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Upon Further Review: More Takeaways from Dolphins' Week 2 Loss

The Miami Dolphins lost again in Week 2, and while the film shows some improvements, there are still plenty of issues.
Dante Collinelli|
Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) is tailed by New England Patriots linebacker Harold Landry III (2) in the fourth quarter at Hard Rock Stadium.
Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) is tailed by New England Patriots linebacker Harold Landry III (2) in the fourth quarter at Hard Rock Stadium. | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

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Miami Dolphins

The Miami Dolphins dropped their Week 2 game against the New England Patriots in heartbreaking and infuriating fashion Sunday, losing 33-27. 

Like we do every week, we decided to look over the film and see what takeaways we can glean from the team’s performance. Miami played better on offense this week and had a few stops on defense, but the film is still pretty ugly. 

New England tried to hand the Dolphins this game, and they just didn’t take it. 

Passing Game Improvement…Sorta 

Let’s start with a positive. Miami’s passing game looked much closer to its normal self against the Patriots. Things were hardly perfect, but Tua Tagovailoa’s 0.30 EPA per dropback was a significant improvement from the -0.50 mark he had last week. 

He completed 81.2% of his passes for 315 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. The most encouraging sign was some of the downfield outbreaking routes he hit to Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. 

This deep out to Waddle was probably Tua’s best throw of the day. He layers the ball over the cornerback and between the safety perfectly, leading to a downfield completion. This was nowhere to be found against the Colts, and when Miami’s offense is right, these types of throws and catches are pretty common. 

Of all the units in yesterday’s game, this one probably had the most life. Hill finally got a completion of more than 30 yards after making a great adjustment to an underthrown ball. Things were looking up. 

Then, the final few drives happened. Let’s set the penalties aside and just look at the passing game in the clutch. As much as Tua improved in Week 2, this interception with the game essentially on the line just can’t happen. 

New England comes out in Cover-4, looking to prevent a big play on fourth-and-long. The Dolphins have three receivers at the bottom of the screen, which looks like the front side of the concept. 

The idea is for Achane’s underneath route to tie down an underneath defender, and then for Malik Washington to fill the vacated space with his in-cut. The Pats don’t go for that, as the underneath defender stays home, and the safety comes down on Washington’s crosser. 

Tua sees some pressure up front at this point. Larry Borom and Jonah Savaiinaea don’t have ideal reps, but they get the job done. The only place Tua can go with the ball when he steps up is to Waddle at the bottom of the screen. 

That’s a difficult-ish throw and probably not really in his progression at this point, but it’s open. However, once he escapes, he never comes off the Washington crosser and throws it right at the Pats’ defender. 

As you can see, Julian Hill slips out of the protection late and has some space to work if Tua can get him the ball. He doesn’t, and it ends up being an INT. 

So, what should you make of the passing game? Overall, it was a lot better Sunday. If Miami wants to turn things around, this is a good building block. 

The issue is that the unit still looks limited. There’s still an overreliance on checkdowns, Tua can’t create off script, and defenses are still just sitting in zones and robbing the middle of the field. Miami’s passing game still has the same ceiling it had last year. 

Rough Day for the OL 

It was not a banner day for the Dolphins’ offensive line. After watching the game live, it looked like an underwhelming performance, but upon further review, it was worse than that. 

The Patriots blitzed on just 2.7% of snaps on Sunday, and the Dolphins still gave up 10 pressures, according to Pro Football Focus. That’s more than they allowed last week against the Colts. 

Yes, there were five sacks in this game, but only three could be charged to the line. The other two were plays where Tua got outside the pocket and couldn’t find anyone downfield. You could argue this one was due to Savaiinaea being late to pick up a stunt, though. 

Kion Smith and Savaiinaea had rough days in pass protection. They were outmatched by Christian Barmore and Milton Williams in 1-on-1 situations pretty much all day. 

Savaiinaea’s first punch accuracy was incredibly rough, leading to easy pass-rush wins on swipe moves. 

Smith had roughly the same problem, leading to a sack on the Dolphins’ final play on offense. You’d like to think James Daniels does a much better job in this spot. 

Outside of pass protection, the running game tape is just as sloppy. Patrick Paul has been Miami’s best offensive lineman this season, but even he wasn’t immune to mistakes. 

Here, Paul just gets beaten inside, and the play gets blown up. Another play featured Savaiinaea stepping on Paul’s foot, leading to a tackle for loss. Aaron Brewer couldn’t reach his landmark a few times, too. 

Plus, the unit committed a few costly penalties. Paul was called for a false start that prevented Miami from going for two points at the end of the half, and Brewer had a holding call that wiped out a first-and-goal opportunity in the third quarter. 

Miami’s Blitzing Isn’t Working 

The Dolphins don’t want to be a team that blitzes overly often. They have what should be a dominant group of pass rushers, and the scheme doesn’t call for much blitzing. 

In Week 1, the Dolphins blitzed the second-most times in the Anthony Weaver era, but they toned that back a bit in Week 2. However, the Patriots were incredibly prepared for Miami’s blitzes, and they ended up hurting the team more than helping. 

Miami blitzed 10 times on Sunday, according to PFF. On those 10 reps, the Dolphins recorded one sack and just two pressures. What’s more concerning is their success rate was just 30% — the third-lowest in the Weaver era. 

Patriots QB Drake Maye completed seven of his eight attempts against the blitz for 76 yards and a touchdown. That happened for a myriad of issues. The first is the Pats’ game plan. 

One of the best ways to beat an all-out blitz is with a screen right behind where the defenders are coming from. This play below is an excellent example of that. 

What’s funny about this play is that the lead blockers whiff on both of their block attempts, and it still results in an explosive play. A similar thing happened later in the game, too. 

The Dolphins threaten to rush six before the snap, and “mug up” the A-gaps with the linebackers. Those linebackers end up rushing, and so does slot cornerback Jason Marshall Jr. The trade-off is that Kenneth Grant and Zach Sieler end up in coverage. 

Pressure gets home, but it doesn’t matter because Maye has an easy completion to a side of the field that is down two linebackers and one cornerback. Honestly, Sieler does a good job in pursuit by occupying two blockers. 

What’s frustrating is that even when the Dolphins did have the Patriots out-schemed, they failed to capitalize. Watch Matthew Judon on this rep. He does an excellent job disguising his blitz and gets a free run at the QB. 

Judon is just too slow to catch Maye, who was dead to rights. Miami caught the Patriots red-handed on a critical red zone snap, but Judon doesn’t have the speed to run down a quarterback like Maye anymore. 

Sure, it’s only 10 plays, and Miami did get one sack from Jordyn Brooks, but this is the second-straight week the team’s blitzing has hurt them more than it helped.  

It’s a trend now — not an outlier. 

Miami Shows Early Down Improvement, Struggles on Late Downs

This was a focus for the team coming off last week’s game, and it did get a little bit better in Week 2. New England’s EPA per dropback and success rate on first and second down were 0.20 and 47.6% respectively. 

That is technically an improvement from last week. Indianapolis’ success rate on first and second down was 61.5%, and Daniel Jones’ EPA per dropback was 0.41.

The Dolphins were meaningfully better on early downs against the Patriots, but they still weren’t good. Miami forced New England into longer than third and six on five of their 12 third-down attempts. 

Still, the Patriots converted on seven of their 12 third-down attempts, most of which came on third and six or shorter. Maye used his legs a good bit in these spots, but the Dolphins didn’t make life overly hard on him in the first half. 

This rep combines our previous talking point with this one, as the Dolphins send a cornerback blitz with Jason Marshall Jr. and drop Bradley Chubb into coverage. 

He ends up being the player chasing Maye, and it doesn’t go well. 

Quick Hitters 

  • Malik Washington is a long-term piece. His touches on offense and special teams show a player with a bright future. 
  • There’s too much Tyrel Dodson and Matthew Judon and not enough Willie Gay Jr. Miami needs some speed on that unit — Dodson and Judon don’t have it. 
  • Chop Robinson had a sack in this game, but it was easy access. He hasn’t taken the Year 2 jump as some anticipated. In his defense, he only played 24 snaps against NE.
  • Miami was still too soft in coverage, but it was better than in Week 1. That unit still looks like it’s learning to play together, which makes sense with all the new faces. 

Final Thoughts 

The Dolphins actually improved this week. I’d hardly describe this tape as “good,” but it certainly wasn’t the dumpster fire that we saw against the Colts. 

The passing game had some life, and the defense did get a few key stops. Obviously, none of it is good enough, but from a post-snap execution and schematic perspective, things were mostly better against New England. 

Now, the issue is that the Dolphins aren’t exactly clearing a high bar, and several of the same issues remained. The pre-snap penalties sank the team’s offense on the final two drives, and Miami’s defense came out flat in the first half again. 

While things were better for the latter unit in the second half, the film shows it was more New England throwing the game away than the Dolphins’ defense knuckling down. 

Overall, the Dolphins still don’t look like a well-coached team on tape, and players with high pedigrees still aren’t upholding their end of the bargain consistently either. And we didn’t even mention the special teams errors in this game.

Now, the team must deal with Buffalo on a short week — a team they haven’t beaten since 2022.

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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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