3 things we learned from the Miami Dolphins eye opening loss to the 49ers

There isn’t much to do right now if you’re the Miami Dolphins, but to learn from what happened yesterday in San Francisco. Go watch the tape, see all the mistakes made, and do everything in your power to ensure they don’t happen again

I don’t think there is a ton of room for any kind of wholesale, irrational personal move to be made right now. The Miami Dolphins are very much Del Griffith from Plains, Trains, and Automobiles; what you see is what you get and right now the Dolphins are a team that is exactly what all the doubters thought they were.

You will hear, if you already haven’t, that the Miami Dolphins don’t have what it takes to play the better teams, that they can only win in Miami, and that Tua Tagovailoa can’t carry a team that he can only win when things are pristine. And you know what, there isn’t much room to refute much of that at the moment.

That doesn’t mean that this team can’t get into playoffs, make some noise and win some games in there. They certainly can still do that. The Miami Dolphins control their destiny.

But for this exact moment, we are a team that needs to win games against top competition. The Baltimore and Buffalo wins were two months ago. Those teams aren’t the same teams and neither is Miami.

As I said, and as Tua said yesterday after the game, they’re going to look at the tape and see where all the errors were. I know every team says that after a loss but I truly believe this film session in California, will be very illuminating because it wasn’t as bad as the score indicated.

The Miami Dolphins were very much in this game and the errors that Tua spoke of were self-inflicited. Let’s see what we learned.

The offensive scheme the Miami Dolphins went with was fine. It was executing that scheme where things went bad.

Bret Hart would be disappointed in the Miami Dolphins yesterday. The excellence of execution would shake his head at how the offense was being executed for pretty much the entire game.

The man who Bret would have the biggest problem with would be Tua Tagovailoa. I don’t know if Tua needs to spend a day getting stretched in the Hart Family Dungeon, but I wouldn’t rule that out.

Tua was nowhere near himself yesterday. It was plain to see and he came right out after the game and admitted that.

Mike McDaniel’s game plan was very good. Receivers were open all over the place as they are every week. It’s just that the QB didn’t make the plays he normally does.

Tua missed open receiver after open receiver and on the 2nd INT, which was a layup of a play, he somehow threw the ball way behind Tyreek Hill.

The first play of the game to Trent Sherfield and the bomb to Tyreek Hill were awesome, but that was pretty much all Tua did all game. The rest of the time, he was sailing the ball over the guy’s heads.

Who knows why he played that way? I mean, guys are allowed to have off games. Step Curry has off nights and nobody bats an eye. But in the NBA, there are so many more games to show that you’re good and make up for earlier poor performances.

Maybe without Terron Armstead, he thought he had to speed up his internal clock to get rid of the ball. Honestly, I thought the offensive line did enough to win the game. Sure there were a few breakdowns but expecting to contain Nick Bosa all game is a fool’s game.

Tua didn’t play well. I don’t care that his stats were decent. He needs to play better and as we saw, he owned every part of the loss. That’s what leaders do and that’s what smart people who understand the position of QB do.

I know there will be some out there who have been waiting for this moment so that they can say “see told you so” about Tua’s game. I’m sure they will gloss over the fact Justin Herbert lost again to an average Raiders team or the countless other top-flite QBs that have had a clunker of a game like this already this year. That won’t matter to them. It will be Tua needs all the help in the world to win and if he doesn’t bring the absolute goods every week, he must be bad. Have fun with that loser mentality.

I fully expect Tua to do what he’s always done after taking it on the chin and that’s prepare even harder and make it a goal to hit those plays that we’ve seen him make many times.

The Chargers don’t have as fierce of a defense as San Francisco so I think Tua bounces back in a big way this week.

The Miami Dolphin’s defense was mid at best but how they played on 2nd down really irked me.

2nd down doesn’t often get talked about too much when you’re discussing defenses. 3rd down is the down anybody cares about.

But man alive, this team on defense just doesn’t understand what it means to put teams in 3rd and long. And this was just the latest in what has been an issue all year.

So many times yesterday, the Dolphins would do well on 1st down and it would be 2nd and 10 or 9. Then on that 2nd down, the 49ers would throw a short pass, where Miami was playing weirdly off, and would give up eight or nine making it 3rd and one or two. It was maddening to me because it just kept happening.

Do everything you can to make it 3rd and long on Brock Purdy. They didn’t do that. They made life comfortable for him and Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers kept possessing the ball.

What was that one graphic in the 3rd quarter where Miami only had the ball for like a minute? Yeah, that had to do with the 49ers dominating on 2nd down.

Overall, the defense was average at best. But, this defense has too much, alleged, talent on it to be average, especially against Brock Purdy.

What do I know but I would have sent more pressure at Purdy making him have to make quick decisions while I had my corners up a bit more. That was the recipe so many times before against quarterbacks of Purdy’s skill level and it did well.

The guys up front did alright and they got to Purdy three times but it just didn’t seem like they made life difficult for Mr. Irrelevant.

The defense played off of Deebo Samuel and he flexed all over them, punishing them every time he touched the ball. That guy is a beast and the Dolphin’s defense wanted no part of him.

I don’t want to say that the defense is a  complete paper defense but until they can contain teams that are good teams, what else am I supposed to think?

The Miami Dolphins have zero issues abandoning the run.

I could have used a few more run calls. A couple of more could have been called. Far be it from me to call out Mike McDaniel but even he said yesterday that he messed up.

McDaniel also said after the game that he needs to be better. I like that.

But it appears that McDaniel is comfortable with abandoning the running game. Was the running game getting a lot done? No, it wasn’t though that garbage holding call they called on Robert Hunt that took away a 20-yard run from Mostert was an important moment.

I just think there was room for a few more runs. Yes, there were receivers open all the time and Tua missed them so I can see McDaniel’s point to keep passing.

I just keep thinking about that 3rd and 2 late in the 4th. around the 49ers 30. Tua drops back and the ball gets batted down. 4th down and Tua tries going to Mike Gesicki, who I had no idea made the trip until that play, and the ball wasn’t caught.

It’s easy to play the results, but I like a run in that spot on 3rd and 2 knowing full well you throw for it on 4th down. I bet on the All-22 film we’ll see that a guy was wide open over the middle on that 3rd down. I still would like a run there.

I also would have liked Jeff Wilson Jr. to get more than one carry. What’s the point of bringing him in if one carry in big games is all he’s going to get?

The theme of the whole game is to clean up errors. This could be one of those errors.

I don’t have a ton of Miami Dolphins game notes here since I didn’t take any down due to being a b-day party. But here’s what I recall and how I feel now.

The offense is legit, in case anyone didn’t know. I already wrote how the scheme worked against the 49ers’ #1 ranked defense due to all the receivers who were open. Tua didn’t hit them like he usually does but they were open.

Brock Purdy getting that 4th and 1 sneak when Sieler had him stuffed. It would have been nice if other players came in and you know did something to stop Purdy from rotating and getting used over the line.

I wanted Durham Smythe to get more playing time over Mike Gesicki due to the offensive line being weakened but I don’t think Gesicki played 10 snaps all game. Not great. No chance he’s back next year.

The refs weren’t good but I’ll be damned if I’m going to complain like I’m a sorry Bill’s fan. Nope, I won’t do it.

Christian Wilkins may have had his best game of the season. That guy is playing like a man possessed.

Nice to see Xavien Howard get his first INT of the season.

Man if Tua could have thrown a better pass to Jef Wilson Jr., he’d still be running. It still should have been caught but the ball was slightly off, especially for a running back.

I enjoyed the ballsy call McDaniel for going for it on 4th and 1 at his own 19. It really showed he didn’t have a ton of faith in Josh Boyer’s defense.

Speaking of which, Josh Boyer’s seat is getting hot.

I really hope Jaylen Waddle will be good to go on Sunday. I feel like he should be but I bet he’ll have an injury designation. That guy is tough and can take punishment.

For the love of God, can Tua learn how to take a sack? The last sack of the game where he fumbled he once again tried getting himself broken in half. I’m starting to think he likes it.

Turnovers turnovers and turnovers. Turnovers kept the Dolphin’s offense at bay. All were on Tua. Can’t happen against good teams. As I’ve said, he knows and needs to learn from it. I expect that he will.

How awesome were the 49ers’ linebackers? Dre Greenlaw enforced his will on the Dolphins and Miami couldn’t deal with him or Warner. Must be nice having linebackers like that.

Now it’s about how the Dolphins respond. That’s the next test. They’re going to hear all typed of noise from all the usual suspects and then they play in front of the world on Sunday night football against Justin Herbert and the Chargers. It will be another fascinating game where Tua and Miami can get everyone thinking they’re legit again or they can spiral some more as they then go to Buffalo and play on Saturday night. I hope the former happens.

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