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Upon Further Review: More Takeaways from Dolphins' Week 1 Loss

We watched the film to see what happened to Miami in its loss to the Colts.
Dante Collinelli|
Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) on the bench during the second half against the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) on the bench during the second half against the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium. | Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

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Miami Dolphins

The Miami Dolphins had an embarrassing performance against the Indianapolis Colts, losing their first game of the season 33-8 on the road. 

We decided to dive into the tape and see what happened. Here are four takeaways from the Dolphins’ Week 1 game after watching the tape. 

Tua Was Worse Than You Think 

After the game was over, I tweeted that this was the worst game of Tua’s career (on tape), and boy, was I right. There were a million problems with Miami’s offense Sunday — we’ll get to them in a bit — but Tua’s performance was the most startling. 

Tua had the worst passer rating and the worst EPA per dropback of his career in a game where he played significant snaps. 

His first interception is just a total miss on a route he’s hit 100 times since Tyreek Hill was acquired via trade — there’s not much analysis to add. 

His second INT is also pretty simple. Tua said he saw Laiatu Latu dropping into the hook zone in his post-game press conference. He was pressing and trying to thread the needle, instead of just taking the underneath crosser, which you can see is open in the clip below. 

While those turnovers and his fumble are concerning, two plays from this game sent up some real alarm bells. The first is this deep out to Malik Washington. Ignoring the fact that there’s no way two receivers should be this close to each other, this is a rough throw from Tua. 

Tua has never been great at hitting throws from the opposite hash, but this is a lackluster ball even for him. This ball hangs in the air for an eternity, forcing Washington to make an incredibly difficult catch. Tua’s arm looked noticeably weaker on tape, which is something worth monitoring as the season goes on. 

This last clip is the one that gives me the most pause. It’s fourth-and-6 from the Colts’ 31, Miami’s best drive of the day so far. At the bottom of the screen, you have a basic slant-flat route concept. 

The key defender to watch is the one in the slot. If he steps down to take away the flat, the middle of the field is wide open for Jaylen Waddle’s slot route. This is quarterbacking 101, especially in Miami’s offense, which runs this concept 20 times per game. 

Tua has completed this pass probably 100 times in the last three seasons. The slot defender steps down, Tua is looking to that side of the field, and he comes off the primary read that is wide open for a first down. 

Yes, the interceptions are concerning, but Tua’s arm talent looked worse than usual, and he was missing layups all day. Long term, that’s much more worrisome for the Dolphins. 

Offense Has All the Same Issues

Miami’s offseason was supposed to be about change on both sides of the ball. The Dolphins weren’t going to run into the same problems as last season. 

They added bigger receivers, running backs, and guards. The team was aware of their pre-snap penalty and alignment issues. Well, all of those issues reared their head in Week 1. 

The play below sums up all of those issues.

Let’s start with the pre-snap stuff. There are two options for what went wrong on this play. One, Hill left the huddle to the wrong side and isn’t motioning correctly, forcing Tua to correct him. Two, the Dolphins got out of the huddle too late, and Tua cut Hill’s motion short to prevent a delay of game penalty. 

It’s impossible to know which one (or both) is true, but either way, it’s a failure to iron out the pre-snap issues that have plagued McDaniel’s tenure. 

The second part is the failure to utilize personnel. The Colts get the sack because All-Pro-caliber IDL DeForrest Buckner ends up rushing against Tanner Conner and De’Von Achane at the top of the screen. 

There might not be a bigger mismatch on the football field. This isn’t a mistake from the offensive line, either. They are sliding to the side that has three rushers (away from Buckner). 

It’s third-and-8, and the Dolphins don’t have their better blocking tight end (Julian Hill) or running back (Ollie Gordon II) on the field. Instead, it’s two undersized players trying to block the Colts’ best pass rusher. 

Nothing changed in Week 1. Miami is still too committed to surviving with small players making big blocks, and is still too sloppy pre-snap. 

Storm Duck Shouldn’t Start Anymore 

Piling on Duck, who left the game with an injury and didn’t return, doesn’t feel great. However, it was pretty clear before he left with his injury that he shouldn’t be a starting cornerback going forward. 

Duck got beaten a few times before he left the game, but by far the most frustrating was the wide-open touchdown to Michael Pittman Jr. 

There was some debate on whether this touchdown was on Duck or safety Ifeatu Melifonwu, but I’m confident this is mostly — if not completely — on Duck. The Dolphins rotate to Cover-2 post snap, which means two safeties are responsible for the deep halves, and the corners are responsible for the flats. 

The Colts answer with a Cover-2 beater. At the top of the screen, tight end Tyler Warren runs a skinny post, occupying the deep safety Melifonwu and pulling him away from the deep half. Behind that, Pittman Jr. runs a vertical into the vacated zone. 

Yes, Duck’s responsibility is the flat on this play, but the Colts don’t have any routes in the short area of the field. There’s no reason for Duck not to continue with Pittman and make this a tougher throw for Daniel Jones. 

Duck isn’t new to the system and didn’t miss any time this offseason with an injury. These mistakes shouldn’t be happening to him. Rasul Douglas wasn’t perfect when he replaced Duck, but he was much better and should start moving forward. 

Defensive Overthink 

The Dolphins’ defense struggled all around, and Anthony Weaver was outdueled by Colts play-caller Shane Steichen for most of the game. Steichen had an excellent game plan, but Miami didn’t put up much of a challenge, either.  

The Dolphins’ pass rush wasn’t getting home for multiple reasons, so Weaver tried to get creative to generate pressure. That’s fair enough, but he might have overthought things a bit too much at times. 

This fourth-and-2 rep is an excellent example of that. The Dolphins send a blitz from the slot at the top of the screen. When that happens, the safety, in this case Melifonwu, is tasked with covering the slot receiver. 

When quarterbacks see blitzes, they’re taught to throw where that defender comes from. So, if you call a slot blitz, you should expect the ball to head that way if the QB gets it out. 

Asking Melifonwu to close that much ground on a player like Josh Downs is just not reasonable. If this were fourth-and-long, perhaps he gets there in time to make the tackle short of the sticks, but the Colts only need 2 yards here. 

This conversion allowed the Colts to add three points, drain the rest of the first half clock, and prevent the Dolphins from doubling-dipping in the second half. 

Final Thoughts 

Burn the tape and start over against New England in Week 2. 

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Dante Collinelli
DANTE COLLINELLI

Dante currently serves as the deputy editor of Dolphins on SI, where he’s been contributing since 2022. He began his career covering the NFL Draft for Blue Chip Scouting and spent four years covering the Temple University Football team. For the past three years, Dante served as the Deputy Editor for The 33rd Team, working with former players, coaches, and general managers, while building a team of NFL writers.

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