Mike McDaniel sits within the seat the place Don Shula misplaced Hall of Fame quarterback Bob Griese and nonetheless navigated The Perfect Season, the place Jimmy Johnson misplaced Hall of Famer Dan Marino and nonetheless went 5-1 to assist a playoff push.
McDaniel misplaced a great, younger quarterback, not a risen Hall of Famer like these two Dolphins coaches, when Tua Tagovailoa was identified with one other concussion this week.
This season shouldn’t sink as a result of veteran Teddy Bridgewater takes over for Tagovailoa on Sunday. This group shouldn’t even waver, similar to Adam Gase’s Dolphins didn’t when Ryan Tannehill was injured 10 video games into 2016 and Matt Moore took them to the playoffs.
Everyone needed to see Tagovailoa shut out this season due to who he’s, what this franchise has invested in him and the way he left enjoying his worst soccer over this four-game shedding streak.
“Terrible,’ McDaniel mentioned Wednesday about Tagovailoa’s damage, standing silent for loud seconds earlier than and after that reply.
Sure, he felt horrible. Honesty is one in all McDaniel’s good calling playing cards. But he ought to have gotten over that horrible, horrible, not-so-good feeling by Thursday when addressing the media and by extension, the group. This Sunday in New England means an excessive amount of.
There’s a playoff spot to be received, the Dolphins have the within observe and McDaniel nonetheless has the perfect quarterback these remaining two video games towards the New England Patriots’ Mac Jones and the New York Jets’ Mike White (or Zack Wilson). Bridgewater handed for 329 yards in three quarters towards Minnesota regardless of not having every week of observe.
Part of the rationale the Dolphins shouldn’t miss a lot at quarterback goes past the quarterbacks. It’s that receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle are the true centerpieces of this offense. They create the area and McDaneil the ideas to make it work.
McDaniel was the toast of South Florida in November when the Dolphins had been 8-3, a half-game behind Kansas City for the AFC’s prime seed and the offense, just like the season, was filled with chance.
He’s nonetheless that coach even on this four-game shedding streak. He simply has to show it once more with a backup quarterback and a few laborious questions which have been laid out over the previous month.
One query: Are they driving Hill and Waddle an excessive amount of? The Dolphins, as an example, rank final within the league in dashing makes an attempt. It’s not they’ll’t run. They common 5.6 yards a carry over this four-game shedding streak.
But their lack of a operating recreation hurts the concept of “complementary football.” With the Dolphins operating simply eight occasions, San Francisco had the ball 40 minutes and 34 seconds to the Dolphins 19 minutes, 26 seconds. That’s the second-biggest differential for any NFL recreation this season. The greatest was Buffalo’s 40:40 of possession time to the Dolphins 19:20 in September.
Every week after San Francisco, the Los Angeles Chargers had the ball for 39 minutes and 38 seconds. Time of possession was even in Buffalo, the place the Dolphins ran 25 occasions (the season excessive is 27 on the New York Jets),. But Green Bay had the ball 32 minutes, regardless of enjoying from behind, to the Dolphins’ 28 minutes.
The Dolphins protection gave up lengthy drives on the finish of video games to the Chargers, Buffalo and Green Bay for probably a easy motive: They had been on the sector too lengthy these video games. They wore out. You need the opposing protection on the sector a minimum of 32 minutes – not yours. And the Dolphins protection performed 39 and 40 minutes?
Running the ball extra is one treatment to assist each your quarterback and the protection. The different one? Decide easy methods to deal with these subsequent two quarterbacks.
One frequent narrative to this season is a veteran like Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers having an 88.7 grade when blitzed by the Dolphins and a 53.8 grade when not blitzed, in accordance with ProFootballFocus.com.
The Dolphins blitz quite a bit – the fourth-most within the league – however too many opposing quarterbacks do higher once more it than a basic, four-man rush.
Will blitzing assist a struggling Patriots offense by permitting Jones to easily throw to his outlet receiver? Will not blitzing extra make him learn the protection and battle to discover a goal amongst his bland receiving corps?
That’s for defensive coordinator Josh Boyer and, above him, McDaniel to resolve. This is a giant ending for McDaniel. His group did little improper till December. Now it’s misplaced Tagovailoa, and McDaniel should show his method once more.
Earl Morrall got here in for the 1972 Dolphins, Damon Huard did for Marino in 1999 and Moore took the Dolphins to the playoffs in 2016. It doesn’t all the time work as Chad Pennington went out early in 2009 and the season collapsed beneath a second-year Chad Henne.
Tagovailoa is like Pennington – good, correct, not strong-armed and harm an excessive amount of. Bridgewater isn’t Henne. It’s as much as him and McDaniel to not let this season sink any greater than it has.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com