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 no thanks to him, as we snuck by the Jets 11-6 on 3 FGs and a safety.

He started some games, and he relieved Tua/Teddy in others. And in all of those 7 games, he never showed me that he was NFL-caliber.

BUT…the problem isn’t Skylar Thompson. The problem is our offense in general. Even if Tua were playing this week, or even if we give some reps to newcomer Tyler Huntley…our offense has officially stalled.

NFL defenses have figured out Mike McDaniel, and Tua or Skylar or probably even Dan Marino won’t make a difference. The jet sweeps and fast motions have been figured out. And sadly, Mike McDaniel hasn’t figured out that other teams have it figured out.

Each week, the announcers point out how easily the defenses take away or WRs, simply by sitting back and keeping the WR in front of you. We did a LITTLE bit better against the Bills with the play calling, as Achane did well on screens and rushing. But aside from him, the Bills took away everything else, forcing Tua to throw INTs or sacks or toss the ball to untested new guys he’s barely practiced with.

I just don’t see this ending any time soon, and we can only hope that McD comes up with some new wrinkles…

5 Comments

  1. You stated it very well- McDaniels offense has been exposed and he’s done little or nothing to counter it. The Dolphins have scored an average of 14 points the last 5 games. Not good.

    As we prepare for the game against the Seahawks, I saw a clip from the last time the team traveled to Seattle. A prefect pass from Tannehill to a wide open Kenny Stills in stride that was dropped. That play still pisses me off to this day. However, to me, it sums up how our beloved Dolphins will do this season.

  2. Yes our season is over. I predict an 8-9 record at best, but honestly it’ll probably be much worse.

    1. Author

      With a healthy Tua and Bradley Chubb coming back having a beast season, I still don’t think we get to 8 wins. The problem I see is not the Tua injury, but the fact that defenses can figure out McDaniel too easily. Buffalo only had 6 starters on defense and 5 substitutes with limited experience/abilities. And they owned us all night

  3. I’ll be optimistic. We always look bad against Buffalo. Maybe we are better than what we saw last week. But i dont think we are as bad as we are when we play the Bills. Can only hope Skylar finds a way to win one of the four games. Even though McDaniels offense has been figured out we still have a lot of talent I think Tyreek, Waddle Achane can figure a way out to help him.

    The rest of the season if Tua comes back and the team stays healthy we might be able to fight for a wildcard.

  4. I totally agree with admin’s insightful take on the McD offense.

    But I am going to push-back a little on his harsher take on Skylar. A Long post 🙂

    We do not have a good sample size. He was on the practice squad in 2023 and in his rookie season of 2022, he only started & finished two games and played a tiny bit here or there in the other games (as a backup QB is expected to do) . 
     
    If you look at his stats for his rookie season, he started and finished the last Jets game (W 11-5) and the Bills playoff game (L 31-34), so he is 1-1 in those CLOSE game.   The other game he started (MIN), he got injured after the 1st quarter.  In the first Jets game, he didn’t start but finished the game (a crushing loss) after Teddy got injured on first play.  So if you counted that game as a “start”, he went 1 and 2 in games he started & finished, not 1 and 6.
     
    So he never really had a chance to prepare as a starter except for the last two games of the season.  He was also a rookie thrown into a McDaniel offense designed for Tua.  We should cut him some slack there. 
     
    I get that he did not flash anything that looked like starting QB in 2002 and that he has smaller hands for a QB. I see that. But i remain hopeful albeit muted. There is a reason he beat out Mike White.  The next four games will reveal all.  He is obviously not a Tua, but maybe he can be something closer to a Purdy – game manager.
     
    Go Dolphins! 🐬

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