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. But here are a few.

Right before halftime, we began a promising drive with about 1:40 left, starting with a pass to Tyreek Hill for 8 yards. Because Tyreek Hill (unlike Mike McDaniel) knows how to play a 2-minute drill, he successfully got out of bounds. He stopped the clock.

This means the Dolphins could regroup, call the right play on 2nd-and-2, and keep moving. The second-down play was a rush by Achane for 6 yards and a new first down. Great, right?

Uh, no. You see, in between the first-down reception and the 2nd-down rush, McDaniel had to burn a time out. Let’s emphasize this: McDaniel burned a time out while the clock was stopped.

Second and two with a full play clock, McDaniel had 40 full seconds to say, “Running Back Handoff to the left” or whatever the play is called. He failed. Time ticked down until our indecisive little coach had to burn a precious timeout.

We ended up scoring a FG on that drive, but if we hadn’t burn that time out, it would have played out differently. Instead of hurrying to throw a low-percentage fade route to Hill on third and goal, we would have had a timeout to use and call a better play.

This may not be a game-changer in the big picture, but still it’s worth pointing out. Our unprepared head coach burned a timeout while the clock wasn’t even ticking.

Let’s skip ahead to the end of the game, where McDaniel’s poor decisions definitely helped the Cardinals.

We picked up a first down on the Jonnu Smith catch that was challenged. First and 10 in Cardinal territory. About 5:50 left in the game. One more first down pretty much ices the victory. So what does McDaniel do?

First of all, he ignores De’von Achane, who had 150 total yards and was gashing the Cards all day long. Instead, he called a slow-developing sweep left to Mostert, and the Cards stuffed that immediately. On a day when Achane was running at will off left tackle for 8 yards per carry, McDaniel sat him on the bench.

Second and 9. McD calls a play that ends up being a screen pass to Julian Hill. All the studs and stars on this team, and McD has Julian Hill out there? Thank you, said the Cardinals. Completed pass, no gain.

Third and 9. As anyone could see coming a mile away, the Cards ran an all out blitz, and Tua panicked a throw to Achane that was dropped, plus it was dangerously close to being a backward lateral. We punted with about 5 minutes left, and left face it…we all knew the Cards would drive down and score.

I spent much of Sunday night in online arguments about the safety. We led by 10, and the saefty made it 8. More importantly, it gave the cards all the momentum in the world, AND the ball.

In my eyes, on that safety, the ball was snapped about chin-high to Tua. It hit him in the hands, and he bobbled it. He tried to bat it out of the endzone and whiffed. The Cards almost got the ball but it trickled out of bounds.

I saw Tua fumble a very catchable snap that hit him in the hands. Others online say that Aron Brewer snapped it “over Tua’s head.” This is ridiculously untrue. Just watch the highlights.

You guys know I love Tua and I’ve defended him for years. But we’re 1-2 with Tua this year. He had 3 fumbles yesterday. He threw a pick 6 vs. Buffalo and then came right back on the next series and dove headfirst into a defender.

He needs to stop this nonsense. And fast!

23 Comments

  1. Admin.. since the game was mercifully not shown in my area I appreciate the detailed commentary. Being ahead most of the game and losing, is pretty bad, but that’s what this team seems to be showing us. I honestly am taken by surprise that McD has made these types of mistakes that you describe above bec. I think or thought he’s pretty darn smart. So why would he call a time out when he didn’t need to? That is something he should be well aware that he didn’t need to do. Also, as you said with all the “studs and stars” on this team, he puts Julian Hill in? Where is the logic? Is McD calling plays or OC? Dolphin fans are going to turn on this team sooner than later. Grier needs to go! He made a few worthy deals, but looks that he is not truly qualified as a GM and he taking up room for someone else that they could bring to do this job. He still as not done anything to bring in a “decent” backup QB, and they desperately need one. Giving Tua the Mega Millions winning ticket was a dumb move.

    1. Author

      You could feel the energy that Tua brings back, and we marched right down the field and scored an opening-possession touchdown. It was great. But then a few drives stalled , and the play calling got questionable. McDaniel just refuses to lean on his hot players. I mean, what is the logic behind not using Achane? How do you explain this to Achane?? “Sorry, you only have 97 yards on 10 carries. 9 yards per carry is not good enough so sit down and let Mostert come in and get stiffed for no gain.”

  2. Terrible all around but I blame Tua the most. 3 fumbles and a safety??

    1. Author

      2 of the fumbles were on the snap. I cannot fathom how this happens so often to us. It’s been three years of bumbled snaps

  3. Jaylen Wright had 2 rushes for 18 yards. One for 12 and one for 6. Why does McD not use him more? I think McD may be losing the locker room. Everyone knows we’ll lose to Buffalo. But of the guys are just going through the motions, it may be time to part ways with McD and trade away our big money guys not named Tua.

    1. Author

      All true. I can’t fault McDaniel running the ball on first down, but using Mostert just wasn’t wise in that situation. Like last week, when we had first and 10 inside Colt territory, and McD called a FB handoff. We when McD correctly chooses to run the ball, he is messing up the personnel and ignoring hos hottest players in favor of ice cold guys off the bench

    2. Author

      Just to further Sean’s correct thoughts…Achane was averaging nearly 10 yards per carry. Wright was at 9 yards per carry. Mostert averaged 2. It does not take a scientist to figure who was having a better day.

  4. what a mess!

    Mike McDaniel is a bad coach. Alot of this is due to his inexperience. His record is reverting to the mean which may imply we have more down side to endure.

    Also, Tua is not a leader. Sorry Tua, try being pissed-off at not succeeding instead of being pissed off at being restricted from playing.

    1. Author

      I’m curious on your opinion on the botched snap for a safety. I keep re-watching the highlight, and I don’t see how this is Brewer’s fault. Tua dropped the ball, plain and simple, in my eyes. Am I missing something?

  5. Well I can’t remember a week we have ALL been in complete lock step with our opinions like we see here. Rather than say the same thing you all have said I figured I would give you a laugh, if you haven’t seen it! Over in the Miami Herald today they have an article titled…”One thing is for sure: the Miami Dolphins have hope.” You can’t make this up folks! The Herald found this hope interviewing Alec Ingold who said, ““You can just feel something is in the air,” Alec Ingold said Monday. “And I can’t put my finger on it, but it’s improvement. It’s development.” Ok so the Dolphins players have HOPE! You know what the KC players have? A great Coach, a great organization, a great system…. that works. They don’t need hope. The Dolphins don’t have anything that resembles a real team right now so I guess hope is a good thing……. its about all we have!

    1. Author

      The “hope” spring from the fact that the whole AFC sucks except for KC. We are on the bubble, seeded 10th in a conference where the top 7 make the playoffs. We’re only 3 spots away from a berth.
      Baltimore just got upset by a shit team, and the Bills will be upset by a shit team this coming Sunday…

      1. IDK…. I see the Dolphins beating the Bills at home this week as “False Hope!” I mean we can’t even HOPE that any or all of our RB somehow harness the spirit of Ricky Williams when he had monster back to back 200 yard games propelling us to some huge wins. Why? Because if any of them start to have a good game they will be substituted out for another running back until we find one who can’t get any yards. I swear I think ever since McDs new haircut this summer somethings gone wrong with his brain. Maybe its the product he uses!

  6. Brian M, astute observation that we are all in agreement about the sad state of affairs!

    Admin, I actually had a similar thought, we are not as bad as our record, and that we will beat the over confident Bills this Sunday. That might be more delirium than hopium, but you never know in the ole NFL….

    1. Author

      Yeah, it’s not even a hunch on my part, but a consistent memory of how the Bills usually lose a few games per year against garbage teams. Last year we put up 70 on Denver, and the Broncos looked like a high school squad. A few weeks later, Denver beat the Bills, IN BUFFALO. The Billd also lost to the Jags last year and to the Jets without Rodgers. For some reason, the Bills hit a wall in the easiest games, and they are due for one this Sunday !

    2. Admin, I just watched video of the botched snap for safety and I agree with you 100% – it bounced off Tua’s hands. The snap was on target directly to his hands. I think the confusion comes from the announcer who reported live that the snap went over Tua’s head, which of course is incorrect. The snap may have been faster than usual but it was not a high snap or nor was it off the target This costly mistake is solely on Tua.

  7. In all seriousness, our beloved Dolphins are going to lose against the Bills. I hope I am wrong, but, Josh Allen smokes us all the time. To me, this game is going to show who really wants to be a team player. I am beginning to believe our bog dollar players like ODB, Ramsey, and possibly Tyreek, are only in Miami to enjoy the lifestyle and tax-free living. Sorry fellas, I think it’s time to admit this “rebuild” is a failure. Trade who we can and start to think about next season. I also think the “cool guy coach” experiment is a failure as well. Just my $0.02.

  8. Author

    FlyerPhin, thanks for the video. I pulled a screen shot. In orange is the snap. Clean and shoulder high. EASILY catchable. Aaron Judge and Tua both dropped routine balls that cost their teams the game. Judge owned up to his error, while Tua attacked the fans. Also, this was meant to be a run play that looks like it would have succeeded. They’re running a counter-trap, with all the linemen heading left, except for Eichenberg and the RB heading right…straight into the blue alley I highlighted. My guess is Eichenberg was assigned to blow away #7.

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  9. good catch, Admin.
    that could have been a big chunk run play, and kept some momentum with Miami.

    here’s a thought, maybe McUmDaniel should cut-back on run plays with shotgun Tua

  10. Another week another winnable loss … sorry thought this was after the Bills game

  11. Hey Admin I can’t get into the chat is it not working?

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