Dolphins Truth

While most of this post will show the coaching blunders that enabled the Packers to win, let’s make one thing clear from the beginning: Malik Washington blew this game. He singled-handled gave away an easy gift touchdown to the Packers. Now overcoming a 7-0 deficit is obviously not impossible, but it was the way in which they got those 7 points…that’s what hurt. We began the day on defense and forced a wonderful 3-and-out. The defense was pumped up as they ran off the field, and our offense was chomping at the bit. That is called enthusiasm. In the NFL, momentum is real. It’s palpable.Read More →

You have to start by beating the crappy teams, and now finally, the Dolphins are able to do so. It’s a baby step, but an important step. Earlier in the the year, we lost to several of the NFL’s worst doormats. Snoop Huntley couldn’t beat the Titans or the Colts. But it seems like those horrendous games with our unknown horrible quarterbacks are in the rearview mirror. The Dolphins have beaten two teams in a row in games we had a chance in. In the prior two weeks, we held our own against the first-place Bills and Cardinals. It has the feeling of turning theRead More →

Man, it seems like forever ago since the combo of Skylar Thompson, Snoop Huntley, and Tim Boyle were out there averaging 11 points a game for us. Sadly, the unheralded Boyle was the best of the 3, and he was the first one cast aside. And now with Huntley hurt, we’re stuck with Skyloser again as our backup. Let’s home he never gets into a game. After putting up 27 points the last 2 weeks–only to have our defense collapse and lose both games for us late–we “only” scored 23 on Monday Night, but that was enough. The defense kept the Rams out of theRead More →

For the second week in a row, The Dolphins snatched a defeat out of the mouth of a victory. Again, for the second week in row, there were many culprits. Tua had 3 fumbles. Jalen Ramsey had seemingly 57 different unblocked blitzes straight at Kyler Murray, and didn’t even touch him once. Not once. The defense faltered when we needed them most. David Long had worst game of any defender I’ve ever seen in my life. It was truly that bad. We’ve all watch the NFL our whole lives, and I can’t recall a worse game. Mike McDaniel, again, blew too many calls to name.Read More →

Yes, I had to look up the spelling! If you haven’t seen it, I recommend that you check out Tua’s Monday press conference when he announced his return. Tua was angry. It made me angry. Because I was right. Tua confirmed the one thing I’ve been saying ever since the night he got hurt. I hate being right in many cases concerning the Dolphins, and this is one of them. Tua was fine the very next day after his injury. He immediately went into the NFL-mandated concussion protocol and Tua himself confirmed that he was healthy enough to play. He passed the tests. The DolphinsRead More →

I’m not even sure where to begin, so I’ll start at the top. Mike McDaniel had an enormous role in this loss. Sometimes, you have to look at the detailed nuances of a mistake to see its gravity. Here is one such case. So forgive me as I go into the excrutiating detail here: With the Colts leading by 3 late in the game and facing a 4th and goal from around our 5 yardline, Indy made it look like they were going for it, but then backed away and ran their kicker onto the field. With all the Colts running back and forth, theyRead More →

I hate bye weeks. It’s just a way for the NFL to milk an extra week of ad revenue and turn 17 weeks into 18. I was bored to death last weekend without my Dolphins. Up next is the Colts. Tyler Huntley will enter his third game as starter, with a 1-1 record that could very easily have been 0-2. In fairness, it could have been 2-0 also, but somehow we’ve lost a prime time home game TWO YEARS IN A ROW to one of the worst teams in the league, the lowly 1-4 Titans. Huntley has been with us a month now, and everyRead More →

For some reason, I feel a bit more confident going into tonight’s game with a 4th string QB than I did last with with QB2 Skyloser Thompson. Tyler Huntley wasn’t even on the team two weeks ago, and yet here he is–unknown to virtually all of us–taking the helm for the game vs. the Titans. And even though he knows our offense as well as you and me, he’s still a better option than Thompson. I recently learned he’s a former Pro Bowler too ! Personally, I believe Tim Boyle should have gotten the start, only because he must know the play calls better sinceRead More →

As our regular readers know, I have been saying for quite a while that the Mike McDaniel offense is dead in the water. After three games, we are averaging 11 points per game. Eleven. But the writing was on the wall even before this season. In an off-season filled with exaggerated optimism (Wow, injured Odell Beckham is gonna come save the day!!), I was the voice of reason, letting our readers know that our offense was done for. Dating back to last December and even January, defenses have simply figured out the McDaniel offense, and Coach McD has made no adjustments. If not for aRead More →

Is our season over? The answer is not looking promising. There has been a lot of debate about Skylar Thompson and how he’ll be able to fill in. My regular readers know my thoughts on this: I don’t think he’s a winning quarterback, and I think we have little chance to win the games he is in. I don’t say this to be pessimistic, but I base my judgment on Skylar’s past performances. We have an adequate sample size. He played in seven games in 2022 for us, roughly half the season, and he only won ONE game. Even the game we won was noRead More →

First of all, let’s keep Tua in mind as he battles the latest concussion. I won’t speculate and I don’t expect the Dolphins to release any relevant news until next week. Guessing on medical conditions–and how a player reacts to that condition (i.e., will his take his 200 million guaranteed dollars and retire) requires too much speculation. If you need speculation and guessing, there are a thousand of them on YouTube spewing their rumors and guesses. Not here. Even before Tua decided to lunge forward instead of simply sliding, the game was already lost. We were down 21 at the time, and even if weRead More →

Big game this evening. If we are going to make strides, this is the season. The Bills took major backward steps, losing their two starting WRs in the off-season, and their two starting DBs. They are not the same team. Then again, neither are the Dolphins. I look for Josh Allen to once again carry his team throughout the game, and it’s up to our D to force him into doing too much, which is where he makes his mistakes. I’ll have the chat room open during the game. Still not sure of the screen name issue, but it SHOULD ask you for a screenRead More →

Outside of three plays–only THREE–things did not look good overall. A long pass to Hill, another to Waddle, and a great game-saving forced fumble by Holland come to mind as really great plays. There were other positives of course, but not enough stellar efforts that I wanted to see. Actually the defense did well. It didn’t feel like it at the time, but looking back, they got us the W. Only giving up 17 points–and Zero in the second half–is encouraging. On the Jags first TD, they started back deep. They hit a long running play on a broken assignment, then a few plays later,Read More →

There were no seemingly surprise roster moves today. Erik Ezikama and Nik Needham were among the notable fan favorites let go. Backup QB Mike White was released a few days ago. I’m disappointed in the injury reports, where Odell Beckham and Cam Smith were both PUP’ed, meaning they cannot play until Week 5. This was expected for Bradley Chubb, but not for Smith and Beckham. I know injury information is a game of cat and mouse, but I fell for Mike McDaniel’s claims that Beckham had a nagging injury but would be ready for week 1. Obviously, he was covering something, but we’re pretty deepRead More →

Well, the Tua contract is behind us, and it’s time for him to step up. The areas where I personally want him to improve are in December production and leadership. As I’ve pointed out, the late-season collapses are NOT because of cold weather. Tua has played equally horribly in warm-weather December games as well. That needs to change. I’d also like to see him become more firey. I know it’s not his personality, but he needs to pissed at times, especially at himself. Walking off the field with his head down happens far too often at the end of failed drives. It does not makeRead More →

I keep hearing that Tua and Grier are in talks, and it’s all amicable. Neither side is in a rush. I’d LOVE to know what is REALLY happening. As I have said, Tua partially sealed his own fate by having two horrible Decembers in a row. And it’s NOT just because of the cold. Losing at home to the lowly Titans was beyond inexcusable. And the previous December of 2022, Tua had horrible games at home vs the Packers and also at San Francisco. In gorgeous weather. It’s not the cold that gets to him, it’s the changing of the calendar. Grier sees this too,Read More →

Tua could have made this easy on himself. He had not one but two drives late in the Titans game that could have cemented his place as the Dolphins QB1. The huge contract was his to be had. It would have secured a home playoff game and put us on track for even the fist-round bye. Instead, he flopped. At home, in prime time, against a horrible opponent. He got outplayed by some Levi guy. I honestly feel that if Tua proved himself in December, his deal would be done. Instead, he just added question marks. The losses were not ALL his fault, but heRead More →