The Miami Dolphins took one step forward and two steps back in a costly loss Sunday.
With Tua Tagovailoa back in the lineup, the offense had its best day of the 2024 season so far with three touchdowns. But it wasn’t enough in a 28-27 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.
The visiting team managed to score 10 unanswered to erase a Dolphins lead and leave Hard Rock Stadium with a one-point victory. Now Miami is just 2-5 and the team’s postseason hopes are hanging by a thread.
Here’s how we graded each of the Dolphins’ units in the Week 8 loss:
Three touchdowns and 27 points are both the most for the Dolphins so far in 2024, and the offense was miles better than it was in four games without Tua Tagovailoa.
In his first game back from injured reserve, Tagovailoa completed 73.7 percent of his passes for 234 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions. De’Von Achane was stellar with 97 rushing yards, 50 receiving yards, and a touchdown on only 16 touches.
But with the game on the line, the Dolphins offense came up short and its third quarter safety, which came on the fourth Miami fumble of the day, proved especially costly.
The positive for the Dolphins defense is that it managed to bottle up James Conner for most of the day Sunday. The list of good things ends there, though.
Miami couldn’t sack Kyler Murray once, allowing the diminutive Cardinals quarterback to rack up 307 passing yards and two touchdowns. The Dolphins forced no turnovers and crumbled with the game on the line.
While Conner was stuck at just 6 rushing yards in the latter half of the third quarter, the run defense eventually fell apart too. The Cardinals running back finished the day with 53 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Special teams: A-
Jason Sanders hit all five of his kicks — three extra points and two field goals from 25 and 53 yards — through the uprights. And when Jake Bailey was asked to pin Miami deep in the fourth quarter, his punt going out of bounds at the Cardinals’ 11-yard line is pretty respectable.
Dee Eskirdge and Malik Washington didn’t flip the field as returners, but they both did pretty well in relief of the injured Braxton Berrios.
Coaching: B
Ultimately, the Dolphins’ failures fall on the shoulders of Mike McDaniel. but it’s tough to blame coaches too much for the 28-27 loss.
McDaniel isn’t the reason the Miami offense fumbled four times and yielded a safety. Defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver isn’t the reason Kyler Murray was able to dodge the Dolphins pass rush all day even when Jalen Ramsey had a free run at the quarterback.
Maybe Miami’s coaching staff could’ve done more to put players in advantageous situations in the fourth quarter, but Sunday came down to Dolphins players simply not making enough plays.
Overall: C+
While Sunday felt like a huge step in the right direction for the Dolphins offense, it was arguably the worst showing of the season for the defense. And where does that leave the team? Right in the same mess.
