Dolphins lose a golden opportunity to keep the ship afloat in their last game without Tua Tagovailoa.
With the impending return of Tua Tagovailoa, the Miami Dolphins loss to the Indianapolis Colts felt like an appropriate conclusion to the last four-game stretch.
The 16-10 loss to the Colts was filled with self-inflicted turnovers and penalties, not to mention poor play calling on third and short, and the disconnect between quarterback and receivers in a timing and rhythm based offense. The same issues have plagued the Dolphins in Tagovailoa’s absence.
In a game where the Dolphins were up a touchdown with possession in the second half somehow turned into another embarrassing loss.
There’s blame to be shared here, but there are also passes to be handed out. The defense gave up only sixteen points so they would escape accusations. The offensive line, outside of a few penalties, played well, and Miami’s high-powered receivers can’t throw the ball to themselves.
So who’s left? Like in previous losses, it starts from the top down.
Same Problems, Just a Different Sunday
This loss is not a team loss, let’s just start there. Positive plays were made on both sides of the ball. Jonnu Smith balled out, Jaylen Wright looked explosive in his limited snaps, and both quarterbacks that played looked decent enough to win outside of Tim Boyle’s airhead decision to chuck the ball out of bounds on fourth down to end the game.
The offensive line had a solid performance while the defense held the Colts to just one touchdown. Both units did enough to win.
Outside of that, here are the lowlights:
- The Dolphins were in control in the first half and got the ball back in the third quarter after another stop by the defense. First play, Raheem Mostert fumbles. With a short field, the Colts scored four plays later. Tie game and momentum shift.
- As soon as the Dolphins got cooking again, Alec Ingold got stuffed and fumbled in the red zone. This is the same drive where Jaylen Wright was tearing up the Colts’ defense. Mike McDaniel got away from him and gave it to Ingold. Absolute backbreaker.
- From there, the offense fluttered while the defense kept the Colts within a field goal. The next time the offense started driving, it got stifled by the same obvious third and short fullback dive play call. It worked a few times, and now it seems to be McDaniel’s go-to call on third and short.
- The problem is that teams watch tape and the Colts saw it coming. This was also on a drive where Tim Boyle had somewhat of a hot hand. McDaniel went away from it, which seems to be a problem that keeps rearing its head, and left it in Jason Sanders’ hands to kick a 54-yard field goal.
- Maybe McDaniel doesn’t watch Sanders kick in the game, but he’s always good for one miss a game, and right on cue, he doinks it off the goal post, stopping all momentum Miami generated.
- Indianapolis goes on to kick another field goal and run the clock down. The Dolphins had one shot to score a touchdown with 1:50 left and no timeouts due to a timeout being burned earlier in the half and the other two being used on defense to get the ball back.
- It was a task Tim Boyle could not hope to accomplish, and the cherry on top was him throwing the ball on fourth down five yards out of bounds as if he didn’t know what down it was. A fitting end to a nightmare stretch of games on offense.
Who Gets the Blame?
It’s easy to blame the loss on the quarterback. They touch the ball every offensive snap, and both Huntley and Boyle are in their first year of the system, so can you blame them?
Blame the guys at the top who put three years into Skylar Thompson, who didn’t pan out, and cut Mike White to save pennies. It’s hindsight, but he could’ve given the Dolphins a legit shot to win all of the past four games.
We could give some considerable blame toward Mostert and Ingold for their fumbles, and both were critical. Even with those fumbles, shouldn’t you be able to muster up more than 10 points? The Washington Commanders just dropped 40 with Marcus Mariota at quarterback. Five drives ended with a punt and one that resulted in a missed field goal.
I would be the first to blame Sanders, but he’s a known commodity. Management has to make a change at the position if it’s inconsistent. 71% is not going to get it done in the NFL. Nothing has changed, and no one has taken real accountability.
Mike McDaniel can say it’s on him all he wants, but what’s changed? He still calls the plays, hasn’t benched players who routinely get penalized, or cut a kicker who’s unable to go a game without a missed field goal.
I sound like a broken record blaming the guys at the top, but this team was filled with injury-prone players who are dropping like flies again.
Once you get over that problem, the team constantly shoots themselves in the foot without the worry of consequences.
It’s something that needs to be addressed and fixed because as intregal as Tua Tagovailoa is to the operation, he can’t fix all these problems alone.
Let us know in the comments who you think deserves the most blame for the loss to the Indianapolis Colts.
