Dolphins’ defense collapses again late, this time vs. Seahawks. Is Tua Time near?
Brian Flores’ Dolphins are good enough to compete with the league’s best teams.
They’re just not good enough to beat them.
Three times in four weeks now they’ve had a chance to upset a potential playoff team in the fourth quarter.
And three times in four weeks now they’ve fallen flat on their faces.
The Seattle Seahawks were the latest team to reveal that organizational shortcoming, ripping apart Miami’s secondary in general — and Noah Igbinoghene in particular — late to beat the Dolphins 31-23 Sunday.
The loss dropped the Dolphins to 1-3, and way out of the AFC East race. And while it was impossible to get a true sense of the locker room vibe post-game via Zoom, irritated and frustrated players left little to the imagination.
“We lost. We Gave up big plays,” said safety Bobby McCain. “I’m not going to sit here and tell you we’re trash, because we’re not.”
When asked where the team stands at the quarter pole, he responded “1-3” before abruptly getting up and ending the interview.
Things were just as frosty on offense.
Running back Myles Gaskin, who had 62 more yards from scrimmage, was asked to sum up the vibe of the roster after Sunday’s loss.
His response?
“It’s like when you lose a game and you feel like you should’ve won it or had opportunities to win it. That’s what it felt like.”
Their frustration is understandable. The Dolphins have now lost 17 of their last 23 games.
And many of those losses were like Sunday:
Close throughout, but undone late due to fatal blunders.
The Dolphins trailed by just two with more than eight minutes left, but then basically stopped playing until it was too late.
Russell Wilson picked on Igbinoghene all day, and did it again at the most important moment, connecting with David Moore on a 17-yard touchdown catch that essentially put the game away.
Eighty-four seconds later, they were in end zone again, after Ryan Fitzpatrick thew his second interception of the afternoon. That set up a 1-yard Chris Carson touchdown run, and the game was decided.
Fitzpatrick’s pick, the team’s inability to punch the ball into the end zone on its first five trips inside Seattle’s 30, and Miami’s 1-3 record could all make Flores’ decision at quarterback easier.
Tua Tagovailoa is the future and will play at some point this year. Could that point be next Sunday in San Francisco?
“I thought that was the story of the day, being able to move the ball effectively and not being able to do anything in the red zone,” Fitzpatrick said.
“And whether it was a penalty or poor execution or just a bad read by me, it just seemed like every time we got down there, something popped up,” he continued. “And red zone execution really falls on the quarterback. And, so, for me, I walk out of this game feeling terrible in that I felt like there was a lot of guys on our team that played well enough to win and I, unfortunately, was not one of them. And when that happens and your quarterback doesn’t play up to his ability, then you’re not going to win a whole lot of games in this league.”
The Dolphins all day seemed content to trade field goals for touchdowns — a losing proposition against any team, but especially the deep-throwing Seahawks.
Miami’s red-zone offense was actually a relative strength through three weeks, scoring touchdowns on two-thirds of their trips inside the 20, but it failed them Sunday.
The Seahawks, meanwhile, had four scoring drives that lasted less than 200 seconds. And to be frank, they should have won by more, and would have if not for their own red-zone issues.
But it hardly matter. The Dolphins kept them in the game with their own mistakes.
The most egregious: An appalling coverage bust (apparently by Igbinoghene) on a 57-yard completion to Moore that led to a three-yard touchdown pass to Travis Homer with three seconds left in the first half. The Seahawks traveled 75 yards in just 21 seconds to go up eight points at the break.
The Dolphins’ defense did respond in the third quarter, blanking the Seahawks thanks largely to an interception by Xavien Howard in the end zone.
Miami went to the fourth very much in the game, down just 17-12.
And the Doplhins crept even closer with Sanders’ fifth field goal midway through the fourth, but the Dolphins obviously wanted more. They called a Gaskin run on third-and-3 from the Seahawks’ 9, but Alton Robinson dropped him in the backfield.
Basically everything that followed that went wrong — up to and including the official’s spot on Chris Carson’s run on third-and-3. He appeared to be short, but was awarded the first down both live and on review.
Fitzpatrick finished the day 29 of 45 for 315 yards (including 110 to DeVante Parker) and with a passer rating of 66.5. Wilson went 24 of 34 for 360 yards, two touchdowns and the pick.
“We just didn’t play well enough in the fourth quarter,” Dolphins coach Brian Flores said. “We’ve talked about finishing games and playing well in the fourth quarter, and we didn’t get it done today offensively or defensively. It starts with me; I’ve got to coach it better, and we’ve got to play better, try to place emphasis on playing well, playing our best in the fourth quarter. We didn’t do that and we need to. We’ve been in every game. It’s been close in the fourth quarter and we’ve got to finish better.”
This story was originally published October 4, 2020 at 4:08 PM.
