Kelly: Dolphins’ culture change seemingly didn’t take | Opinion
Culture change, huh?
That’s what we heard at the turn of the season going into 2025.
The Miami Dolphins’ problem players on last year’s 8-9 team were being voted off the island, and accountability, friendship and a more connected team was going to usher in a healthier team.
That cohesion and chemistry was supposed to foster a winning culture.
Here we are at 1-5, needing to win eight of the final 11 games to produce a winning season, and maybe nine to make the playoffs and avoid the dreaded “status quo,” which owner Steve Ross warned at the end of last season would bring about change.
This season isn’t over, but it is on life support heading into Sunday’s road game against the Cleveland Browns (1-5), another NFL franchise that’s circling the drain.
Consider this Sunday’s Dolphins-Browns game the Hot Seat Bowl because the losing coach might become unemployed afterwards.
The sad thing is, I’m certain we’ve been here before with these Dolphins.
I vividly remember a conversation with a young Cameron Wake in the 2013 season, or was it the 2014, 2015 or the 2017 season, where the Dolphins players were learning firsthand lessons about how difficult it is to close out games.
Like that Al Pacino speech about the pursuit of inches in the movie “Any Given Sunday,” Wake had learned that “there’s a play here, and a play there,” a Dolphins player loses on, and eventually they all add up and factor into the game’s outcome.
It’s the pass that went through Jaylen Waddle’s hands and ended up as an interception on Tua Tagovailoa’s first throw of Sunday’s 29-27 fourth-quarter loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
Or it’s the hands-to-the face penalty on right tackle Larry Borom, who is filling in for an injured Austin Jackson, which negated a first down. Maybe it’s the holding call on center Aaron Brewer, or one of the many instances where pass rusher Jaelan Phillips, or another defender, couldn’t bring down Justin Herbert for a sack.
How about kicker RIley Patterson missing a 57-yard field goal, or the 40-yard kickoff return Chargers tailback Nyheim Miller-Hines took to the 41-yard line, setting up the game-winning field goal in the contest’s final 46 seconds..
Better yet, maybe it’s rookie safety Dante Trader Jr. getting juked out his cleats on what could have been a game-winning tackle of Ladd McConkey.
The Dolphins never know which one of those plays — positive or negative — is going to determine the outcome of the game. But when you add them all up it explains four fourth-quarter losses for this team, and yet another Dolphins season ready to be flushed.
The problem is, the margin for error on this team is paper thin because of everything it lacks as a result of poor — not lackluster, not mediocre, but poor — roster construction. Add to the team’s troublesome leadership (players and coaches), and a lack of confidence, and we have a cocktail for disaster, which is what coach Mike McDaniel’s team has been sipping on.
Who’s at fault? All of the above is the only answer.
Nobody is excluded from this mess South Florida’s NFL franchise finds — or puts — itself in. The only positive about this season is the fact the team hasn’t quit on the coaches YET.
But this version of the Dolphins isn’t talented enough to overcome anything but a perfect performance.
The Dolphins have allowed nearly twice the amount of rushing yards (1,011) as the team has gained (548) after six games.
The defense, a unit built around its pass rushing, has produced 12 sacks on the season. That’s two a game. The offensive line has allowed 13.
Miami is being outscored 103-66 in the second half of the season’s first six games.
Anthony Weaver’s defense is ranked 30th in yards allowed and 28th in points allowed per game (29).
Miami has given up the second-highest kickoff return average (29.1) in the NFL, so special teams is no bystander.
Only one team in the NFL (Dallas) has a worse third-down conversion rate on defense than the Dolphins (47.95 percent).
And the Dolphins’ offense has very little to brag about considering McDaniel’s unit ranks 26th in yards per game (289), and 18th in points per game (22.3).
Only 12 teams have generated more turnovers (six), and seven offenses have produced more turnovers (eight) six games into the season.
The bottom line is, that’s how bad teams play.
If this was the culture change the Dolphins organization vowed to deliver this season we shouldn’t need any more evidence that this franchise needs a scorched earth reset, one that will feature a regime and coaching change, ridding themselves of the decision makers responsible for this mess.
This story was originally published October 14, 2025 at 3:05 PM.
