Last season, the Miami Dolphins played in front of a national audience on Black Friday against a New York Jets team that had one major, fatal problem. They didn’t have a quarterback.
Tim Boyle was so bad that day that he had a Hail Mary attempt at the end of the half and was bounced by the Dolphins for a pick-6. The Jets gained 159 yards and didn’t score an offensive touchdown until garbage time. The Dolphins won 34-13, and everyone knew the Jets were better than that. They were just absolutely incompetent at quarterback.
On Monday night, the Dolphins could feel the pain of the 2023 Jets.
On their third starting quarterback through the first four weeks of the season, the Dolphins were terrible. The Tennessee Titans weren’t good either, but they did win 31-12 against a Dolphins team that can’t compete without Tua Tagovailoa, who is out for a while with a concussion. Tyler Huntley had 96 yards passing, and the Dolphins as a team had 184 yards and 13 first downs.
The Dolphins signed Huntley to the Baltimore Ravens practice squad on September 17, and he started 13 days later. He was no better than Skylar Thompson, the Week 3 starter, or Boyle, who is now with the Dolphins and was in last week’s game when Thompson was injured. The violation led nowhere. It was ugly.
When the calendar turned to October, it felt like dolphin season was already over.
An ugly match on Monday evening
When ESPN signed on for Titans-Dolphins as part of their Monday night doubleheader in Week 4, they expected Will Levis vs. Tagovailoa. It turned out that Mason Rudolph was the best quarterback on the field.
Levis threw a terrible interception on Tennessee’s first series before landing hard on his shoulder and crashing for a first down on the Titans’ second possession. Rudolph came in and while he wasn’t spectacular, the former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback was steady. The Titans were probably happy with steady play from that position for a change. The dolphins would have taken it.
The first half saw no touchdowns from either team. It was sloppy football, but at least the Titans got three field goals. That was enough for a 9-3 halftime lead.
Just before the end of the half, a shotgun blast went right past Huntley and he had to cover it up before the Titans did. However, a big loss was negated as the Dolphins had an illegal shift before the snap. ESPN’s cameras focused on Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel, who shook his head sadly.
That summed it up for the Dolphins. This is not the offense McDaniel or anyone else was hoping to see this season.
Dolphins in a bad place
Things are tough for the Dolphins and will remain that way as long as Tagovailoa is out. McDaniel doesn’t perform miracles with the quarterbacks available, and that has led to some exaggerated reactions about his abilities as a coach. Not many coaches would do much better without a functional quarterback.
The Dolphins hoped to improve last season, when they led the AFC East for much of the season and made the playoffs. There is plenty of talent on the roster. But it’s hard to play without a viable quarterback. The Dolphins had a nice play design in the fourth quarter when they faked a run play and Jaylen Waddle found himself wide open on the sideline. Huntley missed him by a mile due to an incompletion. There’s not much a coach or a Dolphins teammate can do to help that.
The Titans finally got a touchdown on the board in the third quarter. A field goal after that gave them a 19-6 lead. That seemed insurmountable against the Dolphins’ current offense. Miami had some desperation with just over 14 minutes left in the game and went for it on fourth-and-1 from their own 39. The handoff went to De’Von Achane and he was stopped for a loss.
Everything with the Dolphins will be a tall order without Tagovailoa. Miami is 1-3 and has lost three in a row. No matter who is next on the merry-go-round at quarterback for the Dolphins, it’s hard to believe much will change.
