Dolphins most to blame for Week 8 loss to Cardinals

Things haven’t gone well for the Miami Dolphins this season. Mike McDaniel issued a reality check, and Calais Campbell dropped a truth bomb about the situation. And here are the Dolphins most to blame for the Week 8 loss to the Cardinals.

Kyler Murray drove the Cardinals into position for a game-winning field goal by Chad Ryland as time expired, and the Cardinals walked away with a 28-27 somewhat surprising victory over the spiraling Dolphins.

It spoiled the return of Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa after being sidelined since Week 2 because of his third known concussion of his relatively young NFL career.

Dolphins WR Jaylen Waddle didn’t make plays

For several weeks, Waddle could point to the shaky play at the quarterback position for his lack of production. He had four catches for three straight weeks, amassing 108 total yards. And in Week 7, Waddle had one catch for 11 yards.

Against the Cardinals, Waddle had a pair of drops and finished with four catches for 45 yards. He couldn’t blame Tagovailoa, who turned in a serviceable performance. Tagovailoa said he felt fine, according to espn.com.

“I would say I felt like myself,” Tagovailoa said. “I've been preparing for five weeks as if I were to play while I was on IR, so it felt normal coming out there.”

Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel said Tagovailoa showed poise because of turst in his teammates.

“I think the biggest thing was he knew his teammates were going to give him a chance to play a pretty clean game,” McDaniel said. “He had a good amount of clean pockets, and when he didn't, he was decisive and kept himself out of harm's way.”

But the Dolphins needed big plays from their receivers. Tyreek Hill had six catches for 72 yards, and combined with Waddle it just didn’t add to enough to get the Dolphins in the win column.

WR Tyreek Hill couldn’t break free

Like Waddle, Hill needed to come up big with Tagovailoa back behind center. Having 72 yards receiving is OK, but the Dolphins were in desperation mode for a victory. Hill should have been tearing it up. At least he did show courage by battling through an injury to get on the field.

Of course, Hill couldn’t do aything about a key play in the game where a mishandled snap cost the Dolphins two points in a one-point loss. Tagovailoa mishandled a snap from center Aaron Brewer. Tagovailoa batted the ball through the back of the end zone for a safety.

The Cardinals, who then used their next possession to drive for a touchdown. Tagovailoa took the blame, according to sun-sentinel.com

“I got to catch the ball. That’s it,” Tagovailoa said.

McDaniel said, “(Brewer) would say he should have taken a little steam off of it, and Tua said he should have caught it.

Brewer said, “Probably just a little too much heat for him. That’s really all it was. It hit him right in the middle of the hands.”

The Dolphins had four fumbles in the game.

QB Tua Tagovailoa needs to face reality

Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel didn’t mince words about where the Dolphins stand. But Tagovailoa seems to brush the 2-5 situation aside with his comments to phinphantic.com.

“There's always time. Seventeen games is a long time,” said Tagovailoa. “A lot of people in here know, I don't know how many years ago, we started out 1-7. We didn't have half the guys that we have—and no disrespect to my other teammates—but I'm talking about the talent that we have here. We didn't have half that talent.”

“To give that group respect, we won the next eight games. I'm not saying we're going to do that or whatnot, but it is possible. Anything is possible.”

Tagovailoa managed to avoid any concussion issues, at least. He said he came in with that mindset, according to espn.com.

“I'm just trying to avoid the big hits if I can. Sometimes they're unavoidable,” Tagovailoa said. “If there's a free rusher and you got to get the ball out, you take a hit, but just for me putting myself in those situations, I would say just obviously for the past five weeks, I have been able to just really think and ponder about my decisions.”

McDaniel said he liked the Tua’s approach, sliding when necessary.

“My reaction was ‘I think he's going to get the first down.' ” McDaniel said. “I’m pretty sure what he's going to do, but you never know until it happens. When he's mindful and not trying to run defenders over, he generally is able to stay pretty healthy. So, I was excited that he didn't hesitate and that he was very convicted in how he approached space, found space, and he got himself down.”

Despite the loss, Tagovailoa said he liked being back on the field.

“It feels good to be able to come back and play with my teammates,” Tagovailoa said. “To hopefully help in whatever way I can to get a spark going for us offensively or get the mojo going for the entire team. It feels good, but a tough loss today against a really good team, so that diminishes not just what I've done, but a lot of what other guys have done individually as well.”