RENTON, Wash. - Placed on injured reserve earlier this week after suffering his third concussion in as many seasons, the Seattle Seahawks won't have to prepare for gunslinging lefty Tua Tagovailoa when the Miami Dolphins come to Lumen Field this Sunday.
But while backup quarterback Skylar Thompson doesn't have the same arm talent as Tagovailoa and the Dolphins will have to adjust their offense accordingly for an inexperienced signal caller who hasn't started a game since January 2023, Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald still has plenty to keep him up at night as he game plans for an opponent with no shortage of playmakers on the outside and in the backfield.
With one of the NFL's best play callers in head coach Mike McDaniel at the wheel, the presence of dynamic receivers Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle as well as running backs De'Von Achane and Raheem Mostert gives Miami as good of a skill position group as any team in the league. Even without Tagovailoa under center, Macdonald has great respect for all of those weapons and expects McDaniel to have his team more than ready to play amid unideal circumstances.
"They do a phenomenal job," Macdonald said of McDaniel and the Dolphins. "The stats back it up, very well coached. We talk about elegance, simplicity, it's consistent for the quarterback, the angles in the run game, the speed on the field, how they're able to include everybody, all their playmakers and stuff. They play incredibly fast. They do a great job. I'm a broken record, but every week, we have to have a sound game plan that is complementary. We have to really execute it because the looks are not consistent from week to week, so you have to apply rules once the game kind of hits and be able to adjust on the fly. Got a challenge ahead of us."
Last season, albeit with a healthy Tagovailoa starting all 17 games, the Dolphins finished first in the NFL in total yardage, second in scoring offense, first in passing offense, and sixth in rushing offense, lighting up scoreboards with a balanced attack featuring two 1,000-yard receivers in Hill and Waddle and two backs with 800-plus rushing yards and 26 combined touchdowns in Achane and Mostert. All four of those skill players returned this season, but statistically, the team hasn't been able to get untracked through the first two weeks, currently ranking 27th in points scored.
Losing Tagovailoa potentially for several months only has created more angst for Miami fans, sensing a missed opportunity in the wide open AFC East. But having coached against him when he served as Baltimore's defensive coordinator, Macdonald holds the utmost respect for McDaniel and believes Seattle's defense will need to be on their A-game in regard to tackling, pursuit angles, and communication regardless of the quarterback situation or the combination of Hill, Waddle, and company could make life quite difficult for the home team on Sunday.
"They do a great job of attacking on the perimeter with their perimeter blocking and the angles that they create. And then also, I don't think they get enough credit for inside interior-type runs, being able to cut defenses and yards after contact, things like that," Macdonald explained. "And then if you're not on your Ps and Qs in the play action game and the catch-and-run game, if you're not taking great angles, they'll make you pay because it's a lot of catch-and-run type of ideas and then run past you, and so your leverage, your angles, and your pursuit need to be on point, otherwise they'll run past you and we don't want that."
Looking to improve to 3-0 to open the season for the first time since 2020, here’s a closer look at the Seahawks upcoming Week 3 opponent, including series history, additions/departures, a deep dive into scheme, and Macdonald's evaluation of Thompson and the Dolphins.
14th regular season meeting. Dating back to their time as AFC foes, the Dolphins hold the edge with an 8-5 record against the Seahawks, though Seattle has won each of the past two matchups, including a 31-23 road win at Hard Rock Stadium in 2020. Miami has won two out of three playoff matchups in the past, headlined by 31-10 home victory in the 1984 Divisional Round.
Departures: Unable to pay all of their free agent starters with Tagovailoa negotiating a multi-year deal worth north of $50 million per season, the Dolphins watched as defensive tackle Christian Wilkins and guard Robert Hunt signed massive contracts worth north of $90 million to join the Raiders and Panthers respectively. In cost cutting moves, they released long-time starting cornerback Xavien Howard and linebacker Jerome Baker, who signed with the Seahawks to continue his career, while center Connor Williams eventually landed in the Pacific Northwest after recovering from a torn ACL.
Additions: Active in free agency to address several holes, Miami quickly replaced Baker by signing former Seattle starter Jordyn Brooks to pair with David Long in the middle and added ex-AFC East nemesis Jordan Poyer at safety following his release by Buffalo. With Williams coming off a serious knee injury, the team opted to go a different direction at the pivot position by signing former Tennessee starter Aaron Brewer. Later in free agency, to help offset Wilkins and Howard departing, the Dolphins signed veteran cornerback Kendall Fuller and defensive tackle Calais Campbell to one-year contracts. Most recently, to provide insurance behind Thompson at quarterback, the team signed Tyler Huntley off of Baltimore's practice squad.
Nursing a rotator cuff injury, starting left tackle Terron Armstead did not participate in Wednesday's practice for Miami, while Mostert and edge rusher Jaelan Phillips were limited. Starting outside linebacker Bradley Chubb and receiver Odell Beckham Jr. remain on the PUP list and won't be eligible to play for the Dolphins.
Coming from Kyle Shanahan's coaching tree, McDaniel deploys personnel in quite similar fashion to his mentor. Through the first two games this season, the Dolphins have used 21 personnel groupings with two backs, one tight end, and two receivers on 35.2 percent of their offensive snaps, the second-highest rate only behind Shanahan's 49ers. Due to that high usage of multi-back personnel, Miami sits at 31st overall in 11 personnel usage with one back, one receiver, and one tight end at just 32.4 percent, sitting in front of only Baltimore.
In previous seasons, the Dolphins have been a zone-heavy running team, including calling zone concepts 66 percent of the time last season. But thus far in 2024, McDaniel has gone against that trend by dialing up more downhill gap runs 44 percent of the time, nearly 10 percent higher than a year ago. Sticking to status quo working off the run game, at least with Tagovailoa healthy, Miami has ran 23 play action pass plays through the first two weeks, with their two quarterbacks completing 14 out of 22 passes for 253 yards and a touchdown on those plays.
Employing a new defensive coordinator in Anthony Weaver, who previously coached on the Ravens staff alongside Macdonald, the Dolphins have been one of the more aggressive blitzing teams in the NFL, sending five or more rushers 31.1 percent of the time according to Pro Football Reference. Miami has also been active using simulated pressures, per Field Vision, dialing them up 45.5 percent of passing snaps in Week 1 against the Jaguars. That aggression hasn't translated to much success rushing the passer, however, as the team ranks 29th in the NFL with a 15.6 percent pressure rate.
One of the more multiple defenses in the league coverage-wise, Weaver has orchestrated a diverse scheme leaning a bit more towards middle of field closed concepts. Miami ranks in the middle of the pack among 32 teams calling Cover 1 with man coverage underneath 23.5 percent of the time and Cover 3 at a 33.7 percent clip. The Dolphins rank in the top 10 in Cover 0 usage at 6.1 percent, a significant difference from Macdonald's Seahawks, who have used Cover 0 less than 1 percent of the time this season.
-On what attributes stand out about Skylar Thompson under center: "He's willing to keep the ball a little bit longer than Tua. Tua was playing really fast and the ball comes out pretty quickly on time, on target. He's got the same ability to do those things, but I'd say the ability also if you add the extended play to that element, that's something that you have to take into account probably moreso than with Tua. Again, it's tough, because it's not a huge sample size to see, and it's been a long time, and you're talking about a couple of years of growth from when he started last in a playoff game, being in the system. So that's where we're at right now."
-Comparing Weaver's defense to his scheme in Seattle: "It's not a carbon copy. This is the Miami Dolphins defense led by Anthony Weaver. I think they're doing a really great job. A lot of respect for those guys and the coaches on that staff. And then obviously they got some really good players too. So there's a lot of concepts that you see that are similar to what we do and things that we've installed here, but no, it's their defense."
-On what he's learned about the Dolphins from assistant Leslie Frazier: "The Bills have played them really well, so give credit to their players, their coaching staff, and their plans. When it comes down to game planning and stuff, it's tough to copy teams because there are so many little details in how you're coaching stuff. So if you're starting to copy folks, that's really not where we want to be. So we're always looking at it through the lens of what we do. They've done a great job with Tyreek [Hill]. Leslie's been in the division, he's seen these guys a good bit, so we're leaning on him this week for sure."
