An ignominious failure. A fiasco. A collapse. A Beating. A disaster. Take your pick, as they all describe Miami’s performance on Sunday in their 35-0 loss to the Buffalo Bills. If you are a Dolphins fan and for some reason didn’t catch the game, consider yourself lucky. It was a gruesome performance worthy of an expansion team.
One of the oddities of the game was if I told you the Fins held Bills QB Josh Allen to 179 yards on 17 for 33 passing, forced 2 Bills turnovers and won the time of possession battle, you would have expected a competitive game. Perhaps even a Dolphins win. But it was not to be. Not even close. And the reasons were plentiful.
If you had to point your finger at one thing as to why Miami lost this game, which would be a challenge considering how many things the Dolphins did poorly, the finger would clearly be pointing at the offensive line. Back in a July article I wrote I noted the #1 key for the Fins success this season would be the play of the O-line. After watching the putrid performance by the line on Sunday you witnessed first-hand what happens when you have poor line play.
Running the ball was bad enough (71 yards; 3.1 yards per carry), but the pass protection was beyond brutal. QB Tua Tagovailoa only played two series, but was sacked three times. He left the game in the 1st quarter after taking a shot to the ribs after throwing a pass and didn’t return. No word yet on the severity of the issue.
Jacoby Brissett replaced Tua and was under pressure the entire game. He was sacked three times and was running for his life on virtually every pass attempt. He had zero time to be able to look down field in hopes of making a big play, which I felt was one of the keys if Miami was going to have a chance to win this game. Brissett completed 24 passes, but for only 169 yards. A paltry 7 yards per reception.
Two things came to mind as I watched Tua & Brissett running for their lives the entire game. One, and this isn’t a surprise, Tua & Brissett, while having some mobility are no where near as mobile as the likes of the better QBs in the game (Allen, Kyler Murray, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mohomes & Justin Herbert). They just can’t make plays with their legs like those quarterbacks can. Having QBs with just average mobility in conjunction with poor pass protection is not a good combination.
And two, I wondered what a veteran QB like Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers would have done in regard to changing the play or the protection at the line of scrimmage. While the O-line bears the primary burden for the Bills heavy pass rush, some of the responsibility has to fall on the QBs and their inability to make changes to the play call prior to the snap.
But there was plenty of blame to go around in this debacle of a game, so here is what else what wrong in the game.
Dropped passes – I lost track at 5 with two of the drops being absolute killers. DeVante Parker dropped an easy TD in the endzone early in the game and Albert Wilson dropped a pass on the 3-yard line that would have given Miami a 1st down. Cornerback Xavien Howard also dropped an easy interception, although he did have a great interception earlier in the game.
Turnovers – Miami turned the ball over three times via interception, fumble and a muffed punt. The fumble by Jakeem Grant would have given Miami a 1st down in the red zone.
Penalties – The Dolphins during the Brian Flores era have been one of the least penalized teams in the NFL, but not on Sunday where they were penalized nine times for 83 yards.
4th down plays – 4 times Miami went for it on 4th down, which I didn’t have an issue with, but they came up empty all 4 times. In contrast, Buffalo was successful on its only 4th down attempt.
2nd half effort – Despite a poor 1st half, Miami was still in the game being down only 14 points. But in the 2nd half the offense only put up 71 total yards.
Red Zone efficiency – Miami was 0-3 in the in the Red Zone whereas Buffalo was 4-4.
In week 3 the Fins take on the 2-0 Raiders in Las Vegas, so they need to put this loss in the rear-view mirror. I’ll be very curious as to what adjustments Flores and the coaching staff make this week as Miami has looked like anything but a playoff team during its first 2 games.
I don’t see any way they can play the same 5 offensive linemen again. Left tackle Austin Jackson had a particularly poor game, so I think that is the first change you make. Maybe Liam Eichenberg (who played a lot of right tackle in the game) gets the start or perhaps they go with Greg Little and start Eichenberg at left guard. Stay tuned for updates out of practice starting on Wednesday.
