What To Do After Another Failed Phins Season?

Phins looked ugly in their must win game vs the Texans

The Miami Dolphins flopped hard against the Houston Texans 20-12 and what makes matters worse Tua had 4 turnovers with 3 interceptions leaving fans little to have hope in going into next season. So, with another letdown by this franchise with the 2024 Season all but over, what can this team do to get itself right?

You can bet with the best pay per head that the biggest unknown now is how will owner Stephen Ross attack this failure… or will he do nothing?

Clearly, this isn’t about tweaking this or that, but we can only work with what we know, so let’s dig into the Texans game to see another data point in the continual failure.

Tua gets sloppy again in a critical game

There’s a portion of the fanbase that love Tua no matter what and there is also a portion that hates him no matter what. It’s hard to find middle ground with Tua, but no way, no how can four turnovers be viewed as anything other than disastrous. Your franchise quarterback can’t fumble and throw three interceptions. Goff for an example threw five interoceptions and won the game, but this is very rare.

The big question is: was this game lost solely because of Tua and if not, what drove him to turn the ball over that much?

Clearly, Tua was central because the ball was in his hands, but football is a team sport and there is always plenty of blame to spread around in failure, which makes things worse because then it’s not just about getting one more player right.

Tua had help in this meltdown

The fumble was clearly a protection issue. Right guard Liam Eichenberg was driven back and Tua was blasted in a flash. The three interceptions get a little murky for clear cut culpability.

The first interception in the first half was said to be on Hill who was to undercut the safety and Tua threw with trust. I think Hill should have undercut, but the safety was too tight to the corner underneath and the ball shouldn’t have been thrown. It looked too risky.

The second interception was an amazing play by Derek Stingley Jr. and thrown inside by Tua. So, this one was on Tua, but it was one heck of a stud play to not fear the double move and break underneath on the ball by Stingley.

The third interception was another split in responsibility between Hill and Tua. Clearly, the ball should have been thrown to lead Hill, instead it was behind. On the flip side, Hill is supposed to be the #1 player in the game and is being paid $30 million, so he had to win the contested catch, but he didn’t. Still, I question the call and it’s this ‘all or nothing’ mentality with McDaniel that has cost us as much or more than helped us.

Clearly, it didn’t help losing Waddle and Debois–pray for his health. Maybe focusing on 1st Downs through Achane and Smith would have been wiser. In the end, your $50 million dollar QB and $30 million WR should come through in this situation.

How about that run game and offensive line?

The Dolphins average 2.6 yards per carry on the day with a grand total 47 yards, their second sub 50 yards total in a row. The really sad part is of that 2.6 YPC, 1.67 was created by the running backs! Now, you could say well you can’t plan for losing Terron, Jackson, and Lamm. I’d say all three struggle with health and two are older, so these players in combination set good odds for an injury domino fall. This was poor planning and design. The problem is the Dolphins two guards Eichenberg and Jones are terrible, so there is little support beyond Terron and Brewer. Again, blame Tua and whoever you want, but this goes back to GM Chris Grier’s horrific design, who even mocked fans for their concern of the offensive line.

I’ve said for years that the offensive line makes the NFL world go around. While the Texans offensive line was terrible also and Stroud struggled as well, mobile quarterbacks do much better in chaos than not so mobile ones. Stroud did make some key throws and didn’t turn the ball over, but they did have 77 yards rushing with a 3.9 YPC, so there was some balance. Also, Stroud had 66% of his throws with a clean pocket with 2.78 second without pressure compared to Tua who had 68% clean throws with only 2.19 seconds of no pressure. Not much time to work with for this offense compared to the Texans. So, the Dolphins offensive line was mostly offensive and as ugly as Tua.

Without a doubt Tua is the leader and this type of play isn’t how leaders should perform. While there is plenty of blame to go around, the lion’s share should go to Chris Grier for building this mess. Will Ross see it that way and so something? I don’t think so, but I am hoping. Go Phins!!!