The Miami Dolphins’ offense hasn’t been performing like it usually does, due in large part to the absence of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. But Tua played in more than half of the three 2024 games. So maybe the issue goes deeper than the quarterback position.
Regardless, there’s no doubt that something is off. The Dolphins have scored only 33 points in three games.
“Yeah, 33 points, that sucks, right?” receiver Tyreek Hill told reporters on Thursday. “Yeah, man, it’s not fun being on the short stick of a bad offense. I look at it like this — I’d rather us go through adversity early, figure it out and then begin to gain momentum towards the end. Usually we start off hot. My first two years here with Coach [Mike] McDaniel and staff with the Dolphins, we started off hot every year and we slowly begin to slowly trend down. Now we have a chance to start slow and then build momentum up towards the end. We’ve got a beautiful thing going right here, man. It’s either we’re going to be a part of the problem, or we’re going to continue to add on to the problem. We got a lot of great guys on this team who’s willing to be part of the solution.”
It sound good, but there’s no real logic in it. We’ve gone from good to not good in the past. Now that we’re not good, we can go to being good.
But Tyreek and his teammates need something to hang their hat on; they still have 14 games left to play in 2024.
“We’re just not doing a lot of things right,” Hill said. “We got a great team. When we get a big gain, we’ll either get illegal formation or we’ll get a holding. We’re always starting drives behind the eight ball. We always shoot ourselves in the foot. We always have a lot of penalties. We’ll get a big 12-yard gain, flag. It will be first-and-20. It’s tough. As a head coach or offensive coordinator, it’s tough calling plays whenever it’s first-and-20 and it’s like you already got plays designed for second-and-three or second-and-five or whatever. We’ve got to stop shooting ourselves in the foot and start trusting our fundamentals, trusting our technique, relying on each other, and playing as a team. Leaders and captains, we’ve done a great job of telling both sides of the ball that. I’ve done a great job of telling the young guys, ‘Hey, trust your technique. Trust your fundamentals. Don’t try to go outside of that to make a play,’ you know what I’m saying? It’ll all fall together.”
The next chance for it to fall together comes on Monday night, against the Titans.
“Very confident, man,” Hill said of the Week 4 game. “We have a heck of a coaching staff who’s able to put together a crazy game plan. It’s going to be a crazy game Monday night. I’m looking forward to it. Obviously today I feel pretty strong [with] what we did as an offense. Everything looked the way it normally looked and it normally felt. So it was fun today, man.”
It’s still not clear who the quarterback will be. Hill was asked about working with Tyler Huntley on Thursday. Hill was coy.
“I worked with Tim Boyle, so I really don’t know,” Hill said. “Like I said, Tim Boyle was out there throwing, they even had [Jaylen] Waddle throwing. We are in the process of looking for anybody who can throw — open applications.”
Whoever is throwing, Hill is no longer going to clamor for throws.
“I got out of that,” Hill said. “I’ve grown through that stage of my life. I’ve been talking to my therapist and she said, ‘Don’t get into arguments on the sideline,’ so I’ve let it go. I’ve let that side of me go of demanding the ball.”
So is there reason for hope?
“We’re still fast, ain’t we?” Hill said. “We’re still going to be able to separate, but obviously there is a lot of things that go into that. There’s a lot of things that play into it — offensive line, running back, DBs getting their hands on it. There’s a lot of things that go into it, because a lot of people see things differently. Tua may see something different than Boyle. Boyle may see something different than Skylar [Thompson]. Snoop [Huntley) may see something different than Tua. It’s all about timing and trust, building that relationship with the quarterback.”
It’s still not clear which one it will be on Monday night — Thompson, Boyle, or Huntley. In his last word from Thursday, while praising Huntley, Hill seemed to narrow it down to two options.
“I’ve been watching film of him since he’s got here, I’m like, ‘This dude can make every throw. This dude is special with his legs.’ He’s a special talent. The only thing — we’ve got a lot of things that go into this offense. We got motions, we’ve got getting the play out before, so he’s done a good job of staying in the film room learning all of that stuff. Excited to see if him or [Tim] Boyle goes, it should be fun.”
It can be Thompson or Boyle or Huntley. After Tua Tagovailoa misses three more games, it could be him.
Whoever it is, the Dolphins need to average more than 11 points per game. Otherwise, they won’t have to worry about losing in the wild-card round of the playoffs.