The Dolphins continue to have the same problems after losing to the Packers on Thanksgiving.
Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa said after Sunday’s 34-19 win over the Las Vegas Raiders that he was “excited to kill narratives,” but all the Dolphins did was reinforce them.
Whether it was missed tackles, inability to stop the run or run the ball, not generating pressure, undisciplined penalties, or giving up quick sacks, we can mark them all down under “narrative unchanged.”
There were a few bright spots in this game, mostly on offense, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the well-coached Green Bay Packers, losing 30-17 yesterday on Thanksgiving. Fans have much to be thankful for, but the Dolphins beating good teams on the road in the cold isn’t one of them.
Speaking of those bright spots, Tagovailoa did play at a fairly high level outside of a few throws. He went 37-46, 365 yards, and two touchdowns, though he was playing from behind all game. Some would argue that it should be filed under garbage time stats, but when the defense knows you have to throw to get back in the game, it doesn’t make it easier to do so.
Outside of the select few balls that Tagovailoa sailed, the most critical being the fourth down before the half to De’Von Achane, he was dialed in that whole game. In my opinion, he did break his “can’t pay in the cold” narrative and needed the rest of the team, most notably the defense, to come along with him.
Tackling Fuel
If you’ve ever seen “The Waterboy,” the main character, Bobby Boucher, turns ‘Waterboy’ to middle linebacker for the SCLSU Mud Dogs and leads them to the National Championship. The secret to his madness was visualizing someone he hated when trying to make a tackle, and it’s something that needs to be taught to the Dolphins defense because they couldn’t tackle a tackling dummy if it had a Packers jersey on.
The defense looked cold and didn’t want to hit. The Dolphins missed 20 total tackles, and 10 of them were against Packers running back Josh Jacobs. Jacobs was bouncing off people and running through arm tackles all night. He may not have shown it on the stat sheet with rushing yards, but he fell forward on every rush attempt and couldn’t be stopped on the four catches he had.
Altogether, Jacobs had 117 scrimmage yards and made the Dolphins defense look soft whenever he had the ball. After the game, Jacobs added, “them guys (Miami) looked like they was cold, so we was ready to get to it.”
Although missed tackles were the plague of the defense, the trenches got pushed around all game, generating less than a handful of QB pressures, and finished with no sacks. Jordan Love’s jersey stayed clean all night, and they don’t even need to wash it for their next home game.
When you can’t get any pressure on the quarterback, someone will always end up open, and when the Dolphins weren’t missing tackles they were getting picked apart on the back end.
The stark difference between Jordan Love having all day to throw, and Tua Tagovailoa maneuvering in the pocket and running for his life all night shows you all you need to know regarding the trenches. Nothing else needs to be said.
Coaches Don’t Win Games, But They Can Lose Them
I won’t go too hard into the decision Mike McDaniel made to go for it right before the half instead of kicking the field goal because I agreed with it, but in hindsight, it would’ve cut the game into a two-score deficit.
The coaching that I want to get into was the play calling and personnel groupings. Outside of the patented angle route to Achane, the red zone play calling was too cute and ineffective.
When you get to the 1-yard line with three plays left, you have to punch it in. There are no excuses, and not having a power back touch the field was inexcusable.
Jeff Wilson Jr. is the type of player you bring out for games like this, and he was nowhere to be found.
As bad as the defense played, if the Dolphins score a touchdown and two-point conversion during the goal line sequence, the momentum completely shifts and makes it a one-score game.
Not only were the Dolphins stifled at the goal line, but on fourth down, the Dolphins had neither Tyreek Hill nor Jonnu Smith on the field. How are they not on the field for the most important play of the game?
Line Them Up
The narratives tied to the Miami Dolphins in cold weather games are still there and will be there for the foreseeable future. The silver lining was that Tagovailoa wasn’t affected by the weather and wasn’t a liability when the temperature dropped.
He sliced and diced all night outside of a few throws. The Packers defense played tons of cover-2 like everyone else and gave the Dolphins everything underneath, and Tagovailoa took it all night as he should.
The narratives that remain are the defense being soft, McDaniel not being able to call his way out of a paper bag on short-distance situations, not getting pressure against good offensive lines, and that the Dolphins can’t seem to get out of their own way with bad special teams play, and undisciplined penalties on both sides of the ball.
Not only are the Dolphins a bad team in the cold, but it’s been a while since they beat a deep playoff team in any weather.
The Dolphins will get a few more cracks in the cold before the season ends, and they will have another shot at a playoff team in a few weeks against C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans, but if they play like how they did on Thursday, the outcome will be the same. Narratives remain.
Let us know in the comments who you think should shoulder the blame for the loss to the Green Bay Packers.