The Good, Bad & Ugly from the Miami Dolphins Week 1 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars

Dolphins complete the comeback against Trevor Lawrence and Jaguars.

The Miami Dolphins hosted the Jacksonville Jaguars at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida for week one of the NFL regular season, and they treated fans to a near heart-stopping victory courtesy of a 52-yard field goal off of the right foot of kicker Jason Sanders as time expired!

It wasn’t quite the offensive explosion that some fans expected heading into this one — at least in the first half — but ugly wins count the same in the standings as 70-point offensive outputs, and the Dolphins got themselves a victory to keep pace with the New England Patriots, who defeated the Cincinnati Bengals, and the Buffalo Bills, who defeated the Arizona Cardinals, in the AFC East.

The start of the season means the return of my longstanding column on The Phinsider — Good, Bad and Ugly — so let’s sit back, relax, and reminisce about an exciting opening day victory!

GOOD

Miami’s defense tightens its bootstraps during second half; blanking Jaguars offense

The Miami Dolphins acquired a new defensive coordinator this offseason after parting ways with Vic Fangio and hiring former Baltimore Ravens defensive assistant Anthony Weaver.

During the first half of Miami’s week one win, things weren’t going so well for the Dolphins new-look unit. The Jaguars put up 17 first half points, while clearly having their way with Weaver’s group.

Well, halftime adjustments were obviously made, as the Dolphins allowed zero, zip, zilch, nada, diddly-squat (that one is my favorite) on the scoreboard during the entire second half against Jacksonville.

At one point in the third quarter, it looked like the Jaguars were about to go up by 17 points with a near touchdown run by Jaguars running back Travis Etienne, however Dolphins safety Jevon Holland, displaying heroic effort, punched the ball loose before the runner crossed the goalline and cornerback Kader Kohou recovered the fumbled ball in the endzone, giving Miami’s offense possession. An 80-yard touchdown bomb to wide receiver Tyreek Hill narrowed the gap to three points just one play later.

BAD

Dolphins starting guards leave more to be desired despite victory

For what feels like an eternity, Dolphins fans have been concerned — or downright terrified — by the team’s offensive line, specifically, the starting guards. During their week one victory, Miami started Robert Jones at left guard and Liam Eichenberg at right guard.

For most of the game, there were muddy pockets for quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, and zero running lanes inside for running backs Raheem Mostert and De’Von Achane. In fact, Tagovailoa was sacked three times while Mostert tallied just nine yards on six carries (1.5 yards per carry) and Achane only mustered 24 yards on 10 carries (2.4 yards per carry). Late in the contest, Jeff Wilson Jr. came into the game and the team did find some push on the ground as Wilson carried the ball five times for 26 yards (5.2 yards per carry).

If the Dolphins want to replicate their rushing success from last year as the season progresses, they’ll need far better performances from Jones and Eichenberg at the starting guard spots.

UGLY

Three years into Mike McDaniel’s tenure, team still burning timeouts due to late playcalls

When you’re a rookie head coach and first-time play caller, you’re given some grace when it comes to operational things like playcalls taking too long to get to the offensive huddle.

When you’re a second-year head coach and second-year play caller, fans expect better, but still understand when things aren’t perfect.

Well, when it’s your third year in both roles, patience runs thin when those operational things aren’t corrected.

On Sunday against the Jaguars, the Dolphins were still finding themselves with less than five seconds on the clock after breaking the huddle and getting to the line of scrimmage. As a result, Miami burned not one, not two, but three timeouts during the course of the ballgame due to late playcalls.

Those wasted timeouts didn’t come back to haunt the Dolphins in week one, but we’d be foolish to think that they won’t have a negative effect on the club as the 2024 season rolls along. Hopefully, somehow, Mike McDaniel can address this issue for good sometime soon.

___

The Dolphins got their first victory of the 2024 season on Sunday with a 20-17 defeat of the Jacksonville Jaguars. What do you think the team needs to work on the most during the short week ahead of their tilt against the Buffalo Bills on Thursday? Do you think they can clean some things up and play a complete game against the reigning AFC East champs? Let me know in the comments below or on Twitter at @MBrave13. Fins up!