Tua Tagovailoa might be back soon for the Miami Dolphins, which would be great for a team that has faced offensive challenges with four different quarterbacks this season.
No matter who is playing, coach Mike McDaniel knows his team has a lot of work to do.
“We will never feel good about our football unless we clean up errant snaps over somebody’s head, missed snap on a field goal, a blocked punt, an explosive run touchdown,” McDaniel said Monday as Miami approached its bye week.
He was talking about the Dolphins’ messy win over the New England Patriots last Sunday, which included many mistakes.
The Dolphins (2-3) have struggled since Tagovailoa was concussed in Week 2 against Buffalo and was placed on injured reserve. He can’t return until Week 8.
Miami’s problems come from a mix of injuries, procedural errors, an inconsistent run game, and a lack of production from its star players.
After leading the NFL in total offense last season with over 400 yards per game, the Dolphins are now ranked 21st through five weeks and are scoring the fewest points in the league at just 12 per game.
McDaniel is especially focused on fixing pre-snap penalties and operational mistakes that almost cost them the game against the Patriots. The Dolphins were penalized six times for 54 yards.
“To win a grimy game that isn’t perfect is a step in the right direction,” McDaniel said. “Now, how do we take control over the controllables? That’s the most important thing for us moving forward, building upon the growth of the team. But we have a long ways to go and some time to do it, so we’ll keep chopping wood every day.”
The Dolphins’ offense relies on pre-snap shifts and motions to help get receivers open, but the players have had trouble getting set before the snap, leading to frequent illegal shift penalties.
Left tackle Terron Armstead mentioned that some penalties are related to the different styles of the quarterbacks.
Tyler “Snoop” Huntley has been the starter for the last two games. Skylar Thompson, who filled in for Tagovailoa against the Bills and started in Week 3, is currently out due to a rib injury.
There has been some miscommunication between Huntley and his receivers as he adapts to a new offense. On Sunday, Huntley had a snap go over his head, resulting in a 20-yard loss, after center Aaron Brewer thought he heard a cue from Huntley and mistimed the snap.
“There’s a lot of nuances in an offense, especially when you have a lot of motions, you have a lot of personnels,” Armstead said. “You have quarterback changes, so the cadence could be different. He might hold the cadence longer than others, or he wants to operate faster than Tua or maybe Skylar.
So the illegal formation, illegal shift, guys are taking their time getting set as opposed to Snoop being in more of a hurry — we got to get set off of him. So those (are) small little details or nuances that nobody really pays attention to until it’s a problem.”
McDaniel said after Miami’s Week 4 loss to Tennessee that he would think about reducing some of the motion and making other offensive adjustments due to the poor results on the field, but he clarified that it’s not just about dropping what isn’t working.
“For us, we’re always looking at the entirety of what the plan needs to be,” he said, “what it needs to be focused around and then what things can we adjust to play to what our players are doing well. So there’s a little bit of outside-the-box. There’s a little bit of adjustment in types of things you’re doing.”
