After a nail-biting win at New England, the Miami Dolphins were hoping to win their home opener against the Buffalo Bills. That didn’t happen and, in fact, it was one of the worst days from the Miami offense in quite some time.
Miami started with Tua Tagovailoa behind center. After getting smacked by Buffalo’s defense multiple times in the first drive, he left with a rib injury giving the ball to Jacoby Brissett for the remainder of the game. Throughout the next 3 plus quarters, Miami’s offense looked atrocious, as they were unable to do anything at all putting up zero points on the day.
In these pieces, I like to look at how the quarterbacks do over the course of the game. I think to anyone watching this one that Miami’s quarterbacks were quite bad. But, I don’t think they were completely at fault for the awful play we saw on Sunday. With their starting quarterback going out early in the game, I thought that Brissett was given absolutely zero help from the rest of the offense.
Miami’s offensive line was terrible. They looked more like turnstiles than they did blockers as Buffalo defenders were consistently pressuring Brissett all day. He had very few opportunities to drop back and read the field before he was being hit. It doesn’t matter which quarterback plays for the team, if they can’t block for him, they will look like Brissett did today.
On the few dropbacks where Brissett got a clean pocket, he was able to put the ball in some tight windows for his receivers to make a play. He had some pretty decent throws at times, with the exception of the terrible interception early in the game. Unfrotunately, a lot of those times where Brissett had a chance to throw it, Miami’s receivers were part of the problem, either dropping the ball or turning the ball over. DeVante Parker had a touchdown go through his hands (the play should have had a pass interference call on it, but that’s no excuse to drop a pass when you get two hands on it). Albert Wilson had two drops. Jakeem Grant fumbled the ball deep in Buffalo territory. Jaylen Waddle had a drop and a fumble on the punt return.
It didn’t matter which quarterback played for the Dolphins on Sunday. The team was not prepared for this matchup and even the best quarterbacks would have had a terrible day.
Brissett’s play callers also didn’t help him out. It seemed like the coaching staff took too long to adjust to Buffalo’s blitz schemes and didn’t do enough to get Brissett into any type of rhythm. With some better play calling, specifically some outside runs, Miami may have had a better chance offensively. That doesn’t matter, though, because that didn’t happen and Miami was embarrassed at home.
Overall, there are very few bright spots to take away from this game, especially when it comes to anyone on the offense. Brissett was bad in this one, but he got absolutely no help from anyone which meant that he didn’t stand a chance from his first snap on the field.
QB Grade: F