Finsmob Unleashed

Week 6, the one and only week of the season where the Dolphins are guaranteed not to lose. The Dolphins are 2-3, in a division where the AFC East Crown is very much in play. In no way am I saying that we’re one of the teams in the hunt, because if you’ve watched all 5 games this season, you’d be able to deduce that we’re more likely to end up with a great draft position than we are of actually competing for a division crown. The Dolphins have not only screwed up the starting QB position, but they have done so for the backup role as well. Now part of that falls on Head Coach Mike McDaniel for not having backup Skylar Thompson fully prepared. I would like to think that both he and Chris Grier collectively made the decision to let QB Mike White go and keep Skylar Thompson as the backup. I would also like to think they did this, with full awareness that #1, QB Tua Tagovailoa is about as reliable to be on the field as a Fiat automobile is to be on the road. We all saw it, Skylar Thompson looked like he got pulled off his couch and had no previous knowledge of this offense, or chemistry with any of the players. That’s a huge black eye on this organization that if Skylar Thompson is healthy, that we once again start QB Tyler Huntley, who’s tenure here in Miami is all of 3 1/2 weeks ago.

The fact that this team has won 2 NFL football games is somewhat shocking. We played so poorly in the season opener against Jacksonville, with QB Tua Tagovailoa as the starter. He threw for a bunch of a yards (338), but only 1 TD, to Tyreek Hill who beat the coverage and Tua dropped it in nicely allowing Hill to run away from the defenders. We won by a FG with time expiring, and as it is, this was the only game of the season where we scored at least 20 points. Tua played nearly 3 quarters against the Bills and had 1 TD, 3 INT’s. In Tua’s 1 3/4 games, he had a rating of 78.9. Wanna see something really scary? Skylar Thompson rating is 78.7. Just digest that for a moment. For those of you fans that think Tua is going to lead this team to an epic championship run when he returns in Week 8 against the Arizona Cardinals, his likely return date, think again. This offense was not right when Tua was playing, practicing, in sync with all his receivers, or at the very least, Hill, Waddle, Smith, Achane etc. If you add in how poorly Tua played in the final 4 games of the 2023 season, I’m not sure how you think he’s going to be better playing now in 20 layers of bubble wrap, actively avoiding hits of any type, probably throwing balls away quicker than necessary to just make sure he doesn’t get hit, and taking into consideration his poor play is just a continuation from the end of last year.

I know many Dolphins want to think of Tua as “him”. Some also want to think of Head Coach Mike McDaniel as “him”. Right about now I’d say were 0 for 2. If you watched any of the games since Tua has been out, it’s painfully obvious that Mike McDaniel didn’t try to simplify the offense, or alter it to suit who the QB was that was at the helm during that game. So many motion mistakes, complicated play call verbiage leading to delays getting to the line, 3 players in motion at the same time and just multitudes of confusion. That is definitely on the HC, and offensive coordinator, and both of those are Mike McDaniel. As for Tua, he’s going to likely play the rest of his career, whether that’s 2 quarters, 2 games, or 2 seasons, oh so carefully. I have pointed out that this does not lead to success for this team. There will always be plays left out on the field because of throw aways, or the QB just ducking down and assuming the fetal position to avoid getting trampled upon. This is a physical contact sport, one in which avoiding contact altogether is nearly impossible, but that’s what Tua is going to be coached to do.

Back to the argument of all games count the same. As you all know, I’m a huge NY Mets fan. The NY Mets were 24-34 on June 1st, 2024. They went 65-40 the rest of the way to finish 89-74. Even more than that, in a crucial 2 game series against division rivals Atlanta Braves, in Atlanta, the Mets won a must win thriller that pushed them into a Wild Card playoff series against the Milwaukee Brewers in Milwaukee. The Mets dispensed with the Brewers in a best of 3 series in 3 games, winning the series 2-1. Then they took on the NL East champion Philadelphia Phillies and took that series, a best of 5 series in 4 games, winning 3-1. No matter what happens the rest of the way, the Mets had a fabulous season, playing their best baseball at the end of the season, not at the beginning. No one cares that they started out so poorly, or that they were 10 games under .500 in June. Can’t we, Miami Dolphins have a battle tested squad ready to rumble at the end of season? For once, I’d love to see the Dolphins have a chance at a playoff spot, or a division crown in the month of December and see us roll through every team on the schedule and get in, rather than fold under pressure in December. Part of that is Mike McDaniel who fails to make adjustments when teams take away our most potent weapons. We thought bringing in TE Jonnu Smith would cure that, he’d be the outlet, but Smith is hardly on the field. Tyreek Hill has had an enormous drop off from last season, it’s insane. In 2023 after 5 games, Tyreek Hill had 37 receptions for 651 yards and 5 TD’s. In 2024 Hill has 23 receptions for 286 yards and 1 TD. Jaylen Waddle has a slow start in ’23, and it’s been more of the same in ’24. TE Jonnu Smith has 14 catches for 140 yards, but he had 6 in one game and 5 last week, and otherwise was barely used.

It’s still up in the air as to who starts next week, they still have time to sort that out. I do think it’s an indictment on Grier and McDaniel if Tyler Huntley starts over a healthy Skylar Thompson. The QB you drafted and kept on the roster as your backup, one that has been working and digesting this offense since he got here in 2022, can’t beat a guy picked up off a practice squad and will have been here a month? Not a good look. There are so many disappointing aspects about this team. 38 year old DE Calais Campbell may be our best player on our defense, and he’s playing 55% of the snaps on D. The problem is, Calais Campbell is hanging up his cleats next season. We have so many one year contracts, and I’m not picking on you Tim, but you always say why worry about the future? This shitshow of a season is why we worry, and if it were up to me, I’d trade Tyreek Hill for some valuable picks, because we’re going to need them. I hope Chris Grier does that, and sets up the next GM very well for next year’s draft, because we need to hit on a QB, and a few guys to protect that QB.

Now, is there a chance that QB Tua Tagovailoa comes back and is the savior of our season? Of course there is, I mean the Jets fired HC Robert Saleh, and Josh Allen got rocked last week, talk about head hitting the turf, wow! The Patriots are awful, I mean, hey, we beat them. The problem is, we haven’t really resembled an NFL team most of this season, we make dumb mistakes in every facet of the team, mostly offense and special teams. Yes, ST’s Coordinator Danny Crossman is still here! Wer may be able to steal the division with 9 wins. Now 9 wins at this juncture looks like climbing the Empire State Building wearing no shoes or gloves, and hands and feet lubed up with vaseline, but you never know. Oh, thank goodness for those NY Mets. I wish them success and hope they vanquish the favored LA Dodgers to play in the 2024 World Series, but they have given me so much joy I didn’t really expect. Can the Dolphins do that for us, missing out on winning a playoff game since the year 2000, so going on 24 years? Probably not, but if not, we have to hope we can secure a QB in next year’s draft because you can’t go another season relying on QB Tua Tagovailoa. It’s not fair to the fans, the players on the team, anyone. It’s not his fault he can’t take a hit, no more than it was “Crystal Chandelier” QB Chris Chandler’s fault.. It’s our fault for giving him a massive contract though, and one I begged us not to do. I hoped the image above was a final kiss goodbye, but QB Tua Tagovailoa wants to play. Maybe somehow this will be the feel good story of the season, that QB Tua Tagovailoa comes back against all odds, stays healthy and leads us to the Super Bowl and wins it all. Ah, we can only hope . . .