INDIANAPOLIS — This was as ugly as it gets for the Miami Dolphins in their 33-8 loss at Indianapolis on Sunday. The offense wasn’t a threat, the defense wasn’t a threat, and a special teams penalty opened the door for a Colts 17-play drive that resulted in a field goal at the halftime buzzer. Game-ending injuries to cornerback Storm Duck (left ankle) and guard James Daniels (pectoral) made things much worse.
Beyond that, however, coach Mike McDaniel had no answers for what Indianapolis coach Shane Steichen cooked up.
Here’s what we observed:
Tua was awful
Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa ended 14 of 23 for 114 yards, two interceptions, a lost fumble and a 51.7 passer rating. His first interception resulted in a 14-play, 84-yard Colts touchdown, his lost fumble on the next possession ended in a five-play, 42-yard touchdown drive, and his second interception resulted in a seven-play, 48-yard field goal drive and a 23-0 Colts lead. Tua didn’t do much right on Sunday.
That’s three turnovers, 17 points. Obviously, that’s an ugly start to the season. — Chris Perkins
OL still hasn’t had time together
The first-quarter pectoral injury to right guard James Daniels means the Dolphins’ starting offensive line, a focal point of the offseason, still hasn’t spent much time together. Early in the offseason center Aaron Brewer was sidelined, then right tackle Austin Jackson missed time with a toe injury. And now Daniels, Miami’s big-ticket free agent with his three-year, $24 million deal, is injured.
Daniels, of course, was limited to four games last season with Pittsburgh before being sidelined with a right Achilles injury. He was questionable for the game with a left ankle injury.
Youngsters get early action
The Dolphins are now trying to win with youth and draftees, and it didn’t go well Sunday. Among first- and second-year players cornerbacks Storm Duck and Jason Marshall, running back Ollie Gordon II, wide receiver Malik Washington, safety Dante Trader Jr., defensive tackles Kenneth Grant and Jordan Phillips, and left guard Jonah Savaiinaea all got early, significant action.
Duck left the game with an ankle injury. Savaiinaea seemed to do OK and Marshall ended with one tackle, Grant had four tackles, Gordon ended with two carries for four yards, Washington had one reception for nine yards, Phillips had five tackles.
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Tua-to-Tyreek off to shaky start
The Tagovailoa-to-wide receiver Tyreek Hill connection, which was shaky to end last season in games at Houston and against San Francisco, was shaky to start the game Sunday as they sustained a first quarter interception when Tagovailoa overthrew Hill. Hill ended with four receptions for 40 yards.
The two hardly spent time together in the offseason as Hill had right wrist surgery and an oblique injury.
The Tagovailoa-Hll on-field relationship is a bigger concern than the off-field relationship.
Sloppy play crushes Dolphins
The Dolphins were incredibly sloppy among three turnovers by Tagovailoa (two interceptions and a lost fumble), a coverage bust that allowed a touchdown reception and outside linebacker Matthew Judon getting called for running into the punter that gave the Colts a first down that eventually resulted in a field goal and a 20-0 Colts halftime lead.
The Judon penalty allowed the Colts to have a 17-play, 72-yard drive that included, after the penalty, a 14-yard completion on third-and-10 from the Colts’ 36-yard line, and a six-yard completion on fourth and 2 from the Dolphins’ 42-yard line.
Edge rushers largey negated
The Colts offensive line is regarded among the best in the league and they lived up to that billing against Dolphins edge rushers Bradley Chubb (one sack), Jaelan Phillips, Chop Robinson and Matthew Judon. The Dolphins hardly touched Colts quarterback Daniel Jones. Meanwhile, the left side of the Colts offensive line — guard Quenton Nelson and tackle Bernhard Raimann — were as good as advertised.
The edge rushers were unable to buy time for the under-construction secondary. Jones went to work early and ended 22 of 29 for 272 yards, one touchdown, no interceptions and a 115.9 passer rating.
Cornerbacks get tested in a couple of ways . . . and fail
The cornerbacks were a huge question mark entering the game and they failed the test as far as performance and health. Starters Storm Duck and Jack Jones and nickel/slot Jason Marshall Jr. didn’t have much success early. After Duck went down in the second half with a left ankle injury, cornerback Rasul Douglas got some playing time. It didn’t matter.
The cornerbacks failed to make plays and failed to cover receivers. There’s a lot of room for growth.
The Kenneth Grant-Tyler Warren question
The Dolphins drafted defensive tackle Kenneth Grant at No. 13 and the Colts quickly drafted tight end Tyler Warren No. 14. Grant ended with four tackles. Warren ended with seven receptions for 76 yards.
In light of the Dolphins’ tight end issues with veteran Darren Waller, who was inactive Sunday (he was declared ‘out’ Friday due to a hip strain), there’s room to question the Dolphins’ selection.
Of course, there was room to question the Dolphins’ selection on draft night, too. Sunday shined a brighter light on the situation as Warren, the rookie from Penn State, had five receptions for 57 yards in the first half alone. He arguably should have had a third quarter touchdown but safety Minkah Fitzpatrick slipped and seemed to interfere with Warren. No penalty was called.
It’s another Dolphins rough opener; the reasons vary
The Dolphins are becoming known for rough starts. This year, outside linebacker coach Ryan Crow was arrested for battery a little more than a week before the opener and then the Dolphins laid an egg in the opener at Indianapolis. The two events aren’t related but both happened.
Last year, of course, Hill was detained by law enforcement prior to the opening game. In 2019, they were blasted, 59-10, by Baltimore. In 2018, they defeated Tennessee, 27-20, but the game took seven hours and eight minutes and was the NFL’s longest game thanks to two lightning delays. In 2017, the scheduled opener against Tampa Bay was postponed due to the threat of a hurricane and prior to the de facto opener at the Los Angeles Chargers an assistant coach was involved in an infamous video and linebacker Lawrence Timmons went AWOL.
Dolphins’ offense falls flat, credit Lou Anarumo
The much-hyped Dolphins offense didn’t do anything Sunday. No fireworks, no big plays, no excitement. McDaniel, offensive cooridnator Frank Smith, quarterbacks coach Darrell Bevell and senior pass game coordinator Bobby Slowik were all outsmarted by Colts defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, the former Dolphins secondary coach.
By the way, Anarumo had a similar result in 2022 when he was Cincinnati’s defensive coordinator and the Bengals defeated the Dolphins.
Tagovailoa’s ball-security issues are as pronounced as ever
In his past 2¾ games, Tua Tagovailoa has five interceptions and three fumbles. If you go back to his second diagnosed concussion of 2022 against the Packers, Tagovailoa has played 31 games. He has thrown an unsightly 27 interceptions and fumbled 21 times (1.55 per game). He had 20 picks and 16 fumbles in his first 35 games (1.03 per game). By comparison, in his 82 career games, Justin Herbert, who the Dolphins passed over to pick Tagovailoa, has 77 interceptions and fumbles (0.94 per game). — Steve Svekis
First-quarter scoring has become a problem for the Dolphins
In Miami’s past eight games, the Dolphins have only scratched across 18 points in the opening 15 minutes, a paltry average of 2.25 per first quarter.
An athletic tight end gouged the Dolphins yet again
In the first half, when the Colts blew the doors off Miami to the tune of 20-0, rookie tight end Tyler Warren piled up six touches for 60 yards. The game was basically over at that point. Warren ended up with 79 yards on eight touches. Last year, players such as George Kittle, Brock Bowers and Trey McBride combined for 356 yards in their three games.
The back of Tyreek Hill’s head bounced hard off the turf
Hill made a catch for 4 yards, getting toppled backward by Charvarius Ward on the Colts sideline. The back of his helmet bounced off the turf with major force. Something to monitor.
That was as far west as the Dolphins will go this season
Yes, as incredible as that sounds, the Dolphins will play east of Indianapolis the rest of the year. The last time Indy was the farthest west Miami traveled was 35 years ago.
Is Achane’s usage in the passing game evolving?
Dolphins fleet-footed third-year running back has caught 89 passes in his career from Tua Tagovailoa. On average he has caught those passes 1.71 yards behind the line of scrimmage. However, that number was a massive minus-2.37 yards per catch heading into Thanksgiving last year, but in Tagovailoa’s final four games of the season, Achane grabbed 27 passes at a cumulative mere 5 yards behind the line (minus-0.19 per reception). It will be interesting to see if that was a product of the hip issue that eventually sidelined Tagovailoa for the season’s final two games, or something more macro from Mike McDaniel.
Tagovailoa ticked off another first-time opponent
Tua Tagovailoa had seen injuries rob him of his first two opportunities to play against The Horseshoes (2021 and 2024), before suiting up at Lucas Oil Stadium. That leaves the Seattle Seahawks, Minnesota Vikings and Tampa Bay Buccaneers still to play to complete his NFL tour. The Buccaneers visit Hard Rock Stadium on Dec. 28.
Tua and McDaniel have been a lethal combo in road openers
Heading in to the Colts matchup in Indianapolis, Tua Tagovailoa had been dominant in his first road game of a season under Mike McDaniel, averaging 35 points per game. After Sunday, that average was reduced to 28.3.
On deck: New England Patriots, Hard Rock Stadium, Sunday, 1 p.m.
Patriots fleet-footed rookie passer Drake Maye was handled by the Dolphins last year at Hard Rock, as the defense piled up four sacks, with Zach Sieler stripping Maye on one of them (recovered by Jordyn Brooks). Also after New England had scored 15 fourth-quarter points to make the score 31-15, Tyrel Dodson, in his first game taking defensive snaps with the Dolphins, made a spectacular interception to close out the 34-15 Miami win.
