While the playing conditions were certainly some of the most extreme seen in the history of the NFL, the Miami Dolphins are struggling to find excuses after a disastrous display in the wildcard round against the Kansas City Chiefs. After boasting the best offense in the NFL all season all season, Miami simply couldn’t find any rhythm against the Kansas City defense as they lost the game 26-7. After a ridiculous number of concussion brought some question regarding quarterback Tua Tagovailoa‘s long term viability in Miami, his playoff debut certainly won’t help his case.
Dolphins Quarterback Blasted after Poor Performance
While Tagovailoa certainly could’ve done more against the Kansas City defense, the team in general has been in a major tailspin over the second half of the season. After starting the season 9-3, Miami went 2-3 over the last five guys of the season as they lost the division championship to Buffalo last weekend and ended up playing in the frigid Kansas City weather on Sunday evening.
In the -30° temperatures, Tagovailoa clearly struggled to get into a rhythm as he finished the game with 199 passing yards with one touchdown and an interception. After the game, Tagovailoa was harshly criticized via social media by San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Willie Sneed IV.
#49ers Willie Snead IV RIPS #Dolphins Tua 😲
“The Dolphins will be good when Tua stop acting soft AF” https://t.co/Q9b9e9hDOj pic.twitter.com/mOV3N4Iaqq
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) January 14, 2024
In Tagovailoa’s defense, a major issue for Miami has been a slurry of injuries that has wiped most of the elite talent away from the defense. Over half of Miami’s defense was inactive including elite pass rusher Bradley Chubb, safety Jevon Holland, cornerback Xavien Howard, linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel, linebacker Jerome Baker and linebacker Jaelan Phillips. On top of that long list of defensive star power that was missing from the lineup, the rest of the team came into the game with minor injuries including Tagovailoa.
While all teams suffer from injuries to some degree, I don’t think I’ve seen a team where the entire starting lineup has been decimated the way that Miami’s was over the last few weeks of the season. That becomes another major weakness when playing in the cold weather as there is no rest available and being tackled on the frosted ground was similar to being tackled on concrete. For example, linebacker Duke Riley was clearly in pain after a tackle in the first quarter but wasn’t pulled because of how short the depth is at the linebacker position in Miami.
While Miami completely imploded toward the end of the season, Tagovailoa certainly doesn’t deserve the level of blame leveled on him by Snead. Miami is an incredibly young team that will dramatically improve with each upcoming season and will be a heavy favorite to make the super bowl next season. It will be interesting to see whether Miami extends Tagovailoa after his injury plagued 2022 season and if they do extend him how much money they give him.
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