The Miami Dolphins offense has been stuck in neutral early in the 2024 season. After leading the league in offensive yardage and racking up the second most points a year ago, the Dolphins are dead last in scoring through the first three weeks.
While a concussion suffered by Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa forced the team to rely on Skylar Thompson and Mike Boyle in a 24-3 loss to the Seattle Seahawks in Week 3, questionable decisions made by head coach Mike McDaniel seemingly exacerbated Miami’s struggles.
But even though McDaniel says his preparation needs to improve if the Dolphins hope to get back on track, he doesn’t think it’d be helpful if he handed play-calling duties over to offensive coordinator Frank Smith.
“I take the responsibility super serious and every time that I’m calling a game, it’s based upon doing the best for the team,” McDaniel said Tuesday. “I wouldn’t hesitate to change that procedure — because it is my call — I would change it in a heartbeat if I thought somebody else gave the team a better chance to win.”
Evidently, McDaniel doesn’t feel as though it has reached that point.
It’s not the first time the subject has been raised. After the Dolphins failed to reach 20 points in three straight losses — two in the regular season and one in the playoffs — to end their 2023 season, McDaniel didn’t rule out making a change.
“I think the way I look at it is nothing is off the table ever, just because to just say well that’s the way we’ve done it, that’s not a good enough reason to me,” McDaniel said in January. “I think we failed to reach our goals this season. Play calling wouldn’t live outside that. We’ll see based upon what we do with this season.”
Two months later, he told reporters that reached a conclusion: he’d still be calling the plays for the Dolphins offense in 2024.
“I’ve thought about it long and hard,” McDaniel said. “I think from a play-calling perspective, for now in the spring, I’m going to call plays. And I plan on doing it in the fall. But we’ll always adjust, if necessary.”
At the top of the list of head-scratching decisions made by McDaniel in September was the Dolphins’ lack of commitment to the ground game against a Seahawks defense that allowed 185 rushing yards in the week prior.
By halftime, Miami had already asked Thompson to drop back to pass more than twice as many times as he handed the ball off. Rookie Jaylen Wright took two carries for 17 yards in the first half and then didn’t get another touch.
Mike McDaniel saw Jaylen Wright do this early on and decided to not give him a single touch the rest of the game pic.twitter.com/WV6YGkljnG
— FinsCentral (@finscentral) September 23, 2024
Through three games, the Dolphins have turned the ball over on downs nine times — four more than any other team — and they’ve successfully converted just one fourth down. They’ve turned only two of their eight red zone trips into touchdowns, the worst rate in the NFL.
