The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

And we’re 1-4….

Hard to choose who to blame but I’ll go with the defense why not

Weaver? Defensive Line?  I don't understand it; I thought the D Line was going to be the best part of the defense.  How do you give up 237 yards rushing to a team playing without their #1 running back?

I think this team is much WORSE than I thought, and I didn't think they were very good but I thought they would be about a .500 team given their easy schedule.  I'm wondering if they can win 4 games this year.

The offensive line.   Only 19 yards rushing and Tua was sacked three times and pressured many others.  That line sucked dick today.   

From the NFL highlights package (and game reviews):

It's really hard to get a feel for how the game played out from the limited footage I saw (for this and the game ball award).

The first impression (and the one I'll stick with) is Weaver, because our defense is absolute trash. Minkah seems to be the only one out there who can stick a tackle, and Chubb the only one applying constant pressure. We can't stop the run, giving up over 200 yards to a #2 RB. Guys like Jones should be told this ain't fucking flag football - you have to bring a player down to stop the play, and not continually go one handed (usually to try and punch out the ball). Our defense is playing soft, and with the couple of notable exceptions I said earlier, doesn't seem to give a shit. I'm beginning to think Weaver doesn't give a shit either - like most of his players he has mentally checked out, knowing what little talent is left ain't anywhere near enough to get the job done.

Which leads me to McDaniel as a dishonorable mention. Waller had a glorious first half, but I read he wasn't even targeted once in the second half! The Panthers committed to the run (even while behind) and had 3x the attempted rushes - we only had 13 attempts. I get the argument that our OL sucked, but again it seems like we're to willing to abandon the run (even in previous weeks when it's successful) and go with the dink and dunk, short passes at or behind the line of scrimmage - even when they're not working. Successive three and outs load more pressure on a struggling defense - and we just can't seem to get it done when the pressure is on. For all the talk of us mentally and physically toughening up in the offseason, our play continues to be the complete opposite.

It may be less than a third of the way through the season, but I've got the feeling McDaniel has lost the players. Probably lost the coaches too. This season is a train wreck.

Yeah the raw figures look like that... then I look that our offense after the first three scoring drives went four three and outs in a row... close enough to five when we got a first down the first play of the next series, followed by a three and out. We're not running the ball anywhere near as much as passing, and not taking time off the clock. At that particular time the defense was holding up while we had a lead... until it inevitably broke.

Weaver (like Fangio) must absolutely hate McDaniel right now. Defensive players get run into the ground and burnt out - if none of them give a shit, I can hardly say I'm surprised. I'm really tempted to change my SOG vote to McDaniel. 

"The defense was tired" is not a valid excuse.  MIA had the advantage in time of possession at the start of the 4th quarter and the defense collapsed anyway.

My SOTG is Weaver again.  This defense is just the pits.

Players claim they are "frustrated but the team is not a dumpster fire".   They're worse than a dumpster fire.   A dumpster fire has a flame.

There's no question that the defense sucks, but it's also obvious McDainiel ain't helping them much on Offense either.

After we got out to a 17-0 lead, our offense only had 24 plays over 13.11 up until Carolina took over the game for good. Even our series when Waddle scored a TD was only three plays and 1.18.

The 17-0 lead also had a lot to do with the defense getting two turnovers.  The Dolphins are just bad on both sides of the ball, and also have a couple shining moments on both sides of the ball.  Overall there's just no consistency; and I'm sick of McDaniel's news conferences after the game saying "we're gonna get that fixed right away", they've had the same problems for TWO YEARS, he isn't going to get anything fixed.  There's zero emotion from him!  Throw a clipboard or chair, kick over a garbage can, get in some players' faces  on the sidelines after their bonehead plays, DO SOMETHING to show you care.

I have sat on this for days and I still don't know what to do.

Our sucking seems systemic and in multiple areas.

Our defense is bad.
Specifically, our QB pressure is bad.
Our offensive line is terrible.
We can't run the ball.

In a game where you can't stop pressure, can't run, can't stop the run, and can't get pressure -- who do you blame for that?

Just to put a player's name on it, I'll go with corner Jack Jones, who had to hold all night.

I think it has a lot to do with coaching across the board, not just McDaniel.  I don't think the players sense any fear from the coaches after making really bad plays.  I see interviews from former Patriot players and they feared their coaches and it made them play/practice harder; not wanting to make mistakes.  In Miami it's "hey you make a good play in practice today, you get to pick the music played in practice tomorrow", that's just pitiful to me.

I know American society desperately longs for a hard-nosed tyrant that rules his players with an iron fist, but Miami literally just had one of those and it was far worse.  We can also see the entire Belichick coaching tree who does NOTHING BUT THAT and they all suck terribly.

So maybe instead of More Toughness, the Dolphins just need better players and/or better coaching schemes.

I'm not saying you need to rule with an "iron fist", but there has to be respect, discipline and responsibility for play; and I think that is lacking in Miami.  Obviously they do also because they keep talking about wanting to change the culture, which they haven't.

IMO this team was better off with Flores, they played above their capabilities under him.

I feel completely the opposite.

These are the key things here - and what little has been rapidly shrinking this season and last. To the extent that it headed towards that of the Philbin era, which to me was absolute rock bottom.

The coach doesn't necessarily have to be a hardass, but he has to be a good communicator, win the teams confidence, and ensure discipline is observed, top to bottom. That can be done a number of ways.

The bottom line is I just don't think McDaniel has it - certainly not enough to control a group that seems to be more interested in doing its own thing in an environment like Miami where there are potentially too many distractions. Year one he benefited from many of the senior players left from the previous hard-line regime (and experienced Senior defensive coach) filling that gap, but with them gone it's rapidly gone off the rails.

Why did Miami Dolphins miss so many tackles vs. Panthers? Focus was on forcing fumbles

After watching the tape, players and coaches wondered if a major reason that the Panthers rushed for 239 yards was defenders' preoccupation with stripping the ball rather than tackling the ballcarrier.

“You have guys that are missing tackles because of too many punch-out attempts that we’ve been emphasizing to get more takeaways,” coach Mike McDaniel said.

Linebacker Jaelan Phillips said players “had good intentions of trying to get the ball out” but have to remember that bringing the player down is always Job 1. There’s a time and place, and I think what’s more important is getting the guy on the ground,” Phillips said. “That’s just something to continue to work on.”

“You’ve just got to know when to make the decision to punch out the ball and when to make a secure tackle,” Fitzpatrick said. “I think we definitely had a couple of guys that made the wrong decision.”

https://sports.yahoo.com/article/miami-dolphins-blame-missed-tackles-142114965.html


Week 1 the players called a meeting because players were "doing their own thing" out on the field because they didn't understand their role, or didn't stick to it. Minkah's comment at the end suggests this hasn't really changed. What a mess.

The culture was created by Ross when he first became owner.   The orange carpets, Club Liv, minority owners who were celebrities, Margaritaville and Hard Rock themes.   He created a party atmosphere and has done very little if anything to change that.


Tacking is one of the basic fundamentals.   If fundamentals haven't changed, then it's on the coaching staff.

I know you and others do. I respect that.

The results were objectively worse under Flores, but there is some sort of hindsight perception that Flores - who had X, Minkah, Wilkins, Sieler, AVG, Tua, Waddle, and Rob Hunt on his rosters - was somehow handcuffed with terrible players during his time in Miami.  Like Mike McDaniel's teams have featured wild spending but Flores' teams were pinching pennies.

MIA's ranks in total cap allocation ("1st" is most money spent):

2019- 28th
2020- 9th
2021- 6th

2022- 14th
2023- 8th
2024- 29th
2025- 7th

I don't care how much money was spent, I don't deny Miami spends.  When Flores took over the Dolphins they were in Full on rebuild mode, if you don't believe that then there is no point.

2019 they went 5-11
2020 they went 10-6
2021 they went 9-8

This was the first time Miami had back to back winning seasons since 2002/2003

And When you talk about the above players most were rookies under Flores

Wilkins & AVG were rookies in 2019
Sieler & Hunt were rookies in 2020
Waddle was a rookie in 2021, Flores' last year.

And your mention of Flores having Minkah is just shameful, he only played two games during Flores' tenure.

Under McDaniel they signed Chubb, Ramsey, and Tyreek Hill among others.

In 2022 under McDaniel Miami went 9-8. No Improvement
in 2023 Miami went 11-6, this was a very good year, it gave me great hope for the future.
In 2024 Miami regressed to a losing record of 8-9.

And now in 2025 I seriously have doubts whether they can even win 6 games.

Objectively given the situations Miami was better under Flores.

The defense

It's strange that you consider "back-to-back winning seasons" a notable achievement, but "back-to-back playoff appearances" is apparently not noteworthy.

Sieler's rookie year was actually with the Ravens, but I don't understand why "They were rookies" is even a defense.  Flores had talent on the team; whether he was able to do anything with them is his own shortcoming as a coach.  I mentioned Minkah specifically because Flores ran him off the team to PIT, where he immediately made multiple All-Pro teams.  Again, Flores' problem was not a lack of talented players on the roster.