Dolphins down themselves with self-inflicted wounds ahead of potential Tua Tagovailoa return.
The Miami Dolphins have looked like a house of horrors on offense since Tua Tagovailoa’s latest concussion against the Buffalo Bills in week two. Sunday’s game was no different, as the team was only able to put 10 points on the board en route to a 16-10 loss to the Indianapolis Colts on the road.
At times in the first half, it felt like despite the team’s passing struggles, the Dolphins were in control of the game due to the defense’s dominance. They took a 10-3 lead into halftime even after giving up a late field goal.
The second half was a completely different story, however, as two third-quarter fumbles breathed new life into the Colts and their young quarterback, Anthony Richardson. More on those later.
The flaws on this team run deep. Deep enough, that a Tagovailoa return in week eight may not be enough to drag the South Florida franchise out of the deep hole they’ve dug for themselves.
GOOD
Miami’s rushing attack remains effective
If you’re the type of person who can find the silver-lining in every situation, first, I envy you. Second, you may be happy to know that the Dolphins’ rushing attack continued to get the job done (minus two VERY costly fumbles) against the Colts on Sunday.
The team rushed the ball 40 times for 188 yards — good for a 4.7 yards per carry average.
Second year back, De’Von Achane, led the attack — carrying the ball 15 times for 77 yards (5.1 yards per carry). Veteran Raheem Mostert added 11 carries for 50 yards (4.5 yards per carry) and rookie Jaylen Wright tacked on 5 totes for 33 yards (6.6 yards per carry).
If Miami can get things sorted through the air when Tagovailoa returns on Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals while maintaining their dominance on the ground, the offensive woes may be put in the rear-view mirror in short order.
BAD
Miami’s backup quarterback luck continues to be non-existent
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but the Dolphins lost another quarterback to injury on Sunday — this time as Tyler Huntley left the contest with a throwing shoulder ailment.
While Huntley wasn’t lighting the world on fire while he was on the field on Sunday — 7 completions on 13 attempts for 87 passing yards and a touchdown — he did throw one touchdown to tight end Jonnu Smith while earning a 100.5 passer rating. More importantly, he took most of the first team reps in the practices leading up to the game, so when backup quarterback (who is really the team’s fourth string signal-caller) Tim Boyle entered the contest, anything the Dolphins had gotten going on offense up until that point was rendered completely useless as the Colts realized Boyle had little-to-no familiarity with his teammates.
Boyle’s lack of skill — and embarrassing lack of situational awareness — reared its ugly head on Miami’s final drive. The team had nearly two minutes to put together a potential game-winning touchdown drive, yet Boyle’s propensity for dinking and dunking his passes to players who were roughly four to five yards downfield despite the team not having any timeouts at their disposal, doomed the Dolphins before they could even find themselves in a position to try for a Hail Mary heave.
UGLY
Two second-half fumbles keep Miami off the scoreboard while allowing Indianapolis to steal a victory
As mentioned previously, the Dolphins seemed to be in control of the game throughout the first half on Sunday against the Colts. Yet, during the second half, Dolphins ball carriers looked like they had soaked their gloves in melted butter during halftime as both Raheem Mostert and fullback Alec Ingold coughed up costly fumbles.
Mostert’s fumble came while the Dolphins were still on their own side of the field, and as a result, the Colts didn’t have a long way to go to score the game tying touchdown.
Conversely, Ingold’s gaffe occurred with Miami driving in for a go-ahead score later in that same quarter. At the Colts’ 15-yardline with roughly three minutes to go in the third quarter, Miami’s fullback was stuffed at the line of scrimmage on first down, but instead of just going down and living to fight another play, Ingold continued to push for yardage and a Colts defender stripped the ball from his grasp.
Miami never scored again.
___
The Dolphins have fallen to 2-4 on the season. All relevant reports have said Tua Tagovailoa will return in week eight against the Arizona Cardinals. What are your expectations for the team once that takes place? Do you think they can go on a run and make things interesting as the year unfolds? Let me know in the comments below or on Twitter at @MBrave13. Fins up!
