Last season, despite a bit of a slump down the stretch, only five teams in the league gained more yards on the ground than the Miami Dolphins. The club averaged 135.8 yards per game rushing. Raheem Mostert led the way with 1,012 yards and 18 scores, and De'Von Achane ran for 800 yards and eight touchdowns.
The playoff-bound 'Fins totaled 27 rushing scores, tied with the Lions and 49ers for the most in the league. Combine that with the NFL's top passing attack, and that kind of balance proved troublesome for opposing defenses.
This season, Mike McDaniel's team was averaging 133.9 yards rushing in its first eight games. The club owned a 2-6 record, but starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa had missed four contests. With last season's NFL passing leader back at the helm the past eight weeks, McDaniel slowly but surely took a different offensive approach. It's failed to pay off in two of Miami's last three games.
Dolphins have taken the run out of a run to the playoffs
The Dolphins have now failed to reach the 100-yard mark on the ground in each of their last six games. It's the longest such streak in a season under McDaniel and the longest by the franchise since 2019.
That season, the Dolphins ran for a mere 1,156 yards, the fewest in a season in franchise history. The club failed to rush for at least 100 yards in each of their first five games, ran for 109 yards in Week 7 at Buffalo, and then failed to hit the century six straight times from Weeks 8-13. Miami ran for fewer than 100 yards in 13 of their 16 contests, and the team's leading runner that year was quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick with 243 yards. Ouch.
This season, Miami now ranks a disappointing 26th in the NFL in rushing yards per contest (101.4). That's because McDaniel's squad has totaled just 349 yards on the ground the last six weeks, a horrendous 58.2 yards per outing. In those last six games, Tagovailoa has thrown for 13 scores but has been sacked a total of 15 times and committed a half-dozen turnovers. Four of those miscues came in last Sunday's 20-12 loss at Houston.
The Dolphins' failures when it comes to the ground game the past six weeks means time is "running" out (pun intended) for McDaniel and company when it comes to 2024.