The Tyreek Hill-Jaylen Waddle duo must be better for the Dolphins to succeed
Ask Frank Smith what would he have said if someone would have told him that Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle would average a combined 90 yards per game, and the offensive coordinator’s response was telling.
“‘Yikes,’” the Miami Dolphins offensive coordinator said. “‘OK, there’s certain things that must be occurring.’ It’s not as limited to, ‘OK, why did that happen?’ And then when you look at our season, you wouldn’t say it’s really been normal so far; at the beginning, there are a lot of things that took place. I would say that if that’s how this starts at beginning, how do we end?”
In sports, it’s never smart to look toward the end. Lose sight of what’s right in front of you and that’s when everything begins to fall apart. For this Dolphins team, however, the end (i.e. a playoff win) has been the goal since Day 1. And after a gutsy victory against the Los Angeles Rams, said goal still remains in reach — only if Hill and Waddle can recapture some semblance of their 2023 magic.
As it stands now, Hill and Waddle have their lowest yardage totals through 10 games since their rookie seasons. Waddle doesn’t even have more than one touchdown on the year for the first time in his career. The bottom line: the duo’s production has been rather abysmal to say the least.
The two, however, continue to emphasize the positive.
“I feel like I took a step forward in my game,” Hill said Thursday. “Our position coach, he has helped me develop becoming a full receiver which is blocking, being stronger at the catch point, running precise routes and stuff like that. A lot of people look at the numbers and say, ‘Oh, he was this and that,’ but I feel like as a player, I’ve gotten better. As a leader, I’ve gotten better.”
“Going out there and play every week, it’s therapeutic for real,” Waddle said Friday. “Any opportunity, good or bad, to go out there and play football is a blessing. So you got to look at it in that aspect.”
While the duo won’t openly admit to any exasperation, it likely has been the case behind closed doors.
“I think early on” there was some frustration, receiver coach Wes Welker said, maintaining the room has since come together. “ At the end of the day, it’s just about winning and those guys are competitors. They want to win.”
Granted, Waddle and Hill’s subpar numbers aren’t completely their fault. For starters, Tua Tagovailoa missed four games and the Dolphins’ passing attack suffered tremendously. Hill also has a wrist injury that could potentially need surgery by season’s end. Then there’s the issue of two-high safeties, which every opponent that the Dolphins have faced has opted to try.
“I would say a lot of teams are turning to a lot of two-high shell, but then they’re trying to play variations of that two-high shell deal,” Tagovailoa said Wednesday. “I would also say that it’s also, for some of the teams that we’ve played, going out of what they normally would run scheme-wise and what they’ve shown throughout the season has been different against us. But it is what it is. You’ve just got to read the play out and whoever is open within that progression, you’ve just got to give it to them.”
As much as the coaches and the receiver duo love to say they have mastered the finer points of the offense, the reality is the Dolphins didn’t pay Hill and Waddle just to block. The frustration that has stemmed from this season only makes sense.
“I only think a lot of times, it’s not about getting the ball, it’s about not winning,” Welker added. “You can deal with not getting the ball when you’re winning. When you’re not winning, that gets tough because you want to try and make an impact in the game.”
On the bright side, the Dolphins have the ability to turn the season around. Their next two opponents — the Las Vegas Raiders and New England Patriots — have a combined record of 5-14. Should they be overlooked? No, however, the Raiders and Patriots represent an opportunity for the Dolphins to find that spark with Hill and Waddle.
Even better: Tagovailoa, Hill and Waddle will have more a chance to gel. Between preseason injuries and a quarterback holdout, this current stretch of games is actually the longest the trio has been together in 2024. Better days may be ahead. Hopefully, that begins Sunday at 1 p.m.
