of looks he could throw at a defense with the three different styles of the running backs, and yet when the inactive list came out for the Baltimore game, Wright found himself out of the lineup.

Instead, the Dolphins had six wide receivers active, an unusually high number, particularly for a team coming off a game with 37 rushing attempts.

And when Gordon left the game with an ankle injury, the Dolphins were left with Achane and Achane only.

This is how McDaniel explained it after the game: "It was a tough one and there was both special teams and offensively, we had some guys that were nicked that up until this point we've had 'Von (De’Von Achane) and Ollie (Gordon II) have been pretty much able to stay healthy. As you guys know, I like having the three-back rotation. It's just something that we were a little nervous about from the other positions, specifically special teams, and our offensive skills. It's a numbers game that ended up – obviously if you can predict if a runner goes down, you wouldn't do that. Ollie was able to be back, but it's one of those numbers things that you have to work through each and every game."

Here's the problem with that explanation: The Dolphins didn't need six wide receivers, especially when three of them didn't play one snap on special teams.

Those three players were Jaylen Waddle, Cedrick Wilson Jr. and Tahj Washington. Obviously, Waddle needed to be in, but there is no way to justify both Wilson and Washington having to be in at the cost of the insurance and flexibility that Wright would have provided at running back. Between the two of them, Wilson and Washington played 23 snaps, and those easily could have been combined for just one player.

So moving forward, there's no reason to do this.

DO THE DEFER

The other major issue is more philosophical as opposed to game-specific, but why has McDaniel shifted his approach to elect to receive when the Dolphins win the toss.

The Dolphins first won the coin toss this season in Week 2 against the New England Patriots and elect to defer, but since then they've been consistent in electing to receive.

The Baltimore game marked the fourth consecutive time the Dolphins went that route after winning the coin toss, and the results haven't been good.

In those four opening drives against the Jets in Week 4, the Chargers in Week 6, the Falcons in Week 7 and the Ravens, the Dolphins have gotten two field goals, punted once and thrown an interception. That's a total of six points in those opening drives.

Conversely, the Dolphins have given up two touchdowns on the second-half opening drive of those games, against the Chargers and Ravens.

But this again isn't about the results.

The Dolphins simply don't have a dynamic offense anymore, so why the big need to get the ball first and lose the possibility of having the important double of a possession to end the first half and to start the second.

And another factor here is the Dolphins have been bad in the third quarter this season, worse than any other quarter.

After being outscored 14-0 by the Ravens, they're now at a deficit of 63-27 on the season. One would think McDaniel would want to limit the number of possessions the opponents have in the third quarter, and not giving them the ball first would be a good first step.

The Dolphins may not have lost against Baltimore because they elected to receive, but the fact remains the game started to get away from them when the Ravens took that second-half kickoff and drove downfield for a touchdown that increased their lead to 21-6.