McDaniel Finally Kept Running The Football In Big Win
One of my biggest criticisms of Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel has been his failure to stick with the running game when it is working. Today, McDaniel kept running the football in big spots, especially in the fourth quarter on the game-winning drive. There have been many times over his 3-year tenure when I have seen McDaniel get away from the run and don’t understand it.
With quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, the Dolphins turned to Tyler Huntley and he’s only been here for a few weeks so it’s not fair to expect him to run the offense like Tua.
The fact is that this Dolphins team doesn’t have a quarterback like Tua on the roster to run the offense the way McDaniel wants them to run, so McDaniel is going to have to simplify and scale back the offense. I honestly didn’t think he would do that today against the New England Patriots because, in Monday Night’s humiliating loss to the Tennessee Titans, McDaniel didn’t really stick to the run and had Huntley throw the ball when he didn’t have any chemistry with his receivers.
The week before, when the Dolphins had success running the ball against the Seattle Seahawks, McDaniel got away from the run and had Skylar Thompson throw it. He would hold the ball too long and take too many sacks.
When the Dolphins were trailing 10-9 in the 4th quarter and were running it successfully to the red zone, I must admit I thought McDaniel would get away from the run and pass it, but he kept giving it to either Raheem Mostert or Jaylen Wright, who both got sizable gains, which set the offense up for the go-ahead score and gave it to Alec Ingold to put the team ahead for good.
Mostert brought a spark to running today after coming back from injury. With De’Von Achane out with a concussion during the game, Wright stepped up with some big runs. He probably could have had over 100 yards if it wasn’t for a couple of holding penalties, but he showed the type of plays he made in the preseason.
The Dolphins have a good stable of running backs and today proved if you keep feed them the ball, they can give you sizeable gains and can take it the distance at any time. I know this was the Patriots, and they are rebuilding, but it was a road game in the division, and they are hard to win. The Dolphins needed to win this game to give some hope they could potentially turn their season around.
McDaniel has to keep this formula and not get too cute with the offense. I know he likes to be aggressive, but like I said he doesn’t have a quarterback to run this offense like Tua and he’s going to have to be more conservative and scale things back for Huntley. I know it must have driven him crazy in the 3rd quarter to not go for it on 4th and one at the New England 30, but the way the game was going, it was the right call.
Today was a good win and possibly a season-saving win, and that can’t be understated. The Dolphins are going to have to win games with defense and running the ball. Also, I have to hope the special teams can stop their blunders, and Huntley can make a few plays in the passing game. The bottom line is that McDaniel has to realize that is how they are going to win until Tua comes back. It is going to test him as a head coach and how to call the game on offense, but if he can’t adjust, then you have to wonder if he should be our coach.
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