MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — It’s tough to say what was more surprising about the Miami Dolphins‘ late-game collapse against the Tennessee Titans Monday:
Who did it, or who they did it to.
Rookie Titans quarterback Will Levis had the signature moment of his young career, rallying his team back from down 14 with three minutes to go.
But what made it all the more impressive: He victimized Vic Fangio, one of the most respected defensive minds in football.
Miami Dolphins’ Vic Fangio Takes Responsibility for Collapse
The Titans covered 139 yards in 13 plays on their final two possessions, including a game-winning 64-yard touchdown drive that took just 26 seconds.
That happening to any defense would be jarring. It happening to Fangio’s group — which had been No. 1 in defensive EPA since Week 8 — was borderline unfathomable.
On Thursday, Fangio conducted his weekly news conference, and during it, he took his share of the blame.
“I don’t think communication was the issue,” Fangio said when asked about the coverage busts that led to long Titans plays on that drive. “I needed to call it better, and we needed to play it better. We’re teammates in this operation, you know, players and coaches. We all just needed to be a little bit better.”
Fangio added that he’s “just disappointed in the way that it ended. We had been pretty good all year in two-minute situations, you know, since we were out there with games on the line. We just didn’t get it done.”
Two of the biggest failures by the Dolphins’ defense in those two drives: Missed assignments in zone coverage and an inability to protect the sidelines.
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The Titans, time and again, were able to get out of bounds, making the clock largely a nonfactor despite how late it was in the game.
“They got some big plays which allowed them to score fairly quickly on the first one,” Fangio said. “You know, [then] we weren’t able to execute the four-minute offensively, and they got it back on the 36, 37-yard line, whatever it was, and they scored on us, you know. … A lot of it happened very quickly.”
Mike McDaniel’s Message to Fangio
Fangio and McDaniel have a unique relationship. The head coach gives great deference and latitude to his universally respected defensive coordinator.
So McDaniel’s reaction to the defensive meltdown — and how he addressed it with a coach a quarter-century his elder — was surely different than how it might have been in other cities, particularly if the defensive play-caller had far less experience and credibility.
“Listen, any team that does anything worth anything goes through stuff together,” McDaniel said Thursday. “It’s like a family. I would imagine siblings fight, and when you get through it, you’re stronger. Well, that was a fight for us, really for all three phases in terms of emotions. We put a lot into it and didn’t get the results at all.
“I very much am a person that looks at intent. I try to communicate as best as I can throughout the season. I’m very aware our defensive coordinator is one of, if not the best, defensive play callers that I’ve ever been around. You talk about timeliness of certain calls. Your job is to prepare players and put them in the best position to succeed. Within that, knowing the scheme and knowing the offense, each and every week, the last person I’m worried about doing everything they can for the team is Vic Fangio.”
McDaniel added that “there was no projection towards” Fangio, but did say he and his DC “talked through what we saw, why stuff happened so that we can coach our players so that you learn from it.”
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