He called Miami Dolphins ‘fake’ in predicting blowout loss to Cowboys. About that...
National sports media personality Colin Cowherd made it clear Friday that he had his doubts about the Miami Dolphins.
In the process, he made a bold prediction about the Dolphins’ game against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.
During a three-minute monologue on his show “The Herd,” Cowherd called Dolphins “a lot of fake tough guys, a fake Gucci bag” with a “kid genius” and “hipster” head coach before predicting Dallas was going to “blow them out” by 10 or 12 points and be “comfortably in control” for the duration of the game.
“There’s a lot of elements to Miami that I think are inauthentic and fake,” Cowherd said.
About that…
Even if only for one game, the Dolphins proved Cowherd and many doubters nationally wrong by beating the Cowboys 22-20 to improve to 11-4, secure a playoff spot, put themselves in position to win the AFC East and keep alive their hopes of being the AFC’s top seed in the playoffs which would secure home-field advantage throughout the postseason.
To be fair, it wasn’t a pretty game. The Dolphins let the Cowboys score 10 consecutive points in the fourth quarter to take a one-point lead with 3:27 left to play. Tua Tagovailoa then led Miami on a 12-play, 64-yard drive capped by a Jason Sanders game-winning 29-yard field goal — Sanders’ fifth make of the game — as time expired.
“If we were to listen to any of the narratives, I don’t think we’d be in the position that we’re in,” Tagovailoa said to Fox’s Erin Andrews after the game. “I’m very proud of this team, very proud of the guys in that locker room continuing to fight for one another, continuing to press forward and managing the outside noise. This is a game we’ll enjoy.”
How Cowherd compared Dolphins and Cowboys
During his explanation, Cowherd took the time to list how he feels the Cowboys have “multiple elements that Super Bowl-winning teams have had.”
Cowherd’s list, in his own words: “A veteran offensive coach, not a kid genius. A Pro Bowl quarterback having his best year. A star, game-changing wide receiver. An elite, elite pass rush and pass rusher and an excellent O-line, top three according to PFF [Pro Football Focus]. The Dolphins’ is at best a work in progress. Plus, they’ve had seven blowout wins. That is customary for the last decade for Super Bowl champs.”
Interesting, because many of those talking points made can be applied to both teams.
Let’s break this down point by point.
▪ ”A veteran offensive coach, not a kid genius”: Yes. It’s true that Mike McDaniel is not a veteran coach… yet. He’s in his second season as the Dolphins’ head coach, but the “kid genius” is quickly establishing himself as one of the top current offensive minds in the game who is a favorite among his players.
But according to Cowherd, that doesn’t carry much weight.
“Twitter loves him. Hipsters adore him,” Cowherd said, “[but] Mike McCarthy’s got a Super Bowl.”
Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy does have one (1) Super Bowl in his seventeen (17) seasons as an NFL head coach. And that came in his fifth season in Green Bay in 2010. Since then, he has made it to the NFC Championship Game twice — in 2014 and 2016, both with Green Bay — and has gone 6-8 in the playoffs overall since that Super Bowl win, including 1-2 in two playoff appearances in his first three seasons with Dallas.
▪ ”A Pro Bowl quarterback having his best year”: Dak Prescott is definitely having one of his best seasons. But … so is Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who leads the NFL in passing yards (4,214) and completion percentage (70.5 percent). On Sunday, Tagovailoa completed 24 of 37 passes for 293 yards and one touchdown.
▪ ”A star, game-changing wide receiver”: Cowherd here is referring to CeeDee Lamb. If only the Dolphins had someone of that caliber. If only the Dolphins had the only player with more receiving yards than Lamb, the guy who still has an outside chance of finishing the season with 2,000 receiving yards. Oh, wait? That’s right. The Dolphins do have Tyreek Hill.
▪ ”An elite, elite pass rush”: The Dolphins entered Sunday with 48 sacks — third most in the NFL behind only the Bills and Ravens (50 each). The Cowboys were tied for 12th with 40. Miami had allowed just 17 passing touchdowns, one less than the Cowboys.
Yes, the Cowboys’ Micah Parsons has been arguably the most dominant individual pass rusher in the league, entering the week with an NFL-best 37 percent pass rush win rate. But do you know who entered the week eighth in the league among edge rushers? The Dolphins’ Bradley Chubb. And do you know who’s also among the top interior defensive linemen in pass rush win rate? The Dolphins’ Christian Wilkins.
On Sunday, the Dolphins sacked Prescott four times. The Cowboys got to Tagovailoa… once.
So much for Tagovailoa “running for his life,” as Cowherd proclaimed would happen.
▪ ”An excellent IO-line”: OK, Cowherd got us there. The Dolphins have not had consistency up front due to injuries to, well, basically every one of their starters. Sunday, in fact, was Miami’s 11th different starting offensive line combination this season. … They’ve still found a way.
▪ ”Plus they’ve had seven blowout wins”: Cowherd didn’t define what qualifies as a “blowout win,” so for simplicity, let’s just say it’s a win by at least 20 points. Dallas actually has eight of those.
There are two wins against teams with winning records: a 23-point win over the 8-7 Rams (but were 3-4 when Dallas faced them) and 20-point win over the 10-4 Eagles.
The other six against lower-tier teams in the league: Two against the Giants and one apiece against Washington, New England, Carolina and the Jets.
The Dolphins have five such wins this year — blowouts over Washington, the Jets (twice) and Carolina in addition to the 70-20 shellacking of the Denver Broncos.
And now they have a win over the Cowboys, too.
Cowherd’s thoughts on the game?
“All these years of rolling my eyes at Cowboys hype and I finally buy in,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “And they deliver a dud.”
This story was originally published December 24, 2023 at 8:00 PM.
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