Week 14 takeaways: Dolphins offense lays an egg, Chargers step up

California dreaming quickly turned into a California nightmare for the Miami Dolphins. A loss to the San Francisco 49ers was followed by the most confusing Dolphins performance this season, culminating with a 23-17 defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Chargers. The game wasn’t as close as the score indicates, and now some of the shine has worn off what had been a feel-good story in the AFC. Here are some of the key takeaways from the game.

Herbert shines, Tua doesn’t

The conversation driving the lead-up to Sunday Night Football was the comparisons between Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Herbert. Taken with the sixth and seventh picks, respectively, in the 2019 NFL draft, the two have been compared to each other since they both broke into the league. The hype was treating this game as a referendum for who was the better quarterback. Sunday night may not have ended the debate, but one side now has much more ammunition.

Herbert was phenomenal. There isn’t another way to describe his performance. He completed 39-of-51 passes for 367 yards and a touchdown with a 102.3 passer rating. The return of receiver Mike Williams helped for sure, but the Chargers are still dealing with multiple injuries to key pieces on the offensive line, which resulted in an ineffective running game and Herbert being under constant pressure. None of that mattered. Herbert was still fantastic moving in the pocket, getting out of trouble, and finding receivers downfield.

For Tagovailoa, it was the worst game he’s played this season, finishing 10-for-28 for 145 yards and a touchdown with a passer rating of 65.3. The offense couldn’t get anything going all game, with the two touchdowns of the game coming thanks to receiver Tyreek Hill. The first was on one of the weirder plays in recent memory where Jeff Wilson Jr. fumbled the ball and the ball was poked out of the ensuing scrum and into the hands of Hill, who runs it 57 yards for a touchdown. The second was a deep ball to Hill where the cornerback just fell down and Hill strolled in for a 75-yard score.

Other than those two plays, the offense was dreadful. The Dolphins didn’t run a play in Chargers territory until the 12:50 mark in the fourth quarter and never got into the red zone. The running game struggled as well, only gaining 82 yards and 3.6 yards per carry. After lighting up the scoreboard during their five-game winning streak, the Dolphins need to go back to the drawing board.

“I thought, overall, with the way everyone was playing, for us to win the game he needed to do something great,” McDaniel said. “I thought, at moments, he did do some stuff. He competed, and he gave us a chance to win, but collectively, the quarterback is only as good as the offense. Together, we just weren’t good enough.”

Chargers pass coverage steps up

A big reason for Tagovailoa’s struggles passing the ball was because of L.A.’s pass defense. Despite not having Pro Bowl safety Derwin James and starting corner Bryce Callahan, the Chargers’ pass coverage played a great game. Second-year cornerback Asante Samuel Jr. locked up the right side of the field, allowing just three targets and one reception for eight yards. Pro Football Focus gave Samuel a grade of 83.2, the highest on the team. Right behind him were linebackers Drue Tranquill and Kenneth Murray, who only allowed a combined six targets for two receptions and 20 yards.

“We have the best pass defense in the league, so we’re going to play like that,” said Chargers head coach Brandon Staley. “… All the guys that played tonight were committed to playing a complete game, and we knew if we played the way we played, that it would look like that.”

The L.A. pass coverage took away the middle of the field — an area Miami had been feasting on coming into the game — and Tagovailoa was unable to get into a rhythm because of it. According to PFF, he only went 6-for-14 (43 percent) for 44 yards on passes between the numbers, forcing him to go outside, where he finished 4-for-10 for 93 yards and a touchdown.

Wilkins and Phillips have huge games

The Miami defense had two standouts against the Chargers: defensive tackle Christian Wilkins and outside linebacker Jaelan Phillips. Wilkins continued his huge year with nine tackles, two tackles for loss, and a sack. He was living in the backfield and recorded four quarterback hurries, making life more difficult for Herbert.

Phillips had a big impact as well, finishing with six tackles, two tackles for loss, and a sack. He would have had a second sack if it weren’t for a questionable roughing the passer call. It looked like just a normal tackle, but the officials said he put all his body weight on top of him, which is technically against the rules. Despite that, he had a great game and the second-year defensive end from UCLA is continuing to progress into a key piece for Miami’s defense going forward.

PFF gave Wilkins and Phillips grades of 91.3 and 89.7, respectively, almost 15 points higher than the next Miami defender. Both guys delivered.

Where’s Waddle?

Wide receiver Jaylen Waddle is the No. 2 guy behind Hill and the two were being billed as the next incarnation of the Marks Brothers. Over the last two games, Waddle has been a non-factor, only catching three passes on nine targets for 40 yards. What makes Miami’s offense so electric is the threat of two big-play receivers, but Waddle’s lack of explosive plays is contributing to the offense taking a step back.