What if Jakeem Grant does not drop a 20-yard pass on 3rddown on the opening drive?

Miami faced a 3rdand 9 on the opening drive of Sunday’s ball game. Tua Tagovailoa delivered a beautiful pass to Jakeem Grant around mid-field, but Grant dropped the ball. Dropped passes were a theme against the Chiefs, and Grant’s drop ultimately ended hope on the game’s opening drive. With the ball at the 50-yard line, Miami could have turned their first possession into at-least 3 points.

 

What if Jason Sanders makes a 45-yard field goal?

Jason Sanders, who has been automatic this season, chose a bad time to miss his second field goal of the season. With a chance to go up 3-0 early on, Sanders pushed his first field goal attempt wide right. Sanders might have been thrown off when a Chiefs special teamer came close to blocking the kick, but he is still expected to make it. Whenever you play arguably the best team in the league, every point is crucial.

 

What if DeVante Parker catches a TD pass?

Already up 7-0 on the defending Super Bowl champions, Tua and the Dolphins had a golden opportunity to go up two scores. On a 3rdand 6 from Kansas City’s 13-yard line, Tua floated a perfectly thrown ball to DeVante Parker in the back of the end zone. Parker, who usually comes down with 50/50 balls, let this pass slip right off his fingertips. After reviewing the play, Tagovailoa missed a wide-open Jakeem Grant streaking across the middle of the field who would have had a walk-in touchdown. Nonetheless, Parker has to come down with the pass, and yet again, Miami left 4 points on the scoreboard after Jason Sanders connected on a short field goal.

What if Bobby McCain does not get hurt…twice?

A very underrated player on Miami’s explosive defense is Bobby McCain. Before the matchup against the Chiefs, McCain had only missed one tackle this entire season, ranked #1 among all safeties. McCain is the last line of defense and usually stops big plays from happening. In the second quarter of Sunday’s game, referees made McCain come off the field to get evaluated for a concussion. On the very next play, Patrick Mahomes handed the ball off to a sweeping Tyreek Hill, who outran every Miami defender on his way to the end zone. On Hill’s first touch of the game, he scooted around both of Miami’s safeties. Later in the game, McCain was forced to leave the game again due to an ankle injury. A few plays later, it was Tyreek Hill who got loose again. This time, Mahomes connected on a 44-yard touchdown pass to Hill, who beat McCain’s replacement, Clayton Fejedelem. Mahomes and the Chiefs took advantage of Miami’s back-up safeties and were able to get 14 points out of it.

 

What if Miami could have scored at the end of the first half?

Tagovailoa and the Dolphins were given 37 seconds at the end of the first half to score. After two passes, Miami had a 2ndand 1 at the 50-yard line with 27 seconds left. With enough time for another reception and a quick spike to stop the clock, the Dolphins could have had a more than a makeable field-goal attempt for Jason Sanders. Instead, Tua held the ball too long and was sacked by Chris Jones for an 8-yard loss. After the sack, the Dolphins elected to let the clock run out and go into the locker room down 14-10. Yet again, Miami left a possible 3 points on the field.

 

What if the refs call a holding penalty on Mecole Hardman’s punt return TD?

After the 44-yard touchdown pass to Tyreek Hill, the Dolphins found themselves down 20-10 early in the third quarter. After a quick three-and-out, Matt Haack punted Mecole Hardman, who returned it 67-yards for a touchdown. It would be the Chiefs’ second touchdown in 1 minute and 2 seconds of game-time. Not only was this the turning point in the game, but it also should not have counted. Miami’s gunner was clearly held and ripped down to the turf by a Kansas City special teamer. That would have erased 7-points from the scoreboard and also set the Chiefs back 10-yards from the penalty. It’s unfair to say Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs would not have scored on that drive anyway, but to give a team of that caliber 7-points is unfortunate for Miami.

What if Tua throws the ball away and does not take safety?

Mid-way through the third quarter, Byron Jones forced a Kansas City fumble in the red zone, which was recovered by Kamu Grugier-Hill. Two plays later, Tua dropped back in his own end zone and held the ball too long again. At the end of the first half, Chris Jones sacked Tagovailoa for a safety, making the score 30-10. Some criticism on Tua has been the amount of time he holds on to the ball and how he needs to throw the ball away more. Some could say that Tua’s rookie mistakes cost the Dolphins 5 points against the Chiefs.

 

What if Miami went more no-huddle offense?

In the second half of the Bengals game, Tua and the offense looked much improved when the team went no-huddle. The Dolphins flirted with the no-huddle offense throughout the game, but it was not until the fourth quarter when Miami was forced to go no-huddle exclusively. Tua threw for 150-yards, 1 TD, and 1 rushing TD in the fourth quarter alone. There is no secret that Tua is his best when he is not thinking and plays. I believe the Dolphins psyched themselves out by not electing to go to the no-huddle offense more on Sunday. There was no secret that the Chiefs were game planning against Miami’s no-huddle, but it still seemed to work the entire fourth quarter. The Dolphins moved the ball with ease and scored 17 points. The no-huddle offense caters to Tagovailoa’s strengths and should be a staple of Miami’s game.

 

What if Xavien Howard does not have a facemask penalty on the final drive?

Up by 6, the Chiefs got the ball with 4:15 left in the game. On the second play of the drive, Mahomes completed an 11-yard pass to Clyde Edwards-Helaire. On the play, Xavien Howard committed a 15-yard facemask penalty. After the Dolphins forced the Chiefs into a 4thand 1 from the 40-yard line, Kansas City was forced into a tough decision to go for it. You could only speculate what the Chiefs would have done if they were at the 45-yard line on the other side of the field. The Dolphins could very well have forced a punt and got the ball back with 3 minutes left and a chance to win the game.

What if the Dolphins stop the Chiefs on 4thand 1 with 2 minutes left?

To go along with the play above, Miami still had a chance to win the game late in the fourth quarter. After a few stops and stopping the clock with timeouts, the Dolphins’ defense was asked to stand tall again. It was 4thand 1 with 2:31 left in the game. Kansas City called a timeout to dial-up a play to basically put the game on ice. Mahomes connected with Tyreek Hill on a 22-yard play to set up what would be a Harrison Butker 46-yard field goal. Miami’s most effective player on 4thdowns this year has been Elandon Roberts, who did not play on Sunday. Either way, the Chiefs elected not to run the ball and trusted Mahomes and company to get the job done. With the way Miami’s offense was rolling, it is not crazy to think Miami would have won the game if they could make the 4thdown stand.

 

The Miami Dolphins showed great resilience on Sunday against the Chiefs. After a surprising 10-0 start to the game, Miami fell behind 20-points very quickly in the second half. Dolphins’ teams of the past would have just rolled over and lost the game by 30-points. Brian Flores’ team chose to continue to fight and almost pulled off an extraordinary comeback. There are no moral victories in sports, but week 14’s game seemed like a great stepping-stone for this franchise. The biggest story of week 14 was that Miami left too many points on the field and did not capitalize on Kansas City’s 4 turnovers. The other story is the offense is lacking weapons and is limited to what they can do. Tua Tagovailoa threw for a career-high 316 yards, 2 TD’s, and 1 rushing TD, and one could argue he outplayed the Super Bowl MVP, Patrick Mahomes. Tua was down DeVante Parker, Jakeem Grant, Mike Gesicki, Myles Gaskin, Ereck Flowers, and Austin Jackson at times on Sunday and was still able to produce at a high level. The last reason for hope for Miami is that their defense is elite. The Dolphins defense picked off Patrick Mahomes 3 times on Sunday, forced a fumble, and sacked the QB 3 times. Mahomes had only thrown two interceptions all season until he met with Miami. Xavien Howard extended his interception streak to 5 games and leads the NFL with 9. The defense has now forced a turnover in 19 straight games, ranking #1 in the league. They also held Kansas City’s offense to 24 points, which was more than enough to win the game. There is a lot to be excited about if you are a fan of the Dolphins. The 2020 Dolphins still have every opportunity to make the postseason and must take care of business one week at a time. With more experience, more weapons, and more time in the system, this team will be closer to its goal, the Super Bowl.

 

BE SURE TO FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK:  CLICK HERE 

BE SURE TO FOLLOW US ON TWITTER:  CLICK HERE

BE SURE TO FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM: CLICK HERE