This was supposed to be the game: the Miami Dolphins defensive front, with its incredibly deep roster of edge rushers, was going to come alive and take down Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert. They didn't.
The Chargers lost their two previous games before heading into Miami without two of their starting offensive linemen. This set up Miami's pass rush nicely, but when the game was over, the Dolphins walked out of Hard Rock Stadium with just one sack.
Herbert was under pressure most of the matchup, but the inability of the Dolphins' defense to take him down ultimately cost them the game.
Miami Dolphins much-heralded edge rushers manage one meager sack against Los Angeles Chargers depleted line
Kenneth Grant was credited with the lone sack, but the bigger story was the ones left on the field. Miami hit Herbert five times, two of them on the final game-winning drive.
On that final drive, the Dolphins' biggest failures showed the brightest as Herbert wrestled out of one tackle to throw an incompletion, and then on the next play managed to get away from a defender's clutch to complete a long game to Ladd McConkey that would set the Chargers up deep in Miami's territory.
Miami's offense fought back from another dreadful second half, but this time it was the defense's inability to close it out that cost them. Anthony Weaver dialed up the right defense on those late-game plays, but execution was out of Miami's reach.
Herbert isn't easy to bring down. Far from the level of Josh Allen, Herbert is still a tall quarterback who can fight off tacklers, something he did when they needed it.
Miami is still trying to find its rhythm off the edge. Jaelan Phillips, Bradley Chubb, Matt Judon, and Chop Robinson have combined for six sacks, with Chubb posting four of the team's 11 total.
The Dolphins are beyond needing to turn this all around. This isn't their year, and it likely never was going to be. There are too many "what-if" scenarios each week, too many busted plays on both sides of the ball, and little to no complementary play.
When one side of the ball makes a play, the other doesn't. On Sunday, the Dolphins once again couldn't get out of their own way and make the plays when they absolutely had to.