Mike McDaniel And The Offensive Players Have To Help Their QB
The Miami Dolphins are 1-2, and it looks like they will be on their 3rd different quarterback starting Monday Night against the Tennessee Titans. The season is not over, but the Dolphins must find a way to stay afloat and survive. The NFL is a marathon season, not a sprint. I don’t watch any talk shows or radio anymore because one week, your team is on top of the world, and then the next week, the sky is falling.
The Dolphins have to put it together. This team is too talented to let the season get away, and a win could go a long way to turning things around, especially with their quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, out of action.
It starts with head coach Mike McDaniel, who also calls the offensive plays, and Frank Smith, who does the game planning throughout the week. One of my biggest criticisms of McDaniel is his tendency to get away from the running game when the team falls behind early or not stick with it when they get a few runs. It drives me crazy. With the Dolphins having to start a backup quarterback for the foreseeable future, McDaniel has to scale back the passing game, treat his quarterback like a backup quarterback, and run the football more.
Look, Skylar Thompson didn’t help himself with his play last Sunday, and he looked lost and like a deer in headlights, but McDaniel has to help him out to take some pressure off of him.
The Dolphins had good field position throughout the game, and on one drive in Seattle territory inside the 35, they just got a couple of good runs; instead of sticking with it, he decided to throw, and because Thompson holds the ball too long, takes a sack and eventually out of field goal range. McDaniel has to understand Thompson isn’t Tagovailoa, who gets the ball out quickly, and that falls on him. He has some good running backs just run the football. I know the Dolphins fell behind 17-3 in the 1st quarter, but there is plenty of football left and there is no reason to abandon the running game.
McDaniel has to change that, especially with Tim Boyle and Tyler Huntley not being with the team for very long and still learning the offense. McDaniel was the running game coordinator with the San Francisco 49ers, and he has been inconsistent with it in his time with the Dolphins.
The Dolphins need their other offensive players to step up as well. When the ball is there to catch it and make a play catch it. The Durham Smythe drop in the end zone was a perfect example of this. Boyle couldn’t place the ball any better. Was it a tough catch? Yes, but it’s a catch you have to make in the NFL, and instead of cutting the lead to 17-10, the Dolphins ended up turning the ball over on downs and any chance of getting back in the game.
The Dolphins also had a drop from Tyreek Hill earlier in the game on a simple screen pass, and I don’t know if it would have gained significant yardage, but it could have gotten the Dolphins in a more manageable field goal range.
The offensive line has to block better. They must also get lined up correctly and not have silly false starts or penalties for illegal formation. Those were driving me nuts on Sunday, and I know the crowd noise was a factor, as well as the referees dictating the game, as evidenced by the 11 penalties called on each team. Holding is going to happen, but the line has to have better technique and block better to open up holes in the running game when McDaniel gets his head out of his butt and decides to run consistently, and gives time for their quarterback to throw.
The Dolphins led the league in scoring last year, and I’m not expecting that with backup quarterbacks. However, I’m expecting the offense to be functional, and that was not the case on Sunday. The quarterbacks have to play better, but their head coach and players around him have to step up even more now that Tagovailoa hasn’t been in there for a while.
The Dolphins can turn this around, but it will require a total team effort.
Great article….Everyone on the planet seems to agree with you but McDaniel. The only thing I question is yours (and a lot of other peoples) opinion that we are extremely talented. I think we are very top heavy from a talant standpoint, with a severe drop off after about 5 or 6 players. I tend to be analytical. PFF rates every player at every position. I would love to see each teams talant level based on the combined ratings of their starters. I bet Miami lies somewhere in the middle.