Miami Dolphins Nearly Eliminated From Playoffs Which May Be Best Because They Still Can’t Beat Good Teams

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Remember that moment last month when Tua Tagovailoa talked about his love for killing narratives?

“Yeah, I mean, I’m excited to kill narratives, so let’s go, bring it on,” Tagovailoa said after a victory over the New England Patriots in November.

Well, one narrative has been consistently destroying Tagovailoa and his Miami Dolphins teammates for two seasons, including two games since the quarterback uttered those words: 

The Dolphins cannot beat good or playoff-caliber teams.

Texans Beat Error-Prone Dolphins

Texans 20.

Dolphins 12.

The Dolphins are now 0-5 against teams with winning records when they play this year. They were 1-6 against similar teams in similar situations last year.

(And, yes, the Dolphins beat the Rams last month and Los Angeles is 8-6 now. But L.A. was 4-4 when they played Miami).

The point is, the Dolphins do not step up against better competition very often. They get overmatched physically at the line of scrimmage on offense and defense. Or Tagovailoa has a rough day. Or Tyreek Hill, who makes $30 million per year, simply doesn’t show up. 

All of those things happened on Sunday against the Texans.

Tagovailoa Disappointed By His Performance

“Very disappointed with how I played today and with how I conducted myself on the field, with out guys, with our team,” Tagovailoa said afterward. “I just need to be better in all aspects.”

Well, most of that is true. Tagovailoa threw three interceptions in this game. And he fumbled on a strip sack.

The turnovers led to 12 points in a game the Texans won by eight.

“Outside of a three percent chance, you’re not going to win games with four turnovers,” coach Mike McDaniel said. “So it was very disappointing in that regard.”

And Tagovailoa agreed, considering he had miscues that included an interception on Miami’s final drive of the game when the team was looking to possibly tie the score with a touchdown and two-point conversion.

Tua: I Got To Protect The Ball

“Plain and simple, I got to protect the ball, I got to play better ball for our guys, especially in a situation where the team is counting on me to go and drive our offense down to potentially tie the game up and that’s not what I did,” Tagovailoa said. “That’s not how you win games in this league.”

But, honestly, it’s about more than turnovers with this loss. And this team.

It’s a bunch of things.

An interception in the first half that eventually cost the Dolphins a field goal seemed as if Tagovailoa didn’t see the defender who was standing right in front of the pass. But that wasn’t the problem, Tagovailoa said.

Hill’s reaction to the pass was the problem.

“I saw the defender,” Tagovailoa said, “It was more so trusting that Tyreek was going to cross his face … And if you look at a lot of throws where we throw in-breaks, the safeties are there. But we throw it trusting out guys are going to cross face.”

Tyreek Hill Has Been Noticeably Absent

Crossing his face is a football term for cutting in front of the defender.

Hill finished this game with two catches for 36 yards. And if you think that’s uncharacteristic, the truth is it’s actually quite characteristic for Hill this year. He’s had only two games with over 100 receiving yards and has been consistently taken out of games by good teams.

And so …

• Hill had 104 combined yards and no touchdowns in two games against the Bills.
• He had 40 yards against Seattle and no touchdowns.
• He had 83 yards and 1 touchdown with three minutes to play in a game already lost against Green Bay.

Hill has been a ghost in big games this season. And he was that against Kansas City in the playoffs last postseason.

So is this the problem? Are Tua and Tyreek the issue?

Of course not. They bear responsibility. But this team, as has been well-chronicled, is not very physical and when the speed thing no longer works, it has nothing.

General Manager Needs To Fix Things

So, at some point, general manager Chris Grier or the next general manager if Grier does not survive this season, must improve the players along the line of scrimmage. Because the offensive line is aging and injured and needs an infusion of better caliber players – again.

And the defensive front has relied on too many players that are chronically injured and therefore routinely unavailable.

Strangely, McDaniel, a good guy with an eccentric approach, spent time during his press conference commending his team on the day its playoff chances seemed to end.

He said his team showed “fight to the end” and “loves football” and is “prideful” and “competed.”

But none of that ultimately matters, coach. That stuff signifies very little against good teams that are all those things AND also are physical and make plays and show up against top competition.

So the Dolphins’ playoff chase is all but over this year – which may be just as well because they haven’t proven to be very good against playoff-caliber teams for a couple of seasons.