I know it’s a new year and a clean slate, but the NFL season opener between the Miami Dolphins and Los Angeles Chargers, it’s where the Dolphins’ season began to turn sideways on offense in 2022. The Dolphins came into that Sunday night game red hot despite coming off a loss to the San Francisco 49ers. The Chargers were beaten up in the secondary and were one of the worst defenses against the run. It looked like a favorable match-up for the Dolphins, but that’s why they played the game. 

The Chargers defensive-minded head coach, Brandon Staley, devised a plan that confused Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and made an MVP candidate look like a quarterback in his first-ever start. Staley’s defensive backs pressed the speedy but less physical receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle to disrupt the timing on offense. Tagovailoa is a quarterback who throws in rhythm, but he was out of sync all game long, completing 10 of 28 passes for 145 yards. If you take away a 60-yard touchdown pass to Hill, the numbers are worse. Staley’s defense played a three-deep zone to take away the big passes, and outside of the Hill throw, his game plan was successful, and the press coverage on the outside took away the inside slant game.  

The Dolphins ran the ball 19 times for 92 yards, which is decent, but they didn’t run it enough. In fact, coach Mike McDaniel was totally outcoached in this game and didn’t make any adjustments to combat the press coverage or help his struggling quarterback. This game was the blueprint for defending this offense, and it worked. McDaniel’s lack of adjustments was an area of concern in his first year as head coach to go with getting the plays in a timely manner or not committing to the running game enough. That’s something Brian Flores and his staff did very well with the Dolphins.  

Now I know that Tagovailoa got hurt at the end of the year and missed the last three games of the season, including the playoffs, which sank the Dolphins’ offense. However, the Chargers game is where they showed how to defend the Dolphins high octane offense. It also exposed McDaniel as a first-year head coach.

Sunday will be a test for McDaniel on how he is growing as a head coach. I’m sure the Chargers will run some other wrinkles, but they are healthy on defense, unlike last year, which made it more disturbing that a bunch of backups had their way.  If year 2 in this offense is to show improvement, it starts Sunday, but it starts with our coach coming up with a plan B to combat what Staley will try to do again.  

The Chargers have an offense that can beat you in various ways, but I feel the Dolphins can contain that. I’m concerned about the offense and whether our head coach will adjust and commit more to the running game. To McDaniel’s credit, he has recognized his flaws. It’s a good sign for a coach to admit that he’s not perfect, needs to grow more, and takes the blame and responsibility for that. It starts on Sunday.Â