MIAMI GARDENS — The Miami Dolphins needed a victory Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals in quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s return.
They didn’t get it. The Dolphins (2-5) lost 28-27 on a 34-yard field goal at the buzzer. They’ve now lost five of their past six games.
This was the second consecutive game the Dolphins took a 10-0 lead and lost. They did the same thing in last week’s 16-10 loss at Indianapolis. The Dolphins were outscored, 21-14, in the second half Sunday.
Yes, there were plenty of reasons for encouragement among Tagovailoa doing some good things, the run game staying steady, and penalties staying down for the third consecutive game (two penalties for 15 yards vs. Cardinals).
But in the end, the offense didn’t score enough and the defense, which was No. 4 in the league entering this week’s games, wasn’t good enough.
Here are some more takeaways from Sunday:
Tua runs, Tua slides, the crowd goes crazy!!
In the third quarter, on third-and-9 from the Arizona 22-yard line. Tagovailoa dropped back, looked around, then tucked the ball and ran. And ran a bit more. And then he tucked the ball and slid.
The crowd went wild.
Tagovailoa (28 of 38, 234 yards, one touchdown, 97.9 passer rating) slid well in front of cornerback Starling Thomas V, who touched him down.
The crowd soon chanted, “Tua! Tua!”
Tagovailoa, of course, was returning from a four-game absence due to a concussion. It was the third diagnosed concussion of his career. He’s also had a head trauma situation (the stumbling incident vs. Buffalo in 2022, days before the Cincinnati concussion that saw him taken off the field on a stretcher). — Chris Perkins
Fins score TD on opening drive after two fumbles
The Dolphins overcame two fumbles on their opening drive — one by Tagovailoa and one by tight end Julian Hill — to get a Raheem Mostert touchdown on their opening possession. On first-and-10 at the Arizona 37-yard line Tagovailoa had the ball swatted out of his hand on a dropback by Cardinals defensive lineman Dante Stills. It was recovered by right tackle Austin Jackson.
On second-and-goal from the Arizona 8-yard line, Tagovailoa flipped a no-look pass to Hill but he had the ball punched out by Cardinals linebacker Victor Dimukeje. Guard Robert Jones recovered for the Dolphins.
Ramsey plays nickel/slot, Smith is fifth DB
Cornerback Jalen Ramsey played the slot/nickel position for much of the game with cornerback Kader Kohou (neck) sidelined. Cornerback Cam Smith, who was activated off injured reserve this past week, came in as the fifth defensive back and played the boundary.
The Dolphins have been using Ramsey, who is having an outstanding season, as a wild-card defender this season. They’ll match him up with the immediate threat for that situation (deep pass to edge receiver, short pass from slot receiver) as well as to blitz.
Holland (knee) leaves game at halftime, DBs ailing overall
Safety Jevon Holland (knee) was ruled out at halftime after leaving the game with an injury in the second quarter. Holland missed the Indianapolis game with a broken bone in his left hand that required surgery. It was the first surgery of his career.
The Dolphins’ secondary, the strength of the defense, had already overcome some serious ailments. Safeties Jordan Poyer (right thumb) and Marcus Maye (thumb) have both played with splints on their hand.
Kohou (neck) missed Sunday’s game and Smith (hamstring) made his season debut Sunday.
Sloppiness surfaces, Tua leads the way
Tagovailoa fumbled two snaps, one resulting in a safety, in a sloppy display of ball protection.
On the first fumble, Tagovailoa simply had the ball glance off his hands from a shotgun snap and fall to the ground.
On the second fumble, the snap bounced off Tagovailoa’s hands and rolled into the end zone, where Tagovailoa batted backward it out of the end zone for a safety.
The Dolphins began play Sunday at minus-3 in turnover margin, tied for seventh-worst in the league. Their four lost fumbles were tied for seventh-most in the league.
Tyreek quiet but WRs make a little noise
Wide receiver Tyreek Hill didn’t have a big game Sunday, but the Dolphins’ wide receivers came alive with the return of Tagovailoa. Hill ended with six receptions for 72 yards, while Jaylen Waddle had four receptions for 45 yards.
Hill entered the game with 24 receptions for 294 yards and one touchdown, a pace for 833 yards on the season, which is a far cry from his 1,710 yards and 1,799 yards of the past two seasons.
Waddle entered the game with 22 receptions for 269 yards, a pace of 762 yards, a far cry from his totals of 1,356 yards and 1,014 yards.
But, hey, it’s a start.
Dolphins Deep Dive: Is Miami’s season over? Perkins, Furones break down loss to Cardinals | VIDEO
Harrison does nice work … so does McBride
Cardinals wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. (six receptions, 111 yards, one touchdown) had two excellent receptions against Ramsey, one for a touchdown and the other a 16-yard gain on a call that was reversed. Harrison also had another key reception, a 22-yard reception in the fourth quarter against Maye.
Tight end Trey McBride (nine receptions, 124 yards) was also fairly dominant.
Harrison’s touchdown came on a diving 22-yard pass to the corner of the end zone past Ramsey.
The second remarkable reception vs. Ramsey was a 16-yarder that quarterback Kyler Murray appeared to simply chuck in the air while evading a pass rush. Harrison spun around, located the ball and made a spectacular grab, securing it before he slid out of bounds.
Both plays were very impressive.
Run game remains active
The Dolphins began play Sunday 11th in the league in rushing at 128.7 yards per game.
They ended with 150 yards on 25 carries.
The Dolphins had 59 yards rushing at halftime.
The Dolphins, who discovered their run game against New England (193 yards) and Indianapolis (188), rushed for 52 yards and a touchdown on their first 10 carries. They had a 10-7 lead at the time.
Running back De’Von Achane (five carries, 32 yards early) started off doing the heavy lifting.
Dolphins win challenge, improve to 4 of 14 under McDaniel
The Dolphins won a fourth-quarter challenge on a spot of the ball after a reception by tight end Jonnu Smith. The Dolphins won the challenge and were awarded the first down. Coach Mike McDaniel, who hasn’t been good on challenges when he throws the red flag, improved to 4 of 14 (.286) on challenges.
The deep challenge of the mobile quarterback persists
The Dolphins dropped to 7-24 against mobile QBs since 2018 (when Josh Allen joined the NFL). With Kyler Murray completing 26-of-36 passes for 307 yards with two touchdown tosses and no interceptions, he piled up a 116.3 passer rating. He also tacked on 20 rushing yards on four non-kneeldown carries, getting a huge first down late in the game.
In total in those 31 such games since 2018, quarterbacks have gone 667 for 983 for 8,497 passing yards, 81 passing TDs and only 17 pickoffs for an incredible 114.9 passer rating over almost a two-season sample size, with 155 non-kneeldown runs for 1,241 yards, nine touchdowns and 81 first downs. In those games, those teams have averaged 410.4 yards per game on average and 29.5 net offensive points scored per. — Steve Svekis
Has Tua’s concussion spate affected his ball security?
Before his first official concussion against the Bengals on September 29, 2022, Tua Tagovailoa had fumbled 11 times in 27 career games, with only four of them involving the snap from the center. In the 30 games since that scary moment in Cincinnati, Tagovailoa has fumbled 21 times, with 13 of them coming during the snap, and with all of those baker’s dozen hitting the quarterback’s hands.
Dolphins have not been using their rest advantage to their … advantage
The loss to the Cardinals marked the fourth consecutive Dolphins loss in a game where Miami had more days off between games than their opponent. The skid began on New Year’s Eve last year when the Dolphins, with the standard seven days between games, were hammered 56-19 by the Baltimore Ravens, who not only had played the previous Monday night (Christmas), but had done so in San Francisco. The second instance came last month in Seattle, and then the Colts and Cardinals on consecutive weeks, getting outscored 124-59 (31.0-14.8 average) in total.
Harrison Jr. accomplished something his Hall of Fame dad never did
Marvin Harrison, the Colts Hall of Famer, had eight visits to Miami Gardens, and he hauled in 43 passes for 453 in his games in South Florida. However, he never scored a touchdown here (he had nine scores against the Dolphins in Indianapolis). His son, on his third career catch down here hit paydirt.
Takeaway update: the drought languishes on
The Dolphins defense was shut out again in the takeaway department, and will head into their eighth game with a mere five takeaways. That rate of 0.714 takeaways per game, if continued over the full regular season, would set a sad record for the worst rate in Miami Dolphins history.
That record? In 2022, Mike McDaniel’s first year as coach, Miami forced only 14 turnovers in the 17 games (.824). Heading into next week, the McDaniel Dolphins have 46 in 41 games for a putrid 1.12 per game.
Baker was having an All-Pro day, but then Waddle stepped up
The most electric play the Dolphins had in the first three quarters was De’Von Achane’s 47-yard blazing jaunt down the left side. At the Miami 35, 5 yards past the line of scrimmage, Cardinals safety Budda Baker, who was by far the best Arizona defender Sunday, had a bead on Achane, but then Jaylen Waddle sideswiped him with his right shoulder and knocked him just enough off kilter to free the second-year running back for 42 more yards.
Tua loves … running? … against the Cardinals
Heading into Sunday’s game, Tagovailoa’s biggest impact as a runner, perhaps inspired by his undersized, fleet counterpart Murray, had been his second career start, which came against the Cardinals in 2020, when he ran for 36 yards on his four non-kneeldowns in Glendale. He had only 13 yards on three carries Sunday, but he had a 12-yarder tucked into that that was a huge first down.
Dolphins’ sluggish-scoring skid finally was halted
After nine consecutive games where the Dolphins hadn’t score more than 20 points, the Dolphins finally broke through. The last time the Dolphins had such a skid of futility was Dec. 3, 1967.
The Dolphins rushing attack matched a streak not seen in 15 years
With Sunday’s 150 rushing yards, the Dolphins, hit the 150-yard mark for a third consecutive game for the first time since 2009.That year, the Dolphins had a trio of consecutive games running for at least 154 yards (199, 154, 157). The streak is also a reminder of the potency of last year’s run attack, which had five games in succession of at least 142 yards, with a total of 1,021 over that span (145, 350, 142, 222, 162) from Sept. 17 through Oct. 15.
On deck: Buffalo Bills, at Highmark Stadium, Orchard Park, N.Y., Sunday at 1 p.m.
The good news? Last time the Dolphins played Buffalo they held Josh Allen to his lowest passing-yardage output against Miami of his career. The bad news? In the five games where Allen has passed for 224 or fewer yards against the Dolphins, Buffalo has gone 5-0, with none of the winning margins in single-digits even.
His rookie year, Allen threw for 224 in a 42-17 Bills domination. He matched that yardage number in 2021 in the regular-season finale where the Dolphins were routed 56-26. Then, there was the 202-yard game in 2019 where Buffalo won 31-21. Earlier in 2021, in the game where Tagovailoa sustained a rib fracture, Allen and Co. rolled 35-0 where the Bills QB scratched out only 179 yards through the air. And, on Sept. 12, No. 17, with basically an oven mitt on his left hand after an injury versus the Cardinals, threw for 139 yards in the 31-10 Bills beatdown.
