Why the Dolphins' Running Game Burst is Sustainable

The Miami Dolphins’ offense has undergone an extensive evolutionary process this season. 

A unit once known for living off explosive passing plays and speed has become committed to running the ball, winning with physicality, and abandoning several key principles that drove the team’s success in 2022 and 2023. 

That change has allowed the Dolphins to climb out of the NFL gutter and into “the hunt” by winning four of their last five games after starting 1-6. 

Miami has run for at least 160 yards in three straight games, its longest streak since 2002. This change does pose a few questions, though. 

How sustainable is Miami’s rushing production? How much credit does Mike McDaniel deserve, given questions about his job security? Should the Dolphins have always been this run-first team? 

Let’s get into it. 

How Sustainable Is Miami’s Run Game Dominance?

The answer to this question comes down to how literal you want to be about it. It’s incredibly unlikely that Miami runs for 160 yards every week simply because that is hard to do for any team. 

The other reason is that Miami has played some of the NFL’s worst run defenses in recent weeks. The team’s last three opponents — the Bills, Commanders, and Saints — rank 30th, 27th, and 20th in rushing yards allowed, respectively. 

Those teams have been gashed by just about everyone this year, and the Dolphins’ schedule does get harder after playing the Jets this weekend. Miami’s final four opponents — the Steelers, Bengals, Buccaneers, and Patriots — rank 17th, 32nd, 6th, and 5th. 

Cincinnati shouldn’t pose much of a challenge, but the other three teams are at least a step up from what Miami has seen recently. 

While it’s absolutely fair to expect some level of regression, the spirit of the question is really: Can the Dolphins sustain a highly effective running game? 

The answer to that question is a resounding yes. The main reason is that Miami has excellent run-game personnel and has finally diversified its scheme. De’Von Achane is having a career year, most of the Dolphins’ offensive linemen are better run blockers than pass blockers, and perimeter blockers (like Julian Hill) are playing well. 

As for the run-game diversity front, the Dolphins still love outside zone, but they’ve incorporated concepts like duo and counter, while using unique formations to get to outside run-game staples like crack-toss. 

They’ve also added a jumbo package featuring Daniel Brunskill at tight end, giving defenses another problem to solve. 

All of that brings us to our next question… 

How Much Credit Does Mike McDaniel Deserve? 

When the Dolphins hired McDaniel, he was billed as a running game genius from his time with the San Francisco 49ers. And when he first arrived in Miami, his idea to pair vertical speed at receiver with horizontal speed in the backfield worked well. 

However, teams caught up to Miami’s outside-zone heavy approach at the end of 2023, and that carried over into most of the 2024 season. 

McDaniel banged his head against the same brick wall all of last season, and the 2025 season started in a pretty similar fashion. 

As we covered above, the Dolphins have finally become a run-first team, and McDaniel has varied the concepts and looks he runs to help keep defenses off balance. 

He does deserve credit for that, and we’re not here to say that he doesn’t. What’s so hard to accept is how long it took him to make some real adjustments. 

McDaniel tried to make some adjustments at the start of the season by using heavier personnel (more tight ends). However, Darren Waller’s summer injury forced Tanner Conner into that role. 

Once McDaniel saw Conner struggle in that role against the Indianapolis Colts, he abandoned it until Waller returned to action. At that point, it was clear the Dolphins had the right idea, but the commitment to the running game wasn’t there. 

Then came Tyreek Hill’s injury against the New York Jets, robbing the Dolphins of the receiver duo that was the driving force of the entire offense. 

Miami barely ran the ball against the Carolina Panthers the following week, found some traction against the L.A. Chargers, and then only ran the ball 22 times against the Cleveland Browns in a wet, rainy game that should have featured a lot more running. 

That game also saw Waller land on injured reserve, forcing McDaniel to ask some hard questions. Then, against the Atlanta Falcons, we finally saw the Brunskill package and more diverse run calls. 

McDaniel’s adjustments since Week 8 have worked wonders, but it doesn’t feel like he made those adjustments because he wanted to, but instead because he had to. 

Tua Tagovailoa has regressed, and the receiver room lacks real depth without Hill. 

So how much credit does McDaniel deserve? A decent bit, but also it’s incredibly strange that a former run-game coordinator had to hit rock bottom before making the switch. 

Should the Dolphins Have Always Been This Run-First Team? 

This question is closely related to our previous question.

Obviously, we believe the Dolphins should have tried to become more physical and diverse in the running game way earlier than halfway through a season that started 1-6 in year four with McDaniel. 

The question isn’t if the Dolphins should have implemented some adjustments sooner, but how much sooner. 

We’d argue that change should have come during the 2023 offseason. Miami ended that season with a wild-card loss to the Kansas City Chiefs that exemplified how limited its offense truly was. 

Yes, the weather in that game was brutal, but those are the types of games where you could use a more physical running game — not one solely reliant on speed and finesse. 

That said, Miami’s running game numbers from 2023 were exceptionally good, and the team was coming off its best season in quite a while. So, while this writer was talking about making those changes then, it’s understandable why a team with Jaylen Waddle, Tyreek Hill and De’Von Achane didn’t do it right away. 

However, there is just no excuse for more experimentation during the 2024 season. The Dolphins had a good stretch of running ball from Week 5 to 9, but completely bottomed out from Weeks 10 to 15. 

Miami’s rushing attack dropped from 6th in 2023 to 21st in 2024. Somewhere in that decline, the team needed to pivot away from the heavy passing attack — despite having Hill, Waddle and Achane — and into a different approach. 

Is the Pivot Too Little Too Late? 

While it’s been awesome to see the Dolphins make some tangible changes, it’s fair to question how much it’ll truly matter. 

Despite the team winning some games recently, their playoff odds still sit at roughly 1%, depending on what model you use. The team’s inconsistent offense is somewhat responsible for last year’s disappointing finish and this year’s disappointing start. 

Those results led to the team parting ways with General Manager Chris Grier, and have put McDaniel on the hot seat. 

McDaniel could return next season, but if Miami misses the playoffs and McDaniel gets fired, none of this progress will matter a ton. A new head coach and GM will bring in their own players and philosophy — the new-look offense will just be a footnote in McDaniel’s tenure. 

Ultimately, we’ll have to wait and see if this change means anything for the future. But one thing is for sure: it’s helping the Dolphins in the present.