Shanahan offenses have experienced big jumps in Year 2. Can the Dolphins be the next?
For all the Dolphins’ offensive success in 2022, players and coaches believed they were in the elementary stages of Mike McDaniel’s scheme.
Wide receiver Tyreek Hill, maybe in a bit of jest, claimed he was just thriving off athleticism. McDaniel compared quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s understanding of the offense to a foreign language and said that he has become fluent.
With the core of an electric unit returning for the 2023 season, there are high expectations for the Dolphins offense. And for recent coaches executing the same Mike Shanahan-style offense as McDaniel, the second year in the scheme has produced great results.
Kyle Shanahan, working as offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons in 2016, and Rams coach Sean McVay in 2018 both led offenses for teams that reached the Super Bowl in the second year under the Shanahan scheme. After finishing 15th in scoring in 2019, Packers coach Matt LaFleur and quarterback Aaron Rodgers returned for their second season together and had the highest-scoring offense; Rodgers was named league Most Valuable Player. Even Kyle Shanahan in his second season as 49ers head coach, dealing with an early-season injury to quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, improved in many offensive metrics in 2018 — and then reached the Super Bowl in 2019 with Garoppolo playing all 16 regular-season games.
All of the coaches worked alongside McDaniel in Washington when Mike Shanahan was head coach. With McDaniel the latest Shanahan protégé to lead an offense, are the Dolphins poised for a similar jump in 2023?
Passing game
When Tagovailoa was healthy, the Dolphins had arguably the most prolific passing offense in the NFL. Tagovailoa led the league in passer rating and was the top passer targeting the middle of field, first in passing yards and passer rating.
With Tagovailoa throwing to Hill and Jaylen Waddle, the fastest receiver duo in the NFL, the Dolphins finished second in net yards per pass attempt, which factors in sacks and sack yards, according to Pro Football Reference.
However, there are still questions regarding if they can replicate that success in 2023 after late-season struggles against the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Chargers. Ahead of the regular-season opener and a rematch against the Chargers, McDaniel downplayed the uniqueness of Los Angeles’ defensive game plan. But Miami has tinkered with ways to evolve the passing game outside of the middle-of-field concepts they were so good at.
In a conference call last week, ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky said play-action passing is an area in which the Dolphins could improve.
According to Sharp Football Analysis, Tagovailoa ranked 24th out of 48 qualifying quarterbacks in expected points (EPA) added per attempt on play action (EPA is a measure of efficiency that accounts for situational factors such as down, distance and field position).
“For as good as they were pre-snap with their motions and their formations and as good as they are in their RPO game, Tua was not very good in play action last year,” Orlovsky said. “I don’t know if Tua sees the play action as well as he sees dropback.”
He added: “I think one, building a play-action game that at least they can be a little more efficient and effective in is a big deal, because that carries you through levels of the season with injuries. It helps your protection. Usually, most play-action concepts have places to go with the ball, indifferent of coverage.”
Running game
If the Dolphins offense improves in 2023, it will likely be because of the emergence of a running game that gives the unit a balanced approach. Miami ranked 19th in yards per attempt (4.3) last season. Of the aforementioned former Shanahan assistants, only Kyle Shanahan with the Atlanta Falcons ranked lower in his first season.
But each of the coaches, primarily operating the zone running scheme, had better efforts in Year 2 as the offensive line worked with more cohesion. McDaniel has said that he should have run the ball more in his first year as a play-caller.
“Mike is so creative and they’re so special on the outside that you have to be almost hard-headed to it,” Orlovsky said.
Any improvement will have to be mainly from internal growth. Despite looking into many upgrades at running back, the Dolphins didn’t make deals for players such as Dalvin Cook and Jonathan Taylor. And Miami didn’t make any major additions to the offensive line, though veteran Isaiah Wynn could be the Week 1 starter at left guard. McDaniel brought in Butch Barry, whom he worked with in San Francisco, as the new offensive line coach.
“In this second year, for me, I feel more comfortable in going to my landmark and to my spots and I know the plays,” right guard Robert Hunt said. “So for me, I’m just playing football. I’m just going and I hit the spot. Sometimes I don’t hit the spot and I’ve just got to play football. At the end of the day, it’s about winning. For me, I think this second year has been really good because you do kind of have an idea of what you want. But also, you understand we have a new coach so the coaching may be a little different than it was last year. Same system, same plays, but the coaching and some little details may be a little different and I think Butch is doing a hell of a job.”
In the preseason, the Dolphins looked like a squad that could be one of the better rushing teams in the NFL in 2023. Miami ranked third in rushing yards (497) and second in yards per rush (5.65).
It was an encouraging showing for a group potentially more proficient in an already potent offense.
“With the offensive line, we’re happy with it,” general manager Chris Grier said. “I think you’ve seen the progress from the last two years with the fundamentals and the teaching in this offense in the preseason. In the run game, they’ve done some good things.”
This story was originally published September 5, 2023 at 2:06 PM.
