Dolphins' Season Hits New Low After Embarrassing Loss to Browns

The Miami Dolphins got blown out in embarrassing fashion, 31-6, by the Cleveland Browns to fall to 1-6 on the season.

In a season filled with lows, the Dolphins found a new way to set the floor even lower in the Mike McDaniel era, losing by 25 points to another team that entered the game at 1-5.

Here’s everything you need to know from the Dolphins’ sixth loss of the season.

Drive-By-Drive Recap

The teams traded punts to start the game, so we’ll skip ahead to Cleveland’s second drive of the game. The Browns ran the ball well with rookie Quinshon Judkins, but the Dolphins got called for two critical penalties that extended the drive.

One was an illegal contact, and the other was a roughing the passer. The Browns opened the scoring with a field goal.

The Dolphins answered with a field goal of their own on a drive led by De’Von Achane. He broke a 46-yard run on the drive’s second play, setting up the field goal.

Cleveland got the ball back and went down the field for the game’s first touchdown. Following a ticky-tack pass interference on Minkah Fitzpatrick that erased an Ashtyn Davis INT, Judkins broke free for a 46-yard touchdown to make the score 10-3.

Dee Eskridge fumbled the ensuing kickoff, the first sign of the elements affecting Miami’s operation. Cleveland cashed in on the good field position, as Judkins punched in another score to make it 17-3.

The teams traded punts again, but Miami’s defense stopped Cleveland inside its own 10, giving the offense great field position with more than two minutes before the half.

Despite the excellent field position and another explosive run from Achane, the Dolphins only got three points. Miami missed a field goal — which featured a bad snap — but got bailed out by a Browns’ penalty.

On the next play, another bad snap, this time from Aaron Brewer, put Miami behind the sticks. Riley Patterson made the next field goal attempt to make the score 17-6 as the first half expired.

The Dolphins got the ball to open the second half and proceeded to shoot themselves in the foot again. On the half’s first play, Tua Tagovailoa threw a slightly high pass to Achane, who got two hands on the ball but couldn’t haul it in.

The ball ended up bouncing right to Browns CB Tyson Campbell, who walked into the end zone untouched to make the score 24-6.

We’ll spare you the full recap since it was mostly filled with punts on both sides. The Browns made it 31-6 after Tua threw an interception in his own end zone that gave Cleveland the ball at the Dolphins’ two-yard line.

After another brutal interception from Tua, backup Quinn Ewers entered the game with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter.

Ewers didn’t do anything of note in those eight minutes besides throw a hospital ball that might’ve gotten Jaylen Waddle injured. The Dolphins lost 31-6.

Offensive Recap

The Dolphins’ offense had a rough day on Sunday. The running game numbers didn’t end up being too bad, but the team’s consistency in that area is rough.

Mike McDaniel should’ve leaned on the running game more, but Miami’s running offense is incredibly boom or bust. Achane finished the day carrying the ball 13 times for 82 yards.

Ollie Gordon II contributed 11 yards on five carries, including a fourth-and-short conversion.

The elements clearly hampered the passing game, but Miami’s play-calling and overall structure remain incredibly limiting and predictable. Tua finished the game completing 12-of-23 passes for 100 yards, zero touchdowns, and three interceptions.

Tua’s first interception bounced off Achane’s hands (it was slightly high), but the other two were mostly on the Dolphins’ QB. He panicked in the end zone on the second, and then threw a beach ball to the deep safety on the third.

Miami never got into a rhythm, and the offensive line wasn’t helping matters either. Cleveland got a ton of push upfront and had multiple free runners. There’s a chance Tua was responsible for a few of those, to be fair, but either way, it was less than ideal.

Cleveland had four sacks in the game, and there was consistent pressure throughout the game.

Ewers entered the game late in the fourth quarter and didn’t look good at all. It would be unfair to expect him to look good, given the circumstances, but it’s worth mentioning.

There’s not a ton of analysis to provide about Miami’s specific performance in this one. All of their issues were things that have plagued them throughout the McDaniel era — poor discipline, rigid play-calling, and bad feel for the game.

Defensive Recap

Miami’s defensive numbers don’t look overly bad on paper. It allowed just 206 total yards in the game, and one of Cleveland’s touchdowns was a pick-six, so that shouldn’t be held against them.

It would also be fair to blame the Browns’ score to go up 31-6 on the offense since Tua’s interception set the offense up at the two-yard line.

The big problem for Miami’s defense was penalties. The unit extended multiple Browns’ scoring drives in the first half with penalties. In fact, the Dolphins had more penalties (7) than first downs (six) in the first half — most of those were on the defense.

Overall, Browns QB Dillon Gabriel completed 13 of 18 passes for 116 yards, as he also battled the elements in this one.

Miami’s pass coverage wasn’t really tested at all, and the Browns got some key first downs through the air when they needed it, so it’s hard to feel overly optimistic.

The run defense held up on a down-to-down basis. Judkins finished the game with 25 carries for 86 yards, but he also had three touchdowns. Still, it was clear that Cleveland was the more physical team for the most part.

Miami’s defense still doesn’t do anything well.

It doesn’t have creative coverage on the back end. It blitzes constantly, but can’t create negative plays or consistently pressure the quarterback. It can’t consistently tackle at any level of the defense, either.

This is an unacceptable outcome for a unit with the talent available to it. There’s plenty of blame to go around, but it ultimately doesn’t matter at this point. The Dolphins’ defense has nothing to hang its hat on.

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