Vic Fangio’s one season as defensive coordinator of the Miami Dolphins won’t be remembered as a high point in his coaching career. But the decorated defensive coach doesn’t exactly see that 2023 season as a disaster.
“Nothing really [went wrong],” Fangio told ProFootballNetwork’s David Bearman on Monday. “Up until the last couple of games, we were ranked very high in defense. We were top five in every stat. Then we lost six or seven starters over last few games.”
Fangio, 66, and the Dolphins mutually agreed to part ways after one year and he became the Philadelphia Eagles’ defensive coordinator just a few days later. In his first season with Philadelphia, the team is set to play in Super Bowl LIX and finished the regular season with the No. 1 defense in the NFL.
While Dolphins players seemed happy to see Fangio exit Miami, his argument that injuries were the defense’s downfall in 2023 is very fair.
Dolphins players that went down in the latter half of the regular season included Bradley Chubb, Jaelan Phillips, Andrew Van Ginkel, Jerome Baker, and Xavien Howard. In Miami’s playoff loss against the Kansas City Chiefs, the team was forced to start Duke Riley at inside linebacker, Eli Apple at cornerback, and Melvin Ingram at outside linebacker.
Ingram joined the Dolphins in December after spending the first three months of the season as a free agent.
Through the first 15 games of the season, the Dolphins had an 11-4 record and allowed 20.9 points and 296.5 yards per game. In three straight losses to end the year, Miami allowed an average of 34.3 points and 457.7 yards.
