The Miami Dolphins are now 2-4 after losing to the Indianapolis Colts. Today, the Dolphins experienced many of the same things: turnovers, penalties, questionable playcalling, etc., that occurred during the first five games of the season. To cut to the heart of the matter, this 2024 Miami Dolphins team stinks.
Ultimately, this year’s team was poorly constructed because of bad decision-making and coaching. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote an article saying that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross should have a heart-to-heart with general manager Chris Grier at the end of the season if things continue to go poorly.
That should happen no matter what happens the rest of the year. Grier didn’t upgrade the offensive or defensive lines after a string of free-agent losses. Some losses, like Christian Wilkins and Robert Hunt, were good business decisions, but ignoring the position with their losses is unacceptable.
The Dolphins defensive front has been getting gashed in the running game. It could be worse, but Grier signed a bunch of journeyman defensive tackles to 1-year contracts, and they most of whom he then cut in August. Benito Jones is invisible and pathetic at times. Zach Seiler can only do so much but needs someone to help him out.
The Dolphins also banked on Liam Eichenberg, Isaiah Wynn, and Aaron Brewer to make the offensive line competent. They do run block at an okay level, and some of their sacks are because the backup quarterback holds the ball too long. But Grier should have been looking for better reinforcements on the offensive line and the interior.
Lineman that can run and pass block with a mean streak to them. Wynn hasn’t even been able to practice after coming off his 2023 season injury, so what is Grier’s excuse? I don’t want to hear that he had a setback. Considering Wynn’s injury history, he should have looked harder for another guard. The offense starts up front, and Grier has been neglecting it for years.
The Dolphins also lack a competent backup quarterback. At the end of last season, I said that the Dolphins shouldn’t have given Tua Tagovailoa an extension because I was concerned about his not playing well against better teams and his injury history, and the team should look for someone as insurance.
Grier didn’t do that, and our passing offense suffered because of it. Grier didn’t draft a quarterback or entertain the idea of going after Joe Flacco, Andy Dalton, or someone else. Instead, he had Mike White and Skylar Thompson battle it out, and it blew up in his face.
The offense was suffering because of it, and now the team was drowning and hoping for someone to throw them a lifesaver.
Head coach Mike McDaniel doesn’t come away from this unscathed. The Dolphins have been shooting themselves in the foot with the same boneheaded penalties and head-scratching playing calling by him week in and week out.
Say what you want about former head coach Brian Flores, but his teams were disciplined and weren’t beating themselves with penalties. Every week, the Dolphins have illegal formation penalties, false starts, or offsides on defense. I look to the head coach because he has to fix it.
McDaniel’s play-calling has also been sketchy, and I’ve been critical even when they have been winning games for the last two years. He has been a little better the last couple of games, sticking to the running game, but he has a tendency to get away from the back with the hot hand. Today, DeVon Achane, Raheem Mostert, and rookie Jaylen Wright had their moments running the ball.
In the late 3rd quarter, Wright had the hot hand, but he ran it with his full-back, Alec Ingold, on 1st down and ten inside the 15, and he fumbled. Then, on a critical 3rd and 1, he gives it to him again for no gain. Why? Why give it to him rather than the hot hand? He must also get more creative by giving the ball to Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. Both guys having 2 targets in a game is unacceptable and negligent on McDaniel’s part.
This team has gone from a talented team that has a hard time beating good teams to one that stinks and finds ways to lose. The rest of the year, when the team is doing well, I’ll start saying, “Okay, how are we going to lose this game?” because that’s how it has been this year. It will only get worse the rest of the year, especially with some tougher opponents coming up, because this team stinks.
