The Miami Dolphins offense has been exposed and now, it seems, everyone knows it.
I shudder to say that there is a “blueprint” on how to take out the Miami Dolphin’s offense mainly because I think the use of the term “blueprint” is hacky, but I don’t know what else to say about the current state of the Dolphin’s offense.
The 49ers started to clamp down on Tua and the receivers and Brandon Staley put a chef’s kiss on it. Yes, Brandon Staley, a guy I think may get fired after the season if the Chargers don’t make the playoffs was running circles around Mike McDaniel.
So what did Staley do? Well, you saw Chris Collinsworth allude to it during the game and even show it. They hit Tyreek Hill and the other receivers off the line, which in turn threw off the timing of the offense. That timing and rhythm are what this offense is predicated on.
If the receivers aren’t exactly where they’re supposed to be in the few seconds that Tua has to throw the ball then the play will not work.
The other thing Staley did and I believe this is something you’re going to see all the remaining teams do is that they packed the middle of the field with defenders. We saw on the one play where Tua tried getting the ball to Hill when there were no less than 77 Charger defenders all over him. That was happening over the last six weeks.
Tua was able to manipulate the defense with his eyes and then deliver the ball to a spot where a defender was drifting out of. That never happened last night. Staley did a great job telling his defense to not focus on Tua’s eyes. He may have told him to focus on his hips or something else like that. I don’t know.
What I do know is that those defenders just stayed where they dropped to and waited for a crossing receiver to come their way.
Play after play, Tua tried going to the middle of the field and the Chargers were just waiting for it. That’s why Tua started running which actually worked. But no amount of Tua runs was going to get it done.
As I said, expect everyone to play like that against Tua. Until he shows that he can throw the ball to other areas of the field with any consistency, I fear this will be the end result.