Offensive futility continues even with new starting QB as Dolphins drop third in a row
New quarterback. Same result.
The Miami Dolphins hoped recently-acquired former Pro Bowl quarterback Tyler Huntley could inject some life into the team’s anemic offense.
Instead, Miami saw much of the same it’s been seeing from its offense since it lost Tua Tagovailoa 18 days earlier to a concussion.
Huntley found the end zone with 3:36 left in the fourth quarter on a 1-yard touchdown run. He then threw an interception on the ensuing two-point conversion ending any hopes the Dolphins had left in a 31-12 loss to the previously-winless Tennessee Titans on Monday night at Hard Rock Stadium.
“Bottom line is it doesn’t matter what we’re doing behind the scenes,” Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said. “On the field that’s not even close to good enough, so you just have to go back to the drawing board and assess very critically.”
Despite Huntley’s late score, which snapped a streak of 10 consecutive quarters without a touchdown, the Dolphins offense was mostly stagnant and limited to a pair of Jason Sanders field goals before that as Miami (1-3) suffered its third consecutive defeat.
Even after Miami forced a punt and regained possession with 2:33 left in the fourth, its final offensive series lasted one play.
Huntley was pressured and flung the ball out of bounds, prompting an intentional grounding penalty in the end zone and a safety.
Before Huntley’s touchdown run, the Dolphins had not scored a touchdown since Tagovailoa threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to D’Von Achane in the first quarter of Miami’s 31-10 loss to Buffalo on Sept. 12. That score came a quarter before Tagovailoa took a hit to the head from Bills safety Damar Hamlin, which has since put his career in limbo and sent the Dolphins into the tailspin they have yet to escape from.
“I thought he did some good things. There’s some stuff as a competitor he wanted to have back. Had a couple of ops and there was a throw down the sidelines to Tyreek (Hill),” McDaniel said. “There was just a couple of ops, but overall I thought he did a good job. I didn’t think that his teammates around him at times were doing what we needed them to do in a game like that. I thought he had a lot on his plate. I thought he was a competitor all the way through.”
Huntley grew up in Broward County and starred at Hallandale High just seven miles away from where he played his first game for the Dolphins on Monday night.
Signed just two weeks earlier off the Baltimore Ravens’ practice squad, Huntley was the third quarterback to take snaps for the Dolphins in the wake of Tagovailoa’s injury and second to start.
The results were not much better.
Huntley completed 14 of 22 passes for 96 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions and was sacked twice. He also finished as Miami’s leading rusher with 40 yards on eight attempts.
“I felt pretty good. I felt pretty comfortable. Just now I got to dig in deeper and just know the ins and outs of the offense, and it will take our offense to another level,” Huntley said.
The Dolphins, who finished with 205 total yards last week against the Seahawks in a game Skylar Thompson started and Tim Boyle finished after the former suffered a rib injury, totaled only 84 yards through the first three quarters against Tennessee and finished with 184 for the game.
Miami went 2 for 12 on third downs and 1 for 3 on fourth downs, but converted one of those third downs and their one successful fourth down on its lone touchdown drive.
“It’s a performance-based industry. I think every man here has a job we have to execute. The quarterback is obviously a very important piece of that puzzle, but we need 10 other guys to be performing and executing,” fullback Alec Ingold said. “It’s a performance-based business that we’re all a part of, so I think it’s more than fair and I think that’s where you know we’re doing the same thing internally. And to shy away from that because you’re not getting the results I think is weak-minded and I think we have to we have to attack that; we have to lean into this uncomfortable moment to see what type of team we are and what type of human beings we are.”
The night got worse for the Dolphins when they lost Jaelan Phillips to a knee injury with 7:38 left in the third quarter. Phillips limped off the field after a play and threw off his helmet in frustration. Phillips walked with a slight limp to the Dolphins locker room moments later and did not return.
This story was originally published September 30, 2024 at 10:47 PM.
