The Dolphins lost their final home game of the season, barring a miracle, and once again it is all on the offence.
There will be excuses, of course. There’s no doubting the Bill’s punt return touchdown in the third quarter gave them a tonne of momentum and people will jump on special teams coordinator Danny Crossman. They will ignore the injury and the unfortunate collision that led to the hole opening up for the return.
They will ignore the fact that Mike McDaniel’s offence, with Tua Tagovailoa and Tyreek Hill managed only 173-yards passing and one score. And that the Dolphins, at home, in a must-win game held the ball for only 21:53.
Dolphins tout offence as great, but it’s a flat track bully
The fact is the Dolphins offence is only great against bad defences. Good defences have figured out how to stop it being explosive. And when it takes away Tagovailoa’s quick shots the offence is average at best. At best.
Tua has five games over 300-yards passing this season, none in the big games, none against teams with winning records. This team was supposed to be as good or better than the greatest show on turf? Not even close.
Tyreek Hill is great at stretching the field…but against good teams only the first Buffalo game featured in his top half of performance for YPR. Only two (2) of his 14 receiving touchdowns came against those teams.
Tua comes away from the season leading the league in a lot of the passing metrics, which is cool, and a nice step forward for his performances as a whole. He also has a full season under his belt, which is great.
But if you’re not winning big games you’re not an elite QB. You don’t have to win the SB every year, or get to the championship game. But you have to be better than 1-5 against winning teams.
The Dolphins have to find a way, find a plan, against good teams. Is Mike McDaniel a genius? No. But he has to figure this out or the Dolphins will enter a phase of mediocrity once again.
Remember, this Dolphins team is built to win now. Hill is due $40-m next year. Wilkins is a free agent. In the next few years Tua needs paying, as do Waddle, Phillips, Holland. If you’re building a team around the pass game, you need to throw to more than two guys.
This team goes into Kansas City next week with an offence built around speed. That’s not the way you win in cold weather. Let’s hope the Dolphins can prove me wrong.
 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st Downs | 26 | 16 |
| Passing 1st downs | 14 | 9 |
| Rushing 1st downs | 11 | 5 |
| 1st downs from penalties | 1 | 2 |
| 3rd down efficiency | 9-15 | 4-10 |
| 4th down efficiency | 1-3 | 0-0 |
| Total Plays | 77 | 48 |
| Total Yards | 473 | 275 |
| Total Drives | 9 | 9 |
| Yards per Play | 6.1 | 5.7 |
| Passing | 345 | 167 |
| Comp-Att | 30-38 | 17-27 |
| Yards per pass | 8.4 | 6.0 |
| Interceptions thrown | 2 | 2 |
| Sacks-Yards Lost | 3-14 | 1-6 |
| Rushing | 128 | 108 |
| Rushing Attempts | 36 | 20 |
| Yards per rush | 3.6 | 5.4 |
| Red Zone (Made-Att) | 2-5 | 1-1 |
| Penalties | 6-41 | 4-29 |
| Turnovers | 3 | 2 |
| Fumbles lost | 1 | 0 |
| Interceptions thrown | 2 | 2 |
| Defensive / Special Teams TDs | 1 | 0 |
| Possession | 38:07 | 21:53 |
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