Ahead of their Week 14 meeting in 2022, the Dolphins were terrorizing opposing defenses with their high-powered offense. But when the Chargers came to town, Miami had no response to the defensive game plan that Brandon Staley put together.
In that game, Tua Tagovailoa finished 10-of-28 passing, with four of his completions coming on the Dolphins’ final drive, for 148 yards, a touchdown and a quarterback rating of 65.3. Los Angeles held Miami to 219 total yards. This all came about while being down six defensive starters.
Fast forward nine months later, with all their stars on the field, including the addition of Eric Kendricks, and it was an entirely different outcome. Tagovailoa and company amassed 536 yards of total offense, with the majority coming through the air as Tagovailoa threw for 466 yards, 215 of which went to Tyreek Hill.
“You have to give credit to Miami,” Staley said. “Sometimes games like this happen in the NFL. The last time we played these guys, it was the other way.
“Sometimes, you’re going to have a game where you light it up and sometimes, in a game with that type of skill over there, you can get lit up,” Staley added.
In last year’s matchup, the Bolts had success against the Dolphins’ passing offense by challenging the wide receivers at the line of scrimmage, which messed with their timing and rhythm. Additionally, linebackers dropped back in coverage and closed the middle of the field.
What went wrong this time around?
The Dolphins used more pre-snap motion to allow Hill and Jaylen Waddle to get free releases, which resulted in them dominating the middle of the field because the Chargers’ cornerbacks could not keep up with their speed and the safeties were playing too deep to help with those passes.
“I don’t think that we played the right leverages in the secondary and I didn’t think that we rushed the quarterback effectively enough,” Staley said. “Give credit to Miami. They had a really good game plan and they made a lot of plays.”
Among the culprits in the secondary was J.C. Jackson, who made his return since rupturing his patellar tendon in Week 7 of last season. Jackson struggled to keep pace and he was hit with an inexcusable pass interference penalty in the final seconds of the first half, which led to a field goal to Miami retaking the lead, 20-17.
Even when Jackson made a positive play, it turned into a negative. On his interception, he returned it out of the end zone instead of kneeling and taking the touchback. The Chargers went three and out and J.K. Scott had to punt from their end zone. As soon as the Dolphins got the ball, Tagovailoa found Hill deep for a 35-yard touchdown, with Jackson being the one in coverage.
That was the last time Jackson saw the field. Los Angeles brought in Ja’Sir Taylor, who played in the slot, while Michael Davis and Asante Samuel Jr. played on the outside. Even after the personnel change, the cornerback play was still lackluster.
The pass rush was not any better. After missing most of last season with a groin injury, Joey Bosa failed to make an impact, as did his partner-in-crime Khalil Mack. Tagovailoa wasn’t sacked a single time and he was hit just twice. While he did get the ball out quickly, there was no pressure whatsoever, even on money downs.
“I didn’t do a good enough job today, getting us adjusted throughout the game,” Staley added later. We tried. Our adjustments just didn’t take shape today. It turned into a track meet in the passing game.”
At the end of the day, this circles back to Staley, the defensive guru who was seen to be the one to put together a prolific unit. In his first season, Staley did not have the proper personnel to fit his system. In Year 2, his group was riddled with injuries. But still, there was plenty of talent available. Now, in his third season with everyone healthy, it is still a glaring issue.
The Chargers offense, under new coordinator Kellen Moore, showed that they can light up the scoreboard and keep the team in the game, putting up 34 points on Sunday. But the jury is still out on whether Staley can get them to mirror the success of the 2020 Rams, which is when he coordinated the best defense in football that season.
“We do have a good group of guys,” Staley said, “and we just got to come back.”