It just gets worse, doesn’t it?
No matter how the roller coaster ride of a season starts for the Miami Dolphins, it has always ended the same in my lifetime.
In 2022, it hurt more than any other season since Marino.
Because the Miami Dolphins had a high-performing quarterback — Tua Tagovailoa — who was leading the league in major statistical categories and passing the eye test on Sundays, and that quarterback had real weapons — a future Hall of Famer in Tyreek Hill & a young stud in Jaylen Waddle.
He had the offensive line; he had the quality running backs; he had the coach in Mike McDaniel, that was giving him the support that he never had since he was drafted…
And somehow, after eight games, after the national media talked about this team being a serious playoff contender with a Superbowl-caliber offense… it all falls apart in a dramatic fashion.
And fans and local media can blame the defense all they want for faltering in the 4th quarters of recent games, but let’s be honest… the defense hasn’t been superb all year. They’ve had their issues, and despite the yards and points-per-game they allow, they have given the Dolphins offense plenty of chances to respond throughout this 5-game losing streak.
The real problem lies within the offense — with the quarterback many praised and defended and the head coach who came through with the promise of unleashing every ounce of “greatness” out of that quarterback (even if it was for eight games).
Tua has not been good for the majority of this losing streak. When a playoff run was on the line, and the Dolphins had to travel to face some of the big-boy teams and high-profile quarterbacks — he didn’t perform. He missed open receivers against the 49ers; he was statistically bad versus the Chargers, and despite having a good game versus the Bills, he failed to come through on the Fins’ final drive of the night.
Against the Packers, the Fins started the 2nd half with a lead and failed to score any points for the remainder of the game. Thanks to a missed field goal and three consecutive interceptions from a quarterback who entered that game with only 5.
(By the way, Tua had a chance to win that game on the Fins’ final drive again. Did he? No. He lasted two plays before throwing his final interception.)
And now Tua is in a concussion protocol that will foreseeably end his 3rd season unless Dolphins sneak into the playoffs. And another wave of public debate has sparked on whether or not he should even continue his NFL career as a quarterback.
McDaniel has failed to make the correct in-game adjustments at times during this skid. He refused to run the ball versus the porous Chargers’ defense. But he learned from that and brought the run game to Buffalo, but he couldn’t put in the right play-calls to convert 3rd & shorts to get the victory home to Miami before facing the Packers. He also couldn’t find a way to maximize Tyreek Hill or Jaylen Waddle versus a Patriots secondary that was missing 3 of their 4 starting defensive backs due to injuries.
McDaniel has also been terrible at deciding whether or not to challenge certain plays. And when he does decide, it seems he never wins.
His ultra-aggressive decision-making in game-time situations gets the team into trouble. For instance, the Dolphins took the lead against the Packers but then immediately kicked an onside kick that put the Packers nearly at midfield to start their next drive. There also have been multiple instances of Dolphins’ poor clock management before halves. And against the Patriots, the Dolphins had only one timeout left in the first half before the 1st quarter ended.
So the two faces of a season who were showing the most promise are now the ones who are disappointing and not coming through when the team needs it the most.
And that’s what is the dagger to the heart during this losing streak and the conclusion of the season.
It’s the once so-called genius head coach and the NFL’s highest-rated passer (yes, Tua stills holds onto that ranking), who were once so dependable in the first half of the season, and who seemed to have all the answers on game-day… don’t appear to have the answers or be the answers anymore.
Just another typical Miami Dolphins season where nothing is solved, and we end with more questions than answers.
And around and around we go. The circle of insanity starts again in 2023.
Ross’ biggest failure as owner has been his trust in Chris Grier. Ross doesn’t know anything about football so he needed someone to lean on and that someone was Chris Grier. Maybe he listened to other front office people from other teams (they always have your best interests in mind) telling him how good Grier was at his job and what a nice person he is. Whatever it was he picked the wrong person to trust in and it’s cost the team massively.
Until and only until this franchise is able to draft an elite quarterback we’ll keep seeing the same disappointing team year after year after year after year. Grier should be fired for the 2020 draft alone let alone all his other failures over his 22 years with the Dolphins. Even Ray Charles could see Grier is a bad GM/scout but Ross continues to hold onto him and that alone makes Ross a terrible owner. Some fans still believe in Tua and think he’s a good QB and my only response to that is they clearly need glasses and a reality check.
you admit that Ross is a terrible owner. I ask you, how is any player expected to succeed if it’s run by a poor front office?