Week 9 Game Thoughts: Dolphins at Chiefs in Germany

The Dolphins traveled to Germany to face the Chiefs, with everything on the line: dominance in the division, and #1 seed in the conference. But as is usually the case when facing a good team, the Dolphins fell flat on their face. We’ve seen this movie before, and it featured sloppy, undisciplined play on the field and Mike McDaniel getting thoroughly outcoached by Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo.

Sure, the game ended up being close. But when you begin the game the way the Dolphins did today, it’s nearly impossible to win.

The Dolphins simply did not show up in the first half. I usually use the term “sleepwalk” in these cases, but today it looked more like incompetence. The offense did absolutely nothing in the first half, unless you count penalties, dropped passes, failure to recognize blitzes, and a fumble. The defense eventually settled down, but not until they gave up two TDs.

The second half of the game was much better, but the offense still managed just 14 points. The defense was simply outstanding in the second half, with a dominant pass rush and lock-down coverage. The defense made this a close game, giving the ball back to the offense on a turnover that led to a short TD. The defense allowed just 14 points and shutout the Chiefs in the second half – and still lost. Their tremendous effort was wasted by an awful offensive showing.

The turnover was a Pat Mahomes fumble, as Bradley Chubb and Jae Phillips met at the QB, with Chubb ripping the ball out. Zach Sieler recovered, and the Dolphins got a short-field TD - helped out by a really boneheaded penalty on Chiefs DT Chris Jones, who hit Austin Jackson well after a failed 3rd down play to extend the drive.

After that TD brought the score within 7, the game was essentially over. The Dolphins were shutout in the 4th quarter, wasting an 8-minute drive that netted zero points, and closing out the game on three consecutive incomplete passes and a fumbled snap.

And speaking of turnovers, Tyreek Hill fumbled on a pass behind the line late in the second quarter. The fumble was returned for a TD, and the Chiefs all but won the game at that moment – taking an insurmountable 21-0 lead into the half.

The story of the day was how easily the Chiefs’ defense was able to shutdown the Dolphins offense. The Chiefs allowed 0 points in 3 of the game’s 4 quarters, and the Dolphins just didn’t have any answers for what the Chiefs showed. The Dolphins’ “stars” – Tua, Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle – did not get the job done.

In the end, even though it wasn’t a blowout, the Dolphins proved once again that despite an impressive yet paper-thin record they are in no way among the league’s best teams.

Where do the Dolphins go from here? I’d guess more of the same: winning when they play bad teams, losing when they play good teams. Winning the division is still possible, but seems less likely when you look at the remaining schedule. Perhaps they’ll get lucky and earn a wildcard berth, but right now it looks like they’ll wet the bed if they do make it that far.


Hero of the Game: Bradley Chubb had a great game, with tons of pressures, a forced fumble and a batted pass. Punter Jake Bailey gets recognition, too, with a bunch of punts inside the 20. The fact that no offensive players make this list tells the story.

Goat of the Game: Tyreek Hill, who apparently spent more time working on a TD celebration (that he certainly didn’t even need) then preparing for the game. Hill’s fumble ended any chance the Dolphins had of coming back, and proved to be the difference in the final score. Averaging under 8 yards a catch in the biggest game of the season is an epic fail.

Ahmed is a drive killer. Stop trying to make him something he isn't.

What gets me angrier than anything is how this team keeps letting Jmp down after he gets his hopes up and sticks his neck out to predict a win in these situations. It's downright cruel and angers me more than the losses themselves

I thought maybe, just maybe, they could still at least win the first 8 home games going into the finale but now I don't even see how they will score against the Jets and Cowboys let alone win. It's horrifying, mortifying and utterly terrifying how they're scoring LESS each time they face a top team

Also, I thought the whole point of going over there early was to gain an advantage but instead they apparently got jet lagged somehow from being there too LONG! I should've known Andy Reid knew what he was doing flying the Chiefs there Friday or whenever he did.

It's just impossible for me to care about the rest of this season knowing this team is just a bunch of pansies, poseurs, fakes and frauds.

I don't even feel like posting or even thinking about football anymore TBH.

Gotta say, I agree about the Jets. I don't see how we'll score against them.

The lone bright spot is the defense. They played at a near-championship level today. Seriously. Who would've thought this team would fail because of the offense???

BTW there seems to be question on that last play about whether Williams had a bad snap or if it was Tua's fault. My take? Blame whoever you want. It doesn't matter because Tua would have gotten sacked on the play anyway, as a Chiefs defender destroyed the OL ( I think Cotton) and would have nailed Tua.

(Pops in.)

RIDICULOUS!!! PREPOSTEROUS!!! DOWNRIGHT LUDICROUS!!!

HORRIBLE!!! TERRIBLE!!! UTTERLY UNACCEPTABLE!!!

(Leaves.)

I'm so used to being disappointed by this team it doesn't faze me anymore. I expect it.

The Dolphins pissed away a very winnable game against the supposed cream of the AFC crop. KC didn’t do as much to win this game as Miami did to lose it. Yes, the O-line was overmatched. Yes, the defense started slow (but eventually tightened up well enough to have won). Yes, Tua was under pressure way too much and off on some throws and a few drops didn’t help him out. And despite all of that, the Dolphins let this game slip away by allowing mental mistakes (Illegal shifts, false starts and holding) to wipe away the too few good results, a fumble for TD (Tyreek was pressing against his former team way too much) and a bad snap killing what little glimmer of hope that was left. Miami did this too themselves.

The Dolphins can talk all they want about learning lessons and proving the narrative wrong, but until they actually do something about it – its just talk.

Well said, merc.

In some ways, I might have preferred a blowout loss. Because holding the Chiefs' offense to 14 points (and shutting them out in the second half) yet still losing is hard to take.

I don't understand why the Dolphins become a sloppy mess in road games against good teams. It's just mind-boggling how they look like a well-oiled machine in every other game, yet constantly shit the bed in the important games.

Maybe part of the problem is that they apparently can't communicate on offense when there is crowd noise. Other teams find ways to work around that, but McD hasn't solved that issue yet.

The other thing is, why do we continually ignore obvious uncovered blitzers? It happened time and time again yesterday, just as it does whenever we play the Bills. I'm not blaming Tua or the OL, because it is clearly something that is not taught by the coaches. You can see pretty damn clearly when there are extra defenders on the line - yet the Dolphins NEVER adjust pre-snap to pick up those blitzers. That has to be a main area of focus for McD moving forward. It's the easiest way for an opposing defense to stall this offense.

two weeks to prepare for the suddenly heating up Raiders and then the Jests on the road on a short turnaround.  

You can see glimmers, but they haven't put it together as everyone has mentioned.  

I wasn't a fan of the play calling on the last drive.  When you are ripping off big gains on the ground and have plenty of time, IMO keep doing it until they show they can stop it or until time becomes a factor.

HalCHorn wrote:

I wasn't a fan of the play calling on the last drive.  When you are ripping off big gains on the ground and have plenty of time, IMO keep doing it until they show they can stop it or until time becomes a factor.

Yep. Go with what's working, until they stop it. Mostert looked unstoppable on those two runs, and then we just stopped using him. Why????

Again: Any team with a defense strong enough to disrupt McD's finesse TIMING offense, will give this team, and McD trouble out the yingyang!!

The Chiefs Defense is playing better than their offense, which has Pat Mahommes!! They got their hands on Tyreek and disrupted the timing, they crashed the gaps on the Phins bad Oline, getting Tua out of his rhythm timing passing, the Phins Bad Oline couldn't do diddly squat early on in the running game, with Mostert's big runs coming late when the Chiefs were playing prevent.

The formula to beat the Phins is easy and everyone knows it: Disrupt the timing finesse offense and make Tua move and have to throw from a dirty pocket. He can't do it. You can see when he gets the happy feet and starts looking at the upcoming rushers and misses a snap.

What I find alarming and just egregiously messed up is that McD has to know what the opposing defense is going to do, or try to do, and yet he has no answer for it. Sort of like Gase, he just keeps running the same plays hoping the bad Oline is SUDDENLY going to become good. They ain't. The scheme is paramount and everything else matters not one whit!!

I was expecting this game to be a loss, but I was actually sort of encouraged (even with my LOWERED EXPECTATIONS for the 2023 Phins) by how the Phins D is starting to show a few things. The Chiefs Offense is not the same as it used to be, but with the WRs they have now, if you can keep Kelce from getting easy targets, the Chiefs struggle. Still, I was expecting the Chiefs and Mahommes to go up and down the field on the Fangio zone? That didn't happen after the D made some adjustments.

The Phins offense... it is what it is. A timing finesse offense that cannot and does not overpower a good Defense. Against a very good to great Defense, this Oline and scheme will get it's arse kicked and look putrid. Just like they have against the three really good teams they have faced.

I don't see it changing unless McD is willing to make some changes and start recognizing that his QB is not an off-script, off-time, scrambling QB.

Oh, and on the failure to pick up blitzes, I am fairly certain, McD's design is the pass is to be thrown BEFORE the blitzer gets there. On Time. But when the timing is disrupted, it messes up even the blocking schemes.

The Oline is... yet again... going to be the downfall of another potentially good season IMO. If the Phins COULD run the ball effectively all game long, the whole offense would work IMO...

Hard to believe after some of the seasons we Phin Phans have endured that a 7-3 record sitting atop the AFC East would have us all thinking the season is going to end in disaster, but that is what it is looking like.

Great post, FF.

One thing I've been thinking: adding another passing game weapon to this offense in the offseason is a priority - and then McD and Tua have to actually use that weapon.

Right now, Tyreek is our #1 weapon. And as we've seen, if a defense can take him away - we can't score. Waddle is a good (if overrated) #2, but he's always playing hurt and is maddeningly inconsistent. Wilson is OK, but won't be here next season. Berrios is a decent returner and nice 4th or 5th receiver. Cracraft is a good blocker and nice 4th or 5th receiver. Claypool has potential but won't be back IMO.

So what we need is a legit #3 receiving option. To me, it has to be a TE. But if so, that means McD has to tweek the offense so that he and Tua actually use that TE as a receiver. A receiving TE would add much-needed physicality to the offense, and also give another option beyond Hill and Waddle.

In the draft, Brock Bowers is the guy I want - but he's likely a top 10, maybe top 5, pick, so no chance. We may be in position to get Ja’Tavion Sanders from Texas, who might be an ideal fit for this offense. Jake Briningstool from Clemson is also intriguing. And then there's Oronde Gadsden II, who was switched from WR to TE - but he is missing the season with an injury and I don't know his status.

finfanatic wrote:Hard to believe after some of the seasons we Phin Phans have endured that a 7-3 record sitting atop the AFC East would have us all thinking the season is going to end in disaster, but that is what it is looking like.

Even MORE alarming is that this team is only 6-3 Already counting the Raiders game as a win, I see? This is why I refused to complain about the early wins like some people on the net were doing. Even if I know the other shoe's going to drop, if I spent time being angry when things are actually going WELL, then by the time it goes bad I'd have nowhere to go emotionally. What would be left for me to say? Even I, the Potentate Of Pessimism, can't bring myself to be THAT devoted to unhappiness!

But yeah, the rest of that post was such a masterpiece and a masterclass that I won't touch it since that would be the equivalent of getting my fingerprints on the Mona Lisa. Sometimes you just have to let something speak for itself.

JMP wrote:Great post, FF.

One thing I've been thinking: adding another passing game weapon to this offense in the offseason is a priority - and then McD and Tua have to actually use that weapon.

Right now, Tyreek is our #1 weapon.  And as we've seen, if a defense can take him away - we can't score.  Waddle is a good (if overrated) #2, but he's always playing hurt and is maddeningly inconsistent.  Wilson is OK, but won't be here next season.  Berrios is a decent returner and nice 4th or 5th receiver.  Cracraft is a good blocker and nice 4th or 5th receiver.  Claypool has potential but won't be back IMO.

So what we need is a legit #3 receiving option. To me, it has to be a TE.  But if so, that means McD has to tweek the offense so that he and Tua actually use that TE as a receiver.  A receiving TE would add much-needed physicality to the offense, and also give another option beyond Hill and Waddle.

In the draft, Brock Bowers is the guy I want - but he's likely a top 10, maybe top 5, pick, so no chance. We may be in position to get Ja’Tavion Sanders from Texas, who might be an ideal fit for this offense.  Jake Briningstool from Clemson is also intriguing.  And then there's Oronde Gadsden II, who was switched from WR to TE - but he is missing the season with an injury and I don't know his status.  

I've been harping on this, remember? To the point where I said I'd keep a running tally of players not named Hill or Waddle who had as many as 3 catches in a game?

The good news is, after 9 games the number is at 18 after it happened just 22 times all of last season. The bad news is, it hasn't seemed to matter since they keep scoring LESS against every good D they face! And yes, it's baffling, befuddling and bewildering to me how this system doesn't seem to care if the TE catches passes at all Wanting your TEs to be blockers first, second and third worked in the '70s. In the 2020s, not so much. And who trades for a WR for his BLOCKING ability in today's NFL? And why does this system hate WRs with any size whatsoever?

Also, why select a TE with that precious first round pick that won't ever be used to catch passes when a guard is BADLY needed? At this point I'd even use the first TWO picks on O-line.

DolFan 316 wrote:

Also, why select a TE with that precious first round pick that won't ever be used to catch passes when a guard is BADLY needed? At this point I'd even use the first TWO picks on O-line.

Well, my point isn't to draft a receiving TE to plug into our current offense. That would be a waste. I'm suggesting that McD redesigns the offensive scheme to include a receiving TE in the mix as a primary target. This offense evolved a lot from year 1 to year 2, and I think introducing "TE as receiver" could be the next step in the evolution in year 3.

As for OL, I HATE the idea of using a first round pick on an interior lineman. I think guards and centers can be found later in the draft - no need to use high picks on them.

I’m not all that concerned.

Watching our defense in the second half was a pleasure. I haven’t seen dominance like that in a long, long time.

Solving the offense against strong D won’t take too long IMO.

McDaniel is too smart and the staff is too good to persist without answers. I totally agree we need to commit to a power running attack, and we may not have the offensive line right now to do it - but we’re closer than we’ve been in a while.

We’ve seen a thousand failed coaches with obvious flaws. I don’t think McDaniel is one of them. He will get this solved - I have no question.

Going back to the defense: it SUCKED last year, and now it looks like a top ten unit with a couple FA pickups and the hiring of Fangio. That is progress that cannot be over stated.

Yesterday was disappointing because it was a missed opportunity to make a statement. I was livid after the first half but at the end of the game I came to terms with it. We are closer - much closer- to a contender but maybe not there yet. That’s fine.

This one's for you, white1! And anyone else who wants to see it I suppose

And now for the other side of things, as expressed so eloquently by FF.

Are you watching the Jets tonight? How are they going to score on US?!

white1 wrote:Are you watching the Jets tonight? How are they going to score on US?!

All they might need is a safety to beat this team though...Unless someone on D can score. Ramsey perhaps?

its so easy for pundits to just sit back and parrot "the Dolphins can't beat the good teams" narrative (and Miami isn't doing anything to make it hard). but why? why can't Miami beat stout defenses? a good bit of it has to do with establishing an early run game and threatening the edges with speed. however, if the Dolphins don't have early run success and constantly find themselves in long distance late downs, the injury plagued offensive line gets overmatched against the better pass rushers. a let's be honest, Tua isn't the most nimble QB when the pocket collapses. i hate to say it, but guys like Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen and Jalen Hurts, and yes, even Justin Herbert (despite some of their other flaws) are just better at that one aspect of the game - escaping pressure and creating off-schedule. a lot of Miami's early offensive success had to do with Tua getting the ball out quickly, not necessarily about a fortress wall of an o-line giving him all day. hopefully the return of Achane and Hunt along the o-line (and no further injuries) will go a long way towards re-starting Miami's offensive engine - even against the good defenses.

however, there is another more concerning ground swell that is starting to rear its head: that D-coordinators now have a season and half of McDaniels' offense on tape and more specifically 8 plus games of the successful motion stuff and they've figured out how to deal with it.

Sitting in man-to-man defense, McDuffie read the play from the jump. He’d seen it on film earlier in the week. “It was pretty easy seeing that screen develop,” he said. So he busted it up for a loss, and then busted the football from Hill’s grip.

https://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/sam-mcdowell/article281453568.html

kind of scary that KC was so tuned into what Miami was running.

“If you look at that motion, the three teams that have beaten them don’t react to it,” Clark said. “They all play Cover 2. They are just expanding in the zones, not reacting to it. When you get behind, you have to have a quarterback that is not only willing to extend plays but can.

“When things can’t be on time, when you can’t take the first read, when you can no longer take what the defense gives you because you have to go take something from the defense, Tua Tagovailoa cannot do that right now.”

https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/nfl/miami-dolphins/article281093013.html

so if McDaniel has a new wrinkle adjustment to the offense, now is the time. hopefully he'll be looking at the install of the next step in the evolution of the offense over the bye week.

“When things can’t be on time, when you can’t take the first read, when you can no longer take what the defense gives you because you have to go take something from the defense, Tua Tagovailoa cannot do that right now.”

I would argue that this isn't all on Tua. This offense relies on one thing: receivers being open. Why does Tua get the ball out so quickly most of the time? Because he's got someone to throw to. But the Chiefs took away Tyreek, and no one else stepped up. We saw Wilson and Claypool running the wrong routes a couple of times, we saw Waddle coming in and out of the game and not getting open when he was in, and I'm not sure Berrios even played on offense he was so invisible. Tua has shown time and time again that he can go through his progressions. But if there's no one to throw the ball to, what is he supposed to do? And of course, when we can't run the ball it's even harder for the receivers to get open.

As I said, we need another receiving option. I'm just not convinced we have one right now, unless McD decides to work Julian Hill into the passing game or Claypool learns the offense. Achane will help open things up when he gets back, but who knows if he'll pick up where he left off.

And on that note, Waddle has been a colossal disappointment so far. I expected him to have a huge season, and he just hasn't. He drops way too many passes, and he's always battling some kind of injury. When Tyreek gets shut down, Waddle is nowhere to be seen - and that's a big problem for this offense.

white1 wrote:Are you watching the Jets tonight? How are they going to score on US?!

I doubt our offense will do much against them, so it goes both ways. Turnovers will likely decide those games.

white1 wrote:I’m not all that concerned.

Watching our defense in the second half was a pleasure. I haven’t seen dominance like that in a long, long time.

Solving the offense against strong D won’t take too long IMO.

McDaniel is too smart and the staff is too good to persist without answers. I totally agree we need to commit to a power running attack, and we may not have the offensive line right now to do it - but we’re closer than we’ve been in a while.

We’ve seen a thousand failed coaches with obvious flaws. I don’t think McDaniel is one of them. He will get this solved - I have no question.

Going back to the defense: it SUCKED last year, and now it looks like a top ten unit with a couple FA pickups and the hiring of Fangio. That is progress that cannot be over stated.

Yesterday was disappointing because it was a missed opportunity to make a statement. I was livid after the first half but at the end of the game I came to terms with it. We are closer - much closer- to a contender but maybe not there yet. That’s fine.

I too am very excited about the prospects of this defense moving forward. I just hope they can find a way to force more turnovers.

But I think we should be very concerned about the offense. The Dolphins offense disappearing against good defenses (on the road especially) isn't a new thing. It happened last season, and it's continued into this season. If McD hasn't figured it out by now - and he clearly hasn't - how is he going to figure it out in-season? Lack of communication, pre-snap penalties, poor OL play, inability to pick up blitzers, dropped passes, poor route-running, missing open receivers, throwing into coverage, bad snaps, questionable play-calling...whenever we face a good team, all we see is a laundry list of mistakes and an inability to score TDs. And guess what? We still have to play the Jets twice, the Cowboys, the Ravens (on the road), and the Bills. That's 5 very good/great defenses - all of whom are tough, physical and mean and nasty, going up against our soft finesse offense. Unless something drastically changes, it seems like a safe bet that the Miami offense is going to struggle in all of those games. I'm not saying we can't win any of those games, but none of them will be easy.

Merc's post is the exact same thing my second video was about, with the exact same quote by Clark. Great minds think alike