Sure, it took injuries to two of the Miami Dolphins’ most important offensive players. But Mike McDaniel finally has discovered his winning formula in 2024.
And here’s an added bonus: It travels.
Forget the fancy eye candy and the volume passing. The Dolphins, from here on out, need to line up and run with purpose — no matter who is under center.
Miami Dolphins Ground Game Finally Gets Going
And yes, that includes Tua Tagovailoa, who could be back in the lineup in as soon as three weeks.
The Dolphins hope that they’re still in the AFC East mix at that point. Sunday’s 15-10 old-school win over the New England Patriots was certainly a helpful first step. They’re somehow just one game behind the first-place Buffalo Bills as they head into their bye.
But let’s not overreact. The Patriots are dreadful.
And the soft, early part of the Dolphins’ schedule is over. They’ll need a far better effort on offense moving forward, with the high-scoring Indianapolis Colts, Arizona Cardinals, Buffalo Bills, and Los Angeles Rams the first four teams up after the bye.
Three of those four games are on the road.
A silver lining for Miami? It’s much easier to run the ball and play defense away from home than it is to throw 40 times.
Our advice: Feed Raheem Mostert (who looked great in his first game back after a three-game injury absence), Jaylen Wright, and (when he returns from a concussion, De’Von Achane) early, often, and in exotic ways — even after Tagovailoa clears the protocol.
On Sunday, those three backs combined for 184 yards on 35 carries — providing by far the team’s best rushing production of the season. But it wasn’t until Achane — who is just as dangerous in the passing game as he is rushing the ball — left the game that the Dolphins truly changed their identity and became a running team.
Miami had a 22-18 pass-to-run mix in the first half. That flipped to a 23-9 run/pass split after the break.
“I think we had been disappointed with what we’ve produced on the ground just in general,” McDaniel said postgame. “So it was a huge point of emphasis to really hone in on our fundamentals and the technique. To the credit of the offensive line, they punched some holes. I think the running back room was ready to put the team on their back, so to speak.
“I think having Raheem back was awesome. It was unfortunate to lose De’Von, for sure. Then you saw a rookie play some snaps where you can feel his confidence just being established. So the plan was to be able to go toe-to-toe and win any way you need to, and I think that was the main objective led by the captains.
“I think they did a really phenomenal job of keeping everyone’s head space correct. It was very fitting that one of our newly minted captains this year, Alec Ingold, scored the touchdown because he was a heavy part of the run game production this week for sure.”
Dolphins Wore Out New England Patriots
Ingold’s only carry of the day was a three-yard touchdown dive that capped the Dolphins’ best drive of the season — a 15-play, 80-yard journey that took up half the fourth quarter and put Miami ahead for good. The drive’s final seven plays were all runs that totaled 52 yards. In those seven runs, the Dolphins stole New England’s spirit.
“We were going straight downhill at the defense, and it showed that they couldn’t hold up,” said Dolphins quarterback Tyler Huntley, who completed 18 of 31 passes for 194 yards, zero touchdowns, and an interception.
Added Patriots coach Jerod Mayo: “I know for a fact fatigue played a part in this game. … We’ve got to be able to get off the field, we’ve got to be able to move the ball offensively. We have to win the time of possession game or at least be close, which, once again, they controlled that.”
Did the Dolphins ever. They ran 20 more plays and possessed the ball for nearly nine more minutes than the Patriots Sunday. And they did all that despite converting just two of 11 third-down tries.
This season has proven that the Dolphins this year are not a good passing team — even with Tagovailoa in the lineup. But Sunday proved that they can be a good running team — when they truly commit to it.
“When you are talking about your football team and the types of games you want to win, you know, that’s very similar to November, December football where certain weeks you have to strap up and be able to win the line of scrimmage and do it down in and down out,” McDaniel said. “I think that’s a huge piece of the puzzle to me.
“… We weren’t measured in our words to each other in team settings this week. We challenged each other to be able to win a game like that just in general and not have to have super explosive plays to win a football game.
“I think that that’s what I’m really proud of is that I know what it takes for our team, in particular, that has high ambitions, to put together a [15]-play drive at the end of the game, and that means you’re staying locked in regardless of result during the course of it. That’s something we can build upon as we clean up the layers of things we have to clean up.”