Last season, for a national audience on Black Friday, the Miami Dolphins played a New York Jets team that had one big, fatal issue. They didn’t have a quarterback.
Tim Boyle was so bad that day, he had a Hail Mary attempt at the end of the half was returned 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, and everyone knew the Jets were better than that. They were just absolutely incompetent at quarterback.
On Monday night, the Dolphins could feel the 2023 Jets’ pain.
On their third starting quarterback in just the first four weeks of the season, the Dolphins were horrible. The Tennessee Titans weren’t good either, but they won 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 had 184 yards and 13 first downs as a team.
The Dolphins signed Huntley off the Baltimore Ravens’ practice squad on Sept. 17, and 13 days later he was starting. He wasn’t any better than Skylar Thompson, the Week 3 starter, or Boyle, who plays for the Dolphins now and entered last week’s game when Thompson was injured. The offense went nowhere. It was ugly.
As the calendar turned to October, the Dolphins’ season feels like it’s over already.
When ESPN signed up for Titans-Dolphins as part of their Week 4 Monday night doubleheader, they expected Will Levis vs. Tagovailoa. As it turned out, Mason Rudolph was the best quarterback on the field.
Levis threw a horrible interception on Tennessee’s first series, then he landed hard on his shoulder diving 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 for steady play from that position for a change. The Dolphins would have taken it.
The first half didn’t have a touchdown 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 snap went right by Huntley and he had to go cover it up before the Titans did. A big loss was negated, however, because 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 isn’t the offense McDaniel or anyone else was hoping to see this season.
It’s tough for the Dolphins and will be as long as Tagovailoa is out. McDaniel isn’t pulling off a miracle with the quarterbacks on hand, and that has led to some overreactions about his ability as a coach. Not many coaches would do much better without a functional quarterback.
The Dolphins had hopes of improving from last season, when they led the AFC East for much of the season and made the playoffs. There’s 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 near the sideline. Huntley missed him by a mile for an incompletion. There’s not much any coach or 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 a little more than 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 chore without Tagovailoa. Miami is 1-3 and has lost three in a row. No matter who is up next on the merry-go-round at quarterback for the Dolphins, it’s hard to believe much is going to change.
