The Miami Dolphins have more than a quarterback problem.
Falling 31-12 to the previously winless Tennessee Titans on Monday night, Mike McDaniel’s 1-3 squad became the first team since the 2017 Browns to never hold a lead through their first four games of a season (2017 Browns finished 0-16).
The problems were pervasive Monday night, and McDaniel knows changes must come if Miami is to keep its head above water in a suddenly floundering season.
“Everything is on the table,” McDaniel said, via the Miami Herald. “… There will be things that will change; hard to say what those things are. There definitely is a need for it.
“That [performance is] not even close to good enough. You have to open yourself to all things.”
All things went poorly for Miami on Monday night. The offense couldn’t sustain drives with Tyler Huntley making his first start for the Dolphins. The defense got blown off the ball and gashed by the Titans’ run game.
“I have to look at the tape,” McDaniel said, via ESPN. “There was a tremendous disconnect between preparation and execution. So there was a multitude of contributors to it, I believe, but I have to check the tape out. Bottom line is it doesn’t matter what we’re doing behind the scenes. On the field that’s not even close to good enough, so you just have to go back to the drawing board and assess very critically.”
McDaniel noted that there was an “abbreviated” playbook with Huntley making his first start. Even so, the Dolphins offense couldn’t move the ball. The offensive line got pushed around by Tennessee’s stout interior. Running backs De’Von Achane and Jaylen Wright combined for just 47 yards on 17 carries.
Since Tua Tagovailoa went down with a concussion in Week 2, the belief was that the Dolphins could stay afloat on the backs of dynamic receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle and the rest of an explosive offense. Through two games, that certainly hasn’t been the case.
A visibly frustrated Hill caught four passes for 23 yards on Monday night, tied for the fewest receiving yards in a game with the Dolphins. Waddle earned four catches for 36 yards, including a bad drop.
Huntley, who went 14 of 22 passing for 96 yards and a fumble, struggled to generate plays through the air, but the problems were beyond simply the below-average quarterback play.
“It’s a performance-based industry. I think every man here has a job we have to execute,” fullback Alec Ingold said. “The quarterback is obviously a very important piece of that puzzle, but we need 10 other guys to be performing and executing. It’s a performance-based business that we’re all a part of, so I think it’s more than fair, and I think that’s where you know we’re doing the same thing internally. And to shy away from that because you’re not getting the results I think is weak-minded, and I think we have to we have to attack that; we have to lean into this uncomfortable moment to see what type of team we are and what type of human beings we are.”
From an offense that can’t generate first downs to a worn-down defense that can’t get stops, the issues for McDaniel’s club are more than just QB-deep.
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