What the Tampa Bay Game Told Us About the Dolphins and the QB Situation

The Miami Dolphins defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in their Week 17 matchup at Hard Rock Stadium.

Miami Dolphins safety Ashtyn Davis (21) celebrates following an interception during the fourth quarter against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Hard Rock Stadium. | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Quinn Ewers earned a lot of praise for his performance in the Miami Dolphins' victory against Tampa Bay in Week 17, but this was a game that served as another example that it hasn't been all about the quarterback for them this season.

To be sure, Ewers played a key role in the victory by throwing two touchdown passes and avoiding turnovers, but the Dolphins won mostly because of the magic formula that's been so evident in their seven victories.

Rushing attempts and takeaways.

The Dolphins had exactly 30 rushing attempts against Tampa Bay, and improved to 7-0 in those games, with the Dolphins going 0-9 in games where they failed to reach that magic number.

But it's not rushing attempts alone because that number almost invariably is impacted by the flow of the game and the Dolphins playing with a lead.

As evidence, the Dolphins won Sunday when they once trailed for only the second time this season, the first time coming against the Washington Commanders in Spain. Against Tampa Bay, the Dolphins quickly got behind 7-0, but never trailed again after Ewers' touchdown pass to fellow rookie Theo Wease Jr. tied the score in the first quarter.

The Dolphins hung to their lead against Tampa Bay in large part because of the two takeaways in the second half: The interception by safety Ashtyn Davis and the fumble recovery by Quinton Bell off the sack by Bradley Chubb.

That gave Miami three takeaways on the day, and improved the Dolphins' record this season in games with at least two takeaways to 6-1, the only loss coming in the Week 5 game against the Carolina Panthers.

Conversely, the only Dolphins victory where the team failed to get at least two takeaways was the Week 8 blowout of the Atlanta Falcons, when they had one fumble recovery but no interceptions.

WHAT TO MAKE OF THE NUMBERS AND THE QB

While we'll say again that Ewers deserves kudos for his performance against Tampa Bay, the reality is he threw for only 172 yards, this after he passed for 260 yards in his NFL starting debut, which ended in a 45-21 loss against the Cincinnati Bengals.

This continued a very interesting pattern for the Dolphins, particularly amid the massively uncertain quarterback situation heading into the offseason.

Here's the kicker: Ewers' passing total against Tampa Bay was right around the average for a Dolphins quarterback in their victories this season. That average is 168.9 yards, with the highest total being the 205 yards for Tua Tagovailoa against Atlanta.

Before Ewers' outing against Cincinnati, Tagovailoa had four games this season with 250 or more passing yards, and the Dolphins lost all four games — against the New England Patriots in Week 2, Carolina Panthers in Week 5, Baltimore Ravens in Week 9 and the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 15.

This certainly would fly against the idea that the Dolphins absolutely positively must secure a high-end quarterback to have any kind of success next season. The Dolphins have won seven games with minimal contributions from their quarterback beyond taking care of the football.

We could have added as another key factor in the winning formula is protecting the ball because the Dolphins are now 5-1 when they don't commit a turnover, the one exception once again being that Week 5 game at Carolina, where the biggest difference might have been the Panthers' ability to convert two clutch fourth-down situations.

So, yes, the Dolphins absolutely can win some games in 2026, even if they don't have a big-name quarterback, and maybe that will lend credence to the idea of Ewers getting a chance to start.

The flip side, of course, is having the quarterback elevate his game against better competition because what hasn't changed for Miami is its poor record against playoff-caliber teams while it continues to do well against lesser opponents.

With one week left in the regular season, the Dolphins have a 1-4 record against teams with a winning record, with the big win against the Buffalo Bills and losses against New England, Buffalo, the L.A. Chargers and Pittsburgh. The Dolphins also are 0-3 against teams at 8-8, with losses against Indianapolis, Carolina and Baltimore.

That's a total of 1-7 against teams at .500 or better, which puts the Dolphins at 6-2 against teams that currently have a losing record.

This could be where the quarterback can make a difference.

But the Dolphins certainly have shown this season they can win games without their quarterback putting up big numbers.

It also could be an argument against paying top dollar for a player at the position.