Comeback attempt falls short as mental mistakes doom Dolphins in 30-17 loss to Packers
The Miami Dolphins looked like the hottest team in football during the past three weeks.
A key part of their success: discipline as they only committed eight penalties in that span. By the time the final buzzer sounded at Lambeau Field, however, the Dolphins had committed 10.
That plus the several other mental mistakes led to a blowout loss to the Green Bay Packers 30-17.
“I think some of the things that we progressed on, we somewhat ended up digressing within the first half,” Tua Tagovailoa said, specifically pointing to the penalties. The quarterback had another efficient night, completing 80% of his passes for a season-high 365 yards and two touchdowns. “Just the operation wasn’t our style of football.”
Very little went right for the Dolphins. They couldn’t run the ball (Miami finished with just 39 rushing yards). They couldn’t force any turnovers. And they most certainly couldn’t tackle (Miami missed a season-high 20 tackles). Combine that with their several penalties and the loss was seemingly inevitable — especially when a team already down starting cornerback Kendall Fuller loses two more secondary players in Kader Kohou and Cam Smith.
“It was one of those days where what could go wrong went wrong,” defensive tackle Calais Campbell said.
The Packers turned the Dolphins inability to tackle into 388 yards of total offense. Packers quarterback Jordan Love led the way with 274 yards and two touchdowns on 75% completion. Running back Josh Jacobs also chipped in with 117 scrimmage yards and a touchdown.
“If we tackle,” Campbell said, “we win.”
As much as the Dolphins tried to downplay their inability to win in the cold, the weather appeared to have played a role. Look no further than their disastrous start to the game. After the defense forced a three-and-out on the Packers’ opening drive, rookie Malik Washington muffed a punt that gave Green Bay the ball on the Miami 9-yard line. A few plays later, the Packers had punched it into the end zone.
“When you have plays like that, it’s hard to win ball games,” Campbell said of the special teams mishap. “Afterwards, we got a shot to get off the field, keep it to a field goal, which would’ve been huge for momentum, but they found a way to get the ball into the end zone through tough coverage.”
It didn’t get much better when the Dolphins got the ball as three penalties pushed them back 25 yards. In fact, the Dolphins lost more yards via penalties than they gained on their opening drive.
“The biggest thing is that on a Thursday night game in a short week,” coach Mike McDaniel said, “you have to be clean and we weren’t. They were a lot cleaner in terms of penalties, in terms of just our style of play how complementary we were specifically in the last game. We were not that tonight and I thought they made us pay.”
For most of the first half, the Dolphins could barely move the ball. Their most successful drives ended in a field goal and turnover on downs. Meanwhile, the Packers couldn’t be stopped, scoring on four of their first six drives.
After a rather dismal three-and-out on their first drive of the half, the Dolphins began to show a bit of life. They drove down the field in eight plays, and a 14-yard catch-and-run De’Von Achane gave the Dolphins their first touchdown of the evening. One two-point conversion later cut the Packers’ lead to just two scores.
The Dolphins defense forced a punt on the Packers’ following drive, giving Miami a bit of life. Nine plays later, the Dolphins were at the 1. The next three plays? An Achane run for no gain. An incomplete pass to Jonnu Smith. And a Tagovailoa sack.
“There was some technique errors that could’ve gotten us into the end zone,” McDaniel said. “There’s a play call that I absolutely would like to have back. It was a collection of things.”
A Tyreek Hill touchdown with roughly three minutes left came a little too late. Not only did the Dolphins fail to convert the two-point conversion that would have cut the Packers’ lead to just 16, they couldn’t secure the onside kick.
At 5-7, the Dolphins’ road to the postseason just got much more difficult. They will likely have to go undefeated across their final five games. But with two road games in the cold (New York Jets and Cleveland Browns) and another two matchups against potential playoff teams (San Francisco 49ers and Houston Texans), it’s worth wondering whether the Dolphins playoff chances died in Green Bay. McDaniel, for one, certainly doesn’t think so.
“We didn’t come all this way to have this stop us,” McDaniel said. “Yeah, your margin of error is smaller but tough-minded individuals can learn from the things that kept us from the victory column this game and utilize it in the last five games.”
This story was originally published November 28, 2024 at 11:44 PM.
