Dolphins’ problems extend well beyond their injured quarterbacks

The Miami Dolphins have a quarterback problem at the moment with injuries to starter Tua Tagovailoa and backup Skylar Thompson. 

But they also have a far more concerning problem with head coach Mike McDaniel and the roster that has been built in Miami. Those problems need to start getting way more attention than they currently are. 

It should also be creating some big questions as to whether or not McDaniel is the long-term answer in Miami. 

Nobody expects a team to perform as efficiently with its second-or third-string quarterback in the lineup. There is a clear downgrade that happens there, and any team would suffer from that. But it should not make a team completely uncompetitive. It should not remove any chance of winning. 

For the Dolphins, that is what they look like right now without Tagovailoa, and how they have looked every time he has been out of the lineup during McDaniel’s tenure as head coach. 

That has to fall squarely on him and general manager Chris Grier.

All over the NFL head coaches are making things work with backup quarterbacks, whether it be Sam Darnold in Minnesota, Malik Willis in Green Bay or Justin Fields in Pittsburgh. Those teams have tailored their offense to fit the backups strength, they develop a game plan that is functional, and for the most part have found ways to win games. 

Teams do it every year.

But McDaniel has never been able to do the same thing in Miami, and is 1-6 in his career (including playoffs) when Tagovailoa does not play. 

They not only lose in those situations, it almost seems as if McDaniel is not capable of adapting his game plan or offense to fit a backup. 

Part of that is on him. Part of that has to fall on the front office.

When it comes to the latter, the Dolphins have built an extremely flawed roster that is not great defensively and has a weak offensive line that limits their ability to control the ball. 

Every time they tried to run the ball on Monday night against the Tennessee Titans their offensive line was overpowered. When they faced short-yardage situations they were unable to just power forward and get a yard, stubbornly insisting on still running their outside zone runs. It did not fool anybody.

If you are touted as an offensive genius and an X’s and O’s guru, and your offense still has Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle and De’Von Achane, you should not be going nearly 10 consecutive quarters without a touchdown or scoring just 25 points over two-and-a-half weeks like the Dolphins have. 

The harsh reality for McDaniel and the Dolphins is this: Monday night was his 38th regular season game as the team’s head coach. They are 21-17 in those games. Brian Flores, who McDaniel replaced because he was deemed to have not done a good enough job, was 22-16 in his final 38 games as the team’s head coach with a vastly inferior roster in terms of talent. 

The Dolphins need more from their head coach. They need the creative offensive guru to show an ability to adapt.