MIAMI GARDENS — For the third time in this young season, the Miami Dolphins entered a game badly needing a victory. This time it was against the Los Angeles Chargers. The Dolphins bungled the assignment, losing, 29-27.
The Dolphins previously badly needed a victory against the New York Jets (they won) and the Carolina Panthers (they lost last week).
The future doesn’t look bright for the Dolphins (1-5) after Sunday’s last-second loss or coach Mike McDaniel, who is now 29-30 (.492), including his 0-2 playoff record, and 29-28 (.509) in the regular season.
The Dolphins visit Cleveland next week.
Here’s what we learned in Sunday’s game against the Chargers:
The home crowd
Dolphins fans were lukewarm Sunday, which is better than being hostile. There were an announced 65,592 tickets distributed but there were noticeable patches of empty seats, especially in the upper deck where it was common to see rows where there were six or eight consecutive seats unused. The crowd was mostly friendly and subdued, showing enthusiasm after good plays and when the Dolphins led.
But there was an audible tone of boos after quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s third-quarter interception by safety Benjamin St-Juste. More boos rained down after Tagovailoa’s next pass, a first-down overthrow intended for Waddle. Yet more boos rained down on third down after Tagovailoa was sacked by outside linebacker Tuli Tuipulotu, who blew past rookie left gard Jonah Savaiinaea.
A “Let’s go Dol-phins!!” chant went up in the fourth quarter when the Dolphins, trailing, 26-20 were marching downfield. The crowd was happy when the Dolphins took a 27-26 lead but crushed when the Chargers scored with five seconds left on a 33-yard field goal by kicker Cameron Dicker. Predictably, there were few Chargers fans in the crowd. — Chris Perkins
Related Articles
Dolphins center Aaron Brewer active vs. Chargers; LA down key WR
Live updates: Los Angeles Chargers 29, Miami Dolphins 27 (4th Q)
Dolphins’ Saturday roster moves could be good sign for center Aaron Brewer
Dolphins’ Kenneth Grant, Jonah Savaiinaea take their rookie struggles into pivotal Chargers game
Dave Hyde: Harbaugh, Herbert come to town as Ross faces big football decisions again
Steve Ross
Dolphins owner Steve Ross walked solemnly off the field after the game. Ross was glimpsed on the sideline before the game, as usual. He was seen alongside team president Tom Garfinkel greeting Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh, Ross’ former target to be Dolphins coach as well as former national championship coach of Ross’ beloved alma mater, Michigan. Ross was on the field before the game as part of the Dolphins’ Crucial Catch campaign for cancer prevention. It’s unclear what Ross is thinking regarding McDaniel’s future. A few weeks ago he expressed a desire to be patient with McDaniel.
Tua shows some magic but it’s not enough
Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (21 of 32, 205 yards, one touchdown three interceptions, 54.8 passer rating) had a chance to show some fourth-quarter magic Sunday, and he did. The Dolphins got the ball on their own 18-yard line with 6:19 left, trailing, 26-20. Tua was 8 for 8 for 67 yards on the drive, which resulted in a seven-yard touchdown pass to tight ed Dareen Wallrwiht 46 seconds left. The Dolphins drove 82 yards in 13 plays using 5:33. Tagovailoa’s final pass of the game, which came with five seconds left, was an interception to safety Derwin James. Tagovailoa’s first pass was also an interception off a deflection from wide receiver Jaylen Waddle, a pass that should have been caught.
De’Von Achane puts on a show
Running back De’Von Achane had one of the best games of his career as he totaled 128 yards rushing and two touchdowns to go along with four receptions for 22 yards. Achane’s day was highlighted by a 49-yard touchdown run. Achane kept the Dolphins alive.
Jaylen Waddle puts up good numbers
Wide receiver Jaylen Waddle had six reception for 95 yards, including a 45-yard reception. Waddle, who completed an eight-yard pass to Achane, had his best game of the season. Waddle is on a bit of a roll. He had six receptions for 110 yards in last week’s 27-24 loss at Carolina.
The run defense gets pounded again
The Dolphins were gashed again as the Chargers rushed for 140 yards in the game (they had 116 yards through three quarters). The Dolphins, who entered with the league’s worst run defense at 174.2 yards per game, have now allowed each of their six opponents to rush for more than 100 yards. Chargers running back Kimani Vidal led the way with 124 yards on 18 carries.
The return of the big play
Running back De’Von Achane’s 49-yard touchdown run continued the Dolphins’ big-play resurgence of the last couple of weeks. Last week wide receiver Jaylen Waddle had a 46-yard touchdown reception and tight end Darren Waller had a 34-yard reception.
Before those three plays the Dolphins, known as a big-play offense in previous years, only had one play of 30 or more yards, that being a 47-yard pass to wide receiver Tyreek Hill against New England.
The Dolphins’ longest play against Buffalo was just 19 yards.
Brewer could barely use right arm
Center Aaron Brewer, who is battling a pectoral injury, presumably on his right (snapping) side, gave a gutty effort Sunday that including barely being able to lift his right arm after snapping on many plays. Sometimes the arm just hung by his side as he used his left arm to block.
Brewer, a team captain, appeared to be wearing a harness on his right arm. He was called twice for holding but the violations were understandable considering the circumstances.
Waller limited for six consecutive quarters
Tight end Darren Waller, who had five receptions for 78 yards last week at Carolina, all in the first half, had one reception for five yards in the first quarter Sunday against the Chargers. Waller was targeted twice in the first half, meaning he’d been targeted three times in four quarters including not being targeted at all in the second half at Carolina. Waller (two receptions, 12 yards, one touchdown) had the fourth-quarter go-ahead touchdown. In his kast six quarters Waller has, you guessed it, two receptions for 12 yards on three targets.
Dolphins win coin toss, take the ball
The Dolphins won the coin toss (the Chargers called tails and itcame up heads) and elected to receive the kickoff, going against their usual trend of deferring and taking the ball to open the third quarer. Kickoff returner Malik Washington took the opening kickoff 45 yards, running over kicker Cameron Dicker in the process. On first down, running back De’Von Achane took the handoff and gained two yards on a run up the gut. But on second down wide receiver Jaylen Waddle bobbled a catchable pass from quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and it was intercepted by safety Tony Jefferson.
The Chargers took the second half kickoff and scored a touchdown, driving 74 yards on 13 plays to take a 16-13 lead.
Special teams error . .. again
Defensive tackle Matthew Butler made illegal contact with long snapper Rick Lovato after Chargers kicker Cameron Dicker hit a 58-yard field goal. The Chargers took those points off the board only to put them back with a 36-yard field goal by Dicker. The Dolphins’ soecial teams, which had improved their play in the pewvious two games, have had a running into the punter penalty, a roughing the punter penalty and have allowed a 90-yard kickoff return touchdown as well as posting a 74-yard punt return touchdown.
By the way, seldom-used cornerback JuJu Brents and fellow cornerback Isaiah Johnson, who was elevated from the practice squad Saturday, saw a good amount of time Sunday. Chargers defensive tackle Justin Eboigbe had two impressive tackles on kickoff coverage, beating linebacker Willie Gay Jr. both times.
Dolphins’ defense continued an incredible and ignominious streak
The Dolphins have allowed at least 5.97 yards per play in each of the first six games of the season after the Chargers piled up 403 on 64 plays (6.30 yards per snap). The Dolphins are on pace to crush the franchise record for the most games allowing at least those 5.97 yards per play. The greatest percentage of games with such sieve-like defense was the .571 of the franchise’s third season, when it happened eight times in the season’s 14 games. It also happened nine times in 16 games (.563) in 2018. These are the seasons with the five most such games allowed by percentage, and the five fewest:
MOST
1968: 8/14 (.571);
2018: 9/16 (.563);
2019: 8/16 (.500);
2020: 7/16 (.438);
2008: 7/16 (.438).
LEAST
1972: 0/14 (.000);
1973: 0/14 (.000);
1975: 0/14 (.000);
1992: 0/16 (.000);
2005: 0/16 (.000). — Steve Svekis
Since his concussion vs. the Packers in 2022, Tagovailoa’s ball security has suffered greatly
On Christmas of 2022, a year where Tua Tagovailoa had already been diagnosed with one official concussion, he took a tumble against Green Bay, and then missed the rest of the season because of another concussion. Before that play, Tagovailoa had played 36 games, with 16 fumbles, and five of those unforced by opponent contact. Since then, Tagovailoa has played 35 games and fumbled 23 times, with 16 unforced. Before that fall, Tagovailoa had 20 interceptions in his 1,065 career passes (53.3 passes per pickoff). Since? He has 32 interceptions in 1,193 passes (37.3 passes per interception). By comparison, Justin Herbert has fumbled 30 times in his 87 career games, with 10 unforced, and thrown 53 interceptions in 3,217 passes (60.7 passes per INT.).
Jaylen Waddle is getting those WR1 chunk plays
Sunday marked Jaylen Waddle’s third start with Tua Tagovailoa as his quarterback, Mike McDaniel as his coach and Tyreek Hill not suited up. And, in each of those starts (Jets at home in 2023, at Panthers last week and on Sunday), Waddle has logged a reception of at least 45 yards. The Chargers game also marked the fourth time in Waddle’s career where he has had back-to-back outings with a grab of at least 45 yards (also twice in 2022 and once in 2023).
Yet another aspect of quarterback play where the Dolphins sag far behind
When Justin Herbert rammed forward for a first down on a fourth-down sneak, it was evidence of a huge disadvantage the Dolphins battle against: Minimal mobility. Tua Tagovailoa’s most recent rushing touchdown is almost four years old, happening on Nov. 11, 2021. Since then, Tagovailoa has run for only 23 first down in his past 55 games.
Dolphins defense goes full Mike Tyson vs. Michael Spinks
For all the talk about how the Dolphins’ defense was awful against Carolina because they were fixated with forcing turnovers as opposed to wrapping up, the forcing-turnovers aspect was still evident against the Chargers, only much more successful. Dolphins defensive backs Ashtyn Davis and Rasul Douglas separated the ball from Keenan Allen (Davis) and Oronde Gadsden II (Douglas). Allen was fortunate to recoup his fumble, but Jordyn Brooks cleaned up Douglas’ handiwork, and on the next play, De’Von Achane flew 49 yards around the right end for a go-ahead touchdown.
De’Von Achane reaches the rarefied air of Clayton, WIlliams and Mostert
Achane, in his fifth game in the first six of the season, hit the end zone. It matches the most games with at least one score in the first six games of a Dolphins season with his quintet, matching Mark Clayton from 1984, Ricky Williams in 2002 and Raheem Mostert in 2023. What did all three have in common? They all ended up with at least 18 touchdowns for that season.
On deck: Cleveland Browns, Huntington Bank Field, Sunday, 1 p.m.
The Dolphins have actually gotten a little unlucky with their schedule this year. Miami has three games against bottom-half-of-the-NFL teams in Carolina, Cleveland and Atlanta, but all three of those teams are far more competent units at home than they are on the road. For instance, the Panthers’ 27-24 win over the Dolphins last Sunday made Carolina 5-3 in their past eight home games, while the Panthers have gone 1-7 on the road, getting outscored on average by 33.9-17.5, with that one win in overtime. Similarly, the Browns have been significantly better at Huntington Bank Stadium this season than at other sites. In its two games in Cleveland, all-everything defensive end Myles Garrett and Co. have held Joe Burrow and the Bengals and Jordan Love and the Packers to 185.5 yards a game and 13.5 points per contest.
