The Miami Dolphins started the 2022 season under rookie head coach Mike McDaniel. In McDaniel’s first year, Miami’s offense had a top-five passing offense where it ranked fourth in total passing yards, 12th in passing attempts, seventh in passing first downs, and first in yards per attempt. You could say that Miami was a modern-day, pass-heavy offense with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa under center.

However, that wasn’t the case when it came to running the ball. Miami was ranked 31st in rushing attempts for the year while collecting the 25th most rushing yards. Before Mike McDaniel’s time in Miami began, Mike was known around the league as an “offensive genius” and a “run game guru.”

So why isn’t that the case here in Miami? Well, although Miami was ranked bottom half of the league in terms of rushing. Depending on who you ask, our running backs were still able to find some success in their limited roles. Lead back Raheem Mostert carried the ball just 181 times. In those 181 attempts, Mostert collected a team-high 891 rushing yards (4.9 ypc) with three touchdowns. Newly acquired Jeff Wilson Jr carried the ball a total of 84 times for 392 yards (4.7 ypc) and three touchdowns in his eight games with Miami. Salvon Ahmed saw just 12 carries for 64 yards (5.3 ypc) and one touchdown.

Overall, the numbers might not wow you or scare an opposing rush defense. But, if you look at each running backs yards per carry (ypc) average, you’d see that each running back is averaging around five yards on each attempt. Five yards per carry is pretty elite stuff for any running back in the league.

If Mike McDaniel wants to raise his offense to another level, he will need to run the ball more. The lack of production was far from Miami’s running game problems. In fact, the problem with the run game was the lack of rushing attempts per game. Miami was a quick-scoring offense, as the passing game seemed to see chunk gain after chunk gain to move the ball down the field. When those chunk gains weren’t there, the offense stalled with the lack of rushing attempts per drive. I truly believe that if McDaniel puts the ball in any of his three feature backs’ hands more often, the offense could become an even more lethal and scary offense for opposing defenses.