MIAMI GARDENS — Desperate times can bring the best out of teams.
That would sound great if the Miami Dolphins weren’t already desperate last week against the lowly Cleveland Browns, only to suffer an abysmal 31-6 loss. It was a defeat of the likes that, at 1-6 and in the fourth year of a coach-general manager tandem, would call for immediate change at the top of most franchises.
Not so with the Dolphins, as owner Steve Ross wants to remain patient with coach Mike McDaniel and GM Chris Grier.
McDaniel is paying that patience forward to his quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, keeping him in as the starter after back-to-back three-interception games.
As difficult as it may be to imagine this Dolphins team starting a midseason turnaround, that is what they aim to do, beginning Sunday afternoon against the Atlanta Falcons (3-3) at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
And it isn’t unheard of in similar situations for recent Dolphins teams.
Just last year, the Dolphins started 2-6. They won six of the next eight to still have a shot at the playoffs entering the regular-season finale.
In 2021, former coach Brian Flores’ last season at the helm, Miami was 1-7 before winning seven consecutive and eight of nine to finish 9-8.
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One coach who was on both of those staffs was running backs coach Eric Studesville, and he knows the mindset needed to pull off the 180.
“I think it’s really a mentality of taking everything one step at a time. Don’t get too far. Don’t worry about everything we just had. We got to win today,” Sudesville said this past week. “You can’t fix everything at one time, but everybody can do what they’re supposed to do right now where we are. And let’s fix that one step at a time. I think that’s the answer to it.
“It sounds simple, but it’s really difficult to do when you’re talking about all the different individuals that are incorporated, coaches and players in this, that all of us have to do that at one time. And I do believe that that is the direction everybody here is working for.”
But how does a team do that when there’s so much noise surrounding the poor performances and speculation over coaching changes and trade possibilities?
“I don’t know that there’s any advantage to listening to it,” Studesville said. “So, if there’s no advantage to listening to it, tune it out.”
With coach, GM, quarterback and all assistant coaches remaining in their roles, change could come in the form of lineup alterations Sunday in Atlanta.
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“Sometimes, an active decision is no change and sometimes an active decision is change,” McDaniel said. “I’ve got to give you reasons to tune in on Sunday, so I won’t spoil.”
The Falcons appear bound to change quarterbacks, out of necessity. Second-year starter Michael Penix is dealing with a knee injury, and veteran Kirk Cousins is expected to start for him.
Regardless of quarterback, the key for Miami will be for its league-worst run defense to contain elite running back Bijan Robinson.
“Pack mentality,” McDaniel said, “meaning you don’t have this one special guru tackler. You have to be sound, but you have to be urgent. You have to have multiple players in the vicinity, make him stop his feet and have a group of people putting their pads on him at once. If you are in space and he’s coming up on you, you have to shoot your guns and wrap. You can’t just try to knock him down with a shoulder pad, you better wrap up.”
Said defensive line coach Austin Clark: “This guy’s elusive. He can hit any hole, the cutback and, even when you got the numbers, he just breaks tackles. His amount of yards after contact is unbelievable. I’m very impressed by him and their line.”
Defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver likened Robinson, who is dangerous as a ball carrier and pass catcher, to Marshall Faulk and Chris Johnson.
“We’re going to have to muck this game up a little but for us to go out there and play successful,” Weaver said.
Tagovailoa will try to operate against the league’s No. 1 pass defense while without star wide receiver Tyreek Hill, tight end Darren Waller and with Jaylen Waddle playing through tweaked hamstrings.
“I think we got a lot of guys that can step up in their opportunities,” Waddle said. “They’re in the NFL for a reason. We believe in all our guys to go out there and make plays and contribute to a team win.”
The Dolphins need to play with desperation and urgency, but players say that doesn’t change.
“We’re always urgent,” defensive back Elijah Campbell said. “You shouldn’t need to take whatever the record is, you should attack every week the same. And we have been doing that. A lot of it is media. That’s (the media’s) job, at the end of the day, apply pressure. But we apply pressure on ourselves. We hold a standard that we want to meet, and we haven’t met it. So we’re more hard on ourselves than (anyone).”
Added left tackle Patrick Paul: “We can’t look to the past anymore. We have to just move forward. We have so much season left, and we can turn it around.”
The Dolphins never seem to put a full season together.
While 2021 and 2024 had midseason turnarounds, 2022 and 2023 involved late-season collapses after 8-3 and 9-3 starts, respectively. The 2022 team had a winless December and five-game losing streak before barely sneaking into the playoffs. The 2023 unit blew a three-game lead in the AFC East with five weeks remaining, bowing out to the Kansas City Chiefs in the first round of the postseason.
