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Dolphins show no life, no fight, no inkling of defeat against previously victorious titans

The season is only minutes out of its first month and the Miami Dolphins are hanging by a thread already.

The team that club owner Stephen Ross announced was a Super Bowl contender is 1-3. And on a three-game losing skid. 

And still weeks away from the possible but not certain return of starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.

The dolphins' situation is dire

This is depressing for any Dolphins fan because they have eyes. And they know the situation is dire.

But they also realize that, no matter how tough things get for a team missing its starting quarterback, things probably shouldn't look this bad.

But these dolphins? You don't just lose. They look terrible doing it.

A 31-12 loss to the Tennessee Titans alone doesn't say that, because it wasn't just the loss. This is how the loss happened.

The Dolphins showed no life, no urgency and, at times, no idea how to avoid more results like this.

Dolphins are the 2023 New York Jets

Without Aaron Rodgers, the Dolphins have effectively become the 2023 New York Jets.

You have to play a perfect game and hope for a turnover or the return of dynamic special teams to win the game. And if they give up a touchdown, the game is essentially lost.

All the Dolphins need to do to be in all-out Jets mode is get backup Tim Boyle into the lineup. He was one of the quarterbacks the Jets tried, without success. And he's Miami's backup right now.

These Tagovailoa-less Dolphins are suddenly the 2019 version of the team.

No, wait. That's not true.

The 2019 Dolphins are built to lose. Their mission was to tank, and it looked like that was going to happen at the start of this failed season.

But this team improved, developed and won towards the end of the season. This team was easy to support because the players were underdogs, they knew it, everyone knew it, but they fought.

Dolphins show us, well, nothing

These dolphins now?

Where is the fight?

Where is the sand?

Where is the response to difficult times?

We didn't see any.

They were repeatedly beaten up in Seattle. And they came up short against the Titans, even though starting quarterback Will Levis left the game and was replaced by backup Mason Rudolph.

Evil titans strike down dolphins

By the way, the Titans are a bad football team. At least they were until they faced Miami.

The Titans entered this game winless. Victoryless!

They were tied for the NFL lead in giveaways. They had the sixth-worst offense in the league and averaged just 16 points per game.

And that team, for whatever reason, played with more urgency and desire than the Dolphins. The team that had made so many mistakes in defeat that fans were heartbroken reacted.

They fought.

The Dolphins, meanwhile, retreated.

Reasons why dolphins do not reach their full strength

And now Dolphins staff, coaches, players, whoever would read this would argue that their team is without left tackle Terron Armstead and running back Raheem Mostert and Bradley Chubb, who didn't play this season, and Jaelan Phillips, who left the game during the season, missing the third quarter.

They would point out that Tagovailoa was out for the second straight game, which equates to playing at least four games on the injured reserve list.

So?

The Buccaneers had 20 players on the injured list last week. And lived through Hurricane Helene. And they are the Philadelphia Eagles.

The Denver Broncos, on the road, practiced on a tennis court one day last week because of the hurricane. And they went to New York and beat the Jets.

Adversity is no excuse for dolphins

Adversity is the NFL’s middle name. And good teams follow this call.

These dolphins appeared to be hard of hearing.

The Dolphins should know that their problems are not unique.

The Green Bay Packers lost quarterback Jordan Love in the first game of the season, a loss to the Eagles.

Malik Willis joined the Packers on August 27 after being traded to the Titans. And he started for the Packers on September 15th and again on September 22nd.

The Packers won both games with a quarterback who still doesn't know the entire playbook. One of the games the Packers won with Willis was against, you guessed it, the Titans.

Packers coach Matt LaFleur shortened the playsheet. He adapted the offense to what Willis could do – which, if you respect it, is not the same as Jordan Love.

And the Packers did it.

Mike McDaniel needs to do better

Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel lost Tagovailoa on Sept. 12, and 12 days later, when backup Skylar Thompson took the field against the Seattle Seahawks, the Dolphins looked lost on offense.

Thompson has been with the team for three years.

Thompson was injured in last week's loss at Seattle, so the Dolphins gave Monday night's start to Tyler Huntley, who had been with the team for two weeks.

It wasn't until 3:36 minutes before the end of the game that the Dolphins got into the end zone with a 1-yard run by Huntley.

That's not it, folks.

It's clear to anyone with eyes that the season is upon us.

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